'NoStruggle', No Progress Log

[determined4000]

Here no need to count
Breakfast:
4 whole eggs with 1 oz cheese
3 servings cereal cereal with 1c whole milk
2 eggo waffles

Lunch
8oz potato
8 oz chicken
10 oz veggie with 1tbsp butter or oil

dinner:
6 oz beef or ham
salad with dressing
carb of choice (sub roll, pasta, rice -1.5 cups)

Snack:
2 slices cin swirl breadbread with 1 banana and 2 tbsp PB
1 glass milk

[nostruggle]

Appreciate the subs fellas.

You're really not grasping what I (we) have been trying to convey to you. It's understandable because you have distorted body image at the moment and aren't viewing yourself clearly.


1. YOUR BODY IS NOT A CALCUATOR
2. You have no "calorie target"
3. You DO know your body (remember when you fed yourself growing up?)

I'm starting to grasp it now man, it's hard but I'm starting to get it. I have not normally eaten in months, which caused be to paranoid about getting fat again, being afraid of going back to my old self causing me to see food in a weird perspective. It's caused me to lose a bit of peace of mind too, smh.

A lean bulk often means a failed bulk when the primary goal is staying lean rather than adding muscle.
Note how all your progress pics is of your abs/midsection. Nothing concerning the muscle you have gained. As if that is of no consequence. You dont care if your chest, back, arms, legs are growing. You just want to make sure your tummy isnt.

The onyl reason you wouldnt hit 2300 without counting is due to self-limitation.

My abs/midsection are the most stubborn parts, even when I cut down to 140lbs flat my lower mid section was still flabby. A lot of people told me it's due to lack of muscle development their. Anyhow, you're right. I shouldn't worry about it that much and eventually it'll go as I build muscle. I've made a lot of other gains that I should be proud of.




Todays log:

I rested today, I was just working on a renovation project today so I was pretty active today. Didn't count calories again today, it's kind of psychn' me out. But I basically had 2 whole eggs, english muffin, and some ham for breakfast w/ some jam and about a 1/4 cup of cheerios. Didn't really eat lunch, but for dinner I had about 12oz of chicken breast with some broccoli/cauliflower and a low fat caesar salad. And I just snacked on those rice crisps things, some cereal, and raisin bread throughout the evening. Oh and I also had an eggo waffle.

[nostruggle]

Here no need to count
Breakfast:
4 whole eggs with 1 oz cheese
3 servings cereal cereal with 1c whole milk
2 eggo waffles

Lunch
8oz potato
8 oz chicken
10 oz veggie with 1tbsp butter or oil

dinner:
6 oz beef or ham
salad with dressing
carb of choice (sub roll, pasta, rice -1.5 cups)

Snack:
2 slices cin swirl breadbread with 1 banana and 2 tbsp PB
1 glass milk

Thanks man, I'll give this template a go starting monday. I'll let ya'll know how everything goes. I'll try to take some pictures of my meals, I eat a lot of Jamaican food seeing as that's my background so my protein sources can change a lot from things like oxtail, goat, chicken, pork etc.

[sonnydfrizzy]

Appreciate the subs fellas.



I'm starting to grasp it now man, it's hard but I'm starting to get it. I have not normally eaten in months, which caused be to paranoid about getting fat again, being afraid of going back to my old self causing me to see food in a weird perspective. It's caused me to lose a bit of peace of mind too, smh.



My abs/midsection are the most stubborn parts, even when I cut down to 140lbs flat my lower mid section was still flabby. A lot of people told me it's due to lack of muscle development their. Anyhow, you're right. I shouldn't worry about it that much and eventually it'll go as I build muscle. I've made a lot of other gains that I should be proud of.




Todays log:

I rested today, I was just working on a renovation project today so I was pretty active today. Didn't count calories again today, it's kind of psychn' me out. But I basically had 2 whole eggs, english muffin, and some ham for breakfast w/ some jam and about a 1/4 cup of cheerios. Didn't really eat lunch, but for dinner I had about 12oz of chicken breast with some broccoli/cauliflower and a low fat caesar salad. And I just snacked on those rice crisps things, some cereal, and raisin bread throughout the evening. Oh and I also had an eggo waffle.

