Week 2 – IIFYM
When I was starting to lose weight, I knelt at the altar of Keto. I thought it was the best way to lose weight, bar none. What Iâve learned since then is that it was the best way *for me* to lose weight. And it didnât work because the mighty forces of Beta Hydroxybutyrate valiantly went to war and defeated the Goblins of Insulin Bog. It worked for me because I could eat on a significant calorie deficit every day without being hungry.
Every successful weight loss boils down to a simple conservation of energy. Put a lot of energy into your body and the extra gets stored. Put to little into your body, and your stores get used. Thermodynamics, how does it work?
So do I think keto is necessary? Nope. Is it a good way to keep yourself happy on a calorie deficit? Yep.
But really, the important thing is to set your goals and stick to them. How do you know what your goals should be? Glad you asked. Go use this little work sheet.
Follow the steps given, and this worksheet will spit out your macronutrient targets for every day. For weight loss, the most important target is your calorie target. Eat less than your total daily energy expenditure and youâll lose weight one way or the other. After that, your protein goal should be met every day. Thatâs important for keeping your muscles from wasting away with your fat. After that, your fat and carb goals are set.
Once you have this, youâve done all the hard work. Deciding on what food to eat and how much is just a matter of making it fit your macro goals. Should you eat a hamburger slathered in butter? It’s not a moral question where you have to decide. You just need to figure out If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM).
To make this work, you pretty much have to be willing to log what you eat. Or at the very least keep a tally of your daily calories. Is that a little bit of work? Yes. Suck it up and be an adult.
But this it the epitome of working smarter, not harder.
Bonus 2 Week Challenge
Get a tape measure and calculate your body fat percentage.
I love IIFYM so much. Why would you eliminate foods if you don’t have to?!
I hate the idea that some foods are the devil and some foods are pure angel essence. It’s all just food.
Not really my style, but I make poptart-ice cream sandwiches fit in my day from time to time. đ
Look, I don’t condone your preference for sweets over savory food. I just don’t think the government should enforce that preference with state violence.
Also, this mode of thinking avoid all of the latest fads. No one would willing eat kale if they were thinking with a clear head.
I think the kale hate is a sublimation of the typical consumer onto the product. The actual vegetable is nothing special – neither vile nor spectacular. There’s no reason for as much strong opinion as it gets. The people who are most vocal about buying it give it a bad name.
I disagree. I hate the average avocado consumer stereotype just as much as the kale stereotype (given they are basically the same person), but I love avocados.
I tried to find a use for kale, but it tastes like fibrous ass. (I’ll omit the joke about your taste preferences). I love spinach, romaine, and other leafy green vegetables.
Have you considered arugula? I’m not much for leafy greens… or vegetables… Lol. But I do actually enjoy arugula.
Yep. Good on salad. Great on pizza.
I once made what I consider the king of BLTs: smoked beef brisket bacon, heirloom tomatoes, and arugula on toasted sour dough, lightly spread with a smoked mayo. Ermagerd. It was so good… but a lot of work for a sandwich. I’d make it again… but if I did, I’d put a fried egg, some kind of cheese, and some raw, red onion on it. I don’t think it would qualify as a BLT after that.
That sounds like a goddamn good sandwich.
Well of course you’d think that, shitlord.
OK, I know exactly what salad I’m making for you when we’re there.
Tossed?
That’s what she said.
You descriptor covers all the leafy green vegetables except iceberg, which lacks enough flavor to bear it. So it’s nothing special.
My typical method for cooking leafy green is to saute a bunch of garlic and onions, pour in a can of rich coconut milk, and stew the greens in that mixture. It works wonderfully with kale, collards, mustard greens, spinach, or any combination thereof.
There’s also gumbo z’herbes; I don’t see how that could be bad (just my opinion).
Dude, exactly. Kale is an abomination. I don’t usually use terms like this, but it’s an affront to God and Christendom. Kale must be purged.
I love sweet food so much. Don’t get me wrong–I love pizza and tacos and Chinese and cheese and all of that, too. … But I really could eat ice cream all damn day. đ
And I’m not into government enforcing any kind of diet at all. The food pyramid was a complete failure, for instance.
I normally share your feelings about kale, but a local place has managed to make an unbelievably tasty kale salad – the “Ubiquitous Kale Salad” – a reproduction: https://wearenotmartha.com/chopped-kale-salad-with-pistachio-dressing/
I’m not sure it’d work the same with other greens.
Plus, caldo verde rocks, so that’s two uses for kale.
Could be tasty… However, as a general rule, I don’t eat salad. It’s the food my food eats.
That said, apparently kale also goes into this soup, so I guess it can stay.
That’s basically an Italian version of caldo verde:
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/25737/caldo-verde-portuguese-green-soup/
Hmm.
/strikes salad off the menu for creating dinner at Riven’s in a couple weeks
Might just need the right salad.
You’re killing me. That’s one of my faves, but doesn’t fit with my current plant-based (vegan) way of eating.
So what was it that made you choose the diet then?
Lol! SP, you can do no wrong. It’s not that I won’t eat those things… It’s more that I just won’t make them.
UCS, it seems that this way of eating has a good effect on a health condition I have. So I’m giving it a try, and the only way to know if it’s going to help is to really, truly try and give it a chance.
That’s the main reason I measure/track so many things. It helps me see trends in various metrics.
