Keto Induce

[MidwestBeast]

Have you tried taking anything to help you out while conceiving, like some fadogia? Got to keep trying every moment you can to make that baby ;D lol. Also maybe HMB-CA, get some in bulk and run it as long as you can. From what I've read is an all around great supplements when cutting, recomping, and bulking. Also it helps preserve muscle and strength greatly while cutting so it may help while you're recovering too.

I've been utilizing Ultimate T and Testruction. She found out a few months back that she hadn't been ovulating, so they actually had her on clomid therapy which has helped to start it back up. So we've actually only had a couple months of trying so far with that all in check. She has an appointment next week that she asked me to go to with her and I'll likely request the stuff to get a sperm test done just to make sure things are good on my end, too (I'd looked at the at-home options, but the reviews seemed mixed at best and I'd rather have the actual testing done to do count, check motility, etc.).

 

[CJNator]

I've been utilizing Ultimate T and Testruction. She found out a few months back that she hadn't been ovulating, so they actually had her on clomid therapy which has helped to start it back up. So we've actually only had a couple months of trying so far with that all in check. She has an appointment next week that she asked me to go to with her and I'll likely request the stuff to get a sperm test done just to make sure things are good on my end, too (I'd looked at the at-home options, but the reviews seemed mixed at best and I'd rather have the actual testing done to do count, check motility, etc.).

Ah ok, yea its best to look at it both ways. I hope all that goes well my man!

 

[MidwestBeast]

Ah ok, yea its best to look at it both ways. I hope all that goes well my man!

Appreciate it, brother!

We're both excited for the next step and becoming parents. We know it's in God's timing, but we just pray and we're hopeful that it will be relatively soon.

I've been fathering the cat too much lately -- it's very evident that I need a real son LOL.

 

[booneman77]

Oh man, thats always tough to hear that someone who wants kids is having trouble... too many idiots having accidents and the people that should cant. Best wishes for you guys to get lucky (pun intended )

 

[MidwestBeast]

Oh man, thats always tough to hear that someone who wants kids is having trouble... too many idiots having accidents and the people that should cant. Best wishes for you guys to get lucky (pun intended )

Haha, thanks, buddy.

As I said, it's all in God's timing and we know it's as it should be. My wife actually was just told this past Monday that she wouldn't be coming back to teach next year (really shady situation), so that was hard news for her and we've had to look at a lot of options including relocating. As it stands now, she has a meeting tomorrow with another local school and we're hopeful that will turn into something, but we pray about it and do our part by applying where we need to, etc.

I really love the area we're in, so I'm hopeful it will work out that we can stay. I'm actively looking to leave my job at this point, though, and this has been a nice push to force me to look at other options (as I'd grown complacent where I am and am recently very underappreciated and undervalued in addition to the low pay, but that last part was something I lived with when the other areas flourished -- however, one can't do that if you're looking to support a family and if there's a chance I provide the sole income). So even the hurdles are blessings in disguise in their own way.

So hopefully we'll both have new jobs in the same area here soon and then a baby on the way lol. We shall see

 

[beef27]

I had gyno surgery done here in Medellin. For me personally, it was a piece of cake. I was out of the gym for 3 weeks. I didn't do chest for 5 weeks but I believe I could have at a month no problem. I didn't have much fatty tissue though, it was more all hard breast tissue I had developed from puberty that got worse over the years. I paid out of pocket but cheap here....$800 total. recovery I wouldn't worry about dude. it is a lifetime difference and muscle memory will kick in.

 

[MidwestBeast]

I had gyno surgery done here in Medellin. For me personally, it was a piece of cake. I was out of the gym for 3 weeks. I didn't do chest for 5 weeks but I believe I could have at a month no problem. I didn't have much fatty tissue though, it was more all hard breast tissue I had developed from puberty that got worse over the years. I paid out of pocket but cheap here....$800 total. recovery I wouldn't worry about dude. it is a lifetime difference and muscle memory will kick in.

All the reps in the world for chiming in -- thank you, brother!

I'm fearful of what the cost is going to be. Several thousand for sure, but hopefully closer to 2. I can live with that. The closer it gets to something like 4, the more uneasy I'd feel. But if you look at it from the perspective of buying new clothes and such, you just say it's a couple year's worth of clothing purchases. Biggest thing I'm afraid of is not wanting to take and shop around when it comes to that because my biggest issue is yeah, there are tons of plastic surgeons around, but I care more about it being done right and well.

I'd kill to have a good surgery that was only $800 (heck, I'd probably pay that much out of pocket even for a surgery that insurance covered! lol).

 

[beef27]

I believe most plastic surgeons offer payment plans, at least they do here. So that may help you out. That is why I see so many hot voluptuous chicas despite it being a poorer country. :scool: Really bro the process is quite a simple one. It is not so invasive and shouldn't leave scarring. The issue that should be addressed is the amount of tissue to remove. Mine left just a little, so that my pec would not have a caved in appearance. A good plastic surgeon should state this to you and have a game plan before even entering surgery.

 

[MidwestBeast]

I believe most plastic surgeons offer payment plans, at least they do here. So that may help you out. That is why I see so many hot voluptuous chicas despite it being a poorer country. :scool: Really bro the process is quite a simple one. It is not so invasive and shouldn't leave scarring. The issue that should be addressed is the amount of tissue to remove. Mine left just a little, so that my pec would not have a caved in appearance. A good plastic surgeon should state this to you and have a game plan before even entering surgery.

Thanks for the insight. I have a good amount saved up on the side specifically allocated for the surgery (selling supps from my personal stash lol). I'm trying my best to make sure it doesn't put a dent into our family's plans with how we've been saving (we both make less working in education, but we do a good job of saving and just finished FPU at our church, which was great).

I will most likely hit you up after my consult at the end of May to ask more questions once I have more insight on what the doctor says, if you don't mind.

 

[beef27]

absolutely bro hit me up anytime with questions....peace

 

[MidwestBeast]

Man, guys -- I have to say -- this has to be the most incredible month of progress I've ever made in my life. I still have a long ways to go, but I just saw a vein popping over my serratus (running down from under the peg toward the oblique). I'm seeing the definition in my abs becoming more crisp, more separation in my quads and hamstrings, and my forearms are getting more vascular (most they've ever been). They're at a point now where they always look like they used to look when I had worked out and got a huge carb load. Honestly, better even than that.

Its just so exciting.

Tomorrow is supposed to be an off or cardio day, but I think I'm gonna go in and do calves and abs along with sprint work so Friday I can do just quads and hams with more time.

 

[MidwestBeast]

Whenever I see a new vein show up:

 

[MidwestBeast]

Tuesday, April 26

Weight: 225.0 lbs.




This week I've been slacking a little bit in the mornings. Not sure if it's because I'm still getting over being sick and wanting more rest or just being lazy lol, but I've been hitting snooze a couple more times and it's cost me a bit of my workout time. I still end up getting all my weight training done, but I end up sacrificing probably half a mile's worth of laps and while that doesn't seem like much, it's also extra time that I've got my HR up burning fat.