Come on dude.. Strong intake of 1500 cals and skipping lunch.
Did you know that recent studies are coming out and showing that eating 4 meals a day with 20g or more of protein in each meal is actually better for building muscle? So skipping lunch and not eating enough = skipping gains.
You are eating very disordered right now dude. Listen to Determined and Erik. Do you consume food or does it consume you?

[nostruggle]

Come on dude.. Strong intake of 1500 cals and skipping lunch.
Did you know that recent studies are coming and showing that eating 4 meals a day with 20g or more of protein in each meal is actually better for building muscle? So skipping lunch and not eating enough = skipping gains.
You are eating very disordered right now dude. Listen to Determined and Erik. Do you consume food or does it consume you?

Dude I wasn't home and I got really caught up in doing this renovation. I just ate when I washhungry. I'll make up the intake today though most

[sonnydfrizzy]

Dude I wasn't home and I got really caught up in doing this renovation. I just ate when I washhungry. I'll make up the intake today though most

Surrreeeee... Keep convincing yourself that you got "caught up" in doing a renovation lmao
And surrrreeeee I bet you ate when you will psychologically hungry because skipping lunch makes you feel "safe" and allows for you to eat more food at night yet be food focused all day.

You ever heard of trail mix? Packing food? No time to eat is the lamest excuse you can make dude. Don't try and make bullsh** up. Okay so maybe you got caught up in a renovation this day. But every other day you skip lunch what's your excuse?

See what I mean. Your disorder is making you feel "safe" by skipping lunch. You probably get the urge to binge I bet. And the skipping meals just leads to more food focus and an even worse relationship with food. Guess whats helped me get rid of my food focus and eating problems? Eating frequently and eating enough.

And you say "Oh I will make up for it today." No you wont dude. Don't lie to us about it. We are not here for you to please us, make us happy. We are just trying to help guide you and direct you in the right direction to finally beat your disorder.

[sonnydfrizzy]

"...that's so true and I'm struggling with it now. I used to eat 1600-1700 back in the summer and this Fall/Winter I upped to 1900cals and anytime I start eating it's like my appetite becomes HUGE, the urge to binge is crazy. I thought there was something wrong with me."

Here is a quote from another thread you made. Read the bold bro.

Urge to binge = under fed and malnourished.
Skipping meals = huge meal at night and solidifying binge tendancy.
Skipping meals = more food focus during day.
Skipping meals = worse appetite regulation
Skipping meals = safe to you because you are afraid you might binge at night so you save cals for later.

You made a log for accountability, and for advice, so either take it or leave it. I went through this same chit as you, and only by people being brutally honest was I able to address my issues.

[XCRunner9]

Here is a quote from another thread you made. Read the bold bro.

Urge to binge = under fed and malnourished.
Skipping meals = huge meal at night and solidifying binge tendancy.
Skipping meals = more food focus during day.
Skipping meals = worse appetite regulation
Skipping meals = safe to you because you are afraid you might binge at night so you save cals for later.

You made a log for accountability, and for advice, so either take it or leave it. I went through this same chit as you, and only by people being brutally honest was I able to address my issues.

^ This along with caloric restriction in general will do this to you. You likely have a large appetite at times just due to being malnourished. I had the same problem and realized how restricting/binging got in the way of my happiness and decided to make the change. Sure, I may have gained a bit of fat, but I felt a lot better in the process and my urges disappeared.

So, focus on bumping up the calories and feeding yourself.

Good luck mate.

[nostruggle]

Here is a quote from another thread you made. Read the bold bro.

Urge to binge = under fed and malnourished.
Skipping meals = huge meal at night and solidifying binge tendancy.
Skipping meals = more food focus during day.
Skipping meals = worse appetite regulation
Skipping meals = safe to you because you are afraid you might binge at night so you save cals for later.

You made a log for accountability, and for advice, so either take it or leave it. I went through this same chit as you, and only by people being brutally honest was I able to address my issues.

I completely understand what you're saying bro, I admit that I did that before so I'd have flexibility in calories at night, so I'd be able to eat if I went out that night, like "just in case" calories. But recently I've been trying to cut that out, I genuinely didn't plan well yesterday because I was so focused on finishing the project. I did have half a nutrament in between though. But thanks for the advice, I'm keeping the course.

