Project Scrawny

[25GTT]

good let me know how you go with them. I am sure you will see greater results if you do it correctly.

Personally i hate core work but understand the benefits of it should i need to go heavy etc.

[TTT]

yep definitely..

will let you know exactly how it goes.

[25GTT]

write up a diary and let me know of your daily accomplishments with the bungy ;-)

[TTT]

I'll get right on to that too

[Trozzle]

So as of today (inclusive) I'll be doing my best to double my intake of good calories (more chicken, brown rice, and veges). First things I've noticed is that even after spacing meals out to around to 2.5 hour mark, my third meal of the day was a fair struggle towards the end hahaha. I'm not talking snack meals either - I had a large bowl of oats first up in the morning immediately followed by a WPI shake w/ water (out of milk damnit), then I had 2x 1L containers about 75% full of brown rice, chicken breast, bacon (with near on no fat), onion, peas and carrot. The second container was the killer haha.

I unfortunately also rediscovered why I stopped eating after 1pm - I hit failure VERY quickly due to muscle fatigue (lack of blood flow due to digestion). Weight didn't particularly drop, though reps certainly did. Still feel good, but thinking I might need to swap things up a bit and start hitting the gym first thing in the morning before work instead of afternoon

[GHOSTrun]

When you up calories, takes about 2 weeks for your stomach to get used to eating that much, so it's really uncomfortable, even hard to finish the meals, but after 2 weeks it goes back to feeling normalish again.

[-FIGJAM-]

i would think the brown rice would be making you feel fuller for longer, isnt it meant to be low gi???

also not sure how much you were eating before, but maybe try to bring it back a notch and gradually increase? I know when I go hard with the food I feel sick by lunch time and spend the rest of the arvo on the toilet. Just a thought.

[Trozzle]

hahaha yeah both posts above make sense. I'm not sure how I *should* go about this, so really just gonna trial and error this shit haha. Figure as long as I'm eating more than maintenance then I'm gonna gain in some way (which it seems I was routinely more or less spot on maintenance as my weight never changed enough to conclude anything).

[NickR33]

I seriously can't believe people have trouble eating... I'm always hungry... except for the hour after I eat... sometimes its only 30min... shit I'm hungry right now

also the only equipment you need to train abs is one of these bad boys... but you can just use a barbell with a couple of small plates

start on your knees and if you can master it standing up you have achieved badass status

[Trozzle]

Yeah I've used one of them before... Epic pain haha

[TTT]

Trozzle - just spent 15 minutes going over this diary - that's what it's for right??

anyway..

12/07/11 = 72kg

05/08/11 = 71kg

02/10/11 = 74.5kg

19/12/11 = 74.5kg

02/01/12 = 76.7kg

27/03/12 = 76kg

Yes.. you're not eating enough.

BUT.. You CAN NOT double your intake of food from one day to the next and expect to continue.

You know how fatties are... they go from watching Oprah while eating tim tams to doing sprints and eating lettuce... then they eventually end up being the people who send letters to womens weekly that they've tried everything and can't lose weight.

That will be you in reverse..

You need a proper plan and patience.

sure, bro-science can always say "whatever you're eating now, double it brah" and that theory is great.... in theory. but it can't be sustained..

Spend half an hour and work out how many calories you eat per week.

then find what you can do to increase that by 1500cal per week (only 300 cals per day.. spread over 5-6 meals will be fark all.)

In 8 months you've gained 4 kg.

sure you went through a few hurdles like holidays and pig-aids and a f**ked back etc etc... but you can do better..

If you can't be f**ked working out your calories, just eat everything you are now, but drink a glass of full creame milk with at least 3 of those meals.

Having said all this, as a young natural athlete, "bulking to 80kg then cut back" is retarded.

80kg is 4kg away.

do you really expect to gain even 2kg of muscle doing a bulk?

If you think that at 80kg you are going to look like Birds does in his photo in the other thread at 80kg, you're dreaming.

you would need to get to well over 90kg (and be fairly strong) before dieting down to show some muscle.

You've had odd goals in this thread... any goal is good as it is something to strive for, but pick something useful and focus and be patient.

drop the brown rice.. that shit bloats you to buggery and will eventually give you cramps so bad you'll give up trying to eat heaps... especially if you are eating like 2 containers of the shit each day.

[Trozzle]

Trozzle - just spent 15 minutes going over this diary - that's what it's for right??

anyway..

12/07/11 = 72kg

05/08/11 = 71kg

02/10/11 = 74.5kg

19/12/11 = 74.5kg

02/01/12 = 76.7kg

27/03/12 = 76kg

Yes.. you're not eating enough.

BUT.. You CAN NOT double your intake of food from one day to the next and expect to continue.

You know how fatties are... they go from watching Oprah while eating tim tams to doing sprints and eating lettuce... then they eventually end up being the people who send letters to womens weekly that they've tried everything and can't lose weight.

