My bf does good with fasting, me on the other hand not so much.
But I am also able to eat the same stuff over and over. So breakfast and lunch are the same every day and diner change a bit but it is pretty much a rotation of 4 meals.
That way it is easy to reduce my calorie intake by just a small tweak.
In full agreement! Itās like the food in there is watching meā¦
I truly admire this, that would make tracking and calorie Reduction so much easier. I am getting better at eating the same thing all week, but I am rotating through new recipes every week. At least Iām down to making two different meals instead of four. Progress?
On a side note, you will appreciate this.
In ordered a new mountain bike! Dang early Black Friday sales got me.
Tuesday 11/5
JN Essentials, W8D1
Slight Incline DB Press
5, 4 x 50, 10 x 40
Lat Pulldown
10, 10 x 100, 10 x 90
OH Machine tricep ext
3 x 15 x 30
SS
Machine Lat Raise
3 x 15 x 20
Bulg Spilt Squats
3 x 10 x 35
SS
Preacher Curl
10, 9, 9 x 25
Standing Hip Abductor
15, 15, 10 x 70
10 minute stationary bike
Time to rotate movements. Always nice to change. This one felt great for half, then I started to get shaky and nauseous during the last few accessories.
Stationary bike may end up being the cardio after choice for a bit, it was snowing here yesterday. Plus, if anyone noticed above, I bought a bike! That Bentonville trip let me know how much I missed riding. Then they went and put them on sale. I wonāt be getting much outdoor riding until spring with our mountains snowy already, but I will make a few trips to my winter, desert homes.
Itās worth maybe trying but it can be a slippery slope. If it doesnāt feel good - itās totally okay to bail on it STAT.
This could definitely help in that area - and maybe thatās where you start. Donāt even call it IF - just stop eating earlier. Make a āstay out of the kitchenā time and stick to it.
Maybe a little hungry, but not miserable. There are ways around that. Seriously, if you want to talk strategy, Iām here. Youāve got my email - just shoot me a note and weāll schedule a call!
This is great, I am quite good at following lines in the sand, so I think this will jive with me mentally.
There is hope!
I need to do this so we can get way more things worked out. I love to see you share wisdom with everyone, but I could learn even more on a call.
I need to work the same things out. Still completely down for a call here!
(Apologies @unicornsandrainbows for butting into your thread!)
I find being hungry really hard for multiple reasons.
I think some of that is the reverse of the societal default for women of āskinnier is betterā to the point of real unhealthiness, where as a man hanging around in gyms you end up believing ābigger is betterā to the point where under-eating is The Enemy.
I find it hard to get past that psychologically, probably even more so than the physical discomfort of being hungry. Although I find that plenty hard enough!
This leads to a bro-science approach of putting the emphasis on clean eating rather than less eating. Which for me this manifests as trying to re-direct eating binges towards āhealthyā things like cashews instead of āunhealthyā things like ice-cream - but either way, eat too many calories and you still get fat!
Iāve spent the past 18 months trying to lose weight as opposed to build muscle which is the first time Iāve ever done that in my life, and when the scale shows a smaller weight my instinct is to freak out! None of which helps with controlling diet/appetite.
Sorry, very roundabout way of arriving at the question of: what kind of ways around that? NLP?
So, I would need to see the details of what youāre currently eating in terms of both composition, volume and your hunger ratings throughout the day. Knowing those components can really help individualize the recs I give. But the over arching generic ways around it include but arenāt limited to:
Those are a few of the big highlights Iād suggest looking at trying without knowing more about your situation. I hope some of that is at least a little helpful!
Thatās actually VERY helpful - thank you!
Some of it Iāve already done, from seeing you recommending it on these forums. The easiest win for me was to eat consciously, not when Iām busy doing something else. I used to be very prone to over-eating from doing that. Plus going for less calorically dense choices.
This is what I need to tackle!
Thereās an additional wrinkle in that I fancy myself as a bit of a foodie, so I often make food choices based on taste instead of nutrition! So even when I do recognise this, I struggle to implement it.
That is very helpful and seems like work, ugh!
I like Mark Bellās egg white solution.
When youāre hungry at night, make yourself as many egg whites as you want. Just go to town on egg whites.
Youāll most likely find, you really donāt want that many egg whites. Which is a good sign youāre not actually hungry. But if you DO end up eating 2 dozen egg whites, cool: you got some extra protein in.
Friday, 11/8
JN Essentials, W8D2
Machine Squat (similar to hack)
8, 10 x Machine+45, 6 x 70
Machine Incline Press
10, 10, 9 x 50
Leg Ext
10, 10 x 90, 10 x 100
SS
Cable Rear delt Flye
3 x 12 x 20
Laying Ham Curl
3 x 10 x 45
Cable Row
3 x 10 x 105
Cable Bi Curl
3 x 10 x 60
15 minute walk
I like this day. In and out in 45 minutes and still feel worked. Found an incline machine that gives an awesome stretch, goes beyond chest depth.
