Sab's thread
Replies
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Since I've posted in this thread before - thought I'd update that my formerly bare bones google doc MFP data file now has graphs too - Tracking weight against calories (two y axis no less) among other things. Interesting note is that weight is very stable - I guess because Kcal consumption is within a quite narrow band. I don't do strength training but have upped my running distance to about 10km (once or twice a week) - cause cardio gets me feeling good.
Hi, and thanks so much for the updated spread! It's really remarkable how small the variation is over the two years over which you have maintained - it's practically insignificant! Awesome job.
I definitely don't have a long-term spread, but for the short and very short term, I noticed that weight-ins were a lot more stable when I was eating less carbs.
For kittens and giggles, here's my data from the beginning of the year, days and weekly + monthly averages. I lacked consistency in recording the weight, but to be fair, January was the month in which I went 1,200 kcal and saw nothing, day after day. I kept with it, but wasn't motivated to record.
I just discovered this post. It's nice to go through because I just started the Strong Curves program, well I'm on week 4 so I'm a third of the way through. I really should take measurements.
Yup, it would be a good idea to do so! How do you like it so far?0 -
SabAteNine wrote: »
Well I did take measurements after the first four weeks, and I went back and found measurements that I had taken back in May, which I figure are probably pretty darn close to what I was when I started the program because my weight is about the same. my measurements did change a little bit. Waist and Thigh down a quarter inch and my hips up a quarter inch (woo woo) but I compared my pictures and I look exactly the same LOL. It's been 4 weeks so I wasn't expecting any change though. I like the program overall, although I find it to be a bit long. It takes me about an hour to get through. I also don't like all the hip reps. 20 rep squats? It's even worse when it's a single leg exercise like step up, or single leg RDL. It takes forever. I will say I'm cheating and I'm adding weight to the glute bridge and now hip thrust when I'm supposed to be doing bodyweight!3 -
SabAteNine wrote: »
Well I did take measurements after the first four weeks, and I went back and found measurements that I had taken back in May, which I figure are probably pretty darn close to what I was when I started the program because my weight is about the same. my measurements did change a little bit. Waist and Thigh down a quarter inch and my hips up a quarter inch (woo woo) but I compared my pictures and I look exactly the same LOL. It's been 4 weeks so I wasn't expecting any change though. I like the program overall, although I find it to be a bit long. It takes me about an hour to get through. I also don't like all the hip reps. 20 rep squats? It's even worse when it's a single leg exercise like step up, or single leg RDL. It takes forever. I will say I'm cheating and I'm adding weight to the glute bridge and now hip thrust when I'm supposed to be doing bodyweight!
Congrats on the progress! It's not nothing, you know. But it takes time... a whole lotta time.
I totally understand the frustration with the high reps AND the bodyweight issue.
I did the very same thing with adding weight after figuring the glute bridge and hip thrust were too easy. Single-leg things are WAY too boring and long, fully agree! Also for squats... I started with the normal and box squat as foreseen, but went on to goblet squat pretty fast (which my arms hated because the programme supersets with upper body exercises)... and then barbell. Working out from home and in lieu of machines, I had to adapt or replace quite a lot of exercises, so it doesn't much look like Curves now.
Particularly for squats though, I don't have an issue so far with the high reps because I do not have a squat rack. So basically I can't squat more than I can overhead press... and that is, to date, 20 kg / 44 lbs. I do that for 3 sets of 20 squats while working towards being able to lift more overhead while still tired from supersetting with military / incline / bench press.
I have a completionist mindset so if I see 15-20 reps in the programme I will want to hit 20, and a 2-minute plank will have to be a 2 minute plank - that's not always the perfect way to go.
Personally, I don't mind the total duration. If it's only 3 times per week, I want to make sure I get the proper full body that leaves me in a pool of sweat. And I add a tiny bit of extra because I don't feel the programme tackles some of the parts that I would like to focus on sufficiently (such as the triceps).2 -
SabAteNine wrote: »Hi everyone, and happy Monday!
I’m entering maintenance now and would really use a few workout and dietary suggestions from you more experienced and knowledgeable people around here. I’ve been reading around, but nothing compares to contextualized advice
Basic stats:- 29 and female
- 169 cm / 5’6-5’7-ish
- 57 kg / 125.5 lbs (GW)
Measurements:- Waist: 66 cm / 26 in (went down from 31.5)
- Hips: 97 cm / 38 in (went down from 42.5)
- Bust: like a 12-year-old with extra padding, please don’t ask for specifics
- Thigh: 55 cm / 21.5 in, which is pretty thick but then again my legs seem like my only powerful bodyparts.
Here's how that looks:
Started off way back from 155 lbs and only recently kept track again. Since beginning of January (oh, new years’ resolutions!) I have lost 11 lbs. What worked:- 1450 cal intake for feb-apr (my BMR’s about 1350 cals and I am routinely walking about 12-15k steps per day plus quite a bit of stairs). Wanted to go slow and steady.
- Staying at 20g carbs per day (C/P/F - 5/30/65) because I am turning into a monster if I get a taste of bread.
Online calcs out there put me at about 1850-ish calories per day for maintenance, but the actual loss of the last three months indicates more like 1750 (400 cals over BMR).
So the plan would be to increase intake to 1750, and increase weight training (every other day). It shouldn’t be too hard to get a positive outcome of the latter, seeing as how I’m basically at near-zero now and can’t overhead dumbbell press more than 5 kg, 2x10, for the life of me. Also, I'm right-handed and my left calls quits WAY before.
I have a set of dumbbells going up to 25 lbs at home and a barbell up to 50. I would like to continue to use these for the moment.
Question nr. 1: Does the 1750 cals sound like a good starting point to you guys? Should it be more right from the start if I weight train?
Question nr. 2: Could you recommend a weight training plan for beginners which uses bodyweight, dumbbels and barbell? I do not have a bench unfortunately but plan on getting one asap.
Question nr. 3: Should I increase carbohydrate intake in maintenance if I’m looking to recomp? I am asking because it feels much better staying at the lower end of the carb scale, but as far as I got to read, it’s a trade-off between efficiency / effectiveness of recomp (better with carbs) and my own personal preference (better without carbs). Ultimately I can change my preference if the advantages are worth it.