Since I woke up a bit later, I didn't slam my normal 2 scoops MBCAA + MCT Evolved; I just went straight for my MaxREPS + 3g beta alanine + 500mg COP and all my morning/pre-workout pills lol. My bathroom schedule has also been messed up lately and I'm having to go first thing upon rising whereas normally I've got a good 15 minutes or more of getting ready and after the caffeine gets into my system before I end up needing to go right before I leave for the gym. So now it's actually been twice -- again, more lost time.

Tuesday was the last of my volume week and it was back. Here is the workout capture via Fitbit:

Workout notes:

Felt good and got some increases in there on weight and/or reps. Really noticing more definition, too. Luckily, the lump under my left armpit didn't bother me at all during this -- so that was good because A.) it meant my workout wasn't disrupted, but more importantly B.) I feel like that means it's less likely a real issue.

Yesterday it didn't get any bigger or change color. Though as I brushed my hand over it, there did seem to be a part of it (can't SEE a point at all) that was much more tender to the touch (like a bite would be). Today (Wednesday), I actually pulled the skin a few inches underneath it in a few directions and it moves around with the skin, so it doesn't appear to be anchored to anything underneath (which, again, to me signals that it's likely less of a problem).

Ended up with an impromptu stop at the grocery after work because my wife worked a bit late and then went for a walk with her friend. Grabbed a couple wraps from the deli and a little tiny tub of general tso's and ended up picking up a pint of the B&J Pecan Sticky Buns since it's a limited edition and the guys had decent things to say over in the ice cream thread. Had my Defuse + 3 Slintensity + 600mg NaRALA once I got home, waited 30 minutes and put away groceries, changed out of my work clothes, picked up around the house, etc. and sat down for dinner. Had those 2 wraps, general tso's and then the pint of B&J -- it was pretty good. Not the greatest ever, but I liked it. Had a little bit of trail mix a while after while watching tv -- wasn't in the mood to watch anything new/focus, so I put on some old King of The Hill episodes and just enjoyed that while checking some stuff online. Obviously cals were a bit higher, but not outrageous by any means. I negated some of that by turning my normal Wednesday off day/optional cardio day into hitting calves and abs along with stair sprints and laps.

Took my Keto Induce + MCT Evolved and night time supps around 10:30 and went to bed. We had some pretty severe thunderstorms roll through that started at 9:45, so I stayed up a bit later just to make sure things didn't get out of hand (in that I'd need to get the wife down to the basement, bring in patio furniture, etc.).

Daily capture via Fitbit:

 

[MidwestBeast]

So I'm doing my best to keep this in chronological order, which results in me doing my updates a day after they happen (so I can have the full Fitbit capture info uploaded in the post).

That said, I have to get ahead of myself here.

Post-workout weight today was 221.6 lbs

Yeah.

And I managed to maintain on all of my lifts or go up slightly on a few (this is the start of my heavy/Max OT week).

#amped

 

[MidwestBeast]

Wednesday, April 27

Weight: 225.6 lbs.




Once again, hit snooze more than I should have and got a later start to my day. Bright side of this was it was my scheduled optional off day, but for progress's sake and from eating what I did the day before, I wanted to get my cardio in along with some ab work and figured I'd hit calves to free up some time Friday morning to focus on just quads and hams.

Workout details via Fitbit:

Workout notes:

Only the second time I've done direct ab work in several years lol. Used to do it all the time back in grad school and they got so huge that I honestly just stopped. They got enough from my deads, squats, tri pushdowns, etc. Didn't do a ton, but it felt good to work them directly. Not a crazy day, but good workout and good energy. Feels nice to be over that cold. Ever since I've been taking the claratin (loratadine) nightly (1 week now), I've still had the runny nose, but not one single stuffy nose. I'll take that trade off. I honestly think it's more the 2 Primatenes I'm taking each morning pre-workout for ephedrine, though. It has the expectorant in there with it and that (along with the AlphaBurn) really gets things flowing).

Pretty standard day after that. Long day at the office. Went home just to change, eat dinner real quick (we did a beef stroganoff in the crockpot; no noodles), and then headed into church for our last FPU meeting/party. It was a stormy, gloomy day, so it took everything to leave the house after getting home initially, but it was a good time. Got home slightly after 8 and I took my bed-time supps, got my contacts out, exfoliated and put on some Eviscerate, put some dishes away and then went to go lie down. Checked the radar and saw a huge cell was slated to hit us about 9:30, so I ran upstairs to tell my wife (I've been sleeping in the basement bedroom when it's super humid because regardless of AC and everything else, it's just WAY cooler down there). Ended up opening up the sliding glass door in the bedroom and the breeze felt amazing, so I grabbed my pillows and actually lied on the floor right there looking up at the sky to watch the lightning and feel the breeze. Nodded off and back out of it a couple times for about 45 minutes and finally woke up, got up, and went to bed.

Daily capture via Fitbit:

 

[dollar662]

Which Fitbit are you using ? And your thoughts on it compared to others. Thanks

 

[MidwestBeast]

Which Fitbit are you using ? And your thoughts on it compared to others. Thanks

I've got the Charge HR. I honestly really love it.

I did a ton of homework before finally buying a tracker and I'm happy with my decision. From the fitbit family, I think it's the best for my goals. The Surge has some nice extras but really, the only perk it has I'd be interested in would be GPS. But realistically, as long as this thing can consistently (not even accurately -- but consistently) track steps and distance and calorie burn, then I'm good.

The Blaze looks cool and I like the idea of swapping out bands to make it look nicer, but I don't like the idea of "accessorizing" and getting stuck spending money on more stuff like that. And the app/PC dashboard interface are both wonderful.

 

[MidwestBeast]

Thursday, April 28

Weight: 223.6 lbs.




Woke up and got a bit of a better start on my morning. Still a tad bit later than I'd like, but was able to get a good 1.5 hours worth of actual workout in. Hit my morning supp routine and headed to the gym for my heavy arm session.

Workout details via Fitbit:

Workout notes:

As you can see, I managed to maintain or gain on all of my lifts, which was pretty cool. Only one that was a bit screwy was my tri pushdowns -- I normally use a different pulley (one on that huge dual station that has the big area for crossovers in the middle with the pullup bars above it -- about 8-10' wide, and then a stand-alone high pulley at each end and then a different low pulley row station and high pulley lat station at each end). Anyway, instead of that, I used the smaller area where I do my last 2 lifts anyway so I was in one place and didn't have to worry about fighting for a spot, etc. So the resistance ended up not being as heavy as the other because the stack just doesn't go as heavy. But I got waaaay more flexion out of these, so it felt good at least. But save for that, increases on weight or reps or at the very least maintaining while coming in lighter and leaner than the last time I did this lift 2 weeks ago.

Long day at the office after that, but I did weigh in post-shower and was 221.6, so that was really cool. Got off work about 5 and rushed home to change and the wife and I headed over to some freinds' for dinner and after that I went over to another friend's for his draft party. Dinner was grilled chicken breast (grabbed as big of a piece as I saw and then when there was extra, I grabbed the smallest piece for seconds), some potatoes, green beans and a little bit of macaroni salad. Had a few brownies that my wife made, too. Popped my Defuse, Slintensity and NaRALA beforehand because I knew it would be a different style of eating night for me. Dinner was at about 5:45 and wrapped around 6:30. We hung and talked and about 7:30 I left for my other friend's. He ended up having a HUGE spread, so I couldn't say no as he is a wonderful cook (seriously, he does his own BBQ and the sauces are incredible -- better than anything I've had in store/restaurant). Had some bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers, bacon-wrapped bbq chunks, one philly cheese steak slider, a little bit of guac with a small handful of chips. It was legit. Finished eating food there around 9ish and left for home about 10. Did a load of laundry and took my pre-bed supps around 11 or so and got to bed at 12. Ugh, don't like being up that late.

