It has begun.
This will be a brief log in that I won’t have time to do daily check-ins or anything but do want to maybe at least weekly report on where I’m at. Also make some observations along the way.
I began on Saturday, January 7. My box of Biotest showed up the day before. Bodyweight 219, scale records a BF% of 30%. Whether that’s accurate or not, I’ll see what that scale says at the end for this measurement. My long term goal weight is probably 185-190. I am 5’8". I haven’t been under 200 in a very long time. I did get down to 206 right before my wedding in October, which required many hours of walking incline on the treadmill last summer. Between holidays and rebounding, I got right back up to my 210-220 weight that I’ve been at for a long time.
I will use Dan John’s Easy Strength routine and make sure to get my daily walks in. This is usually 2x30min easy walks with the dog (stopping every 5 seconds to sniff something) and 35+min on the treadmill with an incline. I have noticed positive changes on this routine even before dialing in the diet. I want to say I’ve already noticed positive changes in the last couple of days, which might even be true due to less water retention with less carbs and sodium?
Some tips I can already share with those looking to start:
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Start on a day off! I started on Saturday, when the only things I had to do were read and enjoy my day. I was feeling kind of irritable by dinner time, so if I had to work on my first day of this thing I would have probably gotten fired. Working out when being used to having carbs might also have been a little tough. This feels like it was a great move.
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I don’t know what the factor was, but sometime on Saturday afternoon I felt pretty jittery, so I took a nap, and ended up eating a banana after my 3rd shake. I wasn’t sure if it was not sleeping enough the night before, the shock of not having carbs in my stomach before having coffee, or a weird reaction to one of the supplements. On Sunday I did all the shakes, no supplements. Did fine, no secret banana. Today I reintroduced Micellar Curcumin with the first shake and feel fine. Tomorrow I will reintroduce the Flameout. I would suggest getting yourself used to these supplements ahead of time - I guess I just didn’t handle the shock of all these factors at once.
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I really do feel full most of the day. I have sometimes subsisted off of a couple shakes in the AM when nothing else was available but have not felt satisfied. There’s definitely something to this formula.
Will check-in next week.
I see a lot of logs that don’t have 4-week conclusions, hope to not become one of those 
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Awesome! Welcome aboard! Any questions, drop 'em here.
“Secret banana” means something different at my house.
Awesome!! I just ordered my kit as well and will be using this 4 weeks as my last 4 weeks of prep heading into my first show. Good luck, can’t wait to see the outcome!!
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Week 1 results:
-Down from 219.x to 213 even today. Scale says bf is down to 29.8%
-Expect that some of that is less water retention, but still motivating
-Wednesday night I felt insane hunger pangs. Successfully resisted and did not have any midnight snacks. Nothing to report since then.
-Generally feel satiated from the shakes. My general schedule is 8AM, 12PM, 3PM, workout, 6PM (HSM), 10PM. Yesterday I think around 3:30 I was like “oh yeah, should probably have another shake.” I was hungry, but not counting down the minutes as I did the first few days.
-One day for my two “lunch” shakes I did each one with one scoop of vanilla and one scoop of chocolate. But the flavors kind of canceled each other out and it almost tasted like nothing, so back to alternating full vanilla & chocolate shakes. No real need for variety yet anyway, just wanted to try it out.
-For me at least, drinking water sort of solves itself. Not sure if it’s the diet or one of the products but I feel thirsty almost all the time, more than usual. I tend to drink a lot of water anyway, so this hasn’t been an issue, but I’ve noticed feeling really parched this past week.
Training wise, Easy Strength has been going well - each day the reps feel easier and I hope to come out on the other side of this ready to crush some big weights. I also got a doorframe pull-up bar so have been doing one pull-up every time I pass it in the house.
3 weeks to go! 
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Week 2:
-214 today, scale says bf is still at 29%
-No hunger pangs, no cheating. BUT I have definitely been moody, and so without demonstrable progress it makes you question “is it worth it?”