Thanks so much in advance!!!
Sabina
Frk your body looks great! Fantastic job! Do you have before and afters anywhere?2 -
IHaveMyActTogether wrote: »SabAteNine wrote: »Hi everyone, and happy Monday!
I’m entering maintenance now and would really use a few workout and dietary suggestions from you more experienced and knowledgeable people around here. I’ve been reading around, but nothing compares to contextualized advice
Basic stats:- 29 and female
- 169 cm / 5’6-5’7-ish
- 57 kg / 125.5 lbs (GW)
Measurements:- Waist: 66 cm / 26 in (went down from 31.5)
- Hips: 97 cm / 38 in (went down from 42.5)
- Bust: like a 12-year-old with extra padding, please don’t ask for specifics
- Thigh: 55 cm / 21.5 in, which is pretty thick but then again my legs seem like my only powerful bodyparts.
Here's how that looks:
Started off way back from 155 lbs and only recently kept track again. Since beginning of January (oh, new years’ resolutions!) I have lost 11 lbs. What worked:- 1450 cal intake for feb-apr (my BMR’s about 1350 cals and I am routinely walking about 12-15k steps per day plus quite a bit of stairs). Wanted to go slow and steady.
- Staying at 20g carbs per day (C/P/F - 5/30/65) because I am turning into a monster if I get a taste of bread.
Online calcs out there put me at about 1850-ish calories per day for maintenance, but the actual loss of the last three months indicates more like 1750 (400 cals over BMR).
So the plan would be to increase intake to 1750, and increase weight training (every other day). It shouldn’t be too hard to get a positive outcome of the latter, seeing as how I’m basically at near-zero now and can’t overhead dumbbell press more than 5 kg, 2x10, for the life of me. Also, I'm right-handed and my left calls quits WAY before.
I have a set of dumbbells going up to 25 lbs at home and a barbell up to 50. I would like to continue to use these for the moment.
Question nr. 1: Does the 1750 cals sound like a good starting point to you guys? Should it be more right from the start if I weight train?
Question nr. 2: Could you recommend a weight training plan for beginners which uses bodyweight, dumbbels and barbell? I do not have a bench unfortunately but plan on getting one asap.
Question nr. 3: Should I increase carbohydrate intake in maintenance if I’m looking to recomp? I am asking because it feels much better staying at the lower end of the carb scale, but as far as I got to read, it’s a trade-off between efficiency / effectiveness of recomp (better with carbs) and my own personal preference (better without carbs). Ultimately I can change my preference if the advantages are worth it.
Thanks so much in advance!!!
Sabina
Frk your body looks great! Fantastic job! Do you have before and afters anywhere?
Thanks!
I have something from when I was first considering maintenance and I started surfing the forum and getting me some friends. I'm around 123.5 and plan on slow bulking for about 10 lbs. This below is more of a timeline, and 2010 is not the highest point I was, but this is pretty much all I have. I hadn't had my picture taken at all for a long time. I am now shamelessly compensating with the Selfie thread.
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I have no advice to give, as I'm not where you're at yet, but just to offer congratulations. You've done an amazing job.
Love that look of self-satisfaction in the 2018 pic.1 -
IHaveMyActTogether wrote: »I have no advice to give, as I'm not where you're at yet, but just to offer congratulations. You've done an amazing job.
Love that look of self-satisfaction in the 2018 pic.
Thank you! I mean it's only taken 8 YEARS to achieve what I wanted weight-wise
- but I'm there. Progress on body comp is probably going to be just as slow, but I'm not racing. 5 -
Well it's been a month, so here is my update. I'm not sure if this thread is where it's supposed to be though, because I am not really maintaining. So.. as mentioned above, the plan is to slow / lean bulk a bit. Until Christmas. If things don't look dramatic by then, then maybe a bit more, too.
So far, so good:
It'll be fun, and a bit ironic, to finish the year close to the same weight with which I started it, desperate to lose a few. Goes to show just how little the scale matters in the end, when you're building muscle.
And I am doing that. SLOWLY (I think my glutes are retarded, by the way). Last week I moved from the 3x full-body workouts that I was doing to 4x upper-lower split. I was looking at PHUL, but for some of the power exercises I need a rack. In any case, splitting was definitely necessary because my legs were not recovering between workouts and with using them a lot daily on top.
I'm really curious about what'll happen next. I totally destroyed my programme this week because I am away, no gym, and there is too good a food getting thrown at me... but it's just a week. So after that, onwards to glory we go.6 -
OK guys, it's been 6 months since I started this, so I figured I should make a small update / comparison / thing. I doubt there will be a lot of readers, but for any few, I'm going to try to make a short recap (the TL;DR version).
I reached my goal weight (125.5 / 57 kg) exactly 6 months ago and the plan was to maintain it.
Only I started lifting then as well - with dumbbells, at home, wherever I could (with a house in renovation, this meant sometimes the bathroom. I'm serious). After a small initial weight surge, the lbs continued to keep dropping (slowly) as I added progressively to my cal allotment. In July I reached 121-122 and thought... okay, why not bulk? Certainly THAT can help me lift more and progress. And it looks like it's doing so.
Graphically, here is how my last stretch since January went (I initially started WAY back with a bit more to lose):
^see? down and then back up again. First inflection end of april is the start of the would-be "maintenance". I am now a little over my initial goal weight, and plan to return there after the bulk, soooo... TECHNICALLY, this is still the correct sub-forum for the thread. Right?
Notes and observations looking back:- I was losing until April on 1450 cals. Then I started to lift some weights and started eating at 1750 cals. Then 1800. 1850. 1900. I am now gaining on 2150-ish (some days 1900, other days 2400 and two whole chocolates), but without any cardio other than walking, and it's not that much walking lately.
- It was AMAZING for me to see how my maintenance calories go up. Seriously. I was blown away by just how much I could eat and still lose. Unfortunately, that faded quickly and now sometimes I am disappointed by how little I have to eat to gain in the rhythm that I aim for. I swear, I'm starting to realize that cutting after a bulk might be psychologically more difficult than the losing people normally do.
