FIT.Y.E.R.O. (Meathead, wellness, fitness, diet, exercise) Thread

[Bonzo Cat]

Took El Baldo here a while to understand the why behind reverse dieting, but two weeks in, already seeing positive results.

It's essentially increasing calories with an emphasis on hitting your target weight in protein. Done properly you'll increase muscle mass and thus decrease fat mass & %.

Then when it's time to cut, you lower your calories from say 3,000-3,200 at your peak to 2,600 or 2,300 with same amount of protein, and you'll cut while maximizing muscle retention.

Most folks start at a lower than needed calorie and protein intake to begin with, usually between 1500 - 1800 calories, 100g protein. So when they want to cut, they have no room to lower calories and maintain muscle mass. Going to 1,000 - 1,200 calories isn't sustainable while exercising. So yes, the scale will be a lower number, but not in a good way.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

 

[anthonys735]

M 1500 calories
T 1500 calories
W 2400 calories
Th Either 1500 calories or 2400 calories
F 3-5000 calories
Sat 3-5000 calories
Sunday 2400 calories

Why can't I cut that last 4%?

 

[Kooky Kats]

I tried to eat more than 10oz of grilled chicken breast at a meal… just can’t do it. Like eating shoe leather.

 

[Bonzo Cat]

10oz of chicken breast yields 467 calories and 88g of protein by my app. If you can hit that at a meal, you're in a great spot. If taste is the issue, throw in a thigh with the breast.

 

[Kooky Kats]

https://a.co/d/iyyBj3L

Phil Mickelson pimping these.

 

[Kooky Kats]

10oz of chicken breast yields 467 calories and 88g of protein by my app. If you can hit that at a meal, you're in a great spot. If taste is the issue, throw in a thigh with the breast.

More texture than taste issue. If I had fresh oysters at the ready every day, then I’d be in business.

 

[anthonys735]

Then find something you like and ditch the breast. I'm with you, reheated chicken breast is terrible. There's not enough spicy mustard or bbq to change that. Shrimp, tuna, steak, ground beef, turkey, pork, chicken thighs are all good alternatives.

 

[Kooky Kats]

Yep. Salmon had been a go to, although I can’t eat more than 3x/wk. all my preferred fish (halibut) is effing crazy expensive. Pork chops and flank steak are also on the menu.

Chicken thighs are incredible tasting, but are ridiculously high in fat and calories.

 

[UK-chulo]

Then find something you like and ditch the breast. I'm with you, reheated chicken breast is terrible. There's not enough spicy mustard or bbq to change that. Shrimp, tuna, steak, ground beef, turkey, pork, chicken thighs are all good alternatives.

We do a crockpot of chicken, then shred it and put spices/seasoning. Easier to get down and much tastier than eating a dry breast.

 

[anthonys735]

Yep. Salmon had been a go to, although I can’t eat more than 3x/wk. all my preferred fish (halibut) is effing crazy expensive. Pork chops and flank steak are also on the menu.

Chicken thighs are incredible tasting, but are ridiculously high in fat and calories.

Salmon is high in fat as well. You're getting to the point you need to increase calories anyway. Focus on hitting your protein and be done with it. Eating bland ass chicken breast to hit a caloric goal isn't sustainable.


10oz Salmon - 585 Cal, 62g Prot, 35g Fat
10oz Thighs - 607 Cal, 67g Prot, 40g Fat

 

[Wodie Sloot]

I like chicken breast and reheat it in a pan or the air fryer. I use either bbq sauce or buffalo/ranch as my sauce. Just have to measure/limit the sauces.

Side of peas, kale, green beans or broccoli.

HOW EXCITING!

 

[cole854]

Wild caught sockeye salmon....8oz
10g fat
50 g protein
293 calories

 

[Kooky Kats]

Salmon fat has Omega3’s and selenium. Which is nice.

 

[anthonys735]

Salmon fat has Omega3’s and selenium. Which is nice.

Yup, big fan. It's in our rotation. Not all fats are equal. Just saying, don't be scared of thighs.

 

[anthonys735]

Great episode but they talk about this at 20:00 mark.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Thighs are just so much better than chicken breast or tenders.. that if it means you'll actually stick to eating it (and not hating your existence), then you do it. Maybe for those trying to go for 10% body fat, it won't be ideal. But for almost all the rest of us, Chicken thighs are still plenty healthy and lean.

 

[RunninRichie]

Just measured my waist.....32. Down from 38 last year.

 

[anthonys735]

So, week 2 of project empty out the deep freeze. We had a ton of meet in that sucker. Last week was 5lbs of sirloin. This week 5lbs of ground beef. Pairing with peri peri sauce and over white rice. 700cals, 60g protein and 50g carbs. Moving my carbs to lunch, so I can follow with a 3 mile desk walk and keeping dinner pretty low carb. Body seems to like that more than late carbs.

Full body wo has settled in. We're tinkering with different sets/reps. I like it.

Today's bench:
225x4
275x6
315x4
225x15
😳
6 45s and 2 25s, whatever that equals on the belt squat last week.

Need a mini cut... soon. Keep saying I'm going to but gains are real. Grr.

