If you think eggs are a bad "snack" aside from strawberries what would you suggest as "better"?

Try this for starters. Not just snacks. Eggs get a mention......

Fruit doesn't really fill me up plus I avoid it due to the amount of sugar...

Have you been reading some of those dumbass keto books?

At what point in history did the sugar in fruit become a problem? People will happily drink a can of coke but won't go near a banana because it's full of sugar.

Ffs if you don't like fruit don't eat it but don't avoid it because of the sugar.

[NO. NOT 'but still'......]

Ok maybe a little more than a tablespoon of oil but still.

NO. NOT 'but still'......

If you're serious about this you need to cut out the oil altogether. 1 tbsp of oil contains 120 calories. If you have one of those every day it equates to somewhere in the region of 12lbs of body weight in a year.

From your brief overview I'd guess you're currently consuming more than 1tbsp on average per day. How many bottles do you get through in a year? One 1L bottle contains about 9000 calories, it's pure fuel, you can run some cars on it ffs!!

Try cooking your mince in water. Once you've added all your spices and sauce you'll barely notice the difference in taste and you'll have dropped your calories by 250+

Id love to see a video of you banging out 3 plates for reps in the future.  You can't beat watching someone benching 3+plates for reps when you are as shit at chest as i am!

Me too!!

I've managed a triple at 141.5kg on my home set up so I'm not ridiculously far off 140 for 5 but I'm very much peaked so gains are hard to find.

At the moment I'm looking to gain a few kilos so that could push me over the edge. Benching 3 times a week won't hurt either.

Should perhaps try to get a session together at DL later this year? Keep an eye out for fee day passes......

let's hope for a lockdown free 2022 and injury free 2022 for everyone then the rest is much easier.

Just got to stay sensible and there's no reason not to stay injury free. Easier said than done unfortunately.......

Felt only marginally weaker today.  Chest and biceps.   Did 36kg dumbells x 8 reps flat and 32kg x 8 incline for three sets.  i went slightly lighter than pre xmas but did more reps.  After doing that i went back to 100% of pre xmas for chest accessory exercises with no issue at all.   Biceps were identical to pre xmas and no drop off at all.   Felt super strong and well rested.  Back and triceps tomorrow will report back then.

You have any strength goals or just focussing on the weight side?

Where do you think you could get with the dumbbells? Seem to recall you getting in to the 40s fairly recently?

My pressing is as strong as it's ever been but it's my primary focus so it should be.

Been today and hit 130kg for 4 with a fair bit left in the tank on flat bench followed by 2 sets of 8 at 50kg for incline dumbbells.

DB shoulder press are up to 40kg for 8 and I think that's really helping as an accessory to the chest work. Makes sense really as I'd neglected shoulder pressing for a long while due to injury worries every time I went heavy. Really nice to able to use a taxing weight without thinking I'm going to f**k my shoulder up.

Ultimate goal for me is 3 plates for 5 reps on bench but this is a long long way off. Got to keep plugging away at it though.

My main goal in the next 3 months is to drop to 110kg body weight whilst maintaining my current level of lean muscle mass.   Not too worried about strength goals.   Ive got stronger marginal in the last 9 months since the last lockdown whilst dropping lard so don't see getting stronger as a focus think it will come naturally providing no more lock downs which massively set me back.   I'd like to think i could be doing 50kg dumbbells later in the year.  Last workout before xmas i was doing sets of 6 with 40kg's and will go back to them next week.   I have hit 44-46kg previously 3 years ago but haven't ever got to the holy grail of the 50s coming out which is a reasonable goal for this year i think.   When i started back in April afterr 3 months off after lockdown i started again at 26kg.   I don't want to have to go through that rebuilding process again.

Ultimately at our age staying injury free which i tend to do quite easily is the key thing.   None of us are getting paid to train its about enjoying doing it and staying fit.

The strength gains will just happen without you even noticing. You're nowhere near your natural limit by the sound of it so if you just keep shifting metal about your body will keep adapting to whatever you throw at it. Got to make sure you keep challenging yourself though and making progress, the more muscle you have the more fat you'll shift.

Yeah 100% agree about staying injury free, that's why I've now stopped doing deadlifts and squats completely as I always mess up my hip and lower back at some point.

My leg work now is just leg extensions, leg curls, some of the spready/squeezy ones and then calves. I throw in some hyper extension for lower back just to keep it moving and maintain some base strength but that's it. I don't do bent over rows any more as again it hurts my lower back as soon as I put a half decent weight on the bar. I just stick to the seated variations to get my rowing in.

