This may have been the most difficult year for fitness enthusiasts due to gyms closing because of the international Covid-19 pandemic. I have been training consistently though since June in people's garages with dumbbells, cables, machines, and barbells.
I've learned quit a lot lately. I was in my best shape 8 years ago in 2012, and I've been trying to get back that state, but I think I've had too many contradicting goals. For example, I've been chasing a heavy 1rm deadlift most of my lifting career. And that can be poison to many of your other lifts, and even your body. My diet for the past 8 years has been moderately healthy. I had been trying to bulk mostly and not cut. But no matter how much food I consumed, I never got past 205lb, and to even stay past 200lb was difficult. I think my body is more naturally around 180lb. I'm 5'9. I guess there's some naivety on my behalf, thinking I could just keep getting larger, but I think that would require chemical assistance. And I never went down that path.
I started a new relationship with a girl 2 years ago, and my diet switched from moderately healthy to unhealthy, which was a first in my life, so it was a bit of fun. The scale still didn't put me past 200lb, but I could tell visually that my body composition had changed for the worse with bodyfat increasing. Time to time I tried cooking very healthy dinners for my friends, and they were disgusted, and wouldn't eat the food because they too had unhealthy diets. I noticed my alcohol consumption had gone up, I had even started drinking soda on a weekly basis, which was something I hadn't done in about 21 years.
I decided my stomach fat had to go, so I cut soda and lowered alcohol consumption, and I saw minor results. It's only recently that I've adapted a healthy diet. At first I made healthier and healthier choices at fast food places until I stopped going there entirely. I purposely consume low calorie foods, and I look at the sugar, carb, and protein content of anything I'm going to purchase or eat. I stopped drinking Starbucks entirely to reduce calories and sugar I was getting from their milk. I eliminated cheese from diet, and I had been consuming lots of cheese with every meal, and I don't even like cheese that much. It was just that my friends enjoyed cheese, and I cook every day.
I think an important step in getting locked into my diet was consistent cardio. If you don't run miles each week, and haven't for a while, you may want to try it. For me, I noticed fat on my body jiggling and moving as I was running. It was hindering my running technique. My diet has become stricter, my workouts have become more focused, and I'm dialing in the things that'll make everything work even better. My meat consumption has been too low, and I've just sworn off red meat, so I'm back to eating a pound of turkey meat every day.
Current diet is oats in the morning with defrosted berries, for lunch 1lb of turkey, for dinner ramen, chicken, vegetables, and egg. If I want a snack, it's bananas, strawberries, oranges, apples, veggies, or a peanut butter sandwich on sourdough. Obviously the ramen is the only unhealthy culprit in my diet, but I'm OK with that for now. I'm not really sure about how healthy the peanut butter and jelly is. The jelly is 0g sugar (it has sucralose) and my peanut butter is sunflower seed butter. I also use apple butter for jelly.
This diet for a month or so had me drop from 200lb+ to 180lb. I wouldn't say it was difficult. It was just the decision to stop eating sweets, and there's obviously a lot more cooking to be done. The 20lb off isn't that noticeable, which goes to show I probably have less muscle mass than I've once had. But I on a steady consistent path of progress. And this isn't my diet for new years; it's my intended lifestyle for the unseeable future.
My next post will be more about the actual exercises I've been doing.
