2023 Fatass Thread of Dominance

[Herbie Hancock 7491]

Also, sissy squats are another excellent way to bias the quad which I assumed is what your trainer was going for when he/she programmed front squats into your training. If you have a sissy squat machine I highly suggest it.

[South Austin 53227]

I believe the politically correct term is pussy squats.

[Macanudo 13327]

Any suggestions for "on the go" snacks bars?   I have been looking at a lot of packaging lately and it seems like most of them are full of sugar.   

[Lurch 5950]

I am a big fan of kind bars, but they certainly have a lot of sugar. I also pack a serving of nuts from a Costco variety jar

[rage-a-holic 4733]

39 minutes ago, Macanudo said:

Any suggestions for "on the go" snacks bars?   I have been looking at a lot of packaging lately and it seems like most of them are full of sugar.   

If you don't care about carbs, just sugar/calories, the Costco chocolate chip granola bars are great. Best tasting 100 calorie bar I know of.

[Js1 87185]

Trail mix still my go-to 

[Macanudo 13327]

2 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

If you don't care about carbs, just sugar/calories, the Costco chocolate chip granola bars are great. Best tasting 100 calorie bar I know of.

I have a box of those in the house.  They are decent with a low calorie count.  Lots of sugar but I'm not super worried about that as I have cut back in general on that.

[Lurch 5950]

Got down to 200.1 6 days ago. Fucking scale tease, bouncing around 202 since.

[rage-a-holic 4733]

2 minutes ago, Lurch said:

Got down to 200.1 6 days ago. Fucking scale tease, bouncing around 202 since.

Fucking scales. I have one I got from amazon for $25 that has worked pretty well for 4 months. Rechargeable, has an app and tracks your weight. 4 days ago, it showed I had gained 2 pounds in 2 days, which is pretty much impossible, since I was following the exact same regimen every single day. No water weight gains.

So I weighed myself again 5 minutes later and I was down 1/2 pound. I noticed one of the base corners was in a grout line, so I moved the whole thing to where every base was sitting on a solid tile. Weighed myself again...back up 1 pound. So I moved the scale around to different places in the bathroom and got a bunch of different weights. And the best part? Our maid moves this thing to a new place in the bathroom every week when she cleans. So, disgusted, I shoved this thing across the bathroom floor with my bare foot, it hit the tile wall and broke into 10,000 glass pieces. Fucking piece of shit.

 I walked down the hall to my girlfriends bathroom, used her scale, and it showed I'm down 1.2 pounds. And now I'm using that one every day now.

[Lurch 5950]

Username checks out

[Doc Daneeka 6793]

12 hours ago, Macanudo said:

Any suggestions for "on the go" snacks bars?   I have been looking at a lot of packaging lately and it seems like most of them are full of sugar.   

 

[Doc Daneeka 6793]

9 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

Fucking scales. I have one I got from amazon for $25 that has worked pretty well for 4 months. Rechargeable, has an app and tracks your weight. 4 days ago, it showed I had gained 2 pounds in 2 days, which is pretty much impossible, since I was following the exact same regimen every single day. No water weight gains.

So I weighed myself again 5 minutes later and I was down 1/2 pound. I noticed one of the base corners was in a grout line, so I moved the whole thing to where every base was sitting on a solid tile. Weighed myself again...back up 1 pound. So I moved the scale around to different places in the bathroom and got a bunch of different weights. And the best part? Our maid moves this thing to a new place in the bathroom every week when she cleans. So, disgusted, I shoved this thing across the bathroom floor with my bare foot, it hit the tile wall and broke into 10,000 glass pieces. Fucking piece of shit.

 I walked down the hall to my girlfriends bathroom, used her scale, and it showed I'm down 1.2 pounds. And now I'm using that one every day now.

