Now with 12% less Timmy™. in Whey and Sonic Screwdrivers.

The overhead light in my living room is lighting not unlike the gym. I can’t help but pose in the mirror and think that’s me? Meanwhile, bathroom lighting tends not to be as good.

All you see in media is lighting and poses. Never forget that.

Scale hit under 180 lbs yesterday, bringing the drop to 25 lbs so far this year. Slow and sustainable, that was my goal/mindset. Aggressive cuts are doomed to failure or noncompliance. Specifically because they’re not sustainable.

Really, it’s an experiment that turned out to be an ongoing success. Center around meat and eggs and see if the calories are low enough to drop weight. lb of meat and 6 eggs spots you 120 g of protein right there. Assuming .8g/lb of protein for target lean body mass, 120g is good for a target of 150 lbs bodyweight. (With other food, I get more than 120, it’s just a stupidproof lowball. Having to supplement protein never made logical sense to me.)

On most days, my food intake is:

Breakfast: Oatmeal

Postworkout: 1 lb of ground meat, ½ bag of spinach, seasoning&salt, chz, salsa or marinara

Break: 6 eggs

And that’s most of it. Oatmeal right out of the gate should make it clear this isn’t keto. Taking a keto mentality can make you do stupid things. A banana isn’t making you fat, it’s the bag of cheetos.

I also cut my milk intake. Longtime readers might recall that I joke that I’m Lactose Dependent™. Great for bulking, as per GOMAD. Never quite got up to a full gallon a day. At most, when I was 140ish, I was up to 4 gallons a week. These days, it was maybe a gallon a week. So, I just started buying a half gallon and sipping a little after meals. (And pregaming with water.)

And here’s a dirty secret: I have a york peppermint patty after most meals. I know, I’m a very dirty boy. But, whatever. Weekly average weight is still going down, so whatever. If I need to drop Yorks to drop further weight, I will… I will think about it. ; )

Whether it’s what I’m eating or when I’m eating, I’ve noticed a shift in mindset. Even on a cut, I eat out of habit, not hunger. I’m barely hungry.

I seem to have moved away from the Dopamine Meal Moment. Its… It’s something we all kind of do, but it was really pronounced when I was drinking. The peak of the night. The moment you’re supposed to gorge, then rest and digest.

Oh, I still like the flavors of food. And I still feel contentment after I eat.

But expecting some kind of buzz afterwards, well.

I follow /r/stopdrinking and /r/stopdrinkingfitness. A lot of guys and gals talk about replacing liquor with some other fluid. And I can’t wrap my mind around it. Nothing can give you the buzz a poison can. Nor can the foodcoma of eating be the same sans poison. I feel they’re going through the motions of a pleasure pattern expecting the same result.

I used to queue up The Nightly Feature Presentation. Try to be a little hungry. Then eat and watch, trying to have that Moment of Relaxation.

Then I’d get frustrated when I couldn’t enjoy the Feature Presentation as much. I was trying too hard to have a Dopamine Meal Moment.

You can’t just scream at yourself IT IS TIME TO RELAX.

Haha.

Come to think of it, I have decoupled any weekly Feature Presentation from food. I had off yesterday. (Having off Thursday and Saturday works just fine for me.) So, after I satisfying deadlift session, I ate, flipped my phone over, and just watched stuff. Discovery, Bad Bad, and The Circle.

(I think I noticed I don’t pay attention to the first ten minutes if I’m eating?)

So, Timmy, what’s your routine?

Ha, that’d be a full write-up. I lift 5-6 days a week on a lower/upper/accessory. What I will annotate is I barely do cardio. To beat a dead horse: fork putdowns and plate pushaways are the main driver of a caloric deficit. Odds are, I’ll do more cardio on a bulk when I have more energy.

As for gaining strength on a caloric deficit, remember your fat is an energy reserve. Until you get closer to Cheese Grater Abz™, you should still be able to gain base strength on a caloric deficit.

Base, referring to the nebulous “Build Your Base, bro”. As opposed to peak strength. Most of you aren’t performing singles regularly, so kind of nothing the average Michelle needs to worry about. So while performing singles is not advised, getting stronger at reps 3-30 is still achievable.

On a personal level, trying to outtrain a shitty diet isn’t sustainable. If you told me to go run a mile to work off the york peppermint patties I just ate, I wouldn’t. It is far easier to JUST EAT LESS, FAT-ASS.

I’m psyched for today’s OHP&Pullup day. Yesterday was deadlift day. I hit under 180 lbs on the scale two days; and deadlifted 3x7 @ 315 followed by 2x13 @ 235 lbs. Already had my oatmeal. It’s ~11:08PM, so the gym should be clearing out. Couldn’t stay awake, so I slept noon-9pm today.

Don’t think too hard about it, given my typical 4am shifts, I prefer sleeping in the evening. If the “what day is it” question fuddles you, remember I’m always awake in the morning and prenoon - I go by that. So, my gym log has 4-26-24 annotated, even if I start before midnight.

Lifting 12-2am is so relaxing, I’m telling you.

Last updated April 25, 2024