- Macro-wise, hitting protein (ca. 150 g) is the easiest for me. Then comes fat... then come carbs, which I oftentimes do not hit because alcohol has calories too, and something's gotta give. 40/30/30 is the compromise between my taste, preference and problem-free digestion on one hand, and my performance with the weights on the other. I plan around the different kinds of protein that I feel like eating for the day, then the rest kinda get filled up. If I'm low on carbs or workout in the evening, the last meal is milk / Greek yogurt + protein powder + muesli / cornflakes + oats. Then dark chocolate. Always dark chocolate.
- I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having adjustable dumbbells. Especially in the beginning. It's a time, space and money saver. Also, don't be an idiot like me. Invest in a rack and a pull-up bar.
- Calculating the 1 RM through strengthlevel.com, here is the progress on the random lifts I was doing in the beginning and which are now incorporated into my workouts:
- Bench press (11 lb dumbbells for 8 sets) - 27 lb 1RM. My latest bench (48.5lb*12) - 70 lb 1RM
- 1 arm db row 1RM then = 16.5 lb, 1RM now = 41 lb. This was my strongest progress, and I love doing them.
- Hammer curls - 1RM then = 13.7 lb, 1RM now = 27.3 lb. Weight doubled from 11 to 22 lb.
- OHP - very hard for me in the beginning. 1RM in the first weeks was like 22 lb. My current is 44 lb. It is still weak but I had to read a lot on form to better understand it.
- My initial squat was bodyweight. I dabbled in Strong Curves for a while. Then added a bit with dumbbells, (2*11 lbs). I am scared of going into the low rep range with squats, still. I do not have a cage. My latest squat was 88lb*10, 4 sets. 1RM - 118 lb.
- Deadlift - I was not doing it in the beginning. I started small, had to buy more plates for it, and I am still continuing small. Last deadlift was 110 lb for 10 reps, 147 lb 1RM.
- I started working out with dumbbells only, with this. Then I tried Strong Curves for a while. But then I wanted more upper body exercises so I started doing a full-body routine which consisted of lunges / squats, deadlifts / hip thrusts, bench presses, tricep extensions, rows, curls, and a few ab exercises. Then I started seeing some progress. And then a month ago I came to the conclusion that I no longer can sustain working legs 3 times per week so I switched to PHUL... or a variation thereof (power and hypertrophy for the upper body, hypertrophy for the lower body twice, since the 4-6 rep range scares the kitten out of me still for squats and deads).
- I have a set of adjustable dumbbells, small 15 lb bar and plates up to 132 lb for it. More when I outgrow it. I also have a bench with the leg extension thingie, which I am using because... quads!
- Looking back, I switched too early, too often. I like what I do now and I see progress from workout to workout, so I am going to keep at it like this for as long as it's worth it.
- There is definitely good definition in my upper body and I can see progress with my stalling lower body. I CAN. It's there. Maybe not the glutes, not really, but it's there.
- I don't sleep enough. I never realized just how important sleep is for recovery and growth until recently. Eat. Train. Sleep. Hydrate. That's really it..
Okay, that's all I can think of right now. And in closing, here's a picture from yesterday. I was meaning to take progress pictures for this post but alas, I am travelling for work again at the moment and my pjs are not exactly fitting the purpose.
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Congrats - you look great! And... inspire me to keep lifting. Like you I started with just a small set of adjustable dumbbells - the transformation is incredible. I've been adding more and more equipment including barbell and my newest addition is a pullup bar.
What kind of rack did you get?5 -
Congrats - you look great! And... inspire me to keep lifting. Like you I started with just a small set of adjustable dumbbells - the transformation is incredible. I've been adding more and more equipment including barbell and my newest addition is a pullup bar.
What kind of rack did you get?
Thanks so much! Having adjustable *anything* for progressive overload is really essential. And I envy you for the pull-up bar.
Regarding the rack... I didn't. I have assistance on the squat and bench, which are the only two lifts where I need the rack so far. I am torn between investing in one (with all the unfortunate and impossible storage problems it brings to the small apartment) and carrying on like this until I outgrow my weights and I get a gym membership.
The other side of the home/gym/investment conundrum is that we are currently trying, so I have no idea when I will have to revisit my goals. Right now my goal is to get as far as possible as fast as possible, until that happens.3 -
You look amazing! What you are doing, what you've achieved over this period of time, is exactly what I aspire to do. Thank you for sharing both your experience and all of the data you've collected through the process
So far I haven't been able to get past the mental hurdle of adding more calories and seeing my weight go up. You've inspired me to go for it. I never intended for my weight to be as low as I've been maintaining this year and I shouldn't allow it to mess with my mind as much as it does to gain a bit back in a controlled way along with my time in the gym.3 -
colorfulcoquette wrote: »You look amazing! What you are doing, what you've achieved over this period of time, is exactly what I aspire to do. Thank you for sharing both your experience and all of the data you've collected through the process
So far I haven't been able to get past the mental hurdle of adding more calories and seeing my weight go up. You've inspired me to go for it. I never intended for my weight to be as low as I've been maintaining this year and I shouldn't allow it to mess with my mind as much as it does to gain a bit back in a controlled way along with my time in the gym.
Thank you!
The struggle with the scale, it's real. It was painfully real for me, especially since my measurements did not change that much in the last months. Luckily, I shot past my goal enough to have a "mental cushion" - a range of 4-5 lbs which I could put on during my bulk while continuing to be around my goal weight. I am just now entering new (or old?!) territory... the weight above my GW. But in these last three months I've inched upwards, I desensitized myself a bit.
One thing I do is I weigh myself daily. I *need* to, for curiosity purposes - it's a habit. Seeing how much you can fluctuate from one day to the next also helps with the scale panic.
