Following my high cholesterol results, I decided to attack the issue through diet rather than meds. Have cut out all sweets. All butter. Cheese. Cream. Oils other than olive.
Life is now completely devoid of joy. But hopefully my heart will continue to beat for the foreseeable future. Will take another blood test in a couple months and see if these efforts move the needle. I certainly feel healthier than ever.
But an unintended consequence of giving up all delicious foods, I’m losing weight I really don’t need to lose. Weighed in under 155 for the first time in probably two decades. Ready to fight for the UFC lightweight title. Not unhappy about that part.
Another benefit that I’m finding of martial arts is the ability to just drop into any gym teaching your discipline and being allowed to roll with people.
I’m taking my gi to Sicily and made sure to find a couple of BJJ gyms in advance to train at while on vacation. Should be a great way to meet people as a solo traveler as well.
I think I’ve heard that cholesterol is more of a genetic thing and not fully controlled by the food you consume (within reason), if your tests come back the same in a few months will you go back to your previous diet?
Its often genetic, but Kudos to Ikioi for giving it a try, and it may end up reducing things.
If not though, you should certainly get on the meds. What Im doing now is my last ditch effort as well. My sat fats the last month have been lower than probably any point in my life. If I don’t see noticeable improvement in 6 months, Ill be getting the meds too.
Periodicity also plays a part in calorie’s burned; you get good at what you do a lot of so if you don’t change your routine every once and a while you’ll burn less doing the same things over and over again. You may compensate for that on the Peloton by going farther for the same workout; in cycling it doesn’t get easier you just go faster…
My 7 pound bump last week was offset this morning by a 10 pound drop… I’m going to try putting the scale in a room with a better floor and see if that settles things down…
Just an anecdote, but I tried to cheese the weigh-in for a weight loss prop bet once by eating a lot of food and chugging water. I weighed in immediately after lunch; by the end of the day I was down 11 lbs and the next morning I weighed in at 14 pounds lighter. Your poop schedule and hydration levels can create some wild swings.
I remember the stupid Biggest Loser show and how anyone who had immunity for a given week would basically do this (mostly the water part, probably not pooping too), then for the cameras would have to look all forlorn and be like “I don’t know what went wrong this week! I guess I just dropped the ball” at their 12lb gain. Then of course they’d lose like 22lb the next week and have this smug grin.
For me, I’ll always try to go through life avoiding meds as much as possible. But yeah, if I know I’ve done everything in my power and the results are still poor, I may have no choice but to try the meds.
My previous diet was still probably healthier than 90% of the human population, which is why it has been so frustrating. But to answer your question, I’m not really sure. I take my health & fitness pretty seriously, especially now that I’m getting well into middle age.
Maybe together with meds I’ll allow myself to indulge on occasion more than I currently am if it comes to that. But there’s no question I feel better without the junk in my life (physically, not emotionally).
And if I’ve gleaned one thing from these few decades on the planet, it’s that health is the most important thing there is. Everything else is a distant second. It goes back to the old saying:
A healthy man has 1000 desires.
A sick man only one.
Starting weight 318
Current weight 305.2 - total loss 12.8 pounds, 2.13 pounds/wk.
Still leveling off pounds/wk, but Ill be happy with 1.5 to 2 going forward so still in the sweet spot. Hit a wall at 307-308 for about a week and a half and have just started to see some movement again.
Still on track for sub 300 by end of February. Fingers crossed on that front.
Thanks to help from several people, I restarted a gym membership. It’s nice to be back under a barbell.
I could tell from the first exercise that I am nothing like I was the last time I was at a gym. My old lifts (with testosterone) were like squat 385, deadlift 475, bench 315. My best chin ups were with +90 dumbbell for however many reps. I hovered around a bodyweight of 180.
Now I have no testosterone and my weight (190) and my lifts are almost exactly where they were when I first started powerlifting ten years ago. Max lifts are something like squat 225, bench 185, deadlift 275. Chin ups are completely gone and require an assistance machine (-100).
I am doing a version of the programming that served me so well in my final years of lifting. It’s a focus on the big 3 s/b/d with most sets going up to a weight where there’s only one or two reps left in the tank, then dropping 10% and repeating until the effort to complete those reps leaves only one or two left in the tank. I like the volume and coming home sore.
So now I’m not just older but am working out on a different hormone profile. I’m not really expecting to ever hit a PR again like the old days. Just enjoying being back under the bar.
I’ve never benched 185 in my life, crazy that you can still do that with all the time off. Congrats on getting back in the gym, I need to do the same I’ve basically sat the last 2 years out.
Nice I hope you go back. I didn’t think about it that way. I guess I’m only weak compared to my old self
I’m really enjoying looking forward to each new session. I believe from my prior years of success that the biggest component of success at the gym is simply consistency. Everything else is about preference or fancy play syndrome.
I was in the 160 range on my bench before COVID sidetracked my lifting and I’ve been back at the gym since last April and am just now getting back in that ballpark so I’m also impressed by Risky’s numbers.
i always pictured you small haha. maybe bc of your avatar.
biggest thing the power lifters/body builders (who both would be annoyed that i just lumped them in together) at my new gym have taught me is getting to within a couple reps of failure as many times as i’m up for.
the difference of going to a 100-year old ymca where the average member is 65 years old and mostly there to socialize versus going to a gym the owner describes as an “old school gym” where the average member has been lifting heavy weights for 15 years is… about what you’d expect i’ve gained a lot of muscle in 3 months or so, form is night and day.
how much of the loss in bench max is due to not lifting for 10 years versus not having testosterone? like if you keep at it for say 18 months, will you be able to bench 3 plates again or no?
still a little self conscious when i have like a 15lb dumbbell and i’m at the end of however many reps and i’m barely able to lift it… that’s ALWAYS when some random will walk by
like mfka you missed the first 30 times i did it lmao!
I’m 5’11 so never got too big even at my strongest.
That sounds like a good gym!
There is no way I will ever get close to those lifts again. I cannot overstate the impact of a testosterone vs estrogen dominant hormone profile. I used to bang out 10+ handstand push ups. Now I’m good to get out 3. But I could be way off. I wouldn’t complain about getting mega strong again!
i’ve gained a lot of muscle in 3 months or so, form is night and day.