mochac

Hey all, question for those of you who have some experience lifting heavy. I've been running Stronglifts since the spring, and am very happy with my progress - planning to keep doing it until I can no further with the program. Recently the weight has become what I would call quite heavy. For example, the past couple weeks I've felt like I may actually fail a squat rep (haven't yet though). Along the same timelines, I've noticed that I'm experiencing a lot of additional DOMS. Like most people, I was pretty sore after the first few workouts but it got better pretty quickly. Now that I'm lifting 'heavy' (for me anyways) I feel sore again. Is this normal? Should I just power through? Does it get better? Your excellent wisdom is appreciated!

The Slight Edge is a little known book that - for me anyways - was absolutely paradigm shifting. I also enjoy reading Stoicism, even though it's a bit faddy these days - A Guide to the Good Life is what's on my bedside table right now, and it is a very practical intro to the practice of stoicism.

One of my favourite fitness people is Ben Greenfield. I dug up an old podcast where he addressed this question. I'd urge you to review the entire answer, but in particular I want to highlight a specific passage: Ben: So let’s tie all these together – what all these comes down to is that if your goal is to burn fat and build muscle at the same time: a.) you need to be in a calorie deficit and it looks like that calorie deficit should fall somewhere between 500 and 1,000 calories more than what you’re actually eating, okay? So if you find out that your total body’s daily needs are 3,000 calories per day to sustain everything that you’re doing, you’d undercut that and you’ll eat some over between 2,000 and 2500 calories per day. And you would combine that with the one thing that seems to somehow cause your body even in the state of calorie deficits to increase protein synthesis or to at least maintain protein synthesis – and that is resistance training, that’s weight training. Brock: Yeah. Ben: Okay, so the other very, very important things that you’re not be at a protein deficiency, and if you want to not be at a protein deficiency, anyone easily do this without risking not being a calorie deficit you would include things like amino acid capsules or amino acid powders which are a low or no calorie sources of protein that can enhance or maintain the rate of protein synthesis without dumping extra calories into your body. Now, I know that this seems to defy the laws of thermodynamics that you would somehow be able to have a maintain rate of protein synthesis in the absence of adequate calories or in what would seem to be a catabolic state but the fact is that there are multiple studies out there that show that the combination of adequate protein resistance training and a calorie deficit allows you to indeed burn fat and build muscle simultaneously. So the last thing, the last recommendation that I would have for you so that you don’t risk thyroid issues or like the starvation mode, long term of potential down regulation of your metabolism while doing something like resistance training with the calorie deficit, I would have at least one week – a one day per week or potentially depending on your level of physical activity, one meal per day that’s more of a refeed either carbohydrate refeed or a calorie refeed. So let’s say, let’s choose the calorie refeed – that’s gonna be the simplest example of how to do this from Monday thru Saturday, you would eat let’s say, 2500 calories if you know that you actually need 300 calories. You’d get adequate protein meaning you would never want if you want a number, you would never wanna undercut protein by more than 0. – you need to get at least 0.55 g of protein per lb. of body weight, okay? That’s the minimum amount of protein that you need to maintain muscles 0.55g of protein per lb. of body weight. And then on a Sunday, you would eat 3500 calories, right? An ad libitum calorie day to ensure that you don’t down regulate your metabolism because within about 4 weeks of consistent calorie deficits combined with physical activity, you’ll tend to see a down regulation of thyroid hormones. Read more https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/2015/08/episode-328-full-transcript/

Depending on your macros, you can also carb cycle. I.e. Do 100% of your carbs on workout days. Non workout days would be 0 carb, which isn't actually bad for you and gets easier the more you do it. I think most supplements would be good money after bad, but creatine may be a worthwhile investment.

You should be super proud, good work man.

Breakfast foods are my favourite foods! If you're looking for a good paleo option, you can't beat bacon and eggs. I always add in copious amounts of vegetables like kale, mushrooms, onions, garlic, and green peppers to make it more filling. Personally I practice intermittent fasting, so I don't eat until about noon. If you're looking to lose weight, I'd highly recommend giving it a try. SInce I love breakfast foods so much, I'll often have breakfast for dinner.

Has anyone here ever noticed a link between what they eat and their mental health? For a longtime I've suffered from a mild-to-moderate form of depression. It's not debilitating - rather it comes and goes in waves. It's not that I'm bipolar, but my mood goes from low to 'normal' (I define normal for myself as rationally optimistic) about once a week. There are periods of time where this is more pronounced than others. On Sunday I fell into one of the deepest bouts of depression I've ever experienced. I just felt absolutely hopeless and profoundly sad. Today I'm feeling much better. Not 100%, but better. Now I know that as humans our ability to manage depression is limited. Perhaps there was nothing I could have done to prevent this depressive episode. But I have a hypothesis that may explain the cause - and while I'm going to test it out, I wanted to start a discussion about the link between diet and mental illness. I normally eat a paleo diet, specifically avoiding wheat and dairy. But on Friday and Saturday (before the depressive episode struck on Sunday) I consumed some pretty unhealthy meals that included rice, cheese, bread, and a lot of beer and sangria. Now it's not unusual for me to allow a day or two a week when I deviate from my diet. I'm at the point in my fitness journey where I don't feel the need to be incredibly strict. But I'm wondering if there was a causation involved in my particularly glutenous diversion from my normal diet and my depressive episode? That's what I'm going to find out. I'm going to be 100% strict in my diet for the next two weeks. Then I'm going to isolate the two variables (wheat and dairy) by consuming wheat every day for a week, and then dairy every day for a week. Throughout I'll be tracking my mood. In the meantime, I'd love to have a conversation about this with all of you!

