I think you're taking his comment way too seriously. I'm certain if he were on some sort of really serious cut and needed to hit a certain target, he would have been sure to do it.

MLYLT comparisons are way out of line, imo.

Sounds like he was just half-assing his diet and made a few donk moves that he wouldn't have made if he either exercised his usual aspiness or went to different restaurants. But he made those choices and he's well aware of that.

Yeah, that's uncalled for TX. 2193 and 2339 calories with a donk meal included in each is pretty darn good. If you include the new job with activity, they might even be calorie deficit days

He's harsh but not wrong.

10.8 macros: 1908 cal, 91p, 97f, 151c

Trash macros today but at least I came in under calories. It will get better. Being in a family of fatties though, I'm probably going to need to prep my own meals. I sidestepped KFC takeout from family and ate my own food for dinner tonight, but had a lot of donk stuff earlier in the day.

So, they had KFC takeout the day after going to KFC?

Yup, 'merica

Actually, I was with different relatives each time.

Well that's clearly better than what I was imagining.

What's with the KFC anyway? I'd think there would be many superior fried chicken options in your neck of the woods.

KFC is by far the cheapest fried chicken around here. And most of my family is poor, terrible at managing money, or both.

IDK what it is about KFC. My family would get take out on Sundays all the time when I was growing up.

You're going to have to talk the family into going to Waffle House next time. Everybody down here loves some Waffle House and you can do alright in there.

Well I guess even the worst fried chicken is still pretty good. Nevertheless, my sense is that any of the other competitor chains would be better. No Popeye's, Church's, Bojangles, Zaxby's, etc.?

Those aren't direct competitors. Maybe bojangles is the same price point as kfc, but zaxby's is for sure 2-3$ more per person. I haven't been to a popeyes or churchs in years.

Renton - its super ez to make excuses.

I live on a commune. We have chefs that prep 2 of our meals. I sit down at every meal and enjoy every one elses company. Well over 1/2 the time I don't eat what they prep. I enjoy a tall glass o water and eat my meal after. Blaming KFC on lol murica is a bull sht excuse. Eating clean takes a commitment to excellence imo. Do you have that?

I'd dropped the whole issue admitting txclimber was right. However, I'll note that my point about being "america'd" had nothing to do with making excuses for the bad choices I made. It was just that the chicken strips were literally twice as calorie dense as breaded fried chicken strips generally are. Chick Fil A 4-count strips are 480 cals compared to KFC's 1040. I made a decision to eat fattening food believing that I had the calories to budget. My belief was wrong. That's all.

Am I capable of committing to eating clean? Yeah. But I'd rather take a more flexible approach and enjoy most of my food if I can do that and still get results. If I can't, then I'll cross that bridge when it comes.

My mistake. I kind of just assumed that all fast food fried chicken joints were about the same price point. I guess "about the same" is also a bit subjective.

Haven't been to any of those in a while, though. I probably eat fried chicken at least 3-4 times a year, but it's mostly from fancylad spots.

Monday 12 Aug 2019 Training
8-Week Skinny Strong W1D3

Squat, no belt (3'-4'): 135x4, 160x4, 185x4, 205x4 x2 sets

CG Bench Press (2'-3'): 95x6, 115x6, 125x6, 130x6 x2 sets, LS @7.5
BB Curl: x15 x4 sets

Chest Supported Row (1'-2'): x10 x4 sets
DB Lying Triceps Extension: x10 x4 sets

T=56' @7
W=150.0 lb

***

Pretty miserable 8pm session after a long day of work. The way I decided to address my squat depth was to go beltless and as deep as possible. The goal was to go as deep on my working sets as I did with 135. I came pretty close. I was kind of shooting for 225 for my working weight but depth was a struggle with 205 so I left it there. It might appear that this depth is about normal, but keep in mind that I don't usually do side-on angles, which are way less forgiving for depth.

It's hard to judge RPE for these sets because the bottom position feels so awkward and I can't get as much horsepower from the stretch as I'm used to. It feels kind of like I'm pushing from a dead stop on some reps. At any rate, I'm definitely getting a lot deeper without the belt in the way, and I'll probably have an easier time getting deeper once my gut gets smaller. On that note, I felt like an extremely fat **** today.