I gained two pounds from Friday morning to Saturday morning. I’m down 3.8 pounds since Tuesday. I don’t know how it’s possible for someone to rule out water weight gains. My daily intake is about as uniform as it’s possible to be without eating from a box… rolling seven day totals on my intake are within about 100-200 calories of each other, out of totals of over 15,000. My daily burn is a little more variable, but somewhere between 22k and 24k steps. I am in a non-trivial déficit. And my weight still does this. IMO, it’s just the nature of the beast, no matter the scale  

 

 

Edited May 18, 2023 by Doc Daneeka

[Doc Daneeka 6793]

Trend weight is the way to go, however pleasing it is to hit a new low on the scale. So, yeah, the 216.6 was nice to see, but that doesn’t mean 217.x tomorrow, or whatever, is going to break me.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Doc Daneeka

[Lurch 5950]

Don’t overlook the weight of undigested food. I see multi pound swings all of the time. To your point, trend is all that matters.

That said, he was getting huge swings on back to back readings so the scale is clearly flawed

[Doc Daneeka 6793]

20 minutes ago, Lurch said:

Don’t overlook the weight of undigested food. I see multi pound swings all of the time. To your point, trend is all that matters.

That said, he was getting huge swings on back to back readings so the scale is clearly flawed

When my diet is consistent, the weight of the food is also relatively consistent. It certainly doesn’t vary by as much as my weight does. When I eat Tex-Mex it probably weighs less than when I eat ground beef. But the Tex-Mex is chock full of carbs — water retention — and I salt the salsa — water retention — which more than offsets the weight of the beef.

I see multi-pound swings and periods of stability when things shouldn’t be stable. But it sorts out as long as I stick to the plan  

Yeah, the scale sounds broken. But a perfect scale isn’t going to eliminate weight swings that seem impossible. Hell, I’ve thought about getting a scale that will sync to my apps automatically, but I can’t tell if they can be adjusted. Switching from one even very precise scale to another would be really annoying if I didn’t weigh the same on both. 

[WithoutAClue 16132]

Power Crunch bars are pretty good. 210-220 calories, 12-14g of protein, 5 or 6g of sugar depending on the flavor.

maybe not as filling as bars with peanuts but not bad.

[Doc Daneeka 6793]

Too late to edit but, yeah, there are various factors that will increase scale weight when doing so should be “impossible.”

[pearlandhorn 3343]

Pure protein bars from costco are legit.  You can get them anywhere but the bundle of 24 or so for like $25 is the best deal.

I've also been a fan of Quest bars lately.  I'll grab them in the airport when I don't have time to get food.

[Post Oak 20568]

First week using the Macrofactor app.  Anything I should know? Tips?

[Macanudo 13327]

Our bodies really like to play trick on us.   The other night, I was about 3.5 pounds above my morning weight.   My intake was around 1800 calories and I had walkd about 4 miles for exercise.   The following morning....   I was about a half a pound lighter than the previous morning.  

[Js1 87185]

The scales aren’t usually wrong or drastically off. Our brains just want to see a lower number and we make up reasons/excuses why it’s not lower, including blaming the scale. Don’t sweat 1-2 pound blips over the trend line.

[Lurch 5950]

When my diet is consistent, the weight of the food is also relatively consistent. It certainly doesn’t vary by as much as my weight does. When I eat Tex-Mex it probably weighs less than when I eat ground beef. But the Tex-Mex is chock full of carbs — water retention — and I salt the salsa — water retention — which more than offsets the weight of the beef.
I see multi-pound swings and periods of stability when things shouldn’t be stable. But it sorts out as long as I stick to the plan  
Yeah, the scale sounds broken. But a perfect scale isn’t going to eliminate weight swings that seem impossible. Hell, I’ve thought about getting a scale that will sync to my apps automatically, but I can’t tell if they can be adjusted. Switching from one even very precise scale to another would be really annoying if I didn’t weigh the same on both. 