5 AM came early, but I stayed on point. Not gonna lie, I wanted to just veg out and eat when I got home last night. I had a pint of ice cream and trail mix that were calling my name. I was like "I can just eat, and then sleep in and do my workout on Saturday twice instead." But I fought those urges and was victorious. However, when I woke up at 5, I realized I'd slept on my side and my hip was strained. Nothing terrible, but enough that I was going to be really hampered doing heavy leg work and sprints. So, sadly, I still ended up going back to sleep and saying I'd be doing a double workout on Saturday. I'd have carved out time after work today to do it (Friday), but after work I'm actually taking the wife for a couples massage that was supposed to be part of her birthday present back in January, but she'd pulled a muscle so I rescheduled it as it wouldn't have been enjoyable for her at all. It's a surprise, so I'm hoping she'll be pleased tonight.

Daily capture from Thursday via Fitbit:

 

[MidwestBeast]

 

[booneman77]

View attachment 134940

That's huge man! Congrats

 

[CJNator]

Awesome! 15lbs in a month is ducking awesome!

 

[ms_mac]

15 lbs in 30 days! Awesome progress!

 

[MidwestBeast]

Thank you, guys! I'm super excited. I also can't wait to share progress photos later.

I was 220.0 when I got home from the gym today

 

[RegisterJr]

Awesome man!

 

[MidwestBeast]

Back up at 224.8 this morning after eating late last night (met some friends out for a bit and got home around 10). Had only eaten twice, so had to fit another meal in and stay up long enough to wait for night time supps.

After basketball this afternoon, I dropped back to 220.8 lol.

Have had 2 scoops of PES Select Blondie with CarbMaster vanilla milk for meal 1 around Noon, 3 scoops Muscle Research vanilla whey isolate after basketball at 4:30 and just had 9 small meatballs from a recipe my wife made (told her no more buying these premade Italian sausage meatballs because they're seriously all fat -- 3 of them yields 340 calories and only 15g protein -- unacceptable).

So anyway, protein is right around 200g and cals right around 1650. Will likely knock out a pint of Halo Top in a bit and call it a night, so that'll get me around 220g protein and 1900 cals with barely any carbs. Already burned 3700 cals today and it'll likely be about a 4200 calorie burn for the day. We will see what the scale says tomorrow

 

[MidwestBeast]

Welp, wife went grocery shopping and no mint chip Halo Top, so just some Krogers Butterfinger (that will wait til tomorrow). So the previously mentioned cal total is all for the day. Burn, baby, burn! lol

 

[booneman77]

Welp, wife went grocery shopping and no mint chip Halo Top, so just some Krogers Butterfinger (that will wait til tomorrow). So the previously mentioned cal total is all for the day. Burn, baby, burn! lol

Have you had the mint chip already? My gf is a huge mint choc fan and was prob gonna try that this weekend when she comes down

 

[MidwestBeast]

Have you had the mint chip already? My gf is a huge mint choc fan and was prob gonna try that this weekend when she comes down

First one I had was birthday cake and I loved it. Then I tried mint chip and was kind of like "meh" but I also tried eating it straight out of the freezer. Had it again but had let it thaw out more so the texture was softer/more true to legit ice cream and now I like it better. Had the bday cake again and it's obviously not bad at all, but I prefer the mint chip now. The chips are really tiny but that's fine by me; I actually hate mint choc chip (though I LOVE mint oreo). So it's just a nicely flavored mint ice cream. I like it.

Now I just need the local stores to stock the mocha choc chip so I can try it (I don't have much interest in any of the other flavors).

 

[MidwestBeast]

Full update coming later on here, buuuuutttt --

219.2 lbs. this morning

(218.8 after working out and being COMPLETELY depleted)

 

[ms_mac]

Holy! Amazing on the weight loss!

 

[MidwestBeast]

Holy! Amazing on the weight loss!

I seriously can't tell you how happy I am. The lower abs is still the worst spot for me where I'm really not happy with it -- but it has shrunk, as have my love handles on my lower back.

It's a process, but it's showing me that it IS in fact working and going in the right direction. Lately I've just been setting 5 pound loss goals, because I honestly feel like I need to assess each time around. Latest goal was 220, which I hit. Next will be 215, but it'll take a bit as I know eating today will bounce me back up over 220 (since I'm not going to worry about the scale so much as I am replenishing my muscles).

 

[MidwestBeast]

Friday, April 29

Weight: 223.6 lbs.




Woke up at 5 and felt a strain in my right glute/hip from where I'd slept on my side. Nothing horrendous, but enough that it would have hampered my workout, so I went back to sleep and said I'd double up on Saturday. Normally I'd knock it out in the afternoon, but I already had plans scheduled. Had a left over birthday gift to do for the wife that was supposed to get done back in January -- couple's massage. She had pulled a muscle in her oblique and I knew she wouldn't have enjoyed it at all, so I just waited and this was the first time I could get it booked for the 2 of us late enough that we could travel up after work. So we headed up and my wife was freaking out because I kept it a surprise and she couldn't figure out while it would be -- she kept asking in a panicked voice if I was going to make her exercise lol. She was pleasantly surprised when it was a massage. First time I have ever had one and man, I have to say I loved it. I'm hoping to get up at least about once a month to get one done from now on. Incredibly relaxing and there were a few spots she was working out that had me biting my lip because they hurt, but I knew it was good for the long run.

Daily capture of my off day via Fitbit:

Saturday, April 30

Weight: 223.2 lbs.




Slept in til about 10 because my body was just craving to catch up on some sleep. It was wonderful. Wife actually woke me up to let me know she'd been cleaning and was heading over to her grandma's. I could have kept sleeping, but I decided that was late enough and I was alert when she woke me, so no sense in going back to sleep and getting all groggy. Got to the gym a little after 11 and had a loooooong workout.

Fitbit workout capture:

Workout notes:

Man, I was tired after that lol. I hit the sauna for about 10-15 minutes after, too, since I'd just had the massage the evening prior. Felt very loose in the gym and pretty strong, too. It was a good workout. Had to run some errands afterward -- our Summer work hours are going to bone me, so I'm going to have to start showering at the gym otherwise there's no way I can lift in the AM and I'm not going back to afternoons, now. So I grabbed some shower stuff and had to run to Academy and grabbed some clearanced down workout socks, too -- half the ones (regular low cut socks) were getting holes in them and I tend to wear socks longer than I should. So I actually got some that are cushioned and had to make sure they all went above the heel of my shoe (had that problem before and that is miserable). Anyway, made out with like 15 total pairs of GOOD socks for under $15. Can't argue with that.