11.8 macros: 1854cal, 110p, 80f, 147c
12.8 macros: 1930cal, 123p, 89f, 135c

Wednesday 14 Aug 2019 Training
8-Week Skinny Strong W1D4

Stiff-legged Deadlift (3'-4'): 135x6, 185x6, 205x6, 225x6, 240x6 @8

5/3/0 Bench Press (2'-3'): 45x5, 95x5, 105x5, 110x5 x2 sets, LS @8
DB Hammer Curl: x10 x4 sets

T=47' @7
W=149.6 lb

***

It's pretty hard to muster up a decent workout when you just worked outdoors for 12 hours, but I got it done. I'd planned to do some chin-ups but I noped that **** fast and went home. SLDL wasn't terrible. I didn't know what to expect for my top set, and would have been happy with anything over 225. Tempo bench was absurdly humbling, and given what I can bench press on a good day, I didn't need further humbling tbh.


13.8 macros: 2307cal, 135p, 98f, 197c
14.8 macros: 2081cal, 120p, 94f, 165c

Diet continues to be a wall to wall shitshow, but I'm pretty sure that I'm eating substantially less than I would otherwise. It's really hard to pass up what everyone else is eating when you just got done doing several hours of bust-ass work, but I guess if I had a commitment to dietary excellence I'd have eaten a metrx bar or whatever instead.

2300 is absolutely fine and in a deficit if you're moving around for 12 hours a day!

The heat has been absolutely brutal. It is impressive that you even make it to the gym after a 12 hour work day. Definitely don't beat yourself up if your sessions aren't top notch quality.

If you're concerned about gym performance and you have a physically demanding job I'd say you can drop like 50-60g fat from the diet and add in another 125-135g of carbs.

Easier said than done. My fats have always run on the high side. It would take radical changes to be eating 30-40g a day. For one thing, I'd basically never be able to eat with family nor co-workers without bringing my own stuff. I'm a bit concerned though that I'd need to seriously lower the fats to have a nice physique one day. Probably something I need to begin addressing now.

Yeah I didn't have an issue skipping my third tier work under the circumstances.

I hope you're right. Weight is slowly coming off in spite of everything.

Saturday 17 Aug 2019 Training
8-Week Skinny Strong W2D1

Comp. Bench (2'-3'): 95x5, 125x5, 135x5, 140x5 x4 sets, LS @8.5
Cable Facepull: x15 x5 sets

Squat w/belt (3'-4'): 135x5, 185x5, 210x5, 235x5, 245x5 x2 sets @8, 8.5, 235x5 @8

Dips (1'-2'): x8 x5 sets
GHR Back Raise: x10 x5 sets

T=89' @7
W=148.8 lb

***

I can't complain too much. Weight is dropping and strength is improved compared to last week. My strength and endurance for 5 reps sets still has some to go. Interestingly, the last time I did BBM-style programming, I was way stronger for reps than my 1RM, while this time around is the opposite. I was repping 259x5 in december when my 1RM was 25 pounds less.

I'm not sure what to expect from bench, but I think 140x5 with a short pause is technically a PR.


15.8 macros: 2726cal, 138p, 121f, 218c
16.8 macros: 1779cal, 115p, 65f, 210c

Let's forget about the 15th. Pizza was involved.

Sunday 18 Aug 2019 Training
8-Week Skinny Strong W2D2

Deadlift (3'-4'): 135x5, 225x5, 250x5, 275x5 x2 sets @ 8, 9, 260x5 @9 w/straps

Overhead Press (2'-3'): 65x4, 80x4, 85x4, 90x4 x2 sets @ 8, 9, 85x4 @8.5
Lat Pulldown: 85x12 x5 sets

Leg Press (1'-2'): 275x8, 315x8, 365x8 x3 sets
DB Fly: x10 x5 sets

T=82' @8
W=148.2 lb

***

Pretty meh day. Lost some weight though.

Tuesday 20 Aug 2019 Training
8-Week Skinny Strong W2D3

Squat, no belt (2'-3'): 135x4, 155x4, 175x4, 195x4 x3 sets

CG Bench Press (2'-3'): 95x6, 125x6, 135x6 x3 sets, LS @9
BB Curl: x12 x4 sets

Chest Supported Row (1'-2'): x10 x4 sets
DB Lying Triceps Extension: x10 x4 sets

T=93' @7
W=150.2 lb

***

This was fine. I spent a lot of time working on squat form and mobility. Also got interrupted by business half a dozen times during the workout, hence the long time.

