Ask parlay slow about oly lifting. Hes prob best on the forum.

Thanks, will definitely PM him. For now, I live fairly close to California Strength, so I emailed those dudes to see how receptive they are to letting a random strongman trying to learn the oly lifts train there.

Also, this is TMI, so fair warning:

I got a stomach bug and have been ****ting my brains out for the last 24 hours. I also have an anal fissure (DO NOT GOOGLE IT) from 2 years ago that has now reappeared, so I'm also bleeding from the *******. Dreading the doctor visit, because I'm sure it will be strongly advised for me to stop all heavy lifting, which I am going to be so sad about cause I've made so much progress this year (I hit over 600 lb DL for the first time this year). Not looking forward to this. Probably going to have to get ass surgery.

Anyone else deal with a problem like this before?

That sounds awful man, sorry :/

Thanks, I am still not sure what it is, but for the time being, I have stopped bleeding. I think I will stick to a very light (60% of max) schedule and do mostly olympic lifts and swimming. Got a sigmoidoscopy scheduled for two weeks from now, and I am keeping food down now. Weighed 218 lbs at the doctor's office, but feel like I've gained 3-4 lbs of solid fat from eating nothing but chicken soup, ramen noodles, rice, and other easily digested nonsense.

Also got in contact with Jon North at California Strength, going to head up there soon for a few sessions to see if I can learn how to snatch, and so he can pick apart my current clean and jerk form. He likes poker, trade poker coaching for personal training 1tyme?

Sick coaching opportunity imo, I'm jelly. Good to hear you're feeling better too.

I've been doing IF for a while now and while my training isnt structured the same as yours it seems like an interesting log. Will stay tuned

PS are you really "overfeeding" on 2200-2400kcal? that seems awfully low for your size.

Overfeeding compared to his average deficit? Obv way below actual maintenance.

BTN Jerks

135 x 3
185 x 3
225 x 3
225 x 2
275 x 2
300 x 0
300 x 1

power cleans

225 x 2
225 x 2
225 x 2
255 x 2
255 x 2

pendlay rows

245 lbs, 3x5

ab curls

170 lbs, 3x8

I'll explain more about how I came to those overfeed/underfeed figures in a bit. Gotta check some of my math.

So for someone that is 5'9 215, various methods of calculating basal metabolic rate give me a range of something like 2100-2300 kcals. On lifting/swimming days this obviously needs to be a bit higher, so possibly something more like 2500-2700? I am trying to lose fat though, so I don't want to pig out too much. Consequently, on rest days, I would like to shoot for 1800-2000 kcals, which I think I am hitting pretty well (fitday'd 4 days or so). Is this way too low? For someone that lifts weights at a high intensity and low volume 4 times a week while swimming 10-15 mins once a week? For someone that carries as much muscle as I do? You guys sound like you know a lot more about it than I do, so I'm all ears.

It sounds like losing the fat (fast?) is your number one goal, and from the posts I've seen you have done a great job holding on to muscle/strength while doing this, so you're definitely doing something right.
Just keep doing what you have been doing, but be aware of the possibilty of upping calorie intake a bit as you get leaner if you start losing strength.

Well for comparison, my maintenance level at 6' 190 lbs (obv less LBM than you) is roughly 2700. This includes the 3/weekly lifting I do. That's from a calc I use and matches well with experience. The same calc spits out 3000 for maintenance for you. BMR is the baseline but you need to add more than that - see e.g. http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat...-overview.html.

Levels obv vary, and if you've been on extended diet it might be a bit lower. Lyle talks about carb refeeds as an important part of diet to among other things adjust hormone levels. See e.g. http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat...owdown-qa.html.

Thanks Soulman, definitely a huge help. I haven't been doing carb refeeds that often because I bend the diet on days I go out with family or friends, but I think that is a good idea.

So my fever returned right after that training session on Friday, and I decided that this **** is ridiculous, I am going to hold a gun to someone's head and force them to test my blood and stool. I went to the ER, and a ****ing doctor FINALLY said, Oh, you're ****ting blood and have a fever? I suppose a blood test is in order. You'd think the ****ing GI doctor would suggest that, but no. Two days later, I'm diagnosed with food poisoning via camphylobacter, a naughty little organism that, according to wikipedia, causes inflammation throughout the intestines, leading to bleeding, diarrhea, painful cramps, and generalized fever and inflammation, which can convince you that you have anything from ulcerative colitis to diverticulitis to leukemia (diarrhea and bleeding stopped midweek) if you, surprise surprise, haven't taken a blood/stool test.

Now I'm taking Cipro, a wonderfully useful antibiotic drug that also manages to weaken your tendons (I am not ****ting you, it says so right on the label.) while destroying most of the helpful gut flora of your GI tract. So I am going to naturally take it easy in the weight room. I am, however, overjoyed that I don't have an anal fissure, do not require surgery, and do not have any awful chronic disorders of the intestine. Add this experience to the list of things that originally made me want to expatriate in the first place.

Holy crap! Good luck on the recovery.

Doctors gonna doctor. My parents have had a lot of health issues over the years, and if it's one thing I've learned it's that you need to push a lot and research yourself. Can't trust the docs to do it for you.

Best of luck recovering.

I don't know where you lot find your doctors. ****ting blood is the most standard needs further investigations ever.