I honestly had no desire to do anything the rest of the day, but our friends wanted to go out to a new place that opened downtown and I'd heard good things about it. So we met them out at 7. I had one beer, but I wasn't really digging it and stopped there. The wife had 2 and my buddy had 4 lol (his wife just had one mixed drink). I'm old. It was just too loud for me to enjoy. It's a smaller sit down place, too -- really nice atmosphere, but it was just too loud for me to enjoy. Once the guy who was playing music showed up about 8:30, it was actually really great. I enjoyed listening to him (covered some really good country songs), but trying to hold a conversation in there (when I didn't really want to be anywhere other than home to begin with) wasn't great.

Didn't get home til 10, so I had a late night getting my 3rd meal in and staying up long enough after that for my supps (I actually fell asleep in the recliner and woke up at 1 AM and took everything then went to bed).

Daily capture via Fitbit:

Sunday, May 1

Weight: 224.8 lbs.




Got up at 8, got ready for church and had an awesome service. Just really great worship and a great message, too. Have to say, it was a pretty special day. I grew up in church, but it wasn't until sometime in my mid-20's that I first ever raised my hand in worship. Before that it always felt awkward and embarrassing. It wasn't until after that, that I realized I didn't feel compelled to do so back then; I just thought it was something people chose to do. Anyway, for quite some time now, I've been one of those who eagerly raises his arm to praise and I don't consciously think about it -- it just happens. Well, my wife was raised Catholic and it was far more reserved than what I was brought up around. I don't mind that at all. But during worship at the end of the service, I just broke down (happens pretty regularly lol) and was crying during it, but it was to the point that my body was actually shaking a bit (just crying that hard). Well, I was holding my wife's hand, but I felt her place her other hand onto my arm to hold me (which only made it worse lol), but after I'd managed to open my eyes back up, I saw her other hand in the air for the first time ever. My heart just felt this insane level of contentment. I mean, I have no doubts in that she's my wife and I picked the right woman, but marriage is hard. People know that. And seeing her hand up in worship was something that I couldn't have described how it made me feel other than just a deep feeling of reassurance that God truly put the right woman in my life.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day (for a bit), so we went for a brief drive on the way home and looked at houses in a subdivision near hours. She grew up in the area and I only moved to the state almost 7 years ago, so she was telling me about how she used to love it when she was a kid, had friends who lived there, etc. It was great. We'll see what happens when it's time for us to buy/build our first home together, but I certainly wouldn't mind that area one bit.

Got home and had myself 2 small protein shakes (only because I can never mix more than one scoop of Select into a bottle without it clumping). Wife went back over to grandma's and I was cleaning the house til it was time to go play basketball. Sadly only got 2 games of full court in before we ended up with 20 people, so we had to break it down to 2 half court games. But my team won the first 2 games and after the re-picking, we ended up with almost the same team and we managed to win every other game, too. So that was cool to play for 2 hours and win out. Only thing that sucked was this guy who has a reputation for playing dirty decided to go Latrell Sprewell and swing his elbows at me when I had him trapped on the baseline (not even swarming/grabbing him, either). Landed it right on my mouth and I was pissed. He had the nerve to ask if I was okay like 2 minutes later to which I responded, "No, I'm not. You elbowed me in the mouth." And he had some kind of remark about playing hard, etc. and I corrected him and told him swinging elbows is dirty and there's nothing else about it. Could have been worse, though.

Fitbit capture for basketball:

Had 3 scoops of whey isolate afterward and showered up and started laundry (got caught in an absolute MONSOON on the way home, too -- ugh). Wife had meatballs for us and we ate about 6. The stupid things are somehow 340 calories per 3 meatballs but only 15g protein -- yeah, horrible. So I ate 9 and got my protein to 200g and cals to 1600 for the day. Was going to have a pint of Halo Top after she got back from the grocery, but they were out. So I'd just sipped on some APS Chain'd Reaction Rocket Pop BCAAs, then a scoop of E9 nanaberry, and then my nightly combo of supps about 9 PM and I headed to bed.

Daily capture via Fitbit:

 

[MidwestBeast]

Monday, May 2

Weight: 219.2 lbs.




Gotta say, seeing that number was pretty amazing. First time since 2012 or 2011 that I've been sub-220. Best part is I'm carrying more muscle than I ever was, so it's a pretty cool feeling. The leaning out has helped my chest a bit, but I think I'll truly see a difference at the end of this cut and once I have the gyno surgery done. In addition to the superball sized lump on either side, there's just a fat pocket around each that keeps you from seeing the muscle even when pumped/flexed (I can feel it underneath, but it's not visible at all on the outer pec because of that).

Switched my alarm back to 4:45 from 5 AM where it had been and so far, so good. I've managed to wake up more alert and no snooze button being hit, so I get to the gym at least 30 minutes sooner and feel like I'm not rushed in the slightest. Monday was "heavy" chest day, so here it is:

Workout capture via Fitbit:

Workout notes:

Seeing things move up is promising. That brachial plexus injury still screwed me big time going from over 300 on those lifts to down to 245, but it's up from the 205 that it dropped down to. Slow but steady progress. All about the long term.

Had my 75g protein via 3 scoops of Muscle Research vanilla whey isolate post-workout, got home and showered and got ready for work, cleaned the house a bit and then had 2 Quest bars around Noon for my second meal. Took Defuse, Slintensity and NaRALA before leaving the office at 5, got home and changed out of my work clothes, fed the cat, put some things away and then it was 5:30 and time to eat. Unfortunately, we had those meatballs (high fat, barely any protein) left over from the night before and I'm not wasteful, so I played with macros and put 3 of them onto a carb balance tortilla with 2 slices of Sargento reduced fat provologne cheese and made 3 of those. That was right around 1500 cals and 90g total protein (again, not great given the number of cals, but whatever -- I'm not being wasteful). Had some trailmix after that and finished off with a pint of Kroger's Butterfinger ice cream (600 cals total for the pint). I'd peg total calories right around 4k for the day. Done eating by 7 PM (I took a break in between some of that stuff lol) and dosed my pre-bed supps around 9:30 and went to bed.

Total capture for the day via Fitbit:

 

[MidwestBeast]

Tuesday, May 3

Weight: 222.4 lbs.




Once again, no issue at all waking up at 4:45 AM, which was nice. Got to bed a tad later than I'd planned (a little after 10), so that wasn't as nice as right at 9 on Sunday night. Got prepped and straight to the gym for a heavy back session.

Workout capture via Fitbit:

Workout notes:

Nice increases and felt good. Only thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the Hammer Strength ground raise station for DL's. I do it just for sake of time (setting up the bar takes more time and this has a better RoM than a Smith machine). Was really feeling it in my legs more than my back regardless of form. So we'll see if I keep it in there or alter things moving forward. But in general felt strong and good and had a nice back pump going on, too.