Good luck to you! With a consistent programme, you won't even need it. One thing to ask yourself is, "what can go wrong?". Yes, you can put on more fat than muscle. Sure... why not. But didn't you lose before? You know how to do it. You got it. Bodies are wonderful machines, and perfectly programmable. The mind, though, is a bit more chaotic.4 -
What a truly remarkable job you've done these last months! The part about restarting a deficit after maintaining and bulking couldn't be more true, as far I'm concerned. I love that you share your thoughts and journey so eloquently and intelligibly. Thank you!!! p.s. You look incredible2
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What a truly remarkable job you've done these last months! The part about restarting a deficit after maintaining and bulking couldn't be more true, as far I'm concerned. I love that you share your thoughts and journey so eloquently and intelligibly. Thank you!!! p.s. You look incredible
Oh Don, you wonderful human you. My achievement is tiny compared to yours, but hey - I'll take it!
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So starting a few days ago, this thread has another name - thanks to a great moderator around here. That's because 1) the old name was not representative anymore, 2) well... it's mine, and 3) I was never known for inventiveness anyway.
I don't have much to update apart from that. My weight is going up steady(ish... and accelerating due to *all the chocolate*), and I PR'ed a barbell curl last week (43 lb * 8), after which I got something very much like shin splints in my radius. Not fun, but on the mend.
Cheers, MFP!7 -
So glad you said you changed the name. I saw the change a couple of days ago and got confused.
Way to go on the curl.
Cheers, h.2 -
middlehaitch wrote: »So glad you said you changed the name. I saw the change a couple of days ago and got confused.
Way to go on the curl.
Cheers, h.
Thanks, H! Took my bloody time to announce it
Went for dumbbell curls today (upper hypertrophy - 16.5 lb per hand *12) and the hand's fine. I think the straight barbell restricts / twists the forearm in a way which caused me grief. Will stay away.1 -
SabAteNine wrote: »middlehaitch wrote: »So glad you said you changed the name. I saw the change a couple of days ago and got confused.
Way to go on the curl.
Cheers, h.
Thanks, H! Took my bloody time to announce it
Went for dumbbell curls today (upper hypertrophy - 16.5 lb per hand *12) and the hand's fine. I think the straight barbell restricts / twists the forearm in a way which caused me grief. Will stay away.SabAteNine wrote: »middlehaitch wrote: »So glad you said you changed the name. I saw the change a couple of days ago and got confused.
Way to go on the curl.
Cheers, h.
Thanks, H! Took my bloody time to announce it
Went for dumbbell curls today (upper hypertrophy - 16.5 lb per hand *12) and the hand's fine. I think the straight barbell restricts / twists the forearm in a way which caused me grief. Will stay away.
I like dumbbells better for curls too. Started too low for a bar and by the time I tried bb it was not 'natural' feeling. I think it also helps me with the left-right dominance unbalance.
Cheers, h.0 -
middlehaitch wrote: »SabAteNine wrote: »middlehaitch wrote: »So glad you said you changed the name. I saw the change a couple of days ago and got confused.
Way to go on the curl.
Cheers, h.
Thanks, H! Took my bloody time to announce it
Went for dumbbell curls today (upper hypertrophy - 16.5 lb per hand *12) and the hand's fine. I think the straight barbell restricts / twists the forearm in a way which caused me grief. Will stay away.SabAteNine wrote: »middlehaitch wrote: »So glad you said you changed the name. I saw the change a couple of days ago and got confused.
Way to go on the curl.
Cheers, h.
Thanks, H! Took my bloody time to announce it
Went for dumbbell curls today (upper hypertrophy - 16.5 lb per hand *12) and the hand's fine. I think the straight barbell restricts / twists the forearm in a way which caused me grief. Will stay away.
I like dumbbells better for curls too. Started too low for a bar and by the time I tried bb it was not 'natural' feeling. I think it also helps me with the left-right dominance unbalance.
Cheers, h.
Yep, using dumbbells definitely feels more natural and pushes both arms to the same degree. I switched to dumbbells after my barbell mishap and it's way better.
Short update on my side:- My slow bulk got a bit too much wind in the sails lately, and with Christmas around the corner I'll slightly reduce the intake (cutting out from carbs) on my rest days:
- It's great to see just how much proper nutrition, a small surplus and training consistency can contribute to performance enhancement. Since middle of August, my 1 RM for bench (which was very very weak) improved by almost 25 lbs. And my 1-arm dumbbell row, which was decent to begin with, improved by 12.5 lbs. That's really not bad. Of course, I get that progress *will* slow down at some point, but for now I'll take as much as I can get!
Out of curiosity, is there anyone here having a profile on strengthlevel.com? I made one (you can find me with sabimproves) because I like the insights they're giving. And it's always fun having a benchmark.1 - My slow bulk got a bit too much wind in the sails lately, and with Christmas around the corner I'll slightly reduce the intake (cutting out from carbs) on my rest days:
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Congrats on your gains!
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Thank you!
It's not that much yet and I am still into beginner territory... but I guess that's really a good thing, because things are continuing to progress fast. Even with running my own adaptation of a programme at home.1 -
A few thoughts. I've been reading so much about motivation, and lack thereof around here.
Motivation is highly overrated. If we were to run on motivation strictly, the vast majority would be unemployed, unshaved, binging Netflix and icecream at noon... probably. I know my house would be a mess. I would be living in utter disaster. Do I feel motivated to wash the dishes? Absolutely not - I still do it, because I respect my living environment. How about arriving at work on time? No, no and triple no - I still do it, because I respect my job and my employer. Ultimately, do I feel motivated sticking with my macros, with the training, with the programme? Whenever I don't, I just remind myself that I respect my own person enough to do it.
It's just discipline. And routine.
My routine isn't perfect - I suck at waking up in the morning and it takes an hour to be able to turn into a human being, so my workouts happen twice during the workweek evenings, and Sat + Sun at decent enough hours. But I haven't skipped the 4x workouts per week in the last two months, since I started separating upper / lower body, and it feels good. Some of these workouts were like "I KNEW it would feel great afterwards, even though I literally had to drag my *kitten* to do it in the first place".
Motivation is really fleeting. We keep feeding it with things of the past and planning rewards (cheat days, a couple of beers) and in the end all that does is perpetuate the dependence cycle. So for now, I just want to stick to the schedule - my short-term goals of gaining, cutting, lifting more.
