joshuak30 Member

That's not actually true. Most men, even very muscular ones, will not have vascularity until they are below 10% bodyfat. Definition in the abs is a great sign someone is in the low teens. I would agree with you on 20% looking like "thick skin", though. OP, I would echo what others have said and caution you against putting…

What are you feeling when you complete this? Tired muscles, or breathing so hard you can't stand up straight and think you might actually die? The reason I ask is that it sounds like you're adding more strength work to your workouts, due to the short set duration and long rest periods between sets. This is actually going…

Pizza is phenomenal. Simply great. Of course you're going to crave it! Fit some into your weekly meal plan, enjoy the *kitten* out of it, and stick to your deficit. That's what I did last Saturday when I woke up and decided I needed to make some pizza for dinner. My goodness was it good.

The flu sucks. I've had a 24-hour bug twice since Christmas as well. If the Low Everything, Higher HEALTHY diet was working, why did you eat simple foods when you were sick? Wouldn't the healthier diet still be healthier? Detoxing from the flu makes sense. Detoxing from easy-to-digest foods not so much.

It sounds like you're a bit too quick to think something's wrong. The body can indeed hold onto water and waste weight for a while certainly more than a few days if the condition are right. As others have said, don't change what you're doing if you were steadily losing and then suddenly gained. Give it 2-3 weeks and then…

Turns out my scale is totally fine. I checked it with a 25-lb weight, and it was dead on. So my weight is 165 after all! I've been dealing with a stomach illness, and felt (and looked) bloated and terrible yesterday. So no progress picture.

Weighed in at 165 this morning. I don't trust my old scale anymore; the fluctuations are just too big for how I'm eating and exercising. In light of that, I'm sandbagging just in case and sticking with my weight on Thursday: 167. Progress picture tonight!

Chris Froome isn't an exceptional climber in his class. He won the Tour due to being a brilliant time trialist. The act of cycling many miles will prevent your muscles from ever getting truly huge and negatively impacting your speed, climbing included. The energy demands of distance cycling preclude significant extraneous…

My anecdotal evidence would point to there being a strong positive correlation between consistent heavy weight training and cycling performance. Background: I've always enjoyed cycling, did it when I was a kid and in college, but never seriously and never long duration. I've been a lifter since I was 13, though, and most…

I've experienced a similar seasonal pattern since my college days (not that long ago, but enough to know my pattern). As middlehaitch says, now that you know your pattern, don't wait for it to happen. Be open to changes to your routine, such as planning your way through the Holiday season deliberately to maintain. 2017 was…

Stats: Starting Weight: 168.4 lbs Chest: 38" Waist @ Navel: 36.5" Hips: 40" Thighs: 23" Hopefully sharing actual measurements and photos regularly will help me stay disciplined.

Starting photo:

I totally should join the cycling challenge group. I've looked at it a few times, might be nice to have some other folks to talk to about it.

Thanks for the encouragement! My goal was to go to the gym after I got home from work and fed the girls their dinner (my wife would stay home with them, she never minds that as long as I am there to put them to bed) but what I found was that...I never actually did that. Leaving the house once I'm home for the day is just a…

If you're losing muscle it certainly isn't because of your meal timing. It's because you're undereating calories and protein. Without a lot more information about you, it's hard to give advice other than to eat a balanced diet with a moderate deficit, no more than 20% of your Total Daily Energy Expenditure.

Yikes it has been too long since I checked back in. Very short version of the summer: I nailed my goal of 160 right around the first weekend of June, did the 100-mile bike ride I was hoping to do (twice, actually) and then spent the next three months more loosely logging calories. As of last week I was at 163, so gained…

1700 calories net is nuts. 2 pounds per week is very quickly going to wreck you, and you know this because you said "60% is all I could muster." That's your body quitting because you're underfeeding it. Please pay attention to the great advice you've been given, and you'll be on track for safe, consistent fat loss. For…

This might be tangential, but whatever it's fun. Carb loading is a weird concept anyway. The idea that the type of carb you eat the night before a race makes any difference in how much glycogen is available isn't really based in science. It's just another in a long list of popularly-held beliefs that make people feel…

Thank you for this. Bahahahhaa

False. If I "carbo" loaded with complex carbs before a hard ride I'd run out of stomach space and feel like garbage before the end. Simple carbs are critical for rapid digestion and metabolism for use by your muscles during a hard effort. Feel free to hold unpopular opinions. Stop projecting them unto others like you know…

This is interesting. Nothing you listed in your "high calorie" shake would qualify as calorie dense. Where's the fat? I see lots of protein, some sugar, and high water content. I realize you're not the OP, but if I were you I'd consider using full-fat yogurt (not Greek style) and use little milk. Pound for pound that shake…

With my daily bike commute I maintain on 3100-3200 a day. 5'10", 162# male. There's no reason to think 3200 isn't the correct number. I'll echo what others have said; get yourself some fats! Add cheese to savory foods, butter to bread, have some chips and a load of guacamole, boom done. I typically have no trouble eating…

Looks like I haven't checked in for over a month. Woops! I've made great progress in the past 6 weeks. Very near my goal of 160 lbs, as well as reaching new fitness milestones almost weekly. Latest weigh-in has me at 160.5 lbs, and I've been "reverse dieting" up for about two weeks now. I should reach my goal in a week or…

"... Today was rough. 4pm I was starving, but I ate healthy snacks and meals regularly throughout the day." In my experience eating throughout the day is counterproductive for appetite suppression. What you're doing is stoking your hunger hormones(look up Ghrelin) all the time, thereby telling your body to expect and…

On my tougher bike rides I burn 2500-3000 calories, but it ain't "easy" and it's certainly not something I could do more than maybe twice a week. Given I work full time, I can really only do once a week. That's assuming a 4-5 hour ride, with some climbing, done at a good pace. Not taking it easy all. However if we're…

Sounds like you had a good workout.

Welcome, and good luck! No miracles needed; you absolutely can achieve your goals with simple techniques and hard work. Consistency and perseverance will take you far. That said, the revenge aspect will fade perhaps more quickly than you realize. Lose the weight for you. Lose it because you want to be the best you can be,…

Yes you are trying to bash those who say cardio is boring. Just because I hate stationary bikes/treadmills/ellipticals/whatever does not mean I hate sweating and working hard. In fact, I frequently do bike rides that take more than 4 hours to complete. It's often hard, always sweaty, and sometimes painful. And guess what…

Your trainer is misleading you, sadly. Unless your workouts are 45-minute HIIT sessions several times a week, you likely aren't in a calorie deficit eating that much. For comparison, I'm an active 165 lb, 5'10" male, and I eat 1800-1900 calories to lose. It's unlikely you should be eating that much. As others have said,…

I will echo what others have said regarding the 20-rep "warmup" set. That's far too much volume to be considered a warmup. One other thing is, when you're in a deficit, you have to pick one - volume or intensity. When in a calorie deficit you can't possibly hope to achieve a high volume of reps with good intensity…