Sorry about being so long, but I'd sort of reviewing everything here.

I just had my physical and I had an elevated sugar level in my blood. So, they took another test and it was confirmed. It's nothing to really get concerned about. I'm borderline pre-diabetic. That really came as a surprise because I have no family history of diabetes, I exercise every day - much much more than the average person my age. I feel like I eat pretty well but we'll see. Compared to you guys probably not, but compared to the average American I eat pretty healthy I think.

The doctor didn't suggest I do anything but review my diet/exercise, etc. I can't imagine the problem is exercise so I'm going to take a look at diet. My spare tire has been getting bigger so I've been wanting to get leaner anyways and I've been contemplating a big diet change but this is the incentive I need to get off my ass and do it.

Here is a review of my normal diet.

During the week it is pretty standard

About a cup of Fiber One cereal with a hard boiled egg for breakfast.
A 5 oz serving of dannon light and fit greek yogurt for mid morning snack
A chicken breast (large) with some veggies for lunch
3 hardboiled eggs for mid afternoon snack
a power bar or metrx bar for preworkout snack
Dinner varies - About 3 times a week I eat a fajita salad, made with frozen chicken fajitas. Just lettuce and about a tsp. of dressing (blue cheese or ranch) and about 10 chips. Sometimes I'll cook about 1/2 dozen eggs with lunch meat (more on this later) and eat breakfast tacos. Sometimes I eat some pre-cooked brisket.
I usually have a snack about an hour before bed consisting of about 5 oz. of deli lunch meat with fruit

Weekends are always different. I generally eat out once so I'm making that my splurge day. I also make breakfast tacos (6 eggs and lunch meat) both days for breakfast. I do snack some on the same snacks I eat during the week. I'd say Sat/Sun are close to weekdays but I splurge a bit more. I also have a few beers/wines both weekend nights.

I'm ready to make some changes. I'm not one of those that will reject something because it doesn't taste ideal. Although some things I just can't force myself to eat all the time (like tuna). I couldn't eat it every day.

One problem I have is getting really hungry in the middle of the night. So, I keep some raw nuts by the bed to snack on if necessary. The pre-diabetic literature encourages raw nuts so I'm not inclined to change this.

I definitely want to cut down on the sugar. I've done a little reading and it wouldn't hurt to cut down on salt as well.

So, there is some stuff I feel like is ok and some not so ok. I rarely eat bread but I do eat tortillas. I also snack on chocolate ocassionally.

I'll be removing the chips, candy and tortillas completely.

I refuse to cut out all alcohol although I'll cut back some.

I'll probably keep the fiber cereal. I think I need that fiber for other reasons.

I feel like the yogurt isn't a good choice. There's a lot of sugar in there. Is there a good substitute? I thought I saw someone post some greek yogurt that was almost sugar free? I'd probably eat more yogurt if there wasn't so much sugar in there.

Is there a good protein substitute for all the lunch meat I eat? I go through about 3 16 oz. packs a week. I think there's a lot of salt in there.

I go through about 2 1/2 dozen eggs a week. OK or no?

I know you are gonna say I need to write down in more detail what I eat - fat/protein/sugar, etc. And I will. Right now, though I'm just looking for ideas.

Any advice appreciated.

Take a week at MINIMUM and right down everything you actually eat instead of making a list of things you sort of think you eat.

Yogurt is fine. There's plenty of greek yogurt varieties w/o any sugar. Just get the plain not the flavored. They sweeten the flavored varieties with sugar. A lot of people prefer the 4% fat variety for taste. I do the 0% fat and add protein powder with a dash of half and half and I prefer that to the higher fat.

glgl.

I spent some time at the local grocery store trying to find suitable alternatives to my current diet. It was much harder than I thought.

All yogurt they carry has sugar.

The power bars I eat have quite a bit of sugar. The Metrx bars don't so I'll go with them. I don't think even those are a great thing to eat regularly but they sure help me through a workout.

I bought some whey protein isolate. I know nothing about protein powder but this has no sugar and seems to have a good amount of protein.

I couldn't find a suitable alternative to the lunch meat. All of the processed meat has a ton of salt. Even the frozen chicken breasts had a bunch. Not sure what I'm going to do here.

I may have to go to a specialty (health food) store to get better choices. ugh.

I would really like to find some palatable source of no sugar low salt high protein that doesn't take a ton of preparation.

The sugar free protein shakes use sucralose instead. IDK whether substituting artificial sweeteners is useful or not.

Do you also have high blood pressure? Sodium is processed by your kidneys and as long as they are functioning OK you shouldn't have to worry about your intake. There is an association of diabetes and high blood pressure, but I think it's cuz being fat (which you are not, ldo) can cause both of these.

Your diet is top 10% compared with people itf, imo. I eat more eggs than you :P. Your sugar intake looks quite low compared with most people.

Thanks highland. The sodium stuff is especially good to know. I can cut down on some obvious sodium but hearing this makes me think I can worry less about it.

My blood pressure is fine. In fact she said it couldn't be better.

The only thing on my chart that was even close to being out of line was blood sugar.