-Should have been doing waist measurements to have something else to measure. Similarly, daily weigh-ins to see trends, rather than a weekly check-in.
-I “think” I look better. I have taken pics every Saturday and they sort of look better? I feel good.
-Workout did not go well yesterday, felt weak in the half kneeling press. Got all 2x5 reps but they didn’t fly up as usual.
Now for some context:
-One of the worst work weeks possibly ever, so stress has been up.
-As a side effect, time has been down which has hindered my bigger treadmill walks. Plus it rained a shit ton this week. I know I know. But rain sucks. I’d rather walk in snow, uphill both ways with no shoes.
-Wife had a nasty flu beginning last Saturday that she just got over yesterday, still coughing a lot though. I did not get sick but I’m sure my immune system was working overtime to that end. I take a 1000mg Vitamin C every day already.
-Had hibachi last night. Probably plenty of sodium and other things that make weight seem higher
Not one of these things, but a perfect storm of all, must be to blame here.
So I ended up sleeping til 10:30 this morning!
I re-read @Dan_John’s log from last fall and saw also weight up, weight stagnant, etc. until another big drop. So I KNOW it will happen. Just need to keep truckin’. I do wish that the dates were on the forum posts so I could see whereabout in the process that stagnation was. They’re all just labeled “Aug '22”
Plan for this week is to measure the dinners more. I have been going by feel and been eating some pretty good stuff. But maybe time to tighten it up. Also hopefully the work situation chills out and I can get the walks in, get some good sleep, and the Mrs. no longer being sick will keep the house as a healthy place.
2 weeks to go! 
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211 all week, 29% bf. Obviously this scale’s bf measurement is incorrect because there are definitely visual changes happening. Technically I think you’re supposed to like stand on it with wet feet or something so I dunno. Guessing it works through sending an electric impulse through one foot and back through the other. I figured at least if the measurement was “consistently incorrect” that it would be worth using.
Kicked up the workout intensity a little bit. Still Easy Strength style, no failed or forced reps, but I guess there’s a difference between easy strength and lazy strength.
Oh did I say work would get better this week? Well, someone was fired on Monday whose responsibilities I had to take over. So that’s been nice. On the subject of the workplace though, the way Dan John invokes the excuse of “what if I HAVE TO eat the birthday cake that’s in the office every day” is pretty funny. This past week we hosted interview candidates and had Jimmy John’s lunches for the team. Leftovers would go into the kitchen - I sent out the e-mail saying there’s leftover half sandwiches and chips and the people were like vultures. People taking 2-3 bags of potato chips back to their desks. I mean, get a grip on yourself. I was never that person before but I’m definitely even less that person now after cruising through the V-Diet.
I will say though, honestly, if you’re doing things right most of the time eat the damn cake that shows up once every couple of months. But if you’re eating cake at home every night and then say “well I HAVE TO eat it in the office!” you’re like the drunk that says “studies show one glass of red wine is good for you!”
Rolling into week 4, while the bf% on the scale has not moved I’ve noticed that I will very soon be able to pull my pants up a bit higher, my shoulders are bigger, and my mid-trunk is more solid. In the meantime I’m just thinking about having a solid breakfast of eggs again next weekend! 
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Yeah, I had one of these way back when and I would get different “body fat percentages” throughout the same day. Hydration levels can throw them off, among other things. I only believed the really low measurements. 
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I clocked in at 209 this morning. I think 10 lbs in one month is a fine result, considering the “standard” is what a pound a week or even a half a pound a week?
I would like to think I could have done more without so much god damn stress and a little more sleep & walking.
I haven’t craved garbage food, and am looking forward to continuing the journey. I think the V-Diet would be a great annual thing to do for maybe just like 2 weeks every January after getting through the holiday season. Take the pressure out of meal planning for awhile, reset the palate, and strip off some of that fresh fluff. The truly ideal format would be to do it while not working and being able to sleep 10+ hours per night. Most people when they take vacations though want to relax & indulge so it would be sort of counterintuitive!
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