There are a few ways to make kale palatable. When I was actually bothering to eat healthily, a favorite recipe of mine was a sausage and kale soup. Delicious.
My wife makes a chorizo and kale soup with potatoes instead of cauliflower. Awesome.
Pretty much the exact same thing as this one, just with a different sausage.
While my kid was in the hospital last year, I had a kale side dish that I really liked so I reverse engineered it. I start with finely chopped red bell pepper and apples, saute in bacon fat until almost tender, then add kale and saute some more until the kale collapses. I see kale as any other leafy green (turnip greens or collard greens).
I make poptart-ice cream sandwiches
My teeth hurt.
More for me! đ
Pint of ice cream can be dessert for me!
I haven’t had ice cream in two years. đ
(I have had cake though. I guess it’s because I can bake cake but fail at making ice cream)
Really? I find it straight-forward. Our ice cream maker gets a work-out all
summeryear, as it’s our go-to item to bring to cookouts and the like.I can recommend the David Lebovitz ice cream book (though I have the older edition).
Ah, but here’s the detail I deliberately omitted. Cakes I can bring into work and give most of the cake away, since sitting a room temperature for a few hours doesn’t significantly hurt it. So, it’s a smaller dietary hit. Ice cream… not so easily shared from a logistical standpoint (meltiness, etc).
I have avoided buying the hardware and point to my previous failures to keep myself from running down the culinary rabbit hole and getting lost.
Understood, though we never make ice cream for ourselves – the high-fat homemade ice cream freezes rock-hard and keeps quite well in a cooler bag with a couple of ice blocks for hours on the road. We just buy some cheap plastic tubs so we can leave them.
Which Pop tart?
Whichever.
I like to change it up, but my favorites are the brown sugar cinnamon and the chocolate fudge ones.
I also change up the ice cream, and sometimes I dunk the melty ice cream sandwich sides in crushed sugar cereal. … I have a sweet tooth.
Brown sugar is my go to. I try to avoid it, but I also have a good sweet tooth.
Chocolate donuts being near the top
I’m a sucker for a good old fashioned donut. No frills, no sprinkles, just a solid donut to dunk in my coffee.
But what if they started with a great old fashioned donut, and then added more sugar. Just one of their specialty donuts:
No matter what time I’ve gone to Jack Frost there’s a line. Even at 15:00, in the morning the line’s out the door.
Always loved s’more poptarts… but I think they’d make me retch now.
Lol! I still love the s’mores ones… but I love them on their own, without making anything crazy out of them.
Dark semisweet chocolates, especially with some fruity or funky flavor like mango bacon.
Sea salt and caramel gelato.
Good, chilled tiramisu. Warm mincemeat pie.
Except for HFCS from GMO corn. Then it’s poison.
That calculator is a farce. It siad I had a lower body fat percentage when I was at 360lb and hadn’t begun lifting yet than when I was at 300 pounds and can feel the existance of arm muscles simply because my neck got thinner between the two states. It mistook the neck fat I lost for an indicator of muscle mass.
Population level curve fitting not fitting one person that’s outside of the cluster of usual results doesn’t make it a farce. It makes it a model that’s inapplicable to you. Use another metric if you like.
I’m not the only person for whom that bad metric would product incorrect results. They’re using a choice of proxy measurement that fits only a subset of the population, one whose size is debatable, making the general applicability as uselss as BMI beyond that narrow band of “already median weight”
This method of estimation is within 3% of of the gold standard measurement on average, including at very high body weights. Your statement that it “fits only a subset of the population” is mathematically correct but operationally invalid. The statement that the “size is debatable” isn’t. I don’t have the studies at my fingertips, but if you look you’ll see that people have actually looked into this, and w/in 3% of dexa (gold standard) is the bar for any other BF% technique because this one exists and is easy, low cost, and non-invasive.
If it doesn’t work for you, that’s ok. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t work for most of the population.
Where do you get that claim from?
Searching in journal databases for “navy method”+”validation” when I considered using it as a metric I was going to track. I’ll see if I saved any results or not. I have a bad habit of not doing so.
Last week’s challenge was to log your food for a week. Here’s my goals and results
Goal: 2800 calories per day
Result: 2774 calories per day
Goal: 150g protein per day
Result: 162.9g protein per day
Goal: Between 4g and 6g sodium per day
Result: 5.8 sodium per day
Wow, that sodium count is incredible. I try to stay under 2000 and usually miss that.
Raven 2000mg is 2 g, Leap is eating 3 times your goal lol.
Damnit! Thanks for the correction.
Don’t feel bad, I made the same mistake when I was first reading the post.
I’m usually way under 1000 mg, mostly in the 700 mg area. However, it’s easy for that to get messed up if I have any processed food (commercial veggie burger, say).
As Jarflax says, I’m eating more thank you. 5,800 per your way of measuring. Or you’re eating 2g per mine. There’s a pretty strong debate in the peer reviewed literature about the links between sodium and longevity.
1) One camp says sodium is known to elevate blood pressure. Elevated blood pressure is a ‘risk factor’ for cardiovascular disease. Ergo, less sodium -> less elevated BP -> better cardiovascular disease.
2) Second camp says ok, but we actually measured longevity and sodium intake directly, and the greatest longevity is between 4000 and 6000 mg of sodium a day.