^ This along with caloric restriction in general will do this to you. You likely have a large appetite at times just due to being malnourished. I had the same problem and realized how restricting/binging got in the way of my happiness and decided to make the change. Sure, I may have gained a bit of fat, but I felt a lot better in the process and my urges disappeared.

So, focus on bumping up the calories and feeding yourself.

Good luck mate.

Will do sure, my appetite actually hasn't been as crazy now. I'm usually more satisfied, hopefully it improves eve more.


Today was a rest day, I just did a couple of pushups. Nothing crazy, didn't really count today but here's my food log:

Breakfast: Hard dough bread (Jamaican), sauteed liver (about 3/4 or a cup), calaloo (a greeny vegetable, that was cooked with onions about 1/4 cup), and festival (a mixture of flour, cornmeal), fried plantain (40g roughly) and some cheerios here's a pic:



Lunch: 2 slices of raisin bread, and a pbj on one slice of bread

Dinner: about 8.5oz chicken thigh, bone in. Some rice and peas (about 1/4 cup), and half a plate of low fat caesar salad

Snack: someone gave me a kit-kat chunky bar today, I usually only eat half of chocolate bars and throw the other half in the garbage to resist temptation but I had the full one today. I had an eggo waffle (the larger ones thick & fluffy), with 50% less calorie syrup.

And uh, that's all I remember. I had about 1/2 cup of milk in total today.

[determined4000]

thats not enough calories man
you eat like a bird

[sonnydfrizzy]

thats not enough calories man
you eat like a bird

Preach baby preach

[ErikTheElectric]

It's apparent that you need to really read and LISTEN to the advice and suggestions from people that have been where you are. There is NO reason you should be eating like you are, all you are doing is setting yourself up for failure and spinning your wheels.




Ask yourself "WHY AM I AFRAID TO GET STRONG AND HEALTHY?"


Listen to Sonny, take Post #66 + Post #67 VERY seriously.

[nostruggle]

Each slice of hard dough bread has about 120kcals and I ate around 250cals worth of festival. But I did add:

Astro zero fat yogurt, another slice of hard dough bread, and some more liver & onions.

Tomorrow I'll take pictures of my meals so you guys can get a better idea of my portions seeing as I stopped logging on mfp

[nostruggle]

Here no need to count
Breakfast:
4 whole eggs with 1 oz cheese
3 servings cereal cereal with 1c whole milk
2 eggo waffles

Lunch
8oz potato
8 oz chicken
10 oz veggie with 1tbsp butter or oil

dinner:
6 oz beef or ham
salad with dressing
carb of choice (sub roll, pasta, rice -1.5 cups)

Snack:
2 slices cin swirl breadbread with 1 banana and 2 tbsp PB
1 glass milk

Gonna try this tomorrow, should I boil the eggs? And for the chicken would it be 8oz of just chicken or with the bone included? Also, a serving of cereal = 30g for the most part, right?

I think I'm going to only have one waffle because these are the thick and fluffy eggo waffles and they're 170cal each opposed to the smaller ones that are like 3 waffles = 280cal

[ErikTheElectric]

Each slice of hard dough bread has about 120kcals and I ate around 250cals worth of festival. But I did add:

Astro zero fat yogurt, another slice of hard dough bread, and some more liver & onions.

Tomorrow I'll take pictures of my meals so you guys can get a better idea of my portions seeing as I stopped logging on mfp

"Zero Fat Yogurt" and compulsively exercising are the things that you need to be concerned with today. Other than that, you're doing a lot better. But you need to stay consistent.

[nostruggle]

"Zero Fat Yogurt" and compulsively exercising are the things that you need to be concerned with today. Other than that, you're doing a lot better. But you need to stay consistent.

Thanks man, I eato Zero Fat because that's what my mom buys. And the calories in regular Yogurt is like the same amount in a scoop of vanilla ice cream.


Here's my breakfast for today, pictures attached: 3 eggs, 3 chicken bacon slices, English muffin with jam, fried plantains, and I'm having an eggo waffle:

[nostruggle]

[sonnydfrizzy]

^^^^ Great job on the breakfast dude. Looks delicious.