The routine I currently have is really enjoyable so I'll be sticking to it for quite a while. Every now and then I throw in something new but invariably I mess myself up so I really need to just stick to what works.

Felt only marginally weaker today.  Chest and biceps.   Did 36kg dumbells x 8 reps flat and 32kg x 8 incline for three sets.  i went slightly lighter than pre xmas but did more reps.  After doing that i went back to 100% of pre xmas for chest accessory exercises with no issue at all.   Biceps were identical to pre xmas and no drop off at all.   Felt super strong and well rested.  Back and triceps tomorrow will report back then.

You have any strength goals or just focussing on the weight side?

Where do you think you could get with the dumbbells? Seem to recall you getting in to the 40s fairly recently?

My pressing is as strong as it's ever been but it's my primary focus so it should be.

Been today and hit 130kg for 4 with a fair bit left in the tank on flat bench followed by 2 sets of 8 at 50kg for incline dumbbells.

DB shoulder press are up to 40kg for 8 and I think that's really helping as an accessory to the chest work. Makes sense really as I'd neglected shoulder pressing for a long while due to injury worries every time I went heavy. Really nice to able to use a taxing weight without thinking I'm going to f**k my shoulder up.

Ultimate goal for me is 3 plates for 5 reps on bench but this is a long long way off. Got to keep plugging away at it though.

[i make it around 75 per egg) that's pretty good.]

I didn't add oil, of course. That was what it was cooked in.

I've actually just been shopping and bought some spray rapeseed.

I know that there are more calories in yolks, but it's also where the majority of taste and the nutrients are... Also I was reasonably good to go until dinner after having those chickpeas then 2 eggs and 1 more a bit later so for 225 cal {i make it around 75 per egg) that's pretty good.

I'll definitely have a look at that YouTube channel/s thanks. Seen some "anabolic" recipes on reddit when I was perusing earlier. Cheers!

It's not good, it's shit.

You've got 225 calories for a snack that weighs in at about 180g.

If it's nutrients and flavour you want in a snack that fills you up how about 700g of strawberries for the same calorie intake? I doubt you'd be able to eat half of them if you tried.

You need low calorie dense food otherwise you're always going to be hungry hence the reason you needed one extra egg after the first two......

Slight edit: Eggs are actually amazing, I eat 4 whole eggs every day with 4 slices of toast and really enjoy it.

When I said they're shit I meant as a snack. For a meal in a salad for example they'd be great, for a snack between meals there are far better alternatives.

First day back lifting today after a 2 week break which my body needed.   Looking forward to shifting the iron today.   Two weeks off usually doesn't make much difference to strength so hoping i can just carry on as pre xmas.  Will try and post more in 2022 on here.

I can cope with a week without seeing any drop off in strength but two weeks will definitely see some losses.

Only takes a week to get back up but there's no way I'd maintain 100%

How did it go?

Today at 10.30 I fried some garlic and a tin of chickpeas, added seasoning and chili powder and smoked paprika. Around 400cal. I was still hungry. Had two boiled eggs and much better though was still panging for a while. I plan to eat a lot of eggs as they helped me last time a lot!

How big was this tin of chickpeas? According to Google they're 467 calories for a 285g tin? (Equivalent of 1.4kg of strawberries......)

Did you check the label?

A good filling meal for 500cal had fried onion/garlic/5%fat mince (half a packet -300 cal)/1tbsp oil then added tinned tomatoes and ate with a shit load of veg. This was a lot of food physically!

How did you come up with your calories figure?

You've probably got 500 just in the mince and oil. Nobody does an actual tbsp, you hold a tbsp over the pan then drizzle oil over it and call it a tbsp. Unless you actually weigh it I can guarantee you've got closer to 2 tbsp than 1 and at 120 calories each it really mounts up.

You're probably more like 700 calories than 500. Everybody underestimates and there really is no way of knowing unless you get a set of scales and weigh it.

[i make it around 75 per egg) that's pretty good.]

I didn't add oil, of course. That was what it was cooked in.

I've actually just been shopping and bought some spray rapeseed.

I know that there are more calories in yolks, but it's also where the majority of taste and the nutrients are... Also I was reasonably good to go until dinner after having those chickpeas then 2 eggs and 1 more a bit later so for 225 cal {i make it around 75 per egg) that's pretty good.