My Withings syncs to my apps. You can always delete entries and manually add ones as well, though I don’t bother unless it’s way off. For example, because I did a mid day check in addition to my morning check for whatever reason. I recently switched from an old model Withings to a new one, and it was a non event in my data, other than now having additional data points of muscle weight and bone weight.

[Doc Daneeka 6793]

1 hour ago, Macanudo said:

Our bodies really like to play trick on us.   The other night, I was about 3.5 pounds above my morning weight.   My intake was around 1800 calories and I had walkd about 4 miles for exercise.   The following morning....   I was about a half a pound lighter than the previous morning.  

I lose about 3.8 pounds, on average, over night. It’s ranged from 2.8 to 5.2 since I got curious and started weighing at bedtime, too. 

There have been days where I’ve eaten well below maintenance and gained and there have been Thanksgivings when I weighed less on Friday morning. I can see why people get frustrated. I mean, I get frustrated, but neither reality nor my body gives a rat’s ass about my frustration except maybe for cortisol to make things even worse in the short term. All I can do is keep doing what has to work if I give it enough time. 

[SimonBolivar 11064]

I've stopped giving a shit what the scale says and let it collect dust.

Edited May 18, 2023 by SimonBolivar

[Doc Daneeka 6793]

2 hours ago, Post Oak said:

First week using the Macrofactor app.  Anything I should know? Tips?

I’ve only been using it for about seven weeks. I like it so far. I’m not sure how they’re calculating trends but they’re much slower to react than the straight rolling averages in my spreadsheet. That makes sense, since they don’t want their recommendations flying all over the place. 

I’m still working on my first goal, which I’m still hoping to hit by 7/4, but I’m very interested in seeing how a maintenance goal works out. Apparently, it works in what seems like a pretty narrow band, +- 1.5 pounds, but since it works off the trend and not scale weight, that’s probably reasonable. 

[YGIFS 19458]

2 hours ago, Macanudo said:

Our bodies really like to play trick on us.   The other night, I was about 3.5 pounds above my morning weight.   My intake was around 1800 calories and I had walkd about 4 miles for exercise.   The following morning....   I was about a half a pound lighter than the previous morning.  

This happens to me frequently.  Some days I'll lose weight between morning weigh-in and bedtime despite having eating like a garbage disposal.  I think it's a combination of my diet and eating schedule totally changing during Covid-19, quiting alcohol, and hitting true middle-age.  

Fun, graphic, fact.  I took probably my angriest (like an old man sending back soup at a deli), most volume-packed shit of 2023 earlier this week.  It clogged an industrial public toilet without toilet paper it was so vengefully dense.  And I was somehow a pound heavier shortly afterwards.  

Keep on keeping on

[Macanudo 13327]

Something in my diet lately (probably all of the veggies and fruits) has given me some real doosies.   

[rage-a-holic 4733]

5 hours ago, Doc Daneeka said:

Too late to edit but, yeah, there are various factors that will increase scale weight when doing so should be “impossible.”

3 weeks straight weighing myself every 2 days and same diet, same workout. Zero weight increases. Consistent losses every single weigh-in, every single time. That's why I said "impossible". 

[Chewbacca 7830]

On 5/10/2023 at 9:56 PM, Js1 said:

Well front squats are on my 4 week plan for May and hold hell I hate them. Traditional grip feels like I’m going to break both my wrists and cross grip hurts the fuck out of my clavicles and upper bicep. Any recommendations?

And no, I can’t just not do them. Apparently they have a specific function for what’s coming in June on that 4 week plan 

I'm the same way.  I either have to go much lower on the weight than I ordinarily would, or just ditch them and do back squats.

[Doc Daneeka 6793]

1 minute ago, rage-a-holic said:

3 weeks straight weighing myself every 2 days and same diet, same workout. Zero weight increases. Consistent losses every single weigh-in, every single time. That's why I said "impossible". 

I agree it’s impossible that you gained fat. It’s not even close to impossible that you (temporarily) gained weight, though. Even on a perfect scale. 