Just remember this...
One meal never determines the outcome of one's diet. Sure, your breakfast is awesome and hearty and delicious, but are you willing to do that consistently, day in and day out, to make true progress?

Eating that large of a breakfast is one thing, but then going ahead and skipping lunch and eating like a bird for dinner = no progress.

You also are saying you are not tracking calories right? Do not let this be a crutch. In the past when I stopped tracking macros I would say "Dude I ate so much but lost weight WTF!?!?" But in my mind I was psychologically (and physically) hungry, and I was grossly satisfied that I still lost weight and stayed lean.

If you are not going to track macros, do as D4k said in his meal plan. Focus on consistency and frequency when it comes to your meals. Eat 5 nutrient and calorie dense meals a day and you will get healthy -- physiologically and psychologically -- as well as have awesome size and strength gains as a bi-product of your efforts.

You made a log. You want to change. Now will you?

**Edit: Also, you say you aren't tracking yet compulsively know how many calories are in each "safe" item you eat...

Try this out. Go to a restaurant and order something of the menu you really can't track. Go to a local bakery and get some pastries. If you are bloated from the food volume, try drinking your calories. Ooooh, sounds scary right? Well do it man. Only way to challenge your ED and get better.

[nostruggle]

^^^^ Great job on the breakfast dude. Looks delicious.

Just remember this...
One meal never determines the outcome of one's diet. Sure, your breakfast is awesome and hearty and delicious, but are you willing to do that consistently, day in and day out, to make true progress?

Eating that large of a breakfast is one thing, but then going ahead and skipping lunch and eating like a bird for dinner = no progress.

You also are saying you are not tracking calories right? Do not let this be a crutch. In the past when I stopped tracking macros I would say "Dude I ate so much but lost weight WTF!?!?" But in my mind I was psychologically (and physically) hungry, and I was grossly satisfied that I still lost weight and stayed lean.

If you are not going to track macros, do as D4k said in his meal plan. Focus on consistency and frequency when it comes to your meals. Eat 5 nutrient and calorie dense meals a day and you will get healthy -- physiologically and psychologically -- as well as have awesome size and strength gains as a bi-product of your efforts.

You made a log. You want to change. Now will you?

**Edit: Also, you say you aren't tracking yet compulsively know how many calories are in each "safe" item you eat...

Try this out. Go to a restaurant and order something of the menu you really can't track. Go to a local bakery and get some pastries. If you are bloated from the food volume, try drinking your calories. Ooooh, sounds scary right? Well do it man. Only way to challenge your ED and get better.

Thanks bro, I found myself contemplating on going extra light on lunch today, but I'm going to have some chicken and a baked potato with veggies. I'll post a picture when I'm done. And I'll def get a milkshake or something from local ice cream shop sometimes this week, or get a drink from Starbucks. I haven't had one in ages.

Oh and the reason why I know all the calories is because I eat the same thing frequently, and when since I was tracking I have basically memorized a good chunk of the kcals in the foods I regularly eat, so I can kind of just look and add it up fairly quickly.

And I was the same way, I'd be sad about not gaining wait but I'd be still happy that I was staying leaner.

I'll post my lunch pic later along with my dinner.

Chest and back day today.

[sonnydfrizzy]

Thanks bro, I found myself contemplating on going extra light on lunch today, but I'm going to have some chicken and a baked potato with veggies. I'll post a picture when I'm done. And I'll def get a milkshake or something from local ice cream shop sometimes this week, or get a drink from Starbucks. I haven't had one in ages.

Oh and the reason why I know all the calories is because I eat the same thing frequently, and when since I was tracking I have basically memorized a good chunk of the kcals in the foods I regularly eat, so I can kind of just look and add it up fairly quickly.

And I was the same way, I'd be sad about not gaining wait but I'd be still happy that I was staying leaner.

I'll post my lunch pic later along with my dinner.

Chest and back day today.

I am going to address each one of the bolded points above ^^^

1. "I was contemplating going light for lunch." Then you eat chicken, potato, and veggies. That is eating light. Unless you throw sour cream and bacon on the potato, drench the chicken in bbq sauce, and top the veggies with extra cheese.