LOL, do egg cartons fill up your fridge like mine? Since I hard boil them I try to age them somewhat so they peel easier. So I've got this entire shelf of my refrigerator that is devoted to eggs.

Yeah, that's sort of what I thought. The whole thing baffles me. I would think there are a million other things I would have issues about before diabetes.

But, I do have elevated sugar so I guess I need to be even more nitty about things. I talked to a friend that has diabetes about what I eat and he says flour tortillas and chips really shoot his blood sugar up. I do eat these, although not in excess. But both will be easy to eliminate. In fact, I tossed what I had last night.

We have a shelf that fits 12 dozen perfectly. Eat left to right, shove to the left upon resupply to keep eating in order. I cook 8 or 9 scrambled eggs every morning. The wife eats 3. Sometimes if I don't have any thawed meat, I end up eating scrambled eggs and veggies for dinner. It's weird how you don't get sick of them. My wife never wants to have the same meal 2 days in a row, but it's been eggs for breakfast for like 18 months now for her.

Actually, last year I decided that for a week, I would eat only eggs, stuff from my own property (veggies and maple syrup) and a limited amount of olive oil. On the third day I was playing beach volleyball for a few hours and was pretty sure I was hyponatremic (not enuf salt), because I was all dizzy and disoriented, and because I felt great a little bit after I ate a teaspoon of salt straight. I added salt to the mix and finished the week. Stupid diet, but it was fun.

Yeah, if I had to pick only one food for the rest of my life eggs would be the easy choice. I never get tired of them either. I like them any way they are cooked.

Today I didn't eat any bar before my workout. Just ate some eggs. I felt miserable about halfway through. Probably won't do that again.

Yesterday someone was using the trap dl bar so I decided to do regular DLs. I could definitely feel a difference. I think my form was much better due in part to sort of feeling the motion of using the trap bar. Or maybe I just got stronger where I needed to be stronger.

There is usually this feeling in my lower back when I do regular DLs that I never get with the trap bar. It's not really pain or tightness or even discomfort. Just this "awareness" that the lower back did something it didn't like.

I got this during my middle sets but not on the heavier ones. I'm wondering if this is a warmup issue or my form got better as I got heavier. I'll have to do a lot more to figure this out.

I really didn't want to go heavy at all but it all felt so good that I decided to lift 245. I've done this before but it seemed heavy in the past. It was easy peasy. I could have easily gotten a new regular dl pr but I'm still unsure about the back.

I think I'll do these maybe every 3rd or 4th time I do DLs.

Got 305 with tdl. Sort of a goal although 315 might be cooler because it's 3 plates and all. But I'm happy.

It really sort of kicked my ass, though. My body feels like it did something it wasn't meant to do. No injury or pain or anything, just telling me to take a day off to rest.

DT got me thinking about tinkering with my workouts and recovery time and such. I did do some research on hardgainer, ectomorph, etc. It's all over the place but the key seems to be rest. Also, a lot of people suggest maybe higher reps, less sets to failure, etc. I probably need to experiment.

So, I'll start with my typical current workout. Here is what I did last week. This is pretty typical.

Monday
Rolling, mobility warmups
Front squat (I sort of alternate between 5x5 or something like this where I do a little heavier less reps)
8xair
8x45
8x65
5x95
5x115
5x135
4x145
2x155
2x155
4x135
Incline Bench
8x45
8x65
8x95
8x135
5x155
5x175
3x185
1x195
3x175
Core (2 sets)
Side plank 50 seconds ea
Front plank 60 secs
Bird dogs
Rollout

Tuesday
Rolling
Dumbell curls
8x20
8x25
8x30
8x35
5x40
5x40
Tricep pushdowns
8x50
8x70
5x90
5x90
7x80
Run 2 miles

Wednesday
Rolling, mobility
Trap dead lifts (I usually get at least 1 more set in)
8x135
8x155
8x185
5x225
3x265
2x285
1x295
Overhead press
8x45
8x65
8x95
6x115
3x135
1x145
3x125

Thursday
Rolling
dumbbell bench
8x35
8x45
8x55
8x65
8x70
8x70
run 2 miles

Friday
Rolling, mobility
Back squat (pretty tired, usually get 1 more set in)
8x45
8x65
8x95
8x135
6x155
3x175
5x155
dumbell rows
8x50
8x75
7x80
5x85
5x85
core (same as monday)

Saturday
Rolling
run 3 1/2 miles

So, the monday and friday workouts are pretty taxing. I'm spent by the end of the workout. Monday seems to set the tone for the rest of the week. I'm so spent that I never catch up. So, I thought I'd have 1 workout with just squat and nothing else.

One of my problems is my legs are sort of dead most of the time. My tuesday/thursday runs are tough. I have to force myself to do them and I sort of drag all the way through. By Friday I'm just physically drained all over. I feel like I'm not letting my lower body get any rest. I sort of feel like my DL and Friday squats are suffering because of this.

I'm probably going to hear that my new routine isn't really solving the problem of overtraining. I'm sort of addicted to the gym. I just don't feel right if I don't do something every day. My hope here is that I can keep the "light" days truly light. Something I struggle with.

