TT Eric diet log 2014

[TT Eric]

I'm unable to eat enormous quantity of foods, on diet or off diet. Usually 150-200gr of carbs is pretty much what I can take in one sitting, so yes it should not change my weight that much, if all carbs are stored with it's water, it should make add about 1lbs to 2lbs tops.

About the scale yes, it's extremely precise, even though I weight myself 3-6x every time, all the same, I tested thoroughly, I've tried to put the weight in front, back, leaning every way, it always come back to the same weight, some time also I do make it 'forget' my weight by grabbing a furniture and adds lots of weights or remove some and it come back to the same decimal.

Eric

[steve_d]

I'm unable to eat enormous quantity of foods, on diet or off diet. Usually 150-200gr of carbs is pretty much what I can take in one sitting, so yes it should not change my weight that much, if all carbs are stored with it's water, it should make add about 1lbs to 2lbs tops.

About the scale yes, it's extremely precise, even though I weight myself 3-6x every time, all the same, I tested thoroughly, I've tried to put the weight in front, back, leaning every way, it always come back to the same weight, some time also I do make it 'forget' my weight by grabbing a furniture and adds lots of weights or remove some and it come back to the same decimal.

Eric

I wouldn't think that you would weigh the same 3-6x per day! That right there makes me think the scale is off. Try this. Weigh yourself, then grap a liter of water. See if it goes up 2.2 pounds. Grab another liter of water, see if it goes up another 2.2 pounds. Doesn't need to be a liter of water, but something you know the weight of. I find if you just grab something really light, the scale will just go back to it's original weight (hence the need to 'forget').
But if your scale doesn't recognize you have something a pound in your hand, then you have to question how good the scale really is. Most of them nowadays are pretty decent - but you get the odd one that just sucks - even with a high price tag.

At least you'll know the precision of the scale. If really precise, then perfect.

[TT Eric]

No I mean, at the same time, back to back measurement.

Eric

[steve_d]

No I mean, at the same time, back to back measurement.

Eric

ah - ok... The only suggestion I have is that rather than focus on the scale, focus on the mirror+the gym numbers. Perhaps the best thing isn't to try to lean out and re-gain, but rather try to gain slowly without being too meticulous on the calories / macros - but rather going by instinct.. Being natural, the process isn't going to be drastic especially since you've had years of training under your belt - even with the layoff, muscle memory is there. I know it goes against the point of what you are trying to do, but in the end, I am a firm believer in keeping your body where it likes to be and only dieting if there is a short term goal - but not dieting for a longer term goal. People may disagree with me, as I know many people go through bulking and cutting periods. However many people also have successfully gained slowly. without the need to ever bulk or cut. I think everyone has their own optimal gaining body fat zone. but the difference isn't going to be person A will gain 10 pounds of pure muscle if they are in "optimal" zone vs. person B gaining zero if they stay fat.

Just a suggestion. You seem similar to me in many ways. When I diet, its drastic at first, but I always have success from it - however at the same time I never cut or bulk for no reason. If I dieted on a structured plan with a set number of calories, slightly under maintenance, I probably wouldn't lose too much. My body is VERY good at maintaining its weight. Which is good overall, but if I wanted to hit 200 pounds, I would have a HARD time. Trust me, I've tried. Doubling calories works for a few days, until I am no longer hungry. And force feeding just results in a bigger toilet paper bill.

Having not done a show in a year now, and having not dieted since then, I've maintained a solid 190-195 the whole time and felt great in and out of the gym. I don't focus on the scale, because I could never gauge a 1-2 pound gain which might be realistic for me each year. What I can gauge is getting my lifts up. I've recently tried switching my routine a little. I squat to the floor now, no belt. I focus on form and reps. I don't worry about hitting max numbers, but I make sure my form is great and each day try to get a little stronger. it's been working great - especially legs.

If the numbers in the gym go up, the assumption is that the muscle is improving. Even if its simply muscle maturity but not a crazy weight gain.

[TT Eric]

I hear you! The scale for me is a tool, to see if I'm going in the right direction. Actually I really need to lean down, my % fat is too high and as Ted and many articles I've read says, higher % of fat leads to less insulin sensibility and I also like to see a clean abs slab.

Year round, I'm very disciplined about the food I eat, always getting 6x50g of proteins and keeping my carbs consumption mostly post workout and believe me I try to keep fat at bay year round, but still I'm gaining very slowly and now it's time to get rid of it, I'm not comfortable with that. Before I was starting back to train I had no problems keeping a slim waist, but I was eating when I was hungry only, so much less then a eating scheduled like I have now. I train so freaking hard that I need to have a good supply of proteins/fats and timed carbs to make sure nothing is missing, even if it's not a lot*, I think it's the minimum I should get to accomplish my goals. My focus is to pack as much muscle & strength as possible, for as long as I can.

About muscle memory, I thought I would be able to 'get back' where I was in about 2 years, 3 tops, but now it has been 3 years and I'm still far from where I was. For strength I'm still behind on 90% of the lifts and for mass, I'm still 1'' behind for arms and 2'' behind for legs for example, pretty much only the calves are back where I was. After a 20 years break, it's really starting over like a newb from my experience.

*300g pro, 175-200g carbs and 125-150g fat per day for gaining.

Thanks for the comments Steve!

Eric

[Praetorian]

Hey, out of curiosity guys, if you weight yourself the morning after the re-feed meal, what kind of weight variation do you have from the day before ?