That will be you in reverse..

You need a proper plan and patience.

sure, bro-science can always say "whatever you're eating now, double it brah" and that theory is great.... in theory. but it can't be sustained..

Spend half an hour and work out how many calories you eat per week.

then find what you can do to increase that by 1500cal per week (only 300 cals per day.. spread over 5-6 meals will be fark all.)

In 8 months you've gained 4 kg.

sure you went through a few hurdles like holidays and pig-aids and a f**ked back etc etc... but you can do better..

If you can't be f**ked working out your calories, just eat everything you are now, but drink a glass of full creame milk with at least 3 of those meals.

Having said all this, as a young natural athlete, "bulking to 80kg then cut back" is retarded.

80kg is 4kg away.

do you really expect to gain even 2kg of muscle doing a bulk?

If you think that at 80kg you are going to look like Birds does in his photo in the other thread at 80kg, you're dreaming.

you would need to get to well over 90kg (and be fairly strong) before dieting down to show some muscle.

You've had odd goals in this thread... any goal is good as it is something to strive for, but pick something useful and focus and be patient.

drop the brown rice.. that shit bloats you to buggery and will eventually give you cramps so bad you'll give up trying to eat heaps... especially if you are eating like 2 containers of the shit each day.

haha, There is only about 15mm of rice in the bottom of these containers of food I've been eating past 2 days

I get what you're saying, and yeah like everyone else I simply wasn't eating enough. My intake of food each day lately has been absolutely pathetic, so by me doubling it it really hasn't increased on a HUGE scale. I'll do some proper calorie counting like you've suggested though and see how much I'm eating each day...I don't think it will be more than 3500cal though at a very rough guess. Why is it you say I can't expect it to continue? Second day in and I actually feel fine already. Ate the same amount of crap at the same time today as I did yesterday (actually, slightly more oats this morning) and I feel fine right now. If you mean I'll get sick of eating the same thing, that's fair - I intend to swap it up to some red meat and salads as well after this weekend when I get a chance to prepare things again. If you mean financially which I don't think you do, then nah that's fine as well.

My initial goals were actually really ignorant in hindsight. Now I have no set goal other than to get to a point where I'm satisfied with my appearance (not that I'm NOT, you know what I mean). If this means 80kg, fine. If it means 85kg...then so be it. I don't want to do what I did previously and set a weight/BF% goal since that isn't a REAL goal with regards to my reason for lifting. I could look like shit at any given weight, so what was the point of achieving that goal if I don't like the results?

For now I'm just going to continue eating more (I'll play this by ear while also taking your advice into consideration, I'm no longer in any rush), lifting more, and enjoying myself like I am. I feel good (emotionally) with how I am now, improvements from here on are bonuses.

4kg in 8 months is actually surprising if you knew how little and inconsistently I was eating

Thanks for the advice as usual though. I'll definitely be adding the milk to each meal if I can farken find space in the POS work fridge to store it

[TTT]

I just think that doubling your "maintenance" intake amount is huge.

And, not the right way to go about it.

My opinion only.

[Trozzle]

I just think that doubling your "maintenance" intake amount is huge.

And, not the right way to go about it.

My opinion only.

I think I really muffed up wording with things....breakfast has remained the same (oats and shake), I've added a normal size meal after this, then a banana which I didn't have before, then lunch is healthier and slightly larger, then another shake later in the arvo that I would occasionally get in, then another banana.

Then post-gym my dinner is more or less the same, maybe slightly larger and more consistent content, then if it isn't too late I'll have a bowl of cereal.

Finally I'll have a protein shake sitting on my desk ready to go. Given my f**ked back and increased water intake I'm not used to, I will often wake up randomly through the night...if I wake up around the 3 - 4am timeframe, I'll sink the shake. If I sleep the whole night, even better.

[Birds]

If you think that at 80kg you are going to look like Birds does in his photo in the other thread at 80kg, you're dreaming.

you would need to get to well over 90kg (and be fairly strong) before dieting down to show some muscle.

I was mentioned, hoorah

[Birds]

Updates?

[TM7GTR]

Gains don't seem all that bad tbh. 4kg in 8 months would have to be all lean mass. Anyone can pack on the kg's in a short period of time if you don't mind getting chubby

[NickR33]

agreed, his diet is very clean

[Trozzle]

Gains don't seem all that bad tbh. 4kg in 8 months would have to be all lean mass. Anyone can pack on the kg's in a short period of time if you don't mind getting chubby

He also missed that I started with quite visible body fat particularly around the waist, which I don't have now.

Update (best you're gonna get right now lol): 78kg. Weighed in at the same time as always. I will *try* to get a picture up this evening, since I'm actually happy with how my upper-body shape is starting to look.

[Trozzle]

Best I could really get...I'm gonna blame the lighting hahaha. Kinda had to stand in a weird way to even manage this picture