Still, there are *some* things motivation-wise that DO bring in a great contribution to the ability to stick with it. Those are the NSVs And I have one. A tiny yet visible (barely, though) vein on my shoulder. Also, a trap which happened from rows, deadlifting and other compound exercises because I do not work traps specifically. But them and the delts are ahead, and miles in front of the lower body, which is sort of the black sheep of my muscle family.
Cheers!
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It's December, and since the 1st, I am smoke-free. This is it - this is my update. My NSV. My work in progress, still.
I've smoked for almost 15 years, the standard pack-a-day, and that is excluding a two-year break I had between 2012 and 2014. First time I quit, I decided to give myself 6 months to come to terms with it, and then quit cold turkey. It worked then, so it had to work now as well.
People go around this in a plethora of ways (reducing, taking 1-day, 2-day breaks, postponing etc) but I found that nothing short of cutting them, completely, cold turkey, would work. Have you seen Thank you for Smoking? I'm the guy that can disprove gravity, if that meant I could have another guiltless smoke. So if there is even a slither of a chance to reward myself for not smoking (by smoking of course), I WILL do it. It's all or nothing.
And so on the 1st of December, my quit day established around 4 months ago, I had my last. It could *really* be worse right now - I mean it! Barring a work-related meltdown, I'm surprised how well it's going, but to be fair, it's only been 2 days and a half. Which actually is more than I've ever gone without, except for those above-mentioned two years.
In any case, here is the plan for this last month of the year:- Quit smoking [check]
- Keep all the other habits the same (coffee, a glass of something, etc) - it will be difficult to unlink smoking from the other daily pleasures, but it would be more difficult and unsustainable to cut them out as well. Especially coffee. I'm having my second coffee right now.
- Slightly decrease daily cal intake (by 100). I am slow-bulking on ca. 2100, so I will move to 2,000 cals and re-assess in a couple of weeks. The reason is that smoking cessation has a direct effect on the metabolism, regardless of whether I will compensate with food or not. This is a fantastic article, but the TL;DR on it would be that cessation leads on average to a 4 kg weight gain over the next 12 months. I want to at least be aware of this and act accordingly, tightening my logging.
- Keep weight training, 4 days per week. In this sense, the day I quit I made a gym membership. Not because of an accountability issue (I work out consistently just fine at home), but because... all the weights! All the machines! Also, deadlifting comes much more natural with bigger-diameter weights.
My first gym workout was horrible and awkward and I wanted to drop everything and go, but still pushed through. My second one (yesterday) was better. Note: weights are converted from Kg, and I have no idea how much the 45degree sled for the leg press is weighing so I didn't put it in at all. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. Moving the workouts to the morning actually helps with getting productively busy and not letting „the devil's thoughts” in.
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SabAteNine wrote: »It's December, and since the 1st, I am smoke-free. This is it - this is my update. My NSV. My work in progress, still.
I've smoked for almost 15 years, the standard pack-a-day, and that is excluding a two-year break I had between 2012 and 2014. First time I quit, I decided to give myself 6 months to come to terms with it, and then quit cold turkey. It worked then, so it had to work now as well.
People go around this in a plethora of ways (reducing, taking 1-day, 2-day breaks, postponing etc) but I found that nothing short of cutting them, completely, cold turkey, would work. Have you seen Thank you for Smoking? I'm the guy that can disprove gravity, if that meant I could have another guiltless smoke. So if there is even a slither of a chance to reward myself for not smoking (by smoking of course), I WILL do it. It's all or nothing.
And so on the 1st of December, my quit day established around 4 months ago, I had my last. It could *really* be worse right now - I mean it! Barring a work-related meltdown, I'm surprised how well it's going, but to be fair, it's only been 2 days and a half. Which actually is more than I've ever gone without, except for those above-mentioned two years.
In any case, here is the plan for this last month of the year:- Quit smoking [check]
- Keep all the other habits the same (coffee, a glass of something, etc) - it will be difficult to unlink smoking from the other daily pleasures, but it would be more difficult and unsustainable to cut them out as well. Especially coffee. I'm having my second coffee right now.
- Slightly decrease daily cal intake (by 100). I am slow-bulking on ca. 2100, so I will move to 2,000 cals and re-assess in a couple of weeks. The reason is that smoking cessation has a direct effect on the metabolism, regardless of whether I will compensate with food or not. This is a fantastic article, but the TL;DR on it would be that cessation leads on average to a 4 kg weight gain over the next 12 months. I want to at least be aware of this and act accordingly, tightening my logging.
- Keep weight training, 4 days per week. In this sense, the day I quit I made a gym membership. Not because of an accountability issue (I work out consistently just fine at home), but because... all the weights! All the machines! Also, deadlifting comes much more natural with bigger-diameter weights.
My first gym workout was horrible and awkward and I wanted to drop everything and go, but still pushed through. My second one (yesterday) was better. Note: weights are converted from Kg, and I have no idea how much the 45degree sled for the leg press is weighing so I didn't put it in at all. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. Moving the workouts to the morning actually helps with getting productively busy and not letting „the devil's thoughts” in.
I am so very proud of you for making this big step, Sab. I've never smoked so I have no real idea how hard it can be to stop but I know it isn't easy for most people. I admire you for this and any encouragement or help I can offer is yours.3 -
SabAteNine wrote: »It's December, and since the 1st, I am smoke-free. This is it - this is my update. My NSV. My work in progress, still.
I've smoked for almost 15 years, the standard pack-a-day, and that is excluding a two-year break I had between 2012 and 2014. First time I quit, I decided to give myself 6 months to come to terms with it, and then quit cold turkey. It worked then, so it had to work now as well.
People go around this in a plethora of ways (reducing, taking 1-day, 2-day breaks, postponing etc) but I found that nothing short of cutting them, completely, cold turkey, would work. Have you seen Thank you for Smoking? I'm the guy that can disprove gravity, if that meant I could have another guiltless smoke. So if there is even a slither of a chance to reward myself for not smoking (by smoking of course), I WILL do it. It's all or nothing.
And so on the 1st of December, my quit day established around 4 months ago, I had my last. It could *really* be worse right now - I mean it! Barring a work-related meltdown, I'm surprised how well it's going, but to be fair, it's only been 2 days and a half. Which actually is more than I've ever gone without, except for those above-mentioned two years.