Had a few cocktails and bought some of the normatec leg sleeves. Could open one of those recovery business at the house. Lol. I like em though. Especially after a long bike ride or heavy legs.

 

[Ron Mehico]

I’ve developed this habit of doing a low weight burnout set at end of my workouts. Am I actually accomplishing anything with these other than a really satisfying burn at the end of my exercise?

 

[anthonys735]

I’ve developed this habit of doing a low weight burnout set at end of my workouts. Am I actually accomplishing anything with these other than a really satisfying burn at the end of my exercise?

Absolutely. Do that but don't rabbit f*ck it. Go very slow and focus on form and range.

90# overhead DB presses x 8-12 for chaboi today. Sheesh.

One more week of increased calories then the cut. Maybe. I love food.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

I slept weird and now I have stiff neck so bad I can't move my head in any direction.

 

[pretzel__logic]

I’ve developed this habit of doing a low weight burnout set at end of my workouts. Am I actually accomplishing anything with these other than a really satisfying burn at the end of my exercise?

This is one of my former coach's go-to tricks to get additional hypertrophy work in without tearing you up too much and I can attest it absolutely works. You can also sub in a band for a dumbbell or whatever and get the reps in that way. She usually puts 100-150 reps in as few sets as possible at the end of every day - so band tri pushdowns, light banded seated hamstring curls, banded rear delt flyes/face pulls, etc.

I made it to lifting at 33 weeks and had to call it. I've felt like my pelvis is absolutely splitting in two since that week and I have absolutely NATHAN in the tank. I went for a slow walk in the neighborhood at 35 weeks and 1.4 miles took me 40 minutes and wiped me out the rest of the day. lol. Up about 35 lbs total and weight has stalled, so that's somewhat encouraging. I know the recovery period will be very difficult, but I'm looking forward to that new challenge. 36 weeks as of Saturday and this kid is sitting lowwwww, so *hopefully* not too much longer now. God willing, baby boy and I will be taking walks at least by mid-December.

 

[Bonzo Cat]

* The past month I've started incorporating barbell flat, incline and decline press for the first time in 20 years after avoiding it like the plague. Saturday rolled into Lexington and hit up Aspire for a pre-game lift with the express goal of seeing where I'm at on flat bench barbell.

225x6. 245x4. 255x2. 225x6.

Was pretty pleased with first-time benchmarks, especially when no shoulder discomfort in the days after and no issues this morning on incline bb. Nothing impressive compared to what Anth, Wayne and Kooky toss around but with the winter arc focus on adding mass, got a good barometer for where I'm at at goals (275) over the next 3 months.

* At this age my body seems to appreciate heavy weight and low reps over 12-15-20 reps. Easier to recover and thus, theoretically tack on more gains. Will increase reps to 8-10 for cuts, but that's the ceiling. Seems the law of diminishing returns kicks in as reps increase from there.

* It's been stressed a number of times here, but diet IS everything. Have kept the reverse diet up and continue to see results. Since August 8th, the peak of the summer shred, up 9 pounds of body weight to 191 and 6 pounds of lean muscle mass to 157.8, with only increasing fat % from 12.0 - 13.1%.

 

[anthonys735]

This is one of my former coach's go-to tricks to get additional hypertrophy work in without tearing you up too much and I can attest it absolutely works. You can also sub in a band for a dumbbell or whatever and get the reps in that way. She usually puts 100-150 reps in as few sets as possible at the end of every day - so band tri pushdowns, light banded seated hamstring curls, banded rear delt flyes/face pulls, etc.

I made it to lifting at 33 weeks and had to call it. I've felt like my pelvis is absolutely splitting in two since that week and I have absolutely NATHAN in the tank. I went for a slow walk in the neighborhood at 35 weeks and 1.4 miles took me 40 minutes and wiped me out the rest of the day. lol. Up about 35 lbs total and weight has stalled, so that's somewhat encouraging. I know the recovery period will be very difficult, but I'm looking forward to that new challenge. 36 weeks as of Saturday and this kid is sitting lowwwww, so *hopefully* not too much longer now. God willing, baby boy and I will be taking walks at least by mid-December.

Time to work this into the basement gym.

https://www.amazon.com/Hey-Play-Kids-Weight-Bench/dp/B0CG2GZB5P/ref=sr_1_14_sspa?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.4sRFEf1MxWb-d54n3MfNO6eE9JD92gXWWOZtHu2VnAbUaamM_X4Sap8tDhuCtEfhPhxXw2QOUcgYGI8gkcQpcVtocdcl5fd-g-DYWO1r-XMPkfyWal5dthw2SH6VPXKLrnDJv8zTf-OTCjkc9C2bf4PwDkvfYAdXcIcwJ8R1-sfdqxkClWPTVYbBeRtzH5Mb0FLXgYFvAZYWvRAI4fNWUTFl0g0rruX78mKzOnj0WcB0H6DQc-y2UpYdp7syCIiF2nlkUcygJtaFQ7NoY6n3yUPZBe4U8YNCoBzrO_6eOCA.D4SFHy2RxMwoplOtDXJ4f6-7fatHqgrZxUqam-T9BQk&dib_tag=se&keywords=dumbbells%2Bfor%2Bkids&qid=1730122494&sr=8-14-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&th=1