Eric

Depends on the individual and the actual meal itself but it will not be an accurate measurement. My clients as well as myself have cheat meals on Saturday night last meal of the day. That means you take your weekly weight when you get up, after going to the bathroom, before eating or drinking anything Saturday morning. Its not rocket science its consistency...doing this you will always have accurate measurements. You should also take your weekly pics right after you weigh yourself, in the same location, same lighting, same time of day...again its consistency as you want to be able to see progression. Weighing yourself every day will probably cause you anxiety and doesn't help much...your weight will fluctuate with sleep patterns, sodium levels, training or not...etc. If you want a bit more granularity than take your weight Wednesday morning just like Saturday morning and use it as a guide only.

Keep it simple.

P

Mak

[TT Eric]

Mak ?

As far as I have dieted, I always weighted myself once a week, always in the same exact conditions, extremely consistent, no problem here, only difference is I switched to the morning before I cheat instead of after, because you told me to do so, this is the only change I've did.

I've decided to weight myself everyday this particular week, not every week and it's really out of curiosity since I lost 3.4lbs one week and decided to continue the same diet with no changes (you said it was a smart move) then gained .8lbs on the next... it didn't make sense, cause the mirror and how I felt was saying otherwise. That triggered the curiosity to see over a one week period how my weight fluctuate from day to day when dieting.

The reason I take the cheat meal on Sunday is simple: I do not train on Saturdays, but I do train on Sundays and train on Mondays, so the cheat meal fit well after my Sunday's workout and fuel my leg training on Monday!

Thanks

Eric

[steve_d]

Weighing yourself every day will probably cause you anxiety and doesn't help much...your weight will fluctuate with sleep patterns, sodium levels, training or not...etc. If you want a bit more granularity than take your weight Wednesday morning just like Saturday morning and use it as a guide only.

Keep it simple.

P

Mak

You're weight will fluctuate daily because of all those reasons, but the same is true week to week. IE - sodium levels from 1 saturday to the next, sleep pattern 1 saturday to the next, etc. If you train and eat / work / etc on a 7 day cycle then the week to week variability will likely be smaller than the within days variability of a particular week. Although I do it to elimante any small outlier.

EX, if these were my weights during a 7 day week:
M T W T F S S
180, 181, 182, 181, 184, 181, 185
184, 182, 183, 180, 182, 179, 185
180, 178, 179, 179, 181, 178, 185

Then taking my last weight of the week makes it look like a lost nothing in the first week. and none in the next.
Taking the median, it went from 181 to 182 to 179 (a gain of 1 then a loss of 2).

Yes, the weights could cause anxiety day to day since you see those fluctuations... But if you can handle that, I think it actually could be better than the anxiety of not seeing the scale move at all with only the 3 data points. This may be a slightly exagerrated result, since those 185s seem a bit weird compared to the rest. More like what you'd see if you weighed the day after cheat each week. But the point remains, since if you look down any column, you don't always see the weight going down. A monday weigh in would be weird, thursday, friday and saturday I would argue not reflective of what really went on. Tuesday and wednesday the best since this dude looks like he didn't have a good 2nd week, but did in the 3rd overall.

More data is always better! Although I'll agree with you a million percent on the anxiety thing. some people just can't weigh themselves everyday. Otherwise their mood for the entire day is reflected on the morning weight. I guess that could be better than being miserable all week because of an off weight at the end of the previous week! Yep, I'll stick to my guns, more data better! lol. Although if you are eating a strict diet, which is very similar day to day, have good sleep patterns, your daily weight should hardly fluctuate at all. In which case, it really doesn't matter what you do.

[Praetorian]

Mak ?

As far as I have dieted, I always weighted myself once a week, always in the same exact conditions, extremely consistent, no problem here, only difference is I switched to the morning before I cheat instead of after, because you told me to do so, this is the only change I've did.

I've decided to weight myself everyday this particular week, not every week and it's really out of curiosity since I lost 3.4lbs one week and decided to continue the same diet with no changes (you said it was a smart move) then gained .8lbs on the next... it didn't make sense, cause the mirror and how I felt was saying otherwise. That triggered the curiosity to see over a one week period how my weight fluctuate from day to day when dieting.

The reason I take the cheat meal on Sunday is simple: I do not train on Saturdays, but I do train on Sundays and train on Mondays, so the cheat meal fit well after my Sunday's workout and fuel my leg training on Monday!

Thanks

Eric

It doesnt matter what day you have the cheat meal...the point is take your weekly weight before having it not after. You are over complicating things and over thinking things way too much. You weight will fluctuate yes day to day but if you are on a serious ie precontest tyoe diet it will be consistent week to week. After hundreds of clients I can honestly tell you if your weight increased one week from the next it is generally a result of either constipation, cheating, or bad scale...99% of the time it will be those three. Once you are on a consistent diet it wont fluctuate much except through the day as you eat and drink...you will always be heavier later in the day and lighter in the morning. However trying to dissect all this is really a waste of time...follow the protocol of weight yourself and make changes if you dont drop...thats it.

There is no mistaking if you've lost weight or not...either you have or you haven't...and if not you need to adjust things...ie more cardio, less calories, over complicating things wont make you lose weight faster.

P

[steve_d]

There is no mistaking if you've lost weight or not...either you have or you haven't...and if not you need to adjust things...ie more cardio, less calories, over complicating things wont make you lose weight faster.

P

good point. follow the plan, you'll lose weight eventually - if not, adjust accordingly (or adjust the goals!). You shouldn't have to suffer to lose weight unless you are shredded already. If you aren't suffering, then no harm in adding cardio or reducing calories. Cardio has more benefits than just fat loss. Until you are crazy ripped and /or miserable, then it isn't 'bad' to be eating less than you think is healthy. But at the same time, if you can maintain at 3500, then it doesn't seem 'fun' to have to eat 2000 to drop a pound or 2 per month! Although I don't think it's as extreme as that. Seems as though you're still losing at a good pace considering you said even with the 0.8 pound gain you thought the mirror said otherwise.