In any case, here is the plan for this last month of the year:- Quit smoking [check]
- Keep all the other habits the same (coffee, a glass of something, etc) - it will be difficult to unlink smoking from the other daily pleasures, but it would be more difficult and unsustainable to cut them out as well. Especially coffee. I'm having my second coffee right now.
- Slightly decrease daily cal intake (by 100). I am slow-bulking on ca. 2100, so I will move to 2,000 cals and re-assess in a couple of weeks. The reason is that smoking cessation has a direct effect on the metabolism, regardless of whether I will compensate with food or not. This is a fantastic article, but the TL;DR on it would be that cessation leads on average to a 4 kg weight gain over the next 12 months. I want to at least be aware of this and act accordingly, tightening my logging.
- Keep weight training, 4 days per week. In this sense, the day I quit I made a gym membership. Not because of an accountability issue (I work out consistently just fine at home), but because... all the weights! All the machines! Also, deadlifting comes much more natural with bigger-diameter weights.
My first gym workout was horrible and awkward and I wanted to drop everything and go, but still pushed through. My second one (yesterday) was better. Note: weights are converted from Kg, and I have no idea how much the 45degree sled for the leg press is weighing so I didn't put it in at all. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. Moving the workouts to the morning actually helps with getting productively busy and not letting „the devil's thoughts” in.
Awesome job on taking the first step. Good luck to you2 -
FitnTrimSteve wrote: »SabAteNine wrote: »It's December, and since the 1st, I am smoke-free. This is it - this is my update. My NSV. My work in progress, still.
I've smoked for almost 15 years, the standard pack-a-day, and that is excluding a two-year break I had between 2012 and 2014. First time I quit, I decided to give myself 6 months to come to terms with it, and then quit cold turkey. It worked then, so it had to work now as well.
People go around this in a plethora of ways (reducing, taking 1-day, 2-day breaks, postponing etc) but I found that nothing short of cutting them, completely, cold turkey, would work. Have you seen Thank you for Smoking? I'm the guy that can disprove gravity, if that meant I could have another guiltless smoke. So if there is even a slither of a chance to reward myself for not smoking (by smoking of course), I WILL do it. It's all or nothing.
And so on the 1st of December, my quit day established around 4 months ago, I had my last. It could *really* be worse right now - I mean it! Barring a work-related meltdown, I'm surprised how well it's going, but to be fair, it's only been 2 days and a half. Which actually is more than I've ever gone without, except for those above-mentioned two years.
In any case, here is the plan for this last month of the year:- Quit smoking [check]
- Keep all the other habits the same (coffee, a glass of something, etc) - it will be difficult to unlink smoking from the other daily pleasures, but it would be more difficult and unsustainable to cut them out as well. Especially coffee. I'm having my second coffee right now.
- Slightly decrease daily cal intake (by 100). I am slow-bulking on ca. 2100, so I will move to 2,000 cals and re-assess in a couple of weeks. The reason is that smoking cessation has a direct effect on the metabolism, regardless of whether I will compensate with food or not. This is a fantastic article, but the TL;DR on it would be that cessation leads on average to a 4 kg weight gain over the next 12 months. I want to at least be aware of this and act accordingly, tightening my logging.
- Keep weight training, 4 days per week. In this sense, the day I quit I made a gym membership. Not because of an accountability issue (I work out consistently just fine at home), but because... all the weights! All the machines! Also, deadlifting comes much more natural with bigger-diameter weights.
My first gym workout was horrible and awkward and I wanted to drop everything and go, but still pushed through. My second one (yesterday) was better. Note: weights are converted from Kg, and I have no idea how much the 45degree sled for the leg press is weighing so I didn't put it in at all. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. Moving the workouts to the morning actually helps with getting productively busy and not letting „the devil's thoughts” in.
I am so very proud of you for making this big step, Sab. I've never smoked so I have no real idea how hard it can be to stop but I know it isn't easy for most people. I admire you for this and any encouragement or help I can offer is yours.DawnOfTheDead_Lift wrote: »SabAteNine wrote: »It's December, and since the 1st, I am smoke-free. This is it - this is my update. My NSV. My work in progress, still.
I've smoked for almost 15 years, the standard pack-a-day, and that is excluding a two-year break I had between 2012 and 2014. First time I quit, I decided to give myself 6 months to come to terms with it, and then quit cold turkey. It worked then, so it had to work now as well.
People go around this in a plethora of ways (reducing, taking 1-day, 2-day breaks, postponing etc) but I found that nothing short of cutting them, completely, cold turkey, would work. Have you seen Thank you for Smoking? I'm the guy that can disprove gravity, if that meant I could have another guiltless smoke. So if there is even a slither of a chance to reward myself for not smoking (by smoking of course), I WILL do it. It's all or nothing.
And so on the 1st of December, my quit day established around 4 months ago, I had my last. It could *really* be worse right now - I mean it! Barring a work-related meltdown, I'm surprised how well it's going, but to be fair, it's only been 2 days and a half. Which actually is more than I've ever gone without, except for those above-mentioned two years.
In any case, here is the plan for this last month of the year:- Quit smoking [check]
- Keep all the other habits the same (coffee, a glass of something, etc) - it will be difficult to unlink smoking from the other daily pleasures, but it would be more difficult and unsustainable to cut them out as well. Especially coffee. I'm having my second coffee right now.
- Slightly decrease daily cal intake (by 100). I am slow-bulking on ca. 2100, so I will move to 2,000 cals and re-assess in a couple of weeks. The reason is that smoking cessation has a direct effect on the metabolism, regardless of whether I will compensate with food or not. This is a fantastic article, but the TL;DR on it would be that cessation leads on average to a 4 kg weight gain over the next 12 months. I want to at least be aware of this and act accordingly, tightening my logging.
- Keep weight training, 4 days per week. In this sense, the day I quit I made a gym membership. Not because of an accountability issue (I work out consistently just fine at home), but because... all the weights! All the machines! Also, deadlifting comes much more natural with bigger-diameter weights.