They are both flawed. Camp one’s flaw is that while high BP might be a seen in people with cardio problems, there’s no demonstration that high BP causes cardio problems. It might be that cardio problems cause elevated BP the way a hot room makes a thermometer go up (and putting the thermometer in a bucket of ice doesn’t cool the room). Camp 2 is flawed because their measurements of sodium intake are extrapolated from less-than-ideal measurements (urinary sodium levels, sales of sodium in food in a country per capita, etc)
Gotta decide for yourself. I chose to go with the higher level on the thinking that sodium is the only micro nutrient we are evolved to taste and seek out. That probably means we should eat a good bit of it. But I could be wrong.
I remain convinced that two of the most important factors to helping brain chemistry work against depression – sodium and sun light – have been turned into evil things so they could make everyone miserable and feed them more mind control drugs.
You’re amazing at hitting your goals!
But that’s why you have had long term success… you set reasonable personal goals and then hit them.
You are the most disciplined person I know. Great job!
Partly discipline, partly a change in the way I plan my food. I pick out what I want to eat, plug it into my log, and adjust the portion size till it comes out at the numbers I want.
For example, if I’ve made grilled chicken and steamed veggies (my go to weekday meal), I plug in those two at 1 oz each. Then I guess how much chicken I need for the protein I know I need to eat (usually between 8 and 10 oz). Then I do the same for the veggies. It’s (for me) not really any more work than putting food on my plate, eating it, and then deciding if I want/should eat more.
I miss those Hardees commercials. I know Q does, too.
+2 tig ole’ bitties
I did a poor, poor job eating last week. I can tell work finally got busy, because all the little habits went out the window. Still made it to exercise 5 days this week.
Go you! That’s a great exercise accomplishment!
I think this is a pretty even handed article on Paleo vs IIFYM:
https://robbwolf.com/2017/07/26/clean-eating-vs-flexible-dieting-putting-the-argument-to-bed/
Admittedly I’m a big Robb Wolf fan but I think the article makes a good point. As ALATW implied with his *for me* qualifier, much of a programs success depends on how well it meshes with the individuals personality. I suck at making Macro’s work because after a few days of weighing and measuring I get sloppy and usually quit within a week. Going by “rules” just works better for me. I share an office with a guy who is just the opposite, IIFYM works awesome for him.
From the article
>Most of us wonât bother to spend two to five years weeding through Pub Med to get to the bottom of it
Ha ha. right. *nervously pulls at collar, shifty eyed.* (it only took me 6 months, but learning stuff I don’t know from scientific literature is something I’ve been doing for over a decade in other domains)
I’ll take a look later and see what it says when I have time. In general, I’m pretty leery of “clean” eating because its not an internally consistent definition and instead just arbitrarily assigns “clean” or “dirty” to foods. Usually, different people have different clean/dirty labels with no reason for it. This fall into assigning moral valiance to food, which I think is a really, really bad habit.
My definition of clean food is “Not carrying infectious diseases or parasites”.
*or random dirt.
Hair okay?
*scratches back with spatula*
Actually Robb Wolf has some pretty good stuff in his second book about the pitfalls of assigning moral valiance to food. He says something like;
“At the end of the day, it’s shit you put in your mouth.”
I think there are lots of ways to get there (I’m dietary ecumenical), its really more about following guidelines over the long-term and changing underlying habits. I think analytical people thrive off of flexible dieting whereas I need strict “clean” vs “dirty ” rules because if you give me an inch (read: small bowl of ice cream), I’ll take a mile (read:eat the whole 1/2 gallon). So for me I’m better off just saying, “I’m only eating meat and vegetables for the next 4 weeks.”
My simple fitness test: if you are under the age of 70 and it takes you more than 10 minutes to run a mile, you need to exercise more.
There’s a guy with one leg that wants to beat you with his prosthetic.
I have bad knees and can’t run, but I can walk a mile in about 12-13 minutes (age 62). I was at a fitness challenge a couple of years ago (one of those where you raise money for a cause) and finished before several people who ran part of the way.
I’m now at 24 days (in a row) 100% plant-based. My goal is to be at least 90% plant-based ongoing, but I’m doing a 60 day re-set my mindset thing.
I miss my homemade pizza.
I want to achieve a 100% bacon-based diet.
Bacon is awesome, and so are a lot of other foods. Don’t throw out the other awesome, scruffy. Your world will be diminished for it.
Pluss you’ll get scurvy.
More seriously, I don’t eat much bread at all anymore. I’ve gotten to the point that I don’t miss it.
My wife made one of those cauliflower pizzas the other day and I thought it was actually pretty good.
The animals I eat eat plants. So that counts, right?
Absolutely!
BTW, I notice you haven’t stepped up to meet us when we are passing through Minneapolis. So, you just hate me, huh?
Huh? First I’ve heard of it. Did you email me? I forget to check that one a lot.
Memorial Day is not here yet, but I think this is cool enough to share:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Millett
***
Lewis Lee Millett Sr. (December 15, 1920 â November 14, 2009) was a United States Army officer who received the Medal of Honor during the Korean War for leading the last major American bayonet charge.
…
Assigned to the 27th Armored Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Armored Division, Millett served in Tunisia as an anti-tank gunner.[2][3] During an engagement there, he drove a burning ammunition-filled half-track away from Allied soldiers, jumping to safety just before it exploded. For this action, he was awarded the U.S. military’s third-highest decoration, the Silver Star. He later shot down a Messerschmitt Me-109 fighter plane using half-track mounted machine guns.
