Just Some Nonsense. in The Napkin.

I’ve been spending too much time reading forums. Takes a bit to filter out information. I’m midway through my second week of low-carb, and it’s going well. It was only the first few days that I felt particularly tired. I’d say the fatigue during my cardio is due to legwork the day prior, not because I do it fasted.

(I always do my cardio fasted to get myself out of the door faster. To reiterate: Makes no difference whether you eat before or after, caloric expenditure is the same.)

I’m pretty much beyond looking up most training methodology. I have too much experience under my belt. All programs look like the same thing, just rearranged. It’s like seeing the code in the Matrix. (Though, spotting a bullshit program is SO easy.)

I think people have difficulty telling the difference between sated and full. Even I was told to “finish my plate” as a kid. We’re trained from birth to eat as much as possible. And then get seconds.

When I read that the liver can hold about 200 grams of glycogen, that’s science. When I read a dude is drinking a stick of butter to prevent “coming out of ketosis”, that’s just asking for a facepalm. Forums are like that.

Who remembers when I bought into the “Wanna be big, eat big” mentality, and was drinking four gallons of milk a week? Mind you, I’m lactose dependent. 2-3 gallons wasn’t an issue at all. But by four gallons, I found I was losing my taste/craving for milk. Sheesh. Me weighing myself and being all “I didn’t gain anything this week!”

Oh, younger Timmy™. Ha ha. I did seriously need to gain some weight, but well. Parsing broscience is a pain.

And I think it goes the other way. Sure, slow and steady wins the race. But if you’re going to drop weight, fucking do it. I don’t understand why people are afraid to “deprive” themselves. They sound like an alcoholic. Building muscle is insanely difficult. I want to smack every person that is afraid of weights. It takes WORK.

Everyone wanna be skinny, but nobody wants to give up their cupcakes. Ha ha.

At least I have a deadline, so I’m staying within SMART. (Specific, Measurable, Achieveable, Reasonable, Timely.) So far, keeping carbs under 20g has suppressed sugar cravings. Lifts are stable or going up, and scale is going down. So, I can endure this for the long short-term.

Part of tracking my calories is to see what maintenance is. I’m quite well aware when I’m disregarding any concern for health when I’m downing cheesy breadsticks on a nightly basis. (1000 calories per box.) I’m well aware that the stopgap that is chocolate is 2000 calories per binge. (Five pieces per package, 140 calories per piece; 4 cups of milk - 10x140 + 4x150 = 2000 calories)

I’m not above those who post “whelp, BROKE MAH DIET, I’m going to glutton now”. Well. I don’t really have that mentality. One of the perks of being a gymrat is “it’s not weight gain. IT’S A BULKING CYCLE!” : D : D : D

I’m not like this random quote: ” I will probably eat dessert because I might as well if I’m not losing weight anyway.” Like. You’re literally doing the opposite of what you want. Actively. It would be like me saying “Well, I’m not getting strong, I might as well sit on the couch and atrophy.”

As for now… No cheesy poofs, no chocolate, no popcorn, etc. I haven’t had ice cream in years, as it is. Cutting milk to see if the lactose reduction does anything. Lactose can readily be turned into sugar, after all.

I find it interesting how much pleasure humans gain out of food. When you get into a fuel mentality, it is quite mindblowing how attached we are to the pleasure aspect. I’m not above stating my love of spiral mac and cheese.

I think this is part of why “eat when you’re hungry” kind of fails. You’re probably going to be craving whatever you’re around. When I frequently eat chocolate, I crave chocolate. Not so much now.

After all, I’m never hungry in the morning. But, after eating breakfast, whether it’s oatmeal or eggs, I’m always MORE hungry than I started. Though, I am sated, not full. My brain is smarter than my stomach. A sated brain says “enough pizza”. A “not-full” stomach says “can haz pizza?”

Okay, I should stop babbling.

Last updated January 12, 2022