My first gym workout was horrible and awkward and I wanted to drop everything and go, but still pushed through. My second one (yesterday) was better. Note: weights are converted from Kg, and I have no idea how much the 45degree sled for the leg press is weighing so I didn't put it in at all. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. Moving the workouts to the morning actually helps with getting productively busy and not letting „the devil's thoughts” in.
Awesome job on taking the first step. Good luck to you
Thank you both!
It's not easy, but it doesn't have to be that dramatic, either. At least I'm one of those people who can naturally compartmentalize / shut down certain things that bug me, so as long as I keep busy, I keep clean.
Also, there are now apps for quitting (...I wonder if there is anything in this world for which there's NO app yet). They're nice and helpful and take you through a sort of health milestone journey, based on the effects of your quitting on pulse rate, oxygen levels, etc.
Would have been more fun if I wouldn't have gotten the mother of all flus right after quitting. „Your ability to taste and smell should have returned to normal by now” - yeah, if I *COULD* smell and taste anything, for kitten's sake.2 -
SabAteNine wrote: »FitnTrimSteve wrote: »SabAteNine wrote: »It's December, and since the 1st, I am smoke-free. This is it - this is my update. My NSV. My work in progress, still.
I've smoked for almost 15 years, the standard pack-a-day, and that is excluding a two-year break I had between 2012 and 2014. First time I quit, I decided to give myself 6 months to come to terms with it, and then quit cold turkey. It worked then, so it had to work now as well.
People go around this in a plethora of ways (reducing, taking 1-day, 2-day breaks, postponing etc) but I found that nothing short of cutting them, completely, cold turkey, would work. Have you seen Thank you for Smoking? I'm the guy that can disprove gravity, if that meant I could have another guiltless smoke. So if there is even a slither of a chance to reward myself for not smoking (by smoking of course), I WILL do it. It's all or nothing.
And so on the 1st of December, my quit day established around 4 months ago, I had my last. It could *really* be worse right now - I mean it! Barring a work-related meltdown, I'm surprised how well it's going, but to be fair, it's only been 2 days and a half. Which actually is more than I've ever gone without, except for those above-mentioned two years.
In any case, here is the plan for this last month of the year:- Quit smoking [check]
- Keep all the other habits the same (coffee, a glass of something, etc) - it will be difficult to unlink smoking from the other daily pleasures, but it would be more difficult and unsustainable to cut them out as well. Especially coffee. I'm having my second coffee right now.
- Slightly decrease daily cal intake (by 100). I am slow-bulking on ca. 2100, so I will move to 2,000 cals and re-assess in a couple of weeks. The reason is that smoking cessation has a direct effect on the metabolism, regardless of whether I will compensate with food or not. This is a fantastic article, but the TL;DR on it would be that cessation leads on average to a 4 kg weight gain over the next 12 months. I want to at least be aware of this and act accordingly, tightening my logging.
- Keep weight training, 4 days per week. In this sense, the day I quit I made a gym membership. Not because of an accountability issue (I work out consistently just fine at home), but because... all the weights! All the machines! Also, deadlifting comes much more natural with bigger-diameter weights.
My first gym workout was horrible and awkward and I wanted to drop everything and go, but still pushed through. My second one (yesterday) was better. Note: weights are converted from Kg, and I have no idea how much the 45degree sled for the leg press is weighing so I didn't put it in at all. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. Moving the workouts to the morning actually helps with getting productively busy and not letting „the devil's thoughts” in.
I am so very proud of you for making this big step, Sab. I've never smoked so I have no real idea how hard it can be to stop but I know it isn't easy for most people. I admire you for this and any encouragement or help I can offer is yours.DawnOfTheDead_Lift wrote: »SabAteNine wrote: »It's December, and since the 1st, I am smoke-free. This is it - this is my update. My NSV. My work in progress, still.
I've smoked for almost 15 years, the standard pack-a-day, and that is excluding a two-year break I had between 2012 and 2014. First time I quit, I decided to give myself 6 months to come to terms with it, and then quit cold turkey. It worked then, so it had to work now as well.
People go around this in a plethora of ways (reducing, taking 1-day, 2-day breaks, postponing etc) but I found that nothing short of cutting them, completely, cold turkey, would work. Have you seen Thank you for Smoking? I'm the guy that can disprove gravity, if that meant I could have another guiltless smoke. So if there is even a slither of a chance to reward myself for not smoking (by smoking of course), I WILL do it. It's all or nothing.
And so on the 1st of December, my quit day established around 4 months ago, I had my last. It could *really* be worse right now - I mean it! Barring a work-related meltdown, I'm surprised how well it's going, but to be fair, it's only been 2 days and a half. Which actually is more than I've ever gone without, except for those above-mentioned two years.
In any case, here is the plan for this last month of the year:- Quit smoking [check]
- Keep all the other habits the same (coffee, a glass of something, etc) - it will be difficult to unlink smoking from the other daily pleasures, but it would be more difficult and unsustainable to cut them out as well. Especially coffee. I'm having my second coffee right now.
- Slightly decrease daily cal intake (by 100). I am slow-bulking on ca. 2100, so I will move to 2,000 cals and re-assess in a couple of weeks. The reason is that smoking cessation has a direct effect on the metabolism, regardless of whether I will compensate with food or not. This is a fantastic article, but the TL;DR on it would be that cessation leads on average to a 4 kg weight gain over the next 12 months. I want to at least be aware of this and act accordingly, tightening my logging.
- Keep weight training, 4 days per week. In this sense, the day I quit I made a gym membership. Not because of an accountability issue (I work out consistently just fine at home), but because... all the weights! All the machines! Also, deadlifting comes much more natural with bigger-diameter weights.
My first gym workout was horrible and awkward and I wanted to drop everything and go, but still pushed through. My second one (yesterday) was better. Note: weights are converted from Kg, and I have no idea how much the 45degree sled for the leg press is weighing so I didn't put it in at all. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. Moving the workouts to the morning actually helps with getting productively busy and not letting „the devil's thoughts” in.
Awesome job on taking the first step. Good luck to you
Thank you both!
