Olddawg is getting beat down on his cut

[olddawg]

things are quiet so I thought I'd toss this up. I've been cutting for a bit now, started on tren and just down to test and var. I'm hypothyroid and on a script to keep it working properly, but the tren always slows my thyroid and makes cutting nearly impossible. It takes quite a few weeks for it to return to normal after stopping the tren so getting the metabolism up and keeping it there is maybe 2-3x the work of a normal person.

and I'm getting fucking tired lol.

body is getting beat down, doing 45 min cardio and walking about an hour a day, sore elbows making curls and pulling motions nearly impossible, knees are stiff and I just noticed that strength has come down quite a bit and I could only do half as many reps squatting 3 plates as I normally do. That was thurs, so I took Fri, sat and sun totally off, ate some carbs and some junk food, this morning's fasted cardio I felt strong and body had a good rest so I'm back at it.

I ran into this last spring and ended up bailing out cause I just wasn't into the cut as much, but this year I swear I will do it and laugh in the face of this fucking thyroid. I've got about 6 weeks left to the cycle and hope to drop 10-12lbs of fat still. i'm sitting today at about 219 though I think I've lost some size in my quads.

On burly's thread on peps I decided to reconstitute a couple of bottles and they were effective for the first 3-5 days or so, then nothing noticeable other than hunger which is deadly for me right now.

so that's where od sits, old man fighting away at the body that just wants to sit around, eat chips and get fat

[burlyman30]

Some parallels here... I had been leaning out a bit. Recomping at 180 and abs were starting to become visible again... muscles were growing and I was beginning to get insatiable hunger. My body wanted to feed the growth. So I ate. And ate. And ate. Lol. I felt much better in 3 days and had filled out quite a bit. Got on the scale... up 8 lbs. Hahaha. Trying now find a balance of feeding new growth and my hunger while not losing all the ground I've gained.

On the does joints... get on hyaluronic acid and maybe some cissus to see if that helps.

On the diet... give yourself permission occasionally to do what you did, by refeeding and recharging, then get back on the horse. You won't lose much ground, and it's beneficial mentally and physically when on a long term cut.

[olddawg]

fuuuuuck I'm getting old burly. I'm on hyaluronic acid, msm and glucosamine. I want to stay away from the cissus as last time I used it, when I came off it I felt like the tin man, terrible, as it masks your actual pain. I'd rather feel what I'm doing tot he joints instead. I think the var at 40mg ed played a big part in the dryness and I'm feeling a tiny bit of relief dropping it to 30, not sure if that's enough to make a difference but I can take a piss in less than 30 min now too.

the permission to eat is a big one, I have to get my head around that. usually i'll be strict and refeeds are 2 meals of about 60g carbs, big bowls of cereal or something like that. I need to pull up to an all you can eat buffet and tuck my bib in fat OD style and just go for it. ahhh, feeling better already

[Scope75]

OD, find the thread DJM posted about cheat meals because it explains why you need them and that it actually gets shit going again.

[olddawg]

thanks, yeah I know this, it's my personality of pushing things too far, it's good in ways as I've gained more than ippy in the same time he's been working out, but bad cause I want to push things beyond where they should go. and that's for everything, workouts, gear, diet, etc... my mind believes that I can actually make things happen with enough effort--anything lol. sometimes I can.

[Coolazice]

Have you considered doing a high volume, light weight, short rest workout, to give your joints a break and still get some of the cardio work benefits out of it?

[burlyman30]

Treat the refeeds as part of the strategy. The strategy that gets you further, rather than viewing it as a "cheat". Every competitive bber I have talked with "stalls out" on their fat loss at some point, where the body simply wants to hold onto its setpoint fat level. When they go on a binge, usually out of reasons of starvation and lack of discipline, they miraculously start leaning out again as soon as they get back to their diet.

So for a guy like you, who will discipline himself to the utmost on the diet and training, you can actually work against yourself by not giving yourself proper rest recuperation, and nutrients. So you'll have to mentally reframe those things as strategic moves.

[DJM]

So for a guy like you, who will discipline himself to the utmost on the diet and training, you can actually work against yourself by not giving yourself proper rest recuperation, and nutrients. So you'll have to mentally reframe those things as strategic moves.

i knew my lack of discipline was for a greater cause

[Scope75]

I know how you feel and I had a hard time allowing myself to cheat and eat like a mad man but I've been doing at least weekly refeeds if not daily carbs after I lift.
Since summer is coming up ill be refeeding every 4-5 days instead of daily.

[olddawg]

Have you considered doing a high volume, light weight, short rest workout, to give your joints a break and still get some of the cardio work benefits out of it?

just finishing that, I had to go to it cause of some other injuries a month or so ago, I ended up just doing reps to failure no matter what weight I was at lol, it helped cure my right rotator cuff but elbows are now sore so i'm going to just a m-w-f push pull legs and cardio on the other days, but heavier again. just finished working out and felt strong again, new high weight for incline bench for reps (I know, pushing it again lol)

Treat the refeeds as part of the strategy. The strategy that gets you further, rather than viewing it as a "cheat". Every competitive bber I have talked with "stalls out" on their fat loss at some point, where the body simply wants to hold onto its setpoint fat level. When they go on a binge, usually out of reasons of starvation and lack of discipline, they miraculously start leaning out again as soon as they get back to their diet.

So for a guy like you, who will discipline himself to the utmost on the diet and training, you can actually work against yourself by not giving yourself proper rest recuperation, and nutrients. So you'll have to mentally reframe those things as strategic moves.

this is insightful, using it as part of the strategy, just no weighing day after, +8lbs causes a whole bunch of other problems in my mind lol and I know the scale doesn't matter.

I know how you feel and I had a hard time allowing myself to cheat and eat like a mad man but I've been doing at least weekly refeeds if not daily carbs after I lift.
Since summer is coming up ill be refeeding every 4-5 days instead of daily.

I've been stretching 7-9 days and it's worked until now, but fkn brick wall last week, time to adapt. Maybe I'll have to spark one up once a week to help collapse my self discipline.