So, I thought I'd try to get a schedule where my legs completely rest. The problems I see here are 1) Only 2 run days and more importantly 2) only 1 (heavy) squat day.

I'm struggling with the squat part of this. Is a light squat day (D5) beneficial as opposed to no second squat day?

I know I'm going to hear people say get rid of the runs but I really don't want to do this. It's just something I want to keep doing as long as I can do it. Plus, it's not like I'm running 10 miles. It's a short run but it just seems harder if I did legs the day before.

I'm still only getting 1 full day of rest a week. But my lower body gets complete rest 3 (2 1/2?) days and my upper body gets complete rest 3 days. And, I don't run after a heavy lower body day. I think this has been really detrimental.

I know arms are going to be an issue. Most of the literature says to stick with the compound lifts and don't waste energy on the smaller body parts. But, I like to do a little arm stuff. It's not much - 3 sets of 8 or something.

Rolling every day as usual.

D1
mobility, heavy squats, bis, core
D2
heavy Bench, tris
D3 run
D4 mobility, DL, Overhead press
D5 light squats???, light bench, rows, core
D6 run
D7 rest

You eat eggs 3 times a day and you only eat 36 eggs a week? So that's only 5 eggs spread over 3 meals every day? That's a weird diet.

Where does the other 120+ gr of protein come from?

Not so long ago I averaged like 100 eggs a week, lol. I think the most I've ever eaten in a day is like 25, and it wasn't a one time thing. Come at me bro!

I eat them as between meal snacks.

The other protein is chicken breasts, deli meat, chicken fajitas and beef brisket mostly.

D1 of my new routine.

Squat
8x45
8x65
8x95
8x135
7x155
5x165
5x165
5x165
4x165

I usually came home exhausted on Mondays. Feel pretty good now.

between meal snacks

What's the use of doing so many 8rep sets at the lower weights? I haven't read through your log, but that's not common.

If you want to gain strength in your lifts it would be more efficient to keep your warmup sets as easy as possible, but heavy/smart enough so that it prepares you well for your worksets.

Your 5x5x165 would've been way easier if you did something like

2x5x45
5x65
3x95
2x135
1x155
5x5x165

I really don't know anything about proper warmup. I do know it takes me a bit to feel loose enough for everything to work properly when I go heavier. I just figured getting some reps in would be more of a warmup.

I'll try this.

I felt much more refreshed than I usually do on Tuesdays. So far so good. I'm having trouble trying to fit everything in with my new routine so I thought I would do overhead press after doing (incline) bench. I'm not sure that's a great idea. My OP really suffered. I'm not sure if it would be as bad if I did flat bench. Doesn't incline work some of what OP does? I'll try this a few more times but I might have to adjust.

Probably have the same warmup issues that syndrom pointed out. I'll adjust.

Incline bench
8x45
8x65
8x95
8x135
6x155
5x175
5x175
5x175
4x175

Overhead press
8x45
8x65
7x95
4x115
4x115
3x115
5x105

Did some tricep work. I don't even know what this is called but I'm lying down with a curl bar and bending my elbows so my hands come towards my face.

8x4x85

Core

2 mile run. Pretty brutal but I'm blaming that on the heat. It's pushing 100 and I've never had a good run when it gets this hot. I will say that after I cooled down I felt pretty good.

Felt good. Not tired. So far the new routine seems good.

TDL
8x135
8x155
5x185
5x225
5x245
4x265
3x285
1x305
1x305

Dumbell rows
7x75
6x80
5x85
5x85
5x85

Pretty wiped out when I got done.

I definitely overdid the DLs yesterday. 305 was my previous best and I did 2 sets. I didn't sleep well last night and I felt completely spent today. So, I need to ratchet down the DLs for sure.

Today was supposed to be light squat, light bench, biceps, core. Front squats were super light but that was good because it allowed me to try to work on form some. I have a tendency to lean forward and going light helps me sit back some more.

anyways
Flat bench
8x45
8x65
8x95
8x95
8x135
8x155x3

Front squats
8x45
8x65
8x85
8x85
6x85

preacher curls
8x45
8x65
5x85x3

did some cable curls, forgot to write it down

core

still pretty tired from yesterday

Today is normally a run day. My body pretty much told me no way no how.

I can see already I need to fine tune the DL workout. I need to back off some for sure.

Think I'm gonna try creatine to see if that helps recovery.

Will be posting a grape update soon.

Took a teaspoonful of creatine. I do not feel good at all. It's like I drank 10 starbucks coffees.

Seems like you're doing a ton of volume (especially before your top sets, as syndrom pointed out) which may be counter-productive, or at least too much for now. Either reduce, or suck it up for however long it takes to adapt.

Today I tried to warm up more like you guys suggested. When I got to my 5x5 weight it just didn't feel right. The whole squat seemed "tight" and I got a twinge in my knee. It just takes a long time for me to warm/loosen up enough to where it feels comfortable going heavier. This is true for bench as well. When I jump up the weight quicker "things" just don't seem to work right. Like my shoulder or knee "catches" and I get twinges of pain. I don't know another way to loosen up without sort of gradually increasing weight.

But I get what your are saying. I just need to experiment. Maybe just more light sets with more reps. I dunno.