10 Miles Back Again

dagill2 · February 20, 2019, 1:43pm

That sounds like a pretty good set up. What does your 2 year old do at the Y?

Frank_C · February 20, 2019, 2:02pm

They have what’s called Kid Zone. For about $18 a month I can put my kids in there for two hours a day. Both of my kids like going so it’s a win-win. They do crafts, story time, watch movies, or just play with toys. They also have a play place like you’d see at a fast food restaurant.

My son loves pushing big trucks around. They have one that’s about 18" tall and he just pushes it back and forth like he’s pushing a prowler.

dagill2 · February 20, 2019, 2:07pm

That sounds like a pretty good set up. I think I should spread some of these ideas on this side of the pond.

dagill2 · February 20, 2019, 2:59pm

Quick ab circuit while the babies are asleep. Few rounds of whatever I can do quietly.

dagill2 · February 21, 2019, 10:05pm

Quick circuit this morning because I got on the treadmill and just couldn’t face another 20mins of monotony.

Mix of swings, battle ropes, various ab stuff, sandbag clean and press.

Oh, and a quick (ish), 2k on a rower.

dagill2 · February 26, 2019, 10:13pm

Enforced deload week this week. Works just gone absolutely mental so training just isn’t likely to happen.

Scales arrived today and weighed in at 187.2lbs, which is a good 10+lbs over where I thought I’d be and barely an improvement on last weigh in. My approach is no longer working, so I think I need to be rethinking this.

Frank_C · February 26, 2019, 10:42pm

Sorry to hear about the bad weigh-in. I’m sure you can find a new plan somewhere around here.

jackolee · February 27, 2019, 5:10am

i work 1/2 days Monday and Friday so training is easy on those days. Tues through Thursday I schedule myself for a two hour lunch. Eat in 15-30 minutes and then train. End up with a 10-11 hr day but makes my training schedule work

jackolee · February 27, 2019, 5:12am

If you need any nutrition help I’d be happy to put a meal plan together for you. Let me know

dagill2 · February 27, 2019, 1:59pm

Thanks for the support guys, it was just a bit of a kick in the teeth.

Massively appreciated. I’m unlikely to ever make a strict eating plan work, because I just enjoy food too much, but I may well run some ideas past you. What are your thoughts on low fat diets for someone in my position? My main concern is that if I cut all fat sources out, I’m going to impact my T levels and I would imagine they are already pretty low.

jackolee · February 27, 2019, 2:05pm

That’s impossible to gauge unless you get some comprehensive bloodwork done. Would be good info to have regardless. Look at your cholesterol, lipid profile, liver enzymes etc.

As far as low fat goes, it’s the approach I prefer. I’ve done high fat low carb and my cholesterol got out of wack and I simply found the food to be tedious.

It’s gonna be one or the other. Cut the carbs or cut the fat. You could do a balanced approach and simply cut the portions, but IMO progress will be much slower. I want to diet for as short a period as possible

dagill2 · February 27, 2019, 2:17pm

I have no idea how I would go about getting that done in the UK without tying up an already under stress NHS or breaking the bank. I just assume I have low T because of years of inactivity and shitty diet choices, stressful job and 4-5 hours sleep most nights. I might be wrong but either way it’s unlikely to change how I approach things.

I feel i had better progress with low fat and injust don’t enjoy eating any fat sources, so I’m quite happy to cut them out and see what happens.

Thanks for the advice.

Frank_C · February 27, 2019, 2:18pm

CT’s recent article about nutrition has some reasonable guidelines.

if you’re cutting then multiply your weight by 11
determine your protein needs
subtract protein calories from total calories
multiply that by 40-60% for carb needs
fat is what’s left

Here’s an example with a 200 lb person.

200 x 11 = 2200
protein goal is 1g per lb of body weight, so 200g (could be more or less)
200 x 4 = 800 calories from protein. 2200 - 800 = 1400 remaining calories
1400 x 40% = 560, 1400 x 60% = 840. That means you get 560-840 calories from carbs, or 140-210 grams of carbs
that leaves you with 560 - 840 calories for fat which is 62-93 grams

Make sense?

dagill2 · February 27, 2019, 2:26pm

It does, thank you. This was roughly the approach I used to set up my nutrition when I started this journey about 9 months ago, from a Nate Miyaki article I believe. I think I just allowed myself to play with it too much so the progress stopped coming.

There is also a thought in my head that I’ve been running a deficit, sometimes a hefty one, for the best part of a year now with a few very brief gaps like Christmas and maybe my bodies just starting to rebel against that. It also occurs to me that in that time I’ve gone from struggling with 40inch waist trousers to having to fit a belt to my 34’s because otherwise they end up round my ass. I might still be too fat, too weak and too unfit, but I’m doing far better now than I was. It’s a long process.

dagill2 · February 27, 2019, 2:27pm

In the interests of being lazy, do you have a rough number for a fairly active person looking to maintain?

Frank_C · February 27, 2019, 2:33pm

Well, the same article suggested to multiply by 16 if you’re trying to gain muscle. I’m eating 2500 calories for my cut now. I decided to split the difference between 11 and 16 and multiplied by 13.5 and it came out to 2900 calories.

I used to eat 3000 calories to maintain at one point so I think that’s close. I used my goal weight of 215 to come up with that so it makes sense that it’s lower than my old 3000 calorie plan.

I feel like I’m so deprived of my pleasures (like bread) so I was curious how much more I could eat once this is over. I was hoping for a bigger number

By the way, nice work so far! That’s a hell of a drop in the waist size. I think long cuts or even short term super strict cuts can mess up your metabolism and hormones. A break might be a good thing.

dagill2 · February 27, 2019, 2:38pm

Bread is probably my biggest weakness in nutrition. I can cut everything else out for long periods but I’ve never managed to cut bread out for too long.

And yeah, I’m thinking a quick, concentrated effort at eat more and exercise more might help me a lot. I don’t know how much of that is my brain telling me it’s a good idea and how much is my stomach but I’ll give it a try.

Rizla81 · February 27, 2019, 2:45pm

Some GPs if they are kind will run the labs needed. They might not run a full screen but will possibly run the basics, or you could do what I do as I’m from the UK also and use medichecks online. For a complete TRT test check Plus lipids, thyroid etc. You get sent a kit to draw the blood and post it back. Test results are back within 2 days. The cost is around £120, that will cover everything you need.

dagill2 · February 27, 2019, 2:51pm

Thanks, I may look into that.

dagill2 · February 27, 2019, 3:04pm

Right, plan of action for next week onwards:

Diet:
2750 calories a day (to be adjusted based on weight changes taken on a Monday and Wednesday)

45% Protein (Meat, eggs, whey, casein, milk)
45% Carbs (oats, rice, bread, milk)
10% Fat (trace, in other foods)

@jackolee, any obvious issues?

Training will be based on mass made simple, t-nation version. Squat and bench 5s PRO FSL every session, followed by high rep squatting and complexes. I may add a dedicated shoulder day every 3rd training day because they’ve been ignored for far too long and become the weakest of weak points. It also gives me the option to train 2 days running if the opportunity ever arises. Cardio and abs will be done several times a week of some kind, wherever possible.