[Chewbacca 7830]

7 hours ago, Doc Daneeka said:

 

Those aren't bad (peanut butter is the best).

 

I also like BSN Vanilla Marshmallow Protein Crisp bars (kind of like a crunchier rice crispy treat):

 

Or the Quest Chocolate Peanut Butter bars:

[Doc Daneeka 6793]

Just now, Chewbacca said:

Those aren't bad (peanut butter is the best).

 

I also like BSN Vanilla Marshmallow Protein Crisp bars (kind of like a crunchier rice crispy treat):

 

Or the Quest Chocolate Peanut Butter bars:

I’ll take a look for those two. Variety can’t hurt. 

[Post Oak 20568]

3 hours ago, Doc Daneeka said:

I’ve only been using it for about seven weeks. I like it so far. I’m not sure how they’re calculating trends but they’re much slower to react than the straight rolling averages in my spreadsheet. That makes sense, since they don’t want their recommendations flying all over the place. 

I’m still working on my first goal, which I’m still hoping to hit by 7/4, but I’m very interested in seeing how a maintenance goal works out. Apparently, it works in what seems like a pretty narrow band, +- 1.5 pounds, but since it works off the trend and not scale weight, that’s probably reasonable. 

This is my 4th day using it.  I think I just need to wait for a while and let the app work and recalibrate.

[Doc Daneeka 6793]

Just now, Post Oak said:

This is my 4th day using it.  I think I just need to wait for a while and let the app work and recalibrate.

Yeah, it takes a week before it comes out of “holding” mode, unless you backfill some intake and weight data it can use. They say it might take a month or so to get really dialed in. 

My weight has been coming off in bursts lately, which really jacks with the algorithm, but it’s understandable. 

[Js1 87185]

3 hours ago, SimonBolivar said:

I've stopped giving a shit what the scale says and let it collect dust.

I still do a Thursday morning weekly, but I put more stock into the one I do at the gym every other month to check my SMM progress. 

16 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

I'm the same way.  I either have to go much lower on the weight than I ordinarily would, or just ditch them and do back squats.

I have only 1 more workout with these front squats. I’m just toughing it out bc we don’t have the over the shoulder support bar at the location I go to and yeah, I’m about 50 pounds below what I can back squat and that’s fine.

I should be able to get about 10 more pounds but it’s not worth killing my wrists or bruising myself further for 1 more week 

Edited May 18, 2023 by Js1

[Macanudo 13327]

My weight yo-yoed something fierce this weekend couple with a weird upset stomach.  Then I realized the that antibiotic I started on Thursday for a sinus infection was probably the culprit.  I also dined out a little more than normal due to a lot of end of school year events.   I think I'm back on track but that antibiotic kicks my ass.   My head feels better but the stomach effects suck.  

My May goal was to be under 250 by the 31st and I'm going to cut it close.   But 250 was pretty aggressive so I'll be thrilled if I get anywhere with a half pound of so.   I really want to shed another 5-6 pounds by the end of June before we go on vacation.  We're spending 8 days in/near Yellowstone/Grand Tetons so I know I'll burn a shit ton of calories.  

[Doc Daneeka 6793]

Yellowstone sounds like a good time. 

Goals are awesome in the abstract but kind of a pain in the ass in practice, since weight loss isn’t linear… especially if you’re as irrationally focused on them as I tend to be. You can be on track without the scale cooperating and even though the progress is fine, it might feel like it isn’t. It sounds like you have a handle on it. Congrats on the progress. 

My goal was/is to get to 202.6 (the exact middle of my BMI range) by July 4 (arbitrary AF). It’s a fairly aggressive goal… it would require a tad over 1% of body weight per week. Despite very consistent movement and consistently hitting intake goals, some weeks I lose next to nothing and some I lose a crazy amount. 