2. "I eat the same foods frequently." You eat the same foods frequently because they are safe foods for you that allow your disorder to take control of you. Eating the same foods day in and day out because you know the calorie content of them is just feeding the disorder. Why not go to a restaurant and order something you cannot track? Why not tell your parents, family members, friends, etc to cook for you for a while? Start to eat foods that make you feel uncomfortable to truly beat your disease.

3. "I wouldn't mind staying lean." Really? Is that so? Is this your disorder saying that or you saying that. Because I am pretty sure you staying lean means you are going to constantly be thinking about food, limiting food choice, limiting overall intake, ruining your social life, not progressing in the gym, having no sex drive, having no energy, wanting to binge when you do eat, makes you only eat "safe foods," etc. Seems to me that the last thing you truly want to do is stay lean. From all of your posts, you don't seem to be very happy in your current physical and psychological state.

And you want to lift and work hard in the gym to not progress and look small and skinny for the rest of your life? May as well just be happy with going to the gym and being average. IDK about you, but if I am going to work out as hard as I do and pay attention to my nutrition, then I sure as hell want to turn into a tank and reap the benefits of hard work + progressive overload + caloric surplus. (and by the way when you "bulk" you will stay lean and probably appear leaner with more muscle mass on you; it is the case for me. Nobody said to fulk.)

You seem to be convinced by your disorder that staying lean is "safe" for you. You seem to still cling onto this hope of staying the same. Well if that is true that you want to stay the same, then please let us know so I can stop wasting my time posting. Because it is a lot of effort to try and help you, and I would rather not have to waste my words.

[determined4000]

Gonna try this tomorrow, should I boil the eggs? And for the chicken would it be 8oz of just chicken or with the bone included? Also, a serving of cereal = 30g for the most part, right?

I think I'm going to only have one waffle because these are the thick and fluffy eggo waffles and they're 170cal each opposed to the smaller ones that are like 3 waffles = 280cal

8oz without the bone
doesnt matter how you cook eggs
use a measuring cup for the cereal or just pour into a bowl

no I know what size they are eat at least 2. (I saw what they were in your MFP post and took that into account)


And your thoughts are very disordered and your justifications don't make any sense (yet you dont see how ridiculus they sound because you are so lost in your ED).

Please reread Sonnys post (on spread)

[nostruggle]

I am going to address each one of the bolded points above ^^^

1. "I was contemplating going light for lunch." Then you eat chicken, potato, and veggies. That is eating light. Unless you throw sour cream and bacon on the potato, drench the chicken in bbq sauce, and top the veggies with extra cheese.

2. "I eat the same foods frequently." You eat the same foods frequently because they are safe foods for you that allow your disorder to take control of you. Eating the same foods day in and day out because you know the calorie content of them is just feeding the disorder. Why not go to a restaurant and order something you cannot track? Why not tell your parents, family members, friends, etc to cook for you for a while? Start to eat foods that make you feel uncomfortable to truly beat your disease.

3. "I wouldn't mind staying lean." Really? Is that so? Is this your disorder saying that or you saying that. Because I am pretty sure you staying lean means you are going to constantly be thinking about food, limiting food choice, limiting overall intake, ruining your social life, not progressing in the gym, having no sex drive, having no energy, wanting to binge when you do eat, makes you only eat "safe foods," etc. Seems to me that the last thing you truly want to do is stay lean. From all of your posts, you don't seem to be very happy in your current physical and psychological state.

And you want to lift and work hard in the gym to not progress and look small and skinny for the rest of your life? May as well just be happy with going to the gym and being average. IDK about you, but if I am going to work out as hard as I do and pay attention to my nutrition, then I sure as hell want to turn into a tank and reap the benefits of hard work + progressive overload + caloric surplus. (and by the way when you "bulk" you will stay lean and probably appear leaner with more muscle mass on you; it is the case for me. Nobody said to fulk.)

You seem to be convinced by your disorder that staying lean is "safe" for you. You seem to still cling onto this hope of staying the same. Well if that is true that you want to stay the same, then please let us know so I can stop wasting my time posting. Because it is a lot of effort to try and help you, and I would rather not have to waste my words.