I can squat very far below parallel while holding the empty bar in the rack for support and balance. Holding that bottom position is very challenging when I let go. So it seems like it's largely a skill/coordination problem and also being weak in that position. My working reps weren't quite that deep, probably about 2 inches below parallel, and that was very difficult with even 135. One thing I discovered is that I need to stay fairly upright to hit that depth, which might make it impossible to low bar squat that low. But using a more upright style with low-bar made 195 pretty manageable.

Wednesday 21 Aug 2019 Training
8-Week Skinny Strong W2D4

Stiff-legged Deadlift (3'-4'): 135x6, 185x6, 205x6, 230x6, 245x6 @9, 235x6 @8.5

5/3/0 Bench Press (2'-3'): 45x5, 95x5, 110x5, 120x5 x3 sets, LS @9
DB Hammer Curl: x12 x5 sets

Chin-up (1'-2'): x5 x4 sets
Seated Calf Raise: x15 x4 sets

T=69' @7
W=149.6 lb

***

I didn't really feel like training but then I drank a Reign energy drink, which apparently has enough caffeine to kill a medium-sized dog, after my customary morning coffee. Then I had a pretty decent workout. I added 10lb to my bench working weights, which basically means my capacity for pain tolerance increased, cause that **** sucks.

Saturday 24 Aug 2019 Training
8-Week Skinny Strong W3D1

Squat w/belt (3'-4'): 185x5, 225x5, 240x5, 255x5 @8.5, 235x5 x2 sets @8ish

Comp. Bench (2'-3'): 95x5, 130x5, 140x5, 150x7 @9 [PR], 145x5, 140x5 x2 sets
Cable Facepull: x15 x5 sets

Dips (1'-2'): x10 x5 sets
Med Ball GHR Back Raise: 15lb x10 x5 sets

T=95' @7
W=148.0 lb

***

Pretty much killed it today. It came totally out of nowhere, too, because I could barely get out of bed this morning from being so sore and tired from the workweek. I'm sure the approximately 600mg of caffeine I had was a factor in today's success.

The squats felt so much heavier than the video indicated. Looking back, 260x5 @9 was probably a safe bet and would have been a small PR for 5, but I'm still super happy with this.

I have no clue what's going on with my bench. I was expecting 150x5 @9 on a good day, so I asked for a spot to be on the safe side. Then I just kinda kept doing reps. It's my first bench PR in ages and it totally destroyed my best e1rm sets by a wide margin (70kg x3 @10 is my next best set, probably).

Re: the lack of food logging, it's something I'm taking one day at a time. Some days suck, most days don't. I might bring back the logs if I feel the need.

Sunday 25 Aug 2019 Training
8-Week Skinny Strong W3D2

Deadlift (3'-4'): 225x5, 265x5, 290x5 [10lb PR], 270x5 x2 sets

Overhead Press (2'-3'): 65x4, 85x4, 90x4 @8.5, 95x4 @10 , 85x4 x2 sets
Lat Pulldown: 100x10 x5 sets

Leg Press (1'-2'): 275x8, 365x8 x4 sets
DB Fly: x12 x5 sets

T=75' @7
W=148.2 lb

***

Awesome. I actually had to work today, including driving for 5 hours. I wasn't able to train until 6pm. The 290 set was probably @7.5 in terms of strength, but my grip was slipping on the 4th rep. On the other hand, press sucked, mostly due to poorly grooving the first rep of almost every set.

Tuesday 27 Aug 2019 Training
8-Week Skinny Strong W3D3

Squat, no belt (3'-4'): 135x4, 185x4, 205x4, 225x4, 205x4 x2 sets

CG Bench Press (2'-3'): 95x5, 130x5, 135x5, 140x5 @8.5, 130x4 x2 sets
BB Curl: x8 x5 sets

Chest Supported Row (1'-2'): x10 x5 sets
DB Lying Triceps Extension: x10 x5 sets

T=65' @7
W=148.4 lb

***

Pretty meh day. Was just tired from work.