Tips from experience: how I ended years of stagnation

[lsatschristianprayer]

@clarissa_ 42 here - OP I feel like you’re spot on on about everything.

My struggles have been with sleep and analysis paralysis. For sleep I can fall asleep quickly but it’s staying asleep for a full 7-8 hours. I’ve had a kidney transplant 2 years ago and sleep has been a struggle since - partly due to my meds.

I’m going to keep to the basics when it comes to programming and not switch it up every month.

My current situation does have me struggling choosing between a fat loss phase or a bulk. I am not lean - about 18% but it’s mostly all in mid section so my arms legs and chest look lean. At 5’11” and 160 (73kg) that means I probably only have like 131lb (59.5kg) of lean body mass.. and from what I understand having a higher lean body mass would assist in fat loss. If you were me would choose fat loss or bulk phase?

 

[clarissa_]

@lsatschristianprayer I deal with sleep maintenance issues as well.
I convince myself that as long as we’re not up for prolonged periods of time, that it’s ok! I tend to wake up between sleep cycles, but can manage to fall back asleep within minutes most of the time.

As for what to do in your shoes, I will tell you that this is what I’m doing actually. I plan and think long term.

• plan out long phases of muscle building (in a very small surplus, not too far from maintenance)
• follow them up with fat loss sprints (

) to keep things tidy. Check out the video, it may make more sense
• repeat until you want to get proper lean (if ever)

The more precise your gaining phases are, the less fat you’ll accumulate, and the longer you can remain in gaining phases. I’m not a huge fan of yo-yo dieting.

Remember, we have a limited amount of muscle gains we can make. Seeing the scale move from week to week is usually a sign of fat gain. You want to see small gains month to month.

For me, tracking would be mandatory to do this right. Otherwise I would get fat really quickly. 18% is a great start, but you don’t want to find yourself over 25% bodyfat.

Good luck!

 

[lsatschristianprayer]

@clarissa_ That’s great advice.. I’ll check out laynes video for sure. I follow him too but haven’t seen this. This is giving me hope and some renewed encouragement! How aggressive are your Sprint fat loss phases? Like 500kcal below maintenance? Are your gain phases like 150-200kcal above?

 

[clarissa_]

@lsatschristianprayer Hell yeah!

700-750 kcal deficit is what I would do in an aggressive fat loss sprint. It’s a lot, I know… but you know that it’s for a short period of time, so you can mentally prepare to battle. Also, the scale moves nearly on a day-by-day basis, and visual results start showing already by end of week 2, so your motivation will skyrocket. Just be sure to stop after 4 weeks!

As for gaining, yeah, something like that. You want to see small increases in bodyweight on average every 2-3 weeks. It’s enough to boost workouts and minimizes fat gain. You have to trust the processes. If after 3 weeks you haven’t gained any weight, don’t freak out. There is potential for recomp in most people when they dial in so much at first. Only increase calories if you’ve gone a whole month at maintenance, or if you’ve started losing weight again.

That’s why i say to think long term. Building muscle unfortunately takes a lot of time for us that aren’t in our late teens/twenties lol

 

[lsatschristianprayer]

@clarissa_ Thanks again man.. much appreciated

 

[clarissa_]

@lsatschristianprayer Happy to help. Good luck

 

[jord1999]

@clarissa_ No pics ?! We want to see what this is doing for you.

 

[clarissa_]

@jord1999 https://www.reddit.com/user/Puzzleh...urce=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

 

[jord1999]

@clarissa_ Cool! Can’t wait to see when ur done with the bulk!m. Gl!

 

[leaningjowler]

@clarissa_ Looks like a great physique! Can I ask your height?

 

[clarissa_]

@leaningjowler Short king, reporting for duty lol
170cm / 5’7

 

[laura02375]

@clarissa_ These are the points Dr Mike constantly preaches, nearly verbatim. Glad you finally figured it out.

 

[clarissa_]

@laura02375 I wasn’t so much that I “figured this out” as it was actually doing the work.

 

[laura02375]

@clarissa_ I’m trying to save other readers the time they’re wasting on making these mistakes by pointing them to a reputable source, dr Mike Israetel, that gives this advice and much more.

actually doing the work

The goal is to work smart, not just do work. You can do all the work you want and spend your life in the gym but if you aren’t doing the right things it’s a lost cause.

 

[d8n0g]

@clarissa_ Too much protein. But liked everything else

 

[lsatschristianprayer]

@d8n0g That very standard recommendation. It’s per kg of body weight not per pound. 1.6g per kg is equivalent to like .725g per lb and 2.2g per kg is 1g per lb.

 

[supersr]

@clarissa_ What do you mean by rep range?

 

[godsgentlehand]

@supersr The amount of reps you do per set. High rep range is like 12 to 15+. Medium rep range is like 6 to 10. Low reps, usually to push maximum weight with min fatigue is in the 2 to 6 range usually.

If you ever heard of Max-OT (maximum overload training) it keeps you in the 4 to 6 rep range the whole time. If you can do more than 6 reps, increase the weight, if you can't do 4 reps, decrease the weight. I've used Max-OT in the past with great success.

 

[uetuu]

@clarissa_ Well done getting so much protein in, what your daily food plan look like? I struggle getting the protein in.

 

[clarissa_]

@uetuu There’s a bunch of high protein foods and I suspect you know what they are (fish, poultry, red meat, dairy, etc). The key is in meal prepping. If you have the dough, order from a meal service provider. If you don’t, you have to prioritize making food. Build that into your routine. It’s paramount.