Got some errands ran after I went home and showered and got ready for work since I got done so early with waking up sooner. Pretty regular day at work but I got out a tad earlier. Busted it to the post office to ship some things out and then home as quick as I could to try and mow. This weather has screwed me. I had plans to mow this weekend but it was just monsoons all Saturday and Sunday. And last week I had plans so many evenings that I didn't have any time to do it. Rain slated to come in again today, so I had to hurry. We had dinner plans with friends 20 minutes away at 5:30. So I got changed and started mowing at 4:30. I got the yard mowed in under 40 minutes that normally takes 1.25-1.5 hours. Our front yard is huge and it's a giant hill. I have to wear my old baseball cleats (metal) to mow it. Seriously. I was sprinting on the way up. Once again, Fitbit auto-detected it as biking lol:

So yeah, that was pretty amusing. But I was sweating bullets when I was done and my calves almost feel strained now from it. It was rough. BUT, I got the whole front yard done. Back yard is still a jungle, but not visible, so that'll get done Saturday hopefully. Dinner was awesome. Wife brought potato salad and an apple pie from Kroger and made a home made banana bread/cake dish. Our friend who hosted had some really good broccoli and chicken thighs with a pineapple salsa type topping that was delicious. Our other friends brought cinnamon roll cupcakes and jambalaya that was phenomenal. One of the best meals I've had in a while. All I'd eaten prior to that was my 3 scoops whey isolate post-workout and 2 Quest bars around Noon, so I was famished, but couldn't eat as much as I wanted lol (stomach got full on me quickly). So once we got home about 8, I had some left over chicken from the night before to get enough protein in and then some trail mix. Fell asleep in the recliner watching basketball waiting to take my night-time supps. Woke up a couple times and was too lazy to get up lol, so finally did about 12:30 AM and then retired to bed.

Daily capture via Fitbit:

 

[builtness]

Great log, keep up the hard work!

 

[MidwestBeast]

Wednesday, May 4

Weight: 220.8 lbs.




Normally I try to go no carb and really low cal on my off/cardio-only days. I was still pretty low, but went a little different this day. So I knew I had basketball planned for the evening, so I slept in til it was time to get up and shower for work. Got through my work day and normally would have just had a protein shake or 2 across the day, but I wasn't wanting that at all, so I did 2 Quest bars and wasn't hungry the rest of the time I was there. So when I got home, I finished off the last of this cabbage/pastrami dish that my wife had made a day or 2 prior so the leftovers wouldn't go bad and I knew it was mostly meat and veggies. Then I had the remnants of some fried chicken she had brought home for me. Again, not how I'd normally do a day like this, but it needed to be eaten and I also needed protein, so I polished off 2 breasts, a thigh and 2 wings and finished off with a pint of mint chip Halo Top.

About 45 minutes or an hour later I knocked back my CardioTryx and started prepping to go head to ball (it was half an hour away). Sipped on my MaxREPS + beta alanine + COP and slammed my 25mg ephedrine, 200mg caffeine, 1 AllphaBurn before leaving the house. Sipped on Compete + 5g taurine during ball (knocked one back across the first half and one more to finish up). I did things a little bit differently with my Fitbit this time. I got there a couple minutes late, so Game 1 was already underway. The place where these guys play is only half court and 4 on 4, so I was the 2nd to arrive for next game and 2 more guys showed up. We won our first and lost our second. I stopped the capture on my Fitbit since I didn't know how long I would be sitting. Was down one game, came back on and won the first and once again lost the second. Down one more game and then the final game was just a joke/blood bath -- not even fun. So I have 3 separate captures -- the first 2 encompass 2 games, the last only encompasses 1 (the bloodbath -- as indicated by the lack of worth when it comes to exercise, too):

Games 1 and 2:

Games 3 and 4:

Game 5:

Normally I'd slam a shake after ball, but it was almost 9 PM and I honestly just wanted to get home and get to bed. Had 2 scoops of Chain'd Reaction and sipped on that on the drive home. Tossed everything in the washer and started that while I headed up to shower. Prepped for bed and tossed everything in the dryer. Stayed up long enough to pull my work polos and stuff out so they didn't wrinkle (always pull them out after a few minutes damp and they're GTG without me having to iron or steam them). Pre-bed supps and then off to bed.

Daily capture via Fitbit:

Thursday, May 5

Weight: 219.0 lbs.





Thursday started off waaaaay too early for me -- at 12:30 AM when the tones went off and there was a house fire. We're hoping to move to the town where I'm a volunteer firefighter, but currently, I'm 20 minutes out of town (I can make it from my house to the station in 15 minutes if I don't hit any lights and that's driveway to driveway). As it currently stands, I don't respond to a lot of our calls because they're cardiac arrests or similar things that are resolved very quickly from the fire side and by the time I got there, it wouldn't help. Structure fires are different because they need a lot more hands on deck and usually last long enough that even if you show up late, you're helpful. Anyway, I clicked respond in the Active911 app, jumped out of bed, put my contacts in, woke the wife up to tell her, and got dressed. I actually made it to the station in 21 minutes from when I got the call -- I was pretty impressed I managed to go from fully asleep to dressed, contacts in, and to the station in that amount of time.

Well, when I got there, I didn't see any other vehicles at the station -- surely didn't think I could have beat everyone there, but even though you're not supposed to, I know plenty of guys keep their gear in their cars/trucks and respond in POVs. So I grabbed my gear, GPS'd it in the app and headed to the scene. I get there and no trucks, no signs of fire -- nothing. Call one of my friends who had checked responding to see what was up. "Yeah, they cancelled the call just as we were getting in the truck to head there." Never got an update in the app and my pager was silent. Was pretty pissed, but whatever. So by the time I got back to the station to drop my gear and then back home, it was 2 AM and my adrenaline was full swing. So it took over an hour to fall back asleep and when I woke up I just felt like trash (combo of all that and also the weather going from 80's to lows in the 40's over a few days). I ended up calling in sick to work and slept for a handful more hours. My body needed it.

Later in the day, I did end up going to the gym just because I needed the workout. As I've stated, my body doesn't respond to many days off well and I'll start feeling sluggish/groggy and then emotionally will just hit that minor funk/depression. Yesterday was the start to high volume week and we start with arms. Here's the workout via Fitbit:

Workout notes:

As you can see, I managed to increase on most of my lifts and stayed steady on the others -- all while having dropped weight. And that's a good thing because I've been really battling the body dysmorphia sneaking in on me lately. My arms look/feel waaaay smaller to me and it plays those mind games, but I've told myself to stick with this and trust the process. Again, when I know my strength isn't taking a hit, it'll be okay. But it's still a very real and ongoing struggle.

Got my cals up a bit yesterday after the screwed up sleep and everything else -- wanted to make sure my muscles were fed and my body was ready to get back on track.

Daily capture via Fitbit:

 

[booneman77]

ugh the forever small feeling... cutting makes it so tough. Strength retention though is a huge boost and helps me personally a ton. When I see a big dip there, I really feel small.

totally stealing your semi-dry polo trick too haha thanks!

 

[ma70]

ugh the forever small feeling... cutting makes it so tough. Strength retention though is a huge boost and helps me personally a ton. When I see a big dip there, I really feel small.

totally stealing your semi-dry polo trick too haha thanks!

Agreed. When my strength drops, it really throws me in for a loop and makes me stop cutting and eating more again.

 

[MidwestBeast]

ugh the forever small feeling... cutting makes it so tough. Strength retention though is a huge boost and helps me personally a ton. When I see a big dip there, I really feel small.

totally stealing your semi-dry polo trick too haha thanks!