I'll definitely have a look at that YouTube channel/s thanks. Seen some "anabolic" recipes on reddit when I was perusing earlier. Cheers!

It's not good, it's shit.

You've got 225 calories for a snack that weighs in at about 180g.

If it's nutrients and flavour you want in a snack that fills you up how about 700g of strawberries for the same calorie intake? I doubt you'd be able to eat half of them if you tried.

You need low calorie dense food otherwise you're always going to be hungry hence the reason you needed one extra egg after the first two......

A lot of these meals are a LOT less food than I was eating so it's been tough, hence looking to eat some potato potentially as it's very filling.

Today at 10.30 I fried some garlic and a tin of chickpeas, added seasoning and chili powder and smoked paprika. Around 400cal. I was still hungry. Had two boiled eggs and much better though was still panging for a while. I plan to eat a lot of eggs as they helped me last time a lot!

Few swap outs you could make here:

Fry light spray instead of oil. Hopefully you did this anyway as no diet on the planet should include oil.

Get rid of the yolks from the eggs. 1 whole large egg is around 85 calories with the yolk being 63 of those despite only accounting for 1/3 of the overall volume.

You can have 2 whole eggs at 170 calories for 130g of food or 6 egg whites at 154 calories for 270g of food.

Twice as filling and fewer calories.

Well have done a week now and lost 2kg trying to stick to 2000cal a day. Was asleep all NYD so didn't eat at all really

Went over one day with two big bowls of cereal which was super lazy but delicious. Think I ate 2500 that day. The only other sugary foods I've eaten in a week are 3 nutty-chocolatey type bars 135kcal each and one magnum ice cream around 250. Pretty happy with that side of things as i could easily eat 1k cal of sugary shit in a day before for the past couple of years.

Am aiming for 0 deliveries until the end of the month. The only thing I had delivered was a peri peri chicken wrap when my housemate ordered chicken... Not that bad guessing 400-500 cal but not that worth it.

When it comes to real food definitely need to branch out. I've found myself this time not avoiding certain carbs as much; I haven't had any bread, pasta or rice but I have had things like lentils and chickpeas. I'm pretty sure these are "better" carbs than you find in the former... I think I will probably add in some potatoes either baked or boiled for satiety. I will likely have rice somtimes going forwards.

Definitely need to find some more things to eat though. Some examples of what I've been eating:

A good filling meal for 500cal had fried onion/garlic/5%fat mince (half a packet -300 cal)/1tbsp oil then added tinned tomatoes and ate with a shit load of veg. This was a lot of food physically!

Have had a couple of 300cal pre-prepared lentils u stick in microwave either on their own or with tuna.

Have had chicken breast, marinated and then roasted with veg.

Had a ready meal which was 350cal plus some petit pois.

A lot of these meals are a LOT less food than I was eating so it's been tough, hence looking to eat some potato potentially as it's very filling.

Today at 10.30 I fried some garlic and a tin of chickpeas, added seasoning and chili powder and smoked paprika. Around 400cal. I was still hungry. Had two boiled eggs and much better though was still panging for a while. I plan to eat a lot of eggs as they helped me last time a lot!

The 2kg figure means nothing as at the beginnign there's lots of changes in water weight, so I expect the first few weeks weight to mostly drop off before it starts to get tougher. The question is can I make and eat foods I like enough sustainably? To some people 2000 calories sounds like a lot but when you're a human vacuum cleaner it's not always that much. Have to watch things like oils, sauces etc as this is where things can add up quickly!

Having 5% mince then adding a table spoon of oil seems a little strange...... You should do your very best to avoid oil as it's one of the most calorie dense (kcals per gram) foods you'll find.

This girl is worth a watch if you want some ideas on what actually works in the real world:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrA-KN5yQzL1DkcUg9QN4Qw

She used the Greg Doucette (an IFBB pro body builder) cookbook to help her and has links to it in some of her videos.

I've read a lot of reviews about the cookbook and it focusses on low calorie dense foods meaning you get to eat a lot of volume for not many calories. Some of the foods looks really nice such as the anabolic french toast that he always talks about.

The cookbook itself is expensive (very expensive) but you sound like someone who may well benefit from it.

Spend a few hours watching Louises Journey and also Greg Doucette and it may give you a few ideas where to start.

Also, if you listen to half the windowlickers online, everyone that has been vaccinated is having a heart attack.

That's good news. At least if I have a heart attack I don't have to worry about the AIDS they told me I was going to get.