***
Epic.
“They have yet to make a jet fighter-bomber with a bayonet stud.”
-Col Walter Clark, US Army, Silver Star recipient
Notice his date of death too.
I am assuming it was a successful bayonet charge.
Sounds like it.
Good week at the gym. Good week at the table. Might have cheated a little on my goal of no booze during the week…
Thanks for all the info, Leap! I was on Jim Wendler’s site the other day and found this little manifesto:
Why train?
For physical and mental health.
For self-improvement.
To challenge yourself physically and mentally.
To develop the bite that may help you through difficult times.
To honor all the men who have fought before you; it is part of your DNA to fight.
To show/prove to yourself that you can change through will.
In a world of “easy”, it keeps your teeth sharp.
Because we don’t have to chop wood anymore.
Being stronger is ALWAYS better.
To understand that there is cause and effect to action; and inaction.
A stronger body can equal a stronger mind can equal a stronger body.
There is zero negative consequence to being a stronger man.
To be a great example to your children; fat, weak and ignorant is not a good role model.
To exhaust your body and mind so as to put up with weak fools and ignorant beggars who demand what you have earned.
To learn self-reliance.
To understand that compassion and empathy is noble but not given lightly.
Because a mentally and physically dangerous man will always be needed.
^Wish I’d put this into article I just submitted, much better than my final appeal.
Nothing wrong with your article!
No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical trainingâŚwhat a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.
-Socrates
He went into battle at the age of 60.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Delium
***
One of the Athenian hoplites in the battle was the philosopher Socrates. Plato has Alcibiades give the following account of the retreat of the Athenians at Delium, and Socrates’ own actions then:
“Furthermore, men, it was worthwhile to behold Socrates when the army retreated in flight from Delium; for I happened to be there on horseback and he was a hoplite.
…
[he was] walking there just as he does here in Athens, ‘stalking like a pelican, his eyes darting from side to side,’ quietly on the lookout for friends and foes, he made it plain to everyone even at a great distance that if one touches this real man, he will defend himself vigorously. Consequently, he went away safely, both he and his comrade; for when you behave in war as he did, then they just about do not even touch you; instead they pursue those who turn in headlong flight.”
***
My eating was good 3 days this week. Was hoping for 5 days of good eating. Work was too busy to get out during lunch for a workout. Did get outdoors and do some active stuff a couple days this week, but climbing ladders and running coax isn’t the same as cardio work.
Weight stayed level this week, which was a small blessing. Our anniversary is tomorrow, so hopefully I can keep the food intake under control. Cookout food, so hopefully I can eat some hot dogs sans bun (and some with a bun).
The biggest health issue right now is stress management.. I’m absolutely swamped at work, but I really don’t have all that much going on deliverable-wise. Yesterday I was in meetings from 10am to 3pm straight, which is becoming my new normal. 3-4 hours of actual working time per day (minus the hour or so of small daily issues solved via email) isn’t enough to keep things from piling up. I look back at the end of the day and wonder why I couldn’t get the one thing done that was on my todo list. Then I look at my sent emails and calendar and realize that I spent all day triaging/keeping up to date on small things. I’ve been working 9-10 hrs per day trying to get back ahead of things, but it may take 11-12 hours/day for a while to dig out.
>Iâm absolutely swamped at work, but I really donât have all that much going on deliverable-wise
Those days are the fucking worst. Good luck man.
Ugh. I hate meetings sooooooo much. Oh, right, that’s why I don’t do them.
Seriously, staying weight stable is an accomplishment when you are that stressed. And Happy Anniversary!
Send it in an email. It’s all going to get tediously summarized and sent in an email anyway, so skip the meeting and just send the email.
“People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.”
-Thomas Sowell
They can run meetings in the psych wards with the other lunatics.
Depending on the sort of work you do, even having 4 hours “free” isn’t going to cut it:
I just stumbled on Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule, which had me nodding in agreement (I mostly write software).
Not specific to the schedule thing, but I may start responding to all “inadequate” meeting requests with this: http://third-bit.com/2018/05/11/meetings.html
Half my invites fail the first point: Decide if there actually needs to be a meeting
That Makerâs Schedule, Managerâs Schedule is the truest thing I’ve read since someone pointed out that the Black Panther movie is an Alt-Right parable.
He’s right in that must sound ridiculous to outsiders, but that’s totally true for me.
It makes perfect sense. Whenever I have an appointment to be somewhere, the hours before it are often wasted as I fret over getting interrupted with the need to leave, or worse, getting too absorbed into what I’m working on and missing it. Doesn’t matter what the place or task is, if I have to physically be somewhere at a given time, it grinds away at the productivity before it. For this reason I like a work schedule where I have to depart for my commute effectively the moment I’ve completed my morning routine. If I have an hour or two to kill, it gets wasted with clock watching.
That article and the “love your work” article are both hitting the nail on the head.
I weighed in at 308 earlier this week. That falls into the category of “stable”. Yet somehow I feel fatter than ever (fatter even than when I was at my weightiest).
As you know, feelings are not facts. Stable is good! You’ve accomplished so much since you started on this path!
I’m not going to ignore the numbers that say objectively I’m healthier than I was two years ago. But I also can’t ignore the fact that I feel awful (In a esteem-related way not in a sickly way) when looking at my situation. If I can figure out why I feel this way, I can address it.