It's not easy, but it doesn't have to be that dramatic, either. At least I'm one of those people who can naturally compartmentalize / shut down certain things that bug me, so as long as I keep busy, I keep clean.
Also, there are now apps for quitting (...I wonder if there is anything in this world for which there's NO app yet). They're nice and helpful and take you through a sort of health milestone journey, based on the effects of your quitting on pulse rate, oxygen levels, etc.
Would have been more fun if I wouldn't have gotten the mother of all flus right after quitting. „Your ability to taste and smell should have returned to normal by now” - yeah, if I *COULD* smell and taste anything, for kitten's sake.
Hope you feel better soon.1 -
Happy 2019, folks! It's been a while.
In other news, I've ended the year with EXACTLY the weight that I started it with - 137 lb. So around 4+ lb above my initial bulking goal. My waist has gone up 1.5 inches since this summer. I'm around 135 now and started to cut. It's not SUCH a big fluctuation so it's basically still kinda... sorta... soooorta maintenance. It's a very rough period time-wise and work-wise so I'm trying to start slow.
Anyway, at the beginning of the year I made a list of things I'd like to achieve. It's on my wall, meaning it will get lost in a while, so I'm re-posting it here. Without further ado, these are my SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time bound) objectives for 2019 regarding health and fitness:- To slowly cut 7-8 lbs, until the end of April, with a deficit of about 250-300 cals per day – which shouldn’t be so dramatic in terms of gym performance. My new intake is set for 1750 cals per day already.
- To cut 80% of the alcohol which I have consumed in the last 3 months, because in a deficit that just becomes too much of a chunk carved out of my allotment. Seriously, it’s a lot. New rule: no alcohol on weekdays.
- To tighten up logging, since I measure *VERY* loosely what I don’t weigh (booze and everything that comes after because drunchies).
- To finally, FINALLY start bulk grocery shopping and meal-prepping for the week – doing it on Sundays, or when impossible, Saturdays. Meal prepping dinners saves more time than lunches (I have access to cooked food at work and it’s not THAT much more expensive) – plan’s to have at least 3 dinners per work week where I just have to nuke something ready.
- To hold an expense record in a budgeting app, dutifully, year-round. This is a recurring priority at the beginning of the year, I must admit, and it never happens because I am lazy. I am literally hemorrhaging money for convenience crap that is easy to pay for and forget. I’ve NO idea how much I spend on wine (expensive tastes are never fun to fund), already-cooked convenience foods for work, clothes, blahblah. Keeping it tighter and saving up is a priority.
- To take progress pics every three months. I should have taken some now, before I started in a deficit, but didn’t get a chance (since that would be very, very much frowned upon… as selfies are, but worse… minus 1000 points and shock if it turns out I actually plan on sharing them… eh).
- To work smarter – really smarter, and that means two things: getting in some classes with a trainer by March (I can’t do it now-now, for reasons), and custom-tailoring my lifting programme more based on my goals. PHUL is fantastic, I have the greatest love for the upper days, and I also try to mix things up by keeping with simple, yet effective rules (2*chest exercises, 2*back, and isolation - one bicep, one-two tricep, one shoulders). However, there are L-R imbalances which I don’t tend to and there’s also areas where I think I’m done for the moment, so I need to figure out how to navigate that (i.e. train with exercises that don’t give me MORE traps). Note to self: at least one day per week, train with dumbbells instead of barbell and push both arms the same.
- To stop half-assing my squats. Learn how to do them right. Go heavier. My squats are the worst of the big lifts and now in the gym I often replace them with a combination of leg press and glute kickbacks because those are more convenient. 2 times per week, I shall squat.
- To increase my bench 1 RM from 88 lbs to 140. My 1 RM was 54 lbs 4 months ago – keeping the same progression I could theoretically add 100 lbs, but I know theory doesn’t reconcile with practice and my progression WILL stall – so I am putting down only half of that. It’s still a lot for me. Incidentally, it’s the 1 RM for lifting my goal bodyweight for 5 reps. I think it’s a good goal for 2019.
- To start running again, and run 10k by May, then 15k by August. It’s not the greatest goal but I only ever ran 10k once and it busted my ankle so badly I had to stop for 3 months. My ankles are just the worst.
And these are the most complicated ones to achieve:- After my January 31st deadlines, to stick to a normal working schedule and refuse weekend / night work. To leave my work, at work. If there is an emergency – tough luck. The last 6 years, there has been an emergency every other weekend… or a one-week, two-week, one-month non-stop-work emergency. My health beats the crap out of these, and no job in the world is worth my health. I’m delivering what I signed up for like an idiot, and then it’s normal life.
- To sleep a minimum of 7 hrs per weeknight and 8-8.5 per weekend. I really need this to happen. Also after Jan 31st…
- To see my best friends every month. Doesn’t even matter where, or how long.
- To take time to de-stress daily. And a few other plans that are on the topic of mental and physical health but which I’ll keep for myself for now.
As far as gym performance and progress goes, here's the latest. I've pulled an intercostal so deadlifting has some challenges, I've stubbed my toe (not broken, just twisted, but STILL) and the weight of the 45 leg press is the added weight (sled excluded). Also, think the weight of the leg curl stack is 10 lbs, not 10 kgs as I've put it in, so this means my curls are 50, not 110 lbs. Gym equipment is mighty confusing.
I will start taking Creatine, only I'm unsure whether to load or not to load. Definitely not a patient woman, so loading would have its advantages. But already constantly bloated, so... maybe not?
Cheers!
Sab
6 -
There's no real need to load creatine, after a couple of weeks you reach saturation point whether you do or not, you will just excrete the excess if you take in more than you can absorb. Examine.com has a good write up on it.
You may like me not even get the expected responses, my first experiment I could just as well been taken Parmesan cheese (which at least is tasty!) - no effect detectable either good or bad. Second experiment all it did was upset my stomach - not everyone responds to creatine and some get enough from their diet already.
It is worth experimenting with though as it's so inexpensive and many get good results from it.
Regarding bench press - really recommend watching Jennifer Thompson's Bench Press 101 tutorial on YouTube. It's excellent and she is astounding in how much she lifts. I thought I was quite decent at bench but added 10kg just from technique improvements.3
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