Saturday 11/9
Long run
4.5 miles easy, 51 minutes
Which is to say, slow.
Monday weigh-in
143.6, -0.6 from last week
Puts me at and average of -1.0lb per week. Overall, still right on track.
Monday, 11/11
Run Intervals
8 x 1 minute @ 8:15-8:30 mile pace
1 min rest between
This was fairly difficult for not being that fast. Iād love to see my average mile time come down. Easy mile pace is 11-12 minutes for me. Workouts like this will eventually make me faster.
Absolutely, and I think theyāre fun to do. I can do anything for one minute, and I like stretching myself out for the faster pace, if that makes sense. Itās a whole different body feel than the pace I was able to maintain for miles, which was between 9-10 minutes (Iām just under 5ā7", so long legs).
That absolutely makes sense. If feels nice to not be āshufflingā along in zone 2 for ages. Even though itās difficult, it just feels like to be fastish for a bit.
Nice pace! I hope I can get my easy pace down to that next year. Goals.
You do have 3 inches on me, probably all in the legs. I probably look like the Roadrunner in Looney Tunes with my 28inch inseamā¦ lots of turnover, but none of the speedā¦
Hahaha, Iām sure you donāt!
Tuesday 11/12
JN Essentials, W9D1
Slight Incline DB Press
6, 6 x 50, 8 x 45
Lat Pulldown
11, 10 x 100, 10 x 90
OH Machine tricep ext
3 x 15 x 30
SS
Machine Lat Raise
3 x 15 x 20
Bulg Spilt Squats
3 x 10 x 35
SS
Preacher Curl
10, 10 x 25, 8 x 35
Seated Hip Abductor
12 x 70, 15, 14 x 60
15 minute treadmill walk, 3.0mph, 5% incline
Gravity felt heavy on the warm up sets, but then weights and reps flew after that. It was great. This took 45 minutes. Muscle tension and connection good throughout as well. This is probably one of my favorite days.
Wednesday 11/13
Easy run, 20 mins. 1.85 miles.
My heart rate was chilling in the 125-135 range for the first half of this, while doing a 10 minute mile. I think my Garmin watch was mis-reading. Though, on an RPE scale, the pace felt conversational today. So. Thatās awesome.
_________________________________________
On the fasting note, I got my hubbyās buy-in to start experimenting with fasting strategies. Itās not a permission thing, but we do eat every meal together and I donāt want to be sipping protein shakes or otherwise make that privilege a less enjoyable experience. That is one of the reasons the Velocity Diet hasnāt made it on my list.
That said, I am getting tired of the constant, low calories every day. As discussed above, just a few weeks into a cut I feel like I am āwhite-knucklingā it to make it through. Phasing cuts with a short bulk and maintenance has done wonders for me mentally. I imagine Intermittent Fasting could have the same effect, itās at least worth a try.
Iām looking at it almost purely for the mental benefits, while allowing fat loss to continue. I likely have 2-3 more cuts before I get to a level of leanness Iād like to maintain. Plus, it could give me more tools to maintain. I donāt want to white knuckle maintenance too.
Going forward, Iāll be trying the 5:2 approach for at least 3 weeks, the rest of the cut if all goes well. I want to give it a long enough run to see how things go, but I am also ready to bail if there are more negatives than the consistent calorie restriction.
Planning on 500 calories on 2 days and 1600-1700 on the normal eating/maintenance days. 500 days will be Velocity style, 2 shakes and a HSM. That will likely result in a .5-.75lb per week loss. A little slower than Iād like, but I can add a third 500 day later, if needed.
Iāll be doing that through a week long trip at the end of Nov, which I imagine will travel well. Fasting on long drive days, more food flexibility on days I want them for local restaurants.
Friday 11/15
JN Essentials, W9D2
Machine Squat (Pendulum style)
10, 10 x Mach+90, 6 x M+115
Machine Incline Press
10, 10 x 50, 8 x 60
Leg Ext
10, 10, 10 x 105
SS
Cable Rear delt Flye
3 x 12 x 30
Laying Ham Curl
10 x 65 10, 10 x 45
Cable Row
10, 10 x 110, 9 x 105
Cable Bi Curl
3 x 12 x 60
SS
Cable Tri Pushdown
3 x 12 x 70
10 minute treadmill walk, 5.5 incline, 3.2mph
Fueled by extra coffee after lunch. Everything felt great, added weight or reps. I continue to be amazed with the progression during a cut. Itās nice to be leaning out and not feel like I am losing muscle.
Typing this as a wait for some Greek kebobs.
Bring on the protein.
Random sunset flight photo no one asked for, because my second job is awesome:
Dang! I miss that viewāthough admittedly yours up there is even better than from the foothills.
I do get spoiled with views, both from the ground, and every time I am in the air.