Yeah, I think it's the whole "we're never satisfied" type thing. When you get smaller you want to be big, but as soon as you gain the slightest bit of fat you want abs. I've been plenty big (300 lbs. lol), so I'm saying screw it and focusing 100% on this cut. And as long as I have the strength, I just view it as having the best overall package (meaning if I can be just as strong at a lower weight and smaller size, then so be it).

Plus, I admittedly feel sooooo much better at this weight. It's hard to even describe because it's been so long, but just running feels easier; heck even walking up the stairs. But it's not a lung capacity thing; it's like the muscles themselves -- it's odd.

Another 2 weeks and I'll have my meeting with the plastic surgeon, so hopefully that can happen soon and I think that will make a huge difference for me, too; especially from a confidence standpoint. It really sucks being able to basically squeeze a small handful on either pec right now with that lump under each side (and they're tender, too, which obviously sucks).

But I'm trusting the process.



And regarding clothes -- my mom taught me well. Pull out everything damp and hang it -- works amazing. I used to separate things like crazy when doing laundry, but anymore I toss almost all of it in together and do just a few things separate. But I'll toss all my regular and gym clothes in together (minus jeans or slacks or anything with zippers) and after about 10 minutes in the dryer on a normal setting, I pull out all the t-shirts and anything that hangs and hang them all up damp, then re-set the dryer to full time and let it finish up all my socks, towels, underwear, spandex compression tanks/tops, athletic shorts, etc. Then I just pull all of them out later (or first thing in the morning if I'm going to bed while it finishes) and fold them up good to go.

Agreed. When my strength drops, it really throws me in for a loop and makes me stop cutting and eating more again.

It's a constant struggle. But I think when we admit it to ourselves, that's the first step of moving in the right direction.

 

[MidwestBeast]

Okay, been a few days since I've been able to update. I normally don't do updates over the weekend because I like to do the full day update the day after once everything is completed and easily presentable in Fitbit. But yesterday threw me for a bit of a loop, so we're playing catch-up:


Friday, May 6

Weight: 222.8 lbs.


Friday ended up being an off day. I honestly can't remember what the reasoning is/was, now, but I slept in and then was going to either knock it out in the afternoon after work but then decided I just wanted to hang with the wife and watch a movie, so I decided I'd do a double on Saturday. After work I got some food and hung out until my wife got home from her walk/hike with her friend and she brought home Penn Station, so I had a nice big chicken parm sub (humming some Peyton Manning jingles right about now). We watched an episode of The Office (our favorite joint show and it is kind of fun because she is the Pam to my Jim -- she was working in our office (as a grad student at another university -- so not one of MY students lol) and she worked our front desk and then I asked her out). Then we rifled through some movie selections and we usually side on comedies because laughing keeps her awake better than drama lol. We decided on Train Wreck and let me just say, it was way better than I anticipated. I like all of the cast, but didn't really have a high bar set for it. But it was great and John Cena made me laugh SO HARD. Ridiculous. Good night in.

Daily capture via Fitbit:

Saturday, May 7

Weight: 224.2 lbs.





Slept in and got to going to the gym once I was up and moving. Hit my high volume/hypertrophy delts/traps session and planned on hitting legs along with it, but I just wasn't feeling it after being in there as long as I had already been. Plus, I had the entire back yard (roughly 1 acre) to (push) mow once I got done, so I decided I'd just bang that out first thing in the morning after church and a few hours before basketball.

So here is the Fitbit capture from the delts/traps sesh:

Workout notes:

It was a solid workout (and btw, I was 220 after the workout) and then I went straight home to mow lol. Once again, Fitbit logs this as bicycling and this is what I got from that:

I honestly just wanted to stay in and relax in my recliner I was so dead. But we had been invited to a friend's for a bonfire. So, we watched the Derby (we are in KY, after all) and then headed over there. I was there for maybe 15 minutes before we got toned out for a vehicle accident. The friend whose home we were at and his neighbor are both on the fire department with me and both had started drinking a beer. Well, they were planning on not going but giving me crap to go. I was still bitter about going out in the middle of the night/morning Thursday at 1 AM for a no-run and really didn't plan on going. Well, they decided after some hemming and hawing that we needed to respond because not enough people had and no one that could drive an engine (some of our younger guys) had, either. So I had to drive the wife's car and parade the 3 of us to the station. We got there, geared up and one of the Captains had shown up and was driving the engine, so one guy from our group jumped on with him, but my other friend wanted me to drive one of our brush trucks, so we took that out (my first time driving it). By the time we ended up on scene, there wasn't much to do and EMS had already transported the patients out (don't think anyone was too severely injured). So, we packed it up and headed back to the station. Buddy #1 and I were waiting there for the engine and Buddy #2 to show up so we could head back to his house. After about 15 minutes of waiting (they had to write up the report), we get toned out for a vehicle fire. So all crap apparently breaks loose and one other person who had shown up to the station late for the first call and the 2 of us were there -- Buddy #1 says for me to take the brush truck, but there's only room for 1, so he decides he's gonna drive the other engine and the other person jumps in with him. Well, great -- except they didn't shut their bay door and I'm still relatively new to this and still don't live in the district we service, so I'm not familiar with it like they are. So they rush off and I'm holding my **** in my hand trying to find the button to close their stupid bay door because even though it's a small town and you'd hope no one would rob us, I don't think they'd be too fond of us leaving everything wide open with thousands of dollars worth of gear just sitting there. So I finally get all the resolved and have to GPS it from the Active 911 app and head out. By the time I got there, the others were obviously already there fighting the fire and even the engine from that first accident scene was already on scene so all I basically did was have to run the pump for a bit while they smothered the last of the fire. But then we had to stay on scene for like another hour plus to wait for the tow truck to get the scene cleaned up and the car out, then it was back to the station to fill the air tanks, clean house, fill the tanker, etc. By the time we got back to our friend's it was almost 11 and my wife was barely awake on the couch with our other friend's wife and the kids all passed out. Not how I wanted to spend my night. I was largely just in a bad mood because my friend bailed and took the engine and just left me in a bad situation when I easily could have hopped on with him and saved time and been of more use.

So when I got home, the wife went to bed and I should have, too. But I decided to go downstairs to the big screen and watch basketball and snack. Actually fell asleep shoveling trail mix into my mouth. Ugh.

Daily capture via Fitbit:

Sunday, May 8

Weight: 223.0 lbs.





Well, I went to bed in a bad mood and woke up in the same spirits. I fell asleep in the basement bedroom and my wife came to wake me up and ask if we were still going to early service. I just grumbled and she said how about middle service and asked when I wanted to have her wake me up in time for it -- so I said 9:30. 9:30 rolled around and she came back and I just grumbled some more. We ended up not going and I'm angry/disappointed in myself for that. Church resets me and recharges my batteries for the week. I know this and yet I still was selfish and let my mood get the better of me. Additionally, we found out the gym was taken for something so no basketball in the afternoon. Well, I still had Friday's session to make up.

Only I didn't.

I let that sour mood follow me the whole day and stayed in watching TV while my wife spent most of the day at her grandma's (as she does most Sundays). I barely ate and all I wanted to do was snack when I was "hungry." It was just a poor choice of management for the day for me.

Fell asleep around 7:30 in the bed while hanging out with my wife only to wake up and realize she was downstairs watching Once Upon a Time (at 8:30), so by the time that happened, my sleep was all screwed up and I ended up staying up until about Midnight.