Sounds like your weight loss/fitness goals are going well. Maybe you need to talk to a professional about your body image/self-esteem? Maybe your upcoming road trip will give you a little space to clear your mind? Good luck bro.
I feel the same way. Its apparently a very common thing.
I heard this first from a barbaric clinic, and then again from a lot of people who have lost weight. But we are really bad at observing our own body’s loss of fat. When just looking at myself in the mirror, I didn’t think I had lost any weight when I was down 50 lbs. My wife was adamant that I have. So I put together some side-by-side pictures and stared at them for a long time. I sort of see it now sometimes. And sometimes I don’t.
This is just a normal thing that happens when you lose weight. I don’t understand the mechanism, but I track as much as is reasonable and focus on that. That includes selfies of myself with and without my shirt on, selfies every week of my face, measuring calves, thighs, hips, waist, chest, neck, forearms and biceps. I also keep clothing that I wore at my heaviest – pants that used to be a little snug on my hips now can’t even hold onto my gut, but I expect them to fit. I have this one gray polo shirt that I’m 100% will never fit and it goes on no-problem.
Does this work? Sometimes a little. Some times not at all. I meditate a few times a week, and I focus on this sometimes. That’s usually enough to put me at piece with the issue even if it doesn’t correct it.
So you went to Britan’s NHS?
This is just a normal thing that happens when you lose weight.
This. Happened when I was 200lbs, happened when I was 300lbs, and has happened everywhere in between.
I had a good week. Ate mostly keto and didn’t miss a workout. Played some hockey this week and I felt pretty fast. If I keep along this course I should be in great shape by the start of the season.
I am down a few pounds, havent weighed in over a week, so don’t know for sure. I have been following my moderate carb diet and walking nightly.
o/t….Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer issues a less-than-convincing defense of his client:
I thought rich guys always had ace lawyers?
I messed up this week and missed a good breakfast a few days.
Back to 145.
3000-3500 a day is hard
Really need to get past 155.
It always strikes a note of dissonance in my mind when I hear someone trying to gain weight.
It wouldn’t be so bad if the second I mess up I lose like 10 pounds.
Didn’t. You know what I mean.
I will refrain from joking about how you are half the man I am (by mass)
Good luck man. I have no conception of what it must be like to have to eat more and having a hard time doing so, but I imagine it can’t be fun.
Can you just like main-line cooking oil? Body builders make protein shakes with heavy cream or oil, and those can have up to a thousand calories.
yeah, it looks like a cup of heavy whipping cream has 800 calories. 2 scoops of Isopure protein powder would be 200 calories. Thin with water. Could you do that?
Yeah that’s a good idea for my morning.
I’m up at 5 to get to work and it’s easy to end up eating an English muffin and banana.
I’m usually good to get over 1000 every meal, but if I skip breakfast it’s really hard to catch up.
I used to make a shake in a blender with: 1 peeled and frozen banana, 1 scoop whey, 1 spoonful of peanut butter.
You could easily add another scoop of whey and some heavy cream to that.
Stolen recipe
I do about 3000/day for fuel – that’s not too hard. (Try chocolate milk; actually quite healthy, especially after exercise, *if* you can burn the calories.) But one summer in my mis-spent youth involved biking across the country, which required about 4500/day… and that’s a bitch, especially on the road.
Chocolate milk I’m getting by the half gallon now. A glass after dessert before bed. It really is a big help.
Lurker since day 0 here. I’m a recreational endurance athlete who is losing weight in a small part due to GlibFit, although not exactly on the GF 1 & 2 timelines.
My most competitive race each year is the Bataan Memorial Death March (civilian heavy division). I decided to get my body fat hydrostatically tested after the race this year (it was March 25th; I got tested on the 29th). I was 21.95% body fat. That was an eye opener. I was kidding myself that I was leaner. Oh well, that leaves more room for improvement.
Starting on March 31st, I logged all of what I was eating and on April 2nd I also added my daily starting weight (184#). I got down to 165.25 by May 16th, then I let my weight stabilize a bit so my body would be under less stress for the Cruel Jewel 100 (a 106 mile event with 33,000 feet of gain), which was last Friday through Sunday. I finished in under forty hours, so I think I gained fitness as I was losing weight. My starting weight this morning was 165.5.
In addition to the calorie log, I’m doing almost intermittent fasting, in that I have no calories after 7pm and I do my morning cardio before breakfast (except on Saturdays and maybe Wednesdays). When not on a taper or during recovery, I run 13.1 miles Mondays and Fridays, 8.9 miles Tuesdays and Thursdays and some distance (probably 13.1 miles) with a 40 pound pack on Wednesdays. Sundays I ride my bike 35 – 70 miles, depending on what I do on Saturday. Most Saturdays it’s a several hour trail run / hike, although this coming Saturday I’m competing in a 5k 35 pound ruck race.
My goal is to get down to 156 pounds and then to fuel myself before my morning cardio (and during my longer morning sessions) and then fine tune. Much of what I’m doing is based on the book _Racing Weight_, with my current weight loss protocol being a variant of the “Quick Start” described in that book.
FWIW, for the last couple months I’ve been working on a Glibertarians article on ultra running, but as I write I get so anxious that the crayon snaps in half and then my tears turn my hard written sentences into slush. Actually, I’m just lazy as fuck.
This dude loves acid, too.
It’s definitely an issue that divides the ultra community, but I am indeed a huge fan of LSD.
Can you/do you train or compete on acid?
Iâm about to head out for my daily 10 mile run, right after I smoke this joint.
I apologize for the poor attempt at humor, but in the distance running community, there’s a bit of a debate over the merit of “Long Slow Distance”, and that’s the LSD that I’m an advocate of.
However, I did eat a lot of acid, back in the hippie days, although my hippie days were back in the early eighties. I’m not _that_ old.
Somebody here (I think? Might have read it elsewhere) mentioned running on LSD and described it as euphoric.
Its just that fucking dragon chasing you that makes it less fun.
Time is hard.
Always impressed by runners like that. It seems brutal
Just the opposite. Current thinking is the runner’s high is due to endocannabinoids. I do the vast majority of my running at a 130 bpm heart-rate and I get the runner’s high about thirty minutes into my running. Free drugs, FTW.
Who knew. I used to run but ruined my knee racing gs a while ago.
I run 13.1 miles Mondays and Fridays, 8.9 miles Tuesdays and Thursdays and some distance (probably 13.1 miles) with a 40 pound pack on Wednesdays.
My knees hurt.
My right knee used to give me trouble six miles in when I started running (nine years ago). Over time the distance required to make it chirp crept up slowly, but eventually went away. BTW, I’m in Albuquerque if you ever want to grab a beer.
For sure. Alien sometime?
I haven’t tried jogging in a couple years, mostly on account of some terrific shin splints and aching knees the last time I spent a few weeks at it. I’m not heavy, but I’ve never been athletic. I stick to cycling or elliptical.
Although I haven’t checked with her, my guess is that if you email SP and ask for my email address, she’ll give it to you or forward your email address to me. If that doesn’t work, I’m sure we can figure out some way to be at the same bar at the same time and to recognize each other.
^ my handle at gmail works. I’ll try to remember to check it… I’ve made the same promise to bearded hobbit and another lurker here a couple of times.
The palanquin carried by orphans should be obvious enough.
Dude, what a cool story! When I was a runner, I used to think about training for an ultra.
But then I got high…
Congrats and get cracking on that article!
I have had zero interest in ultras after running a full. Half marathons were my happy distance before getting fat. I did a 25k (El scorcho in Fort worth is a 25k/50k), and I’d probably be willing to do that again when i get back in running shape.
Also… whatever, Tulpa.
You and I have very similar builds. I’d love to go from within a couple pounds of your target to with a couple pounds of your now. I think I’ll pick up that book.
start, not target.
So get unlazy and finish the article. We’re waiting!
/taps watch
I am enjoying the living hell out of some fried chicken right now.
By enjoying I mean….
Laying in bed smeared with grease and sweat and tears?
This guy gets it
I’m mostly concerned with losing inches. The scale keeps bouncing between 219 and 214, which is annoying, but I’m down from a size 18 in February of 2017 to a size 14 now. I’m doing lower carb. Bowl of multigrain cheerios with whole milk in the morning, salad (mixed baby greens and cherry tomatoes) with 2 over-easy eggs on top for lunch, my afternoon snacks tend to be things like string cheese and mixed nuts, although sometimes I’ll have hippy fruit snacks (organic, all natural, blah blah blah) if I’m wanting something sweet. Dinner is a big chunk of some kind of meat (steak, beef roast, lamb roast, pork chops, chicken breast, etc.), veggies, and a smaller amount of something carby (homemade mac-n-cheese, potatoes, something like that).
I hate exercise for the sake of exercise for the most part, although I like taking walks around my property (5ac, front acre is cleared, the other acres are woods or overgrown field, all with walking trails cut through) and have a pair of 10lb dumbbells I’ll exercise with sometimes (no place for a proper weight set right now, but I’m planning on putting a basic weight set and bar, flat bench, and punching bag in the shed whenever we get that built). Most of my exercise is my daily walks around the property, now with ~25lbs worth of textbooks in a backpack on my back because simply walking got too easy, and yard work. Weeding, setting up garden beds, tending to my vegetable plants, taking the slingblade and clearing paths out back, and right now during dewberry season going out and picking berries.
Goal between now and the end of August when my wedding is, is get down as close as I can to a 32″ waist. When we first got the house a year ago February, I was at 40″, and now I’m down to around 34.5″ (I haven’t measured myself in a couple months, last measurement was 35.5″ and I’ve shrunk back into some more of my older clothes since then). I seem to have my diet dialed in, it’s just a matter of staying active and burning calories at this point. Although, if my weight stays over 200lbs (it probably will), I know that no matter what I look like, I’m going to get the “you need to lose weight or you’ll die of the diabetus and a heart attack” speech at my checkup in early August. I hate the current obsession with BMI the medical profession has– even at my skinniest (130lbs, 28″ waist) when I was 18, which was too skinny for me since I always felt a little ill and was starting to lose muscle mass despite lifting weights 4-5 days a week, my BMI was in the ‘obese’ range since i’m 5’4″.
BMI is bullshit. At least on its own.
If you have a body fat % below 32%, a high BMI is correlated with longevity (assuming female). If its above 32% a high BMI is associated with less longevity. The number is 30% for men. But in any case, lower body fat and higher BMI is always better, so don’t stop just because you are below 32%.
