A very busy nerds, fitness journey. Starting a long cut.

[Nanashi]

I'm a graduating Ph.D student in a quantitative field. I am on the job market this year and between teaching, preparing job market portfolio, dissertation there aren't enough hours in the day. This is my attempt to cut while often working 60-70 hours a week. This is a log to more or less

Who am I :

I'm a 30 year old 5' 8" male. Who never was athletic and was chubby to obese most of my life (depending which year you drop in on). I've more or less spent most of my adult years losing and gaining back the same 20 pounds. Over the years, I had tried various approaches to weight loss etc, with various levels of succeeds and built a good gym habit ( I have never skipped a week in probably 10 years). However, I never had a lot of success with weight lifting or strength training. I had tried various programs on bodybuilding.com, but I would stall quickly and not really get anywhere with the program. I had more or less given up on ever being athletic and more or less exercised for health. That changed two years ago when I gave All Pro's a simple beginners routine a shot. I did the program for four cycle and it was the first time I made consistent progress on the weight bench and triggered me to start taking weight training again seriously. However, progress was slow and I'm rather impatient . I started reading around the net and then bought Mark Rippetoe's book Starting Strength and a very similar program called strong lifts 5 x 5. Strong lifts. This changed my life. I made more progress in the gym in 6 months than I had in ten years. As someone who has really struggled with weight, ever feeling like they were athletic, I never once went in the gym presuming I would one day squat over 200 pounds or bench over 150. Now I squat close to 300 and a 200 pound PR on bench press isn't too far away.



Goals :
Over this time period I haven't really watched my diet. It wasn't bad. It wasn't good. I wasn't really focused on fat loss and was just enjoying getting stronger. I gained weight from the starting point, but went down a shirtsize and lost about 2" off my waist. Now I want to actually get the diet seriously. My goal is to get to a reasonable body fat percentage (really anything under 15% is fine for me) and that probably involves losing 40-60 pounds.
Nutrition plan :

So I have actually started this diet around a couple weeks and have lost 3-4 pounds so far. A lot of my diet is based on what I've read from Eric Helm and Alan argon, who are two people that are known for science based approach to weight lifting. The goal is to get the right macro and micro nutrient break down and at least protein 4 times a day. I am sticking to a 2000 calorie diet and aiming for 150 grams of protein.

Because I don't have a lot of time the diet that seems to fit my schedule

Morning : RX Bar (These are great paleo bars, made from dates, eggs, and nuts. Few ingredients and no artificial sweenters). They are about 200 calories and have usualy 12-14 grams or protein, 12 grams of carbs, 9grams of fat.

Lunch : Smoothie that incorporates Huel, Banana, fair life high protein milk and berries or PB2. This has 65 grams of protein, 20 grams of fat 50 grams of carbs. I find it actually keeps me full and pretty disciplined. Huel is a shake made from flaxseed, rice and pea protein supposedly micro/macro nutrient balanced and for me its staved off snacking. Its around 700 calories.


Dinner : this is some kind of take out. I try to make sure this has whole foods at least 40 grams of protein (lean/medium fat meats, vegetables) and has around 800 calories.

Post workout : Core Power Proteins shake. (These are made from high protein, milk and a natural sugar like honey. They generally have 26 grams of protein and carbs. 5 grams of fat )


Macros : Huel Shake, RX Bar, Core Power add up to about 1100 calories, 34 grams of fat, 90 grams of carbs, 100 grams of protein. The one take out meal provides the rest. Again the goal for me is to stick to 2000 calories and a 150 grams of protein.



Fitness Plan : I've been doing Eric Helm's Hypertophy Routine for about three months now. Its a lot of fun. I am probably going to add 20 minute cardio sessions about three times a week.

Supplements : Creatine in the morning, Beta Alanine (before/after workouts), 2 cups of coffee a day and a sugar free red-bull.

[Nanashi]

Week 2 (starting Log)

Eric Helm's Four day intermediate : https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...hp?t=168193463. This is about my 4th 4 week cycle of this. I have a feeling I won't be going up any weight now that I have to cut. The highest squat I've managed is 3x3 295 on SL.

Leg Day :

Squat : warm up sets ( 2x 4 x 45, 1 x 5 x 95, 1 x 5 x 135, 1 x 5 x 185, 1 x 3 x 225, 1 x 2 x 245)
Squat : 4 x 4 (275 Pounds)

Leg Extensions 3 x 10 ( 110 Pounds)

Seated Leg Curl ( 3 x 10) 90 Pounds

Standing Calf Raise (machine) (170 pounds 4 x 8)

[ZENT00]

about the calf raise 170 pounds !!!! ... the calf are slow fibers type, which mean they need much less weight with high repetitions in order to get hypertrophic... just an opinion.

[shmern]

keep it up! I know its hard to juggle with your academic schedule, but its worth it!

[shmern]

our of curiosity, what are of study are you in?

[Nanashi]

I'm in Economics. I also don't plan to update this more than once a month.


So this is the end of the first month, and I'm happy to say that I have lost 7 pounds. I'm adding in cardio on occasion on rest days. No more than 25 minutes of low intenstiy cardio.


Whats surprised me on this large of a calorie deficit, I am still making some strength gains, especially on accessory work.

Current Program : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72bSybRangA (the same as the original thread)


Currrent Comound lifts :
Squats (285 Pounds) 4 x 5. ( Up 10 Pounds)
Romanian Dead Lifts 155 Pounds 3 x 8 (Up 20 Pounds)
Over head Press 85 Pounds 4 x 8
Bench Press 165 Pounds 4 x 4 (no change)