Based on scale weight, an optimistic projection is that I make it by June 27. Based on trend weight (which is lagging a bit due to some time not losing much), an optimistic projection is July 9. I think if I can hit the goal with scale weight and drag the trend kicking and screaming to the goal weight within a week or so of the goal, I’m going to call it a win. 

[Macanudo 13327]

Yep, looking forward to the trip.  I took the Macanudo-ettes during the summer of 2010 but they were both really young.    More than anything, I'm just psyched about getting outdoors at elevation without humidity.   

I agree on the issues with being goal oriented.  I know that my end goal is a long, long way off.   Months and months from now, not 6 or 8 or 10 weeks.     If I truly get to where I want to be, that's in 2024 not August or September 2023.  

Once I stoped drinking booze in February 2022 and then got myself back on track with eating healthier, the evolution of healthy me is what drives me.   I'm 52 and doing this now should really benefit how I feel for the rest of my life. 

Here's to the next goal.  🤪

[Doc Daneeka 6793]

Heck, yeah. And nothing wrong with knowing it will take a while. 2024 is going to get here either way… much better to be hitting that goal than looking back and wishing you’d kept at it. 

When I was peak fatass, I got a lot of “losing that much weight going to take over a year.” Yeah, it is, but that time is going to pass whether I stay a fatass or don’t. I might as well not stay that way.

My next goal is 190, but at a much, much slower pace of loss, trying to recomp a little. Then maintain for a while and try to recomp some more. Then very slowly get back to 210 while, hopefully, not adding too much fat. That’ll put me into 2025. And I have a spreadsheet for all that. With dates. Because I can be kind of a dumbass. But a very focused dumbass. 

[Macanudo 13327]

3 hours ago, Doc Daneeka said:

When I was peak fatass, I got a lot of “losing that much weight going to take over a year.” Yeah, it is, but that time is going to pass whether I stay a fatass or don’t. I might as well not stay that way.

 

I have had that happen in the past as well.   The 1st time I really lost a lot of weight (2009/2010), I came into it with the right attitude that it would take time.   My first goal was not weight based.  I got back on the wagon with healthy eating and decided to run a 5k.   I had 8 weeks to get ready and pulled it off and then signed up for more races.    I stayed on it and lost a lot of what I wanted to do over the next year and kept off for another year or two.   Going back to work in 2012 put me back on the see-saw.  I really hate that I have not taken advantage of working from home the past 3+ years.   I was active but ate like shit for the most part.   Too many calories and not enough healthy stuff.   

But like you, the time is going to pass anyway so I might as well be healthy.

[Fudge Nuggets 19455]

On 5/9/2023 at 1:06 PM, Doc Daneeka said:

This sounds idiotic, and yes I’ve googled, but I’m looking for tips on walking faster. I really, really, really don’t want to jog. I really don’t. At this point, my default pace is about a 13:30 mile. If I try to focus on it more — which is kind of a pain in the ass when I’m trying to learn more Spanish at the time, but I suppose it’s feasible — I can get to low 13s or very high 12s. 

 

I really can’t get my heart rate where I want it at this waking speed. It feels like I’m going to have to jog or break out the uncomfortable AF weighted vest, but maybe I’m just missing something. 
 

 

Get a stationary bike.  You can get your heart rate as high as you want and your knees and feet will thank you.

[Doc Daneeka 6793]

9 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Get a stationary bike.  You can get your heart rate as high as you want and your knees and feet will thank you.

I’ve looked at recumbent ones. The others are just too uncomfortable to deal with and I’m not super-motivated with stationary exercise…though there are some times it probably would’ve been more pleasant than being in the weather. 

[SimonBolivar 11064]

50 minutes ago, Doc Daneeka said:

I’ve looked at recumbent ones. The others are just too uncomfortable to deal with and I’m not super-motivated with stationary exercise…though there are some times it probably would’ve been more pleasant than being in the weather. 

I'm more of a treadmill fan, but got a VR headset and then found a video of people riding their bikes through Manhattan and just knew this was a game changer for me and the bike.

 

I made it about 10 minutes before I had to lay down due to motion sickness.

[Doc Daneeka 6793]

1 minute ago, SimonBolivar said:

I'm more of a treadmill fan, but got a VR headset and then found a video of people riding their bikes through Manhattan and just knew this was a game changer for me and the bike.

 

I made it about 10 minutes before I had to lay down due to motion sickness.

That sucks… something like that might make it tolerable. 

I have about a 1400 day move streak on my watch and it would be longer but my previous one stopped charging and I couldn’t get a replacement in time. 

I’ve walked through COVID, blizzards, tornado warnings, torrential downpours, 105°+ in the shade, and whatever else Texas weather has to offer but stationary cardio just drains my soul. 

[Fudge Nuggets 19455]

1 hour ago, Doc Daneeka said:

I’ve looked at recumbent ones. The others are just too uncomfortable to deal with and I’m not super-motivated with stationary exercise…though there are some times it probably would’ve been more pleasant than being in the weather. 

I used to get bored with stationary bikes until I found the NordicTrak with automatic incline and resistance adjustments. You pick a workout from anywhere in the world and follow right along the trainer. When they go up a hill the bike matches the incline.

It can be pretty daunting when you’re wiped out near the end of a workout and see a big ass hill looming in the distance. But in a year and a half I’ve dropped 40 lbs and haven’t gotten bored yet despite using it almost everyday. 

[Doc Daneeka 6793]

Well, hell, it can’t hurt to google that…

Which one do you have? I take it you’d recommend?

Edited May 24, 2023 by Doc Daneeka

[Herbie Hancock 7491]

I picked up a "broken" stairmaster 7000 for $300. $96 worth of parts later and it's been awesome for 2+ years now. Grabbed a used Jacob's Ladder from FitSupply for $1500 last summer. I can't recommend them enough if you're seriously looking for gym equipment.

[Macanudo 13327]

Jacob's Ladder sounds like a torture device from the Spanish Inquisition.  *

* Yes, I know there is a biblical Jacob's Ladder as well.

[4th&Five 42005]

There's one at the Gold's I go to and I've seen it used twice in 3 years.

[Storm the Field 5366]

On 5/5/2023 at 12:09 PM, Storm the Field said:

Lollygagged bad during the final week of March and first half of April. Had a 4-day vacation weekend, couple of mid-week baseball games and a bunch of after-work events, and ended up only working out probably 5 or 6 times during that 3 week stretch, along with too much booze and bad dietary habits. Been back on the routine the last 3 weeks and pretty much back to where I was when I made this post. 

Gonna stick with my current gym routine probably through Memorial Day, but my big project this summer is going to be doing a lot more core exercises and really focusing on trimming down the gut/waist. I'm very happy with where my arms/shoulders/chest are these days, but I've got a lot of work to do below the sternum.

Not-humble-at-all-brag but I've been kicking ass since this post. Lost exact count, but I've worked out something like 33 of the past 40 days. Coming home from the gym this morning, it hit me that I'm absolutely in the best shape of any point in a good 5-6 years, though I still have lots of work to do.

Tweaked my lower back on Monday, but fortunately have still been able to do cardio and most of my lifts this week.  It just gets really stiff when I go from sitting to standing or do specific movements (bending over to pick something up rather than squatting down). If I tried to do a dead lift or something similar right now, I'd keel over in pain.  Heading to the beach for a 4-day weekend tomorrow morning, so I'm hoping some extended rest will get me over the hump and back to normal next week. 

Self-imposed Summer Boot Camp starts on Tuesday. Really want to double-down on the diet during the work week and start focusing a lot more on my core and branching out from my existing routine. I think with 3 months of hard work, I can make significant progress getting my gut and waist on par with where the rest of me is.