So assuming your body fat is <33%, tell your doctor that you'd like to buy him a gift certificate to that new bistro that opened up across the street and while he's there he should eat a bag of dicks.
Actual LOL. I’m using that.
Yes, female. I’m really not sure what my body fat % is, checking the Navy calculator you linked to (and the Army calculator on the same page agrees, roughly) I’m around 37%. The other body fat calculator on that site that also takes arm measurements into account puts me around 26%. A different navy calculator linked to last GlibFit had me around 32%. I’m down to the point that you can see muscle just from normal movements (not flexing) in my arms, chest, and legs. My butt has firmed up to mostly muscle, although I’m never going to have a flat skinny girl ass. The two places I (at least obviously, looking in a mirror) carry the most weight are my stomach and that same area around the back (stupid fat roll at the bottom of my ribs), and my boobs. The boobs aren’t going anywhere– in my family, you never lose boobs, you either gain, or you lose everything else but boobs. It’d just be nice to flatten my stomach out, and be able to wear backless dresses again.
Good to know that my BMI, even when I’m skinny ‘obese’, is actually a good thing. I know what throws it off– I’m naturally extremely muscular. I’ve always joked that I can lay around on the couch and build muscle. Untoned muscle, so it looks like flab, but then I’ll deadlift a 100lb server without thinking about it, or carry a 40lb bag of soil across the yard.
I also like the bag of dicks comment, I might use that. đ
That’s awesome! You’re doing great.
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!
Process report:
Goal: 1500 calories, < 30 carbs/day
Calories – Average calories this week was 1506.
Carbs – Average carbs this week was 23
Keto question – My wife has been doing some reading on line, and says that carbs which don't spike insulin or take you out of ketosis don't have to be counted (e.g. cream in bulletproof coffee). Also, carbs in things like kale don't count towards your daily limit. My thought is that carbs are carbs, and provide energy by breaking down into sugars which your body burns instead of burning body fat. I'm curious what y'all think.
That sounds like net carbs – i.e., subtract carbs from fiber (which largely pass through you) from total carbs.
What she’s reading says that even the net carbs from kale are not important. I’m probably a bit too literal, but when people say “Oh, it has carbs but they don’t matter because x y z” it sets off alarm bells in my head.
The purpose of carb counting is to keep your insulin from going up high enough to kick you out of ketosis. Everyone resistance is different, some need less, some are ok with a bit more. Everyone processes slow carbs at different speeds. Best way to find out is trial and error. I had to keep a count because the whole “slow carbs” thing did spike my insuline. It doesn’t for some other people.
Ok, that makes sense. I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks.
Veggie carbs are offset by the fiber and aren’t really worth worrying about. From Mark Sisson:
You could still count the carbs of other things, but if you’re that low, I’m sure you’re cool. Nice job, btw!
I could eat enough salad greens to throw me out of ketosis. Did, once or twice.
But, it should be noted, my appetite is really huge. Its how I got to 420 lbs in the first place, and lots of people couldn’t eat enough to get there if they tried.
Yeah. There is almost no chance I could accomplish that.
But your point is a good one. Everything is individual. No such thing as one size fits all.
Thanks. That quote helps me make sense out of it. Like I say above, I tend to be pretty literal, so having the reasons behind that will help shut me up.
Finishing week 3 of MTI’s ruck-based selection plan. Distance rucks are a tad slow but getting faster. Feeling leaner than when I was lifting heavy, definitely feeling the hardening effect of all the volume.
Good to see everybody making progress here, hope you guys continue to crush it.
Looks like fun. Are you training for something specific? Thought about the Bataan Memorial Death March? It’s a super great cause and very inspiring.
Selection. I’ve heard about the Bataan memorial march, haven’t had the opportunity to do it yet though.
If that’s up your alley, I’d recommend GoRuck events if you haven’t checked them out already. Their Tough event is doable by just about anyone in reasonable shape, and if that suits your fancy, I’d recommend doing a Heavy as well. Nice challenge and a solid gut check for anyone who likes loaded endurance.
So, when you say “Selection”, does that mean you’ve re-enlisted or thinking of re-enlisting and then doing the actual SFAS course?
I’m not military (just a military brat who is also a member of Team RWB, so I hang out with more military people than the average civilian does), so I don’t understand the process, but my impression was you had to be active duty for SFAS.
As for me, I’ve certainly thought about the various GoRuck stuff; there’s a lot of overlap w/ Team RWB. However, I have a pretty packed calendar as it is, and I have a fairly regimented BMDM training plan that I stick to, so it hasn’t happened yet.
Just busted out my short-shorts for jogging in hot weather. Between those, my Xero sandals, and my fanny pack wherein my CZ-75 Compact is tucked, I’m probably the goofiest looking jogger in town.
The moral is: Don’t worry about what people think of you when you’re exercising. A lot of people I talk to are hesitant to go to the gym or go out jogging because they’re scared of people judging them. Just remember that there are two kinds of people who will be watching you exercise: The kind who have been where you are before, and the kind who wish they had the guts to do what you’re doing.
There is a third type of person (my personal favorite) that will be watching you: The kind that thinks you’re hot and can’t stop staring when they think you’re not looking.
It might take a bit to get there, but that’s where you’re headed.
That’s crazy talk.
I believe in you, UCS!
Easier said than done.
And you’re leaving out the third category of people – assholes without empathy or context who will judge you, even if they’ve been there (though many have not)
If people are judging, they do it in their heads and that’s their problem. I have never, ever, gone to a gym and seen anyone get disparaged or openly judged. I’ve only ever run into encouragement (sometimes some awkwardness too) from other fitness people.
My guess is that if you were to actively behave in an openly judgmental way at the gym (like that one chick did when she took a picture of that naked lady at the gym), you will get judged 100x harder by the community at large.
It’s that silent mental judgement that hurts the most, because even if no one notices you, you still think they’re doing it.
There is a reason I can’t exercise in front of other people.
I get what you’re saying, and I sympathize (and even empathize to a certain point). That being said, its really about mental toughness and just getting over it. Everyone else can fuck off. If you pay your membership dues, you have a right to be there.
Yep. I used to have some pretty bad social anxiety, but you’d be surprised how quickly that anxiety withers and dies when you run around town shirtless on a regular basis.
Or when one of the ripped kids at the gym asks for lifting advice.
That line of Planet Fitness ads were on point.
What’s this now?
A playboy model took a snapchat picture of a woman at the gym without her knowledge or consent. She sent it out with a message along the lines of “I can’t unsee this, and now neither can you.
Needless to say, the world at large really crushed this playboy model. Sure, some people might judge you, but almost everyone else would defend you trying to better yourself at the gym.
Ugh, what a haughty cunt.
Don’t be the guy hulking out on free weights and grunting way too loudly, and nobody will judge you.
I judge, actually. If the stationary bikes are all occupied and you’re lazily cycling along at ~4mph, I judge you.
If you get a stationary bike to move, that’s an impressive feat. Everyone else will be pedalling away and not budging.
If this bike’s a-rockin…
I’m about to face plant?
That’s why I’ve always been scared to go to the gym
No way, Doom. If you want to go, go. Everyone there is less then they could be. It’s the work that matters.
Buy Rippetoe’s Starting Strength and follow it. You’re young enough to really get benefit from it.
If 175#, 5’3″, 24 year old ME can work up the courage to walk into the entirely male-dominated weight room and pick up a barbell… so can you.
ETA: Tundra has some awesome advice. Starting Strength is where it’s at, especially if you’re new to lifting. Do it. After you’ve been at it for a few months, you’ll be kicking yourself for not starting sooner.
I really should. The one in town is cheap, and as a uvm employee I can is any one there
I’m only going to encourage you. And the way you’re trying to eat (that is, lots!) is consistent with how they want you to be eating to get the most out of Starting Strength. They have a channel on YouTube, and they talk a lot about form, common errors with new lifters, etc. I think you would get a lot of value out of both the book and the channel.
Thanks. I’ll subscribe and look for that book
Yes. For youngsters he recommends GOMAD (gallon of milk a day). You’ll put on 30 pounds in no time and you’ll be a lot stronger.
Win-win!
Well I do like milk.
Don’t think for yourself DOOMco, just give in to social pressure!
Relevant.
No one cares what you look like as long as you’re being courteous and not doing dumb rookie shit.
I like to talk shit about Planet Fitness for doing counterproductive shit like free pizza and donut days but I think their underlying ethos is spot on. People just wanna improve themselves without putting up with bullshit judgment.
Late reply – they were making me work (see, Rufus?). I totally failed this week. Hoping to hit the gym tomorrow to get started again. Those weights ain’t gonna lift themselves!
Every morning is a new opportunity to have a great day! You’ll get back on track.
I did not do better this week. I indulged in some candy at the beginning of the week. I had some shit at work that had to take precedence over the gym. I’d say I did as good as did during the last GlibFit challenge.
The gym scale says I lost 0.3 lbs, which I’ll call zero. I’m still at 283 lbs.
0.3 is 0.3 not 0!
Not to corpsefuck this thread, but I don’t think that’s exactly how it works. To summarize: while it’s true that C,in – C,out = ÎC, it’s also true that C,in – ÎC = C,out. This leaves out how the body responds to different foods differently and other factors, like the role of hormones, etc. Since don’t have any studies to link to at my fingertips and don’t want to bother, I will say that personally I have been at greatly reduced caloric intake while exercising daily with a mix of weights and cardio and not lost a pound, but when I upped my calories I began to lose weight. This goes against that theory. Also, over the course of a year (a few years back) I counted calories and exercised a lot and over that year lost about 15 lbs. Then, because of life and ADD I stopped exercising altogether. I also stopped counting calories and ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted — except no grains or sugar, just whole foods. I lost 15 lbs in 3 months. I know these are just anecdotes, with an N of 1, but it only takes 1 example to disprove a universal statement.
In the end, though, the best diet is the one that makes you feel good, helps you accomplish your goals and that you stick to. I’m currently in the end of a 3 week carb binge caused partly by living with a pregnant woman –my wife– and moving. I’m hoping it ends soon as the heartburn I get from carbs is killing me and the gas I get is killing her. But the beer is good, when I can find a place that sells something other than IPAs. Good luck to everyone on accomplishing their goals.
Last week I reached – and then broke my one-mile times running: first I did a 9:57 mile, then with Lord H accompanying me, I broke that time by a whole minute. So I guess it helps to have someone with me.
ttfn!
Congratulations! A minute off is huge!
Thanks, I was truly surprised.