I am in Ottawa!

A little summary of the challenge: First of all, I'm going to arbitrarily give my self a B. I wanted to weigh 198lbs. I ended up at 201lbs. I wanted to run 5KM in 30 minutes. I didn't achieve this, and what's most disappointing is that I could have if I was more disciplined in dragging my butt to the gym. My best time was 32:15. I failed at going to the gym five days a week. In retrospect, this was too ambitious because if I missed one day, it basically threw off my week and I didn't feel motivated to go. I was very successful t intermittent fasting. I was relatively successful at eating paleo, although there was a week where it was hit and miss. I did a good job picking three important tasks to focus on each day. Even when I didn't pick my tasks, I was generally productive.

Thanks for asking Tanktimus! Things got busy last week so I didn't update everyday, but here is a summary: Week in review: -im not sure what my weight is today. At one point this week it was down to 202lbs but it's probably gone up a bit. I'll check in the morning. -Very poor week for exercise. In fact, I didn't go to the gym once. I'm starting a new job tomorrow and my plan is to make half hour in the gym before work part of the routine. Shooting for 5/5 and 5KM in 30 mins this week! -IF 5/5. This has become fairly routine. -Paleo 3/5. No excuses. -Three goals each day 7/7. My productivity has been great. It will be interesting to see how this goal is imemented in my new job. So overall not a great week. I attribute my shortcomings to being busy training my dog not to have seperation anxiety. I could claim that kept me out of the gym, but I'm not going to make excuses. Despite the bad week, I still have one more week to hit my goals and they are in spitting distance: 5k in 30 minutes and weigh 198lbs. I can still achieve them, or at least come very, very close.

Update from yesterday: Diet: -Paleo: no. (2/5) -IF: Yes. (3/5) Exercise: -No. (0/5). Lifestyle: -yes. (4/7)

Update from yesterday: Diet: -Paleo: Yes. (2/5) -IF: Yes. (2/5) Exercise: -No. (0/5). Note that I now need to exercise every day this week to hit my target this week. Lifestyle: -Was a productive day. (2/7)

Update from yesterday: Diet: -Paleo: Yes. (1/5) -IF: Yes. (1/5) Exercise: -No. (0/5) Lifestyle: -Was a productive day. (1/7)

Update from yesterday: Diet: -Paleo: No. I was fasting all day yesterday, and everything went great until about 9PM. I was at the movies and ate quite a bit of popcorn before remembering that I was fasting and that popcorn isn't paleo lol. Oh well. (4/5) -IF: Yes. (7/5) Exercise: -Yes. I ran 5KM on the TM at 5.8 in 32:15. (4/5) Lifestyle: -Yes. (5/7) Week in review: -Unchanged. Still at 205. I was down to 204 at one point. This is a bit discouraging because I want to weigh 198 by the end of the challenge. -From running 5K in 32:45 to running 5K in 32:15. I can do better. -IF 7/5. This is becoming an easy habit to implement and I love the benefits. -Paleo 4/5. Opps. -Exercised 4/5. Even though I almost hit my goal, I'm disappointed I didn't run intensely more often. That's my goal afterall this month. -Three goals each day 5/7. Although I missed two days, this has helped my productivity. Reflections for the week ahead: I'm happy with my progress. I need to keep my diet on point to hopefully see my hard work pay off on the scale. I also need more frequent intense workouts.

Update from yesterday: Diet: -Paleo: No. My goal is to be paleo five times a week, and yesterday was a planned divergence. I had a beer and quite a lot of pizza- and man did I feel it in my gut. Although I didn't like what I saw on the scale yesterday, I'm kind of glad I indulged like I did because it was a poignant reminder of how what we put in our bodies affects how we feel. Back on the paleo wagon today, and I'm planning a 24 hour fast. (4/5) -IF: Yes. (6/5) Exercise: -No. I'm starting a new job in a week, and I *hope* I can make going to the gym each morning part of my routine. Normally I'm great about working out, but it's been a challenge lately for some reason. (3/5) Lifestyle: -I didn't set my three goals, but I have a good excuse. I've been so productive this week- on both high and low yield activities- that setting three goals seems kind of pointless. It's not to say that I'm at peak productivity, but I'm definitely getting lots done. I'm going to continue this goal once I start my new job because that's when I think it'll make a real difference. (4/7)