Daily capture via Fitbit:

Monday, May 9

Weight: 227.2 lbs.





Alarm went off at 4:45 -- and all I did was snooze it a few times and then decided to reset it and that I'd work out after work that day. Bad choice.

After the day was winding on at work, I realized that the way the week stacks up the smartest thing to do was to push my workouts a day, so Monday's on Tuesday morning, Tuesday's on Wednesday morning (which is normally off), and then basketball Wednesday evening and back to normal come Thursday.

I just didn't feel like myself all day because of skipping. I know this about myself, but it's just so easy to get off track by missing that one day and letting the wheels fall off. It's a downward spiral that can head out of control pretty rapidly.

It's really easy to stay dedicated for a month or so. The long-term is where you really find out what you're made of. Logs are easy to keep in the short term but when you look at the long term, that's where you have to really push yourself. And that's where I'm at. That first month was simple. Not easy, but simple. But pushing yourself so hard for a short duration is one thing -- over a longer period is entirely different.

(Spoiler alert, I hit the gym this (Tuesday) morning and feel MUCH better)

Daily capture via Fitbit:

So here I am. I was nearly flawless on my execution of workouts and nutrition until this past weekend. But that's okay. Life isn't perfect and I squared it back around today. It's easy to find that mindset of "welp, I already missed X, so might as well wait til Y to start back up..." I've done that before. I won't do that again. The gym brings my life balance. It gives me the mental and emotional stability I need to keep moving forward. And not just about the aesthetics of the mirror (though that certainly is a part of it because the body dysmorphia can kick in HARD and FAST and make you feel tiny and fat all a the same time). But more importantly, the even flow of energy throughout the day is what working out gives me. It's my medicine and it's important not to skip it. Days off and rest are one thing. Even a slower day at the gym. But just flat out skipping is bad for me. I need routine and structure to thrive.

It should also be noted that on Thursday and Saturday night I missed my doses of Keto Induce and those are the only times in this entire run since April that I have done so.

I felt/looked much better this morning after the gym so I'll ride that into tomorrow and keep on pushing. No giving up. This isn't just about a short-term thing here -- this is for life.

 

[dsade]

Yeah, I think it's the whole "we're never satisfied" type thing. When you get smaller you want to be big, but as soon as you gain the slightest bit of fat you want abs. I've been plenty big (300 lbs. lol), so I'm saying screw it and focusing 100% on this cut. And as long as I have the strength, I just view it as having the best overall package (meaning if I can be just as strong at a lower weight and smaller size, then so be it).

Plus, I admittedly feel sooooo much better at this weight. It's hard to even describe because it's been so long, but just running feels easier; heck even walking up the stairs. But it's not a lung capacity thing; it's like the muscles themselves -- it's odd.

Another 2 weeks and I'll have my meeting with the plastic surgeon, so hopefully that can happen soon and I think that will make a huge difference for me, too; especially from a confidence standpoint. It really sucks being able to basically squeeze a small handful on either pec right now with that lump under each side (and they're tender, too, which obviously sucks).

But I'm trusting the process.



And regarding clothes -- my mom taught me well. Pull out everything damp and hang it -- works amazing. I used to separate things like crazy when doing laundry, but anymore I toss almost all of it in together and do just a few things separate. But I'll toss all my regular and gym clothes in together (minus jeans or slacks or anything with zippers) and after about 10 minutes in the dryer on a normal setting, I pull out all the t-shirts and anything that hangs and hang them all up damp, then re-set the dryer to full time and let it finish up all my socks, towels, underwear, spandex compression tanks/tops, athletic shorts, etc. Then I just pull all of them out later (or first thing in the morning if I'm going to bed while it finishes) and fold them up good to go.



It's a constant struggle. But I think when we admit it to ourselves, that's the first step of moving in the right direction.

Don't worry, brother, BRITE restock tomorrow. You can have your strength and the fat loss.

 

[MidwestBeast]

Tuesday, May 10

Weight: 228.2 lbs.





Not gonna lie -- the scale change in just those few days (since May 5th) is kind of a kick in the balls. The "fat gain" doesn't seem to be THAT much, but I am definitely looking a bit softer and like I've added just a bit back around the lower abs and love handles. Hopefully a few more days of things being back to normal will equalize it. I've dialed in my nutrition a bit more this week to be specific toward macros, too.

Woke up at 4:45 and stared at my phone -- wanted so badly to just silence it and go back to sleep. But I didn't.

Got up, got my morning routine done and got to the gym. It was a day late, but it was high volume chest.

Workout capture via Fitbit:

Workout notes:

Pace felt like it was down just a tad, but it was a good workout. I think it's more mental than anything else right now. Happy to see my lifts improving for the most part, though. I like to lead with regular bench, but they were taken so I started with incline DB presses and then rotated over to that.

Was in a much better mood at work with the endorphin rush. Had my 3 scoops of Muscle Research vanilla whey isolate post-workout about 7:30 AM, went home and showered and got ready, started sipping on some nanaberry E9 at the office, popped my first Epitome at 11 AM and then had 2 Quest bars at 11:30. Was out of the office early for a doctor's appointment for the wife, so I scarfed down 2 more Quest bars at 2:30 PM, and took my 2nd Epitome at 3 on my way out the door. We were stuck in a tornado warning for the county (even though it wasn't on path for us), so the doctors' office had everyone go down to the basement and that took 30 minutes so we were behind after that. Ugh. But all in all, we were fine so that's all that matters. First time for me meeting the wife's doc and he seems like a pretty good dude. We chatted about things (women's/fertility clinic) and he and I were on the same page that the next step for us is to have a sperm check, so he hooked me up with the lab info and I'll hopefully be getting that done next week. That will determine what we do next. It's a lot to think about and take in. On one hand, I hope my numbers are low so that points to less chance of a problem with my wife as that's likely harder to assess/correct, but on the other I obviously also don't want my side to be impacted. But if mine comes back normal, the things we check for her are riskier at this point and then if we have to look at in-vitro, that's obviously a huge next step. So we'll just pray on it and go from there.

Once we got home, we cooked dinner together. From some cookbook she has and called "cowboy grub" (I'm not a fan of a lot of the names lol, but the meals are good). We generally cut everything in half because otherwise we end up with way too much in the way of leftovers for just the 2 of us and we try our best not to be wasteful. So it was a pound of ground beef, some brown rice, a vegetable mix of green peppers, onions and something else, diced tomatoes, corn, and then garlic powder, chili powder, salt, pepper, cumin, and cayenne. Turned out pretty good and not too long to cook, either. I added in some Velveeta that had been left over from another recipe and was taking up fridge real estate to mine so that obviously upped the cals, but made it tastier and got me some fridge space back because it was not much of the block left at all. I ate the majority of it because I was just trying to get as much ground beef as I could lol.