I usually think any meal with a decent amount of carbs are "heavy", I know it's stupid. I'm changing this way of thinking. It's slowly but surely changing. And I honestly tried to avoid calorie dense foods before, which resulted in me eating things I really didn't like, because I wanted to "eat" more with such low calories.

The lean part is the toughest, but I'm trying my best to get over it dude. It's hard sometimes because people complimented how good I looked when I first got lean, so I fear gaining fat. It's just one of those things where you don't wanna go back to the way you were. But I'm changing that way of thinking. Thanks for the help and motivation guys, I appreciate it.

Anyway, my workout was great today. My incline bench improved greatly, in late october last year I couldn't even move 135lbs.

Log:

Incline bench: 135lbs 4x6, 140lbs 4x6
Incline DB: 50lbs 2x8, 55lbs 2x8


Those are my main lifts today, I did other things but not really interesting.

Here's my food log w/ pics:

Lunch (baby red potatoes, chicken breast, steamed veg):



Dinner (got some food from a greek joint: salad, roasted potatoes, pita, and chicken souvlaki):



i like dipping my chicken in a bit of bbq sauce, so I've had about a tablespoon or so today.

[ErikTheElectric]

i like dipping my chicken in a bit of bbq sauce, so I've had about a tablespoon or so today.

Does not compute...


Nice job today, but you still need to work on increasing things overall.

[determined4000]

chicken
veg
little potato

chicken
veg
little potato



large volume low cal meal
large volume low cal meal

[nostruggle]

chicken
veg
little potato

chicken
veg
little potato



large volume low cal meal
large volume low cal meal

I thought it was a fair amount lol, I was pretty full. Except I got hungry again and had a little snack.

Added:

Corned beef sandwich (1/2 slice of bread)
1/4 cup of 2% milk and a handful of whole grain cheerios
also had a bit of pizza from by brother today.

[XCRunner9]

I thought it was a fair amount lol, I was pretty full. Except I got hungry again and had a little snack.

Added:

Corned beef sandwich (1/2 slice of bread)
1/4 cup of 2% milk and a handful of whole grain cheerios
also had a bit of pizza from by brother today.

There we go, but stop measuring how much milk you used and just put how much you need. Same as the bbq sauce. If you want to challenge your thoughts, don't measure or at least try not be 100% accurate with it. I know its hard. I used to measure exactly how much cereal I eat, but not anymore because I know there's no point and I just pour how much I need.

Nice job with having the snack. Even though it may not be much, at least you did something to challenge those E.D. thoughts and actually listened to your body instead of an arbitrary number.

[nostruggle]

There we go, but stop measuring how much milk you used and just put how much you need. Same as the bbq sauce. If you want to challenge your thoughts, don't measure or at least try not be 100% accurate with it. I know its hard. I used to measure exactly how much cereal I eat, but not anymore because I know there's no point and I just pour how much I need.

Nice job with having the snack. Even though it may not be much, at least you did something to challenge those E.D. thoughts and actually listened to your body instead of an arbitrary number.

Thanks dude. It really is such a hassle sometimes to measure everything I eat, but it's a bad habit I'm trying to break.

Side note: Saw some pictures of myself back when I was chubby and I just got a bit discouraged, gonna keep going on though.

[nostruggle]

Is it okay to go easy on the calories a couple days before Christmas?

[ShyGuyXS]

Is it okay to go easy on the calories a couple days before Christmas?

No! Your ED wants you to cut back on the calories because it's probably telling you "if you eat now and at Christmas, you'll just get fat" - which is NOT true. Keep building on what you've been doing the last few days, and don't let it undermine your progress. This is the kind of thought you should recognize and see it as a distortion. (Some people, including myself, needed some time to be able to do this). Then, counter that by eating as you regularly would.

One important thing I had to learn was NOT to compensate by eating less beforehand if I knew I was going out to eat or going to family dinners.

[BePatient7]

Very much this^

I did something similar last christmas and ended obsessing when I went a little overboard on "christmas indulgences." In the end I felt like shiet and it ruined my christmas. This year I'm going to focus on: my friends, family and the wonderful feels of christmas; I suggest you do the same. Turn on some Micheal Buble, go outside, play games, drink the damn egg nog. Just don't give a fug (I know easier said then done)