Snacked on 1 serving of the dark chocolate almonds while watching TV after that and then my wife comes downstairs and says she wants to bake me something. I'm like "...okay?" She's like "It'll be good -- it's dessert." To which I obviously respond, sure lol. So a little bit later she comes down with what looks like a souffle of sorts with a somewhat hardened top and was soft on the inside. It was supposed to be some kind of chocolate lava (magma!) cake, and it was tasty. Tasted very similar to hot chocolate in flavor and was slightly undone, so a bit runnier than she'd planned on the inside, but still very good. That got finished at 6:50 and I said I was done for the night with food. Ended up drinking 2 scoops of Humapro around 8:30 and then took my Keto Induce + MCT Evolved with my pre-bed supps (which that list is shrinking) around 9 and went to lay down.

Daily capture via Fitbit:

 

[MidwestBeast]

Wednesday, May 11

Weight: 226.6 lbs.





Getting that Tuesday session in really got things back on track. Weight was down a touch, though not all that much. Started off right at 4:45 AM and got out of bed, went to go fill my shaker with water and got some MCT Evolved and 2 scoops MBCAA. Took some morning supps with that (DCP 2.0, BMP, MyoSynergy Elite, Levothyroxine, Huperzine-A, Agmatine, Nerve Restore) and then went to go rinse my shaker out, fill it up with ice just past the halfway point (I prefer to use one of the OG v1 USP Labs shakers because of the circumference) and then to the brim with water. Back downstairs to add in 3g beta alanine, 500mg COP, and 1 scoop of Max REPS. Knock back 25mg ephedrine, 200mg caffeine, 1 AlphaBurn, and then instead of the other 200mg caffeine cap I'd been using, I just swapped it out for 2 caps of Keto Burn since I'm no longer using Abliderate AMMO.

Workout was my final high volume session of the week, just a day late (normally on Tuesday). Here are the details via Fitbit:

and the workout notes:

Felt like a really good session -- nice increases going continually into the cut (albeit up in weight currently). Nothing major to report that I can think of other than just felt a little bit out of the zone at first, but I blame that on knocking back the stims closer to leaving vs. first thing with the BCAAs.



Pretty basic day at the office and then it was home to eat a Subway sandwich the wife grabbed for dinner as she was out grocery shopping prior. I went with a footlong grilled chicken with double meat and cheese. Took 1 Slintensity and 400mg NaRALA prior to that. That was about 5 PM. Had a little bit of trail mix after that, but not too much. That was the end of my eating for the day. Had to do some cleaning around the house as we prepped for having company over. So I was doing that and then took a dose of CardioTryx at 6 PM, loaded up and headed out for basketball at 7 PM. Went with another scoop of Max REPS for this, but no stims and no more beta alanine or anything. Same intra combo during games, though (5g taurine + 1 scoop Compete). I had to sit the first game, but then was on for I think it was 5 in a row (4 on 4, half court). Here is the Fitbit capture for those:

And then, I thought we were done, but they decided to play one more. Though it was evident very quickly that not everyone was down to actually play, so it was a blowout it got shut down pretty quickly. Here's the Fitbit capture from that:

Not very relevant to the calorie burn, but the HR info is at least worthwhile.

BTW, I was sweating like an absolute hog during basketball. I haven't sweat like that in a while. So maybe working some added stuff out of my body (sodium for sure at the very least the way my diet had been). But it was insane. Only played ball for a total of an hour and I switched shirts and sweatbands about 2/3 of the way through and was just as bad by the end. Ridiculous.

Finished off with 2 scoops of Humapro around 8:20 after ball and then drove back home. Storm started to roll in just as we got back into town (I rode over with a buddy). He dropped me at my car and I hit the gas pedal for home lol. About a quarter of a mile from my house on the highway, I see either a tree or telephone/electric pole get directly hit by a bolt of lightning. Sparks flying. It was nuts. If I've ever seen it before, I don't remember it or at least not like that. For the next 10 minutes, every time I blinked I still saw it in the middle of my vision it was so bright. Glad it didn't fall in the road and glad I was home about 30 seconds after that as the sky just absolutely opened up. Insane stuff.

Grabbed a shower and tossed clothes in the laundry. Watched the Heat/Raptors game while I waited for that to finish up and got to bed about 11:30 PM (waaaaay later than I like).

Daily capture via Fitbit:

And also figured I'd grab this since it was pretty cool to see as I had 2 pretty intense workouts spread across my day:

 

[MidwestBeast]

Thursday, May 12

Weight: 222.4





Nice to see the scale getting back down near that 220 mark. So as I stated, I was up pretty late after basketball, the storm, and getting laundry done. Apparently, I woke up at 4:45 with my alarm and didn't even snooze it -- I straight up turned it off lol. Well, luckily, either the cat running around or my wife walking down the stairs woke me up at 5:29. I rolled over, looked at my phone and faced a dilemma -- "Normally I'm already leaving for the gym by now. If I try to lift, I'll be short on time and won't be able to even get as good of a workout in....I'll just do it later. Wait -- I can't lift after work; we're having company over for dinner. Ugh. Okay, let's do this." And I got out of bed and got to my routine.

But that's the dilemma I often face in the mornings. There are stretches where I am absolutely focused and driven and as soon as that alarm hits, it's game on. But there are definitely days (as I've been in the midst of this stretch for a week now) where it doesn't come easily. And it's an internal struggle. I just have to make the right choice.

So I got to the gym just barely after 6 and got started about 6:10 or 6:15 for my heavy arms session.

Here is the capture via Fitbit:

Workout notes:

Mostly hanging steady on biceps and some minimal increases on triceps. The star next to the pushdowns that I forgot to write my note in afterward was that this is the 2nd time I've used that different pulley station and I definitely need to get back to the other. With this, I'm doing the full stack with weight included on top of it and I'm getting 8 reps easily. Granted, my form is incredibly slow and stricter, but still. So next week I'll go back to the other one and re-assess. On those hammer curls, the form obviously isn't what it is on the 140's to the 60's, but I'm pretty proud of it on those heavy ones. The muscle is definitely being taxed and I think it helps (the striations, vascularity, etc. that I see during those are incredible, too). And on the standing EZ bar curls, I'm maintaining strength, but the form isn't what I typically strive for. That said, during this heavy time, I give myself a little flexibility in strictness on the way up (e.g. I do roll my shoulders a bit to get it up there), but I really, really focus on the negative and that helps. I'm also certainly not slamming the bar down after and pumping my fist -- I'm not "proud" of those numbers; I just accept that others in the gym judge my form not knowing what my main intent is during a cut and on those heavy days.

After I got home, I actually clocked in at 221.2 lbs. on the scale pre-shower.

Pretty average day at work aside from being stuck in an atrocious meeting for 2 hours (one that could have been done in 10 minutes -- you know the type). Got home, put away some laundry and did some cleaning while the wife finished getting the food stuff prepped for our guests at 6. Had some chicken fajitas and they were quite tasty. Friends and their kids left about 8 and then I grabbed some trailmix to munch on and watch a couple shows on Hulu while the wife headed to bed lol. Ended up having some ice cream after that, too (btw, Defuse + Slintensity + NaRALA preceded dinner) and knocked out about 11:30, but set my alarm for 7:30 because Friday is heavy legs day and my feet and calves are torn up from the past few days. So I actually planned it out in advance that Saturday will be two workouts. Today my body gets to rest and heal up. Cals will be much lower today to accommodate that and will obviously be up a touch on Saturday -- especially if I have to mow.

Daily capture via Fitbit: