I'm bored at work as I had some no show patients (I'm a dentist) so I thought I would share.  I've been using bodybuilding coaches for the last year.  I did 6 months with one and then switched to another one because he was local.  It was definitely a good learning experience especially with the 2nd guy.  I did my own thing before using them for probably a little over a year to lose weight and then build muscle.  I just always felt like there was so much I didn't know or was unsure of so I hired coaches to help learn more (from a bodybuilders perspective).

Anyways I didn't plan to use coaches forever as I have no intention to ever compete.  I learned a good bit but I felt ready to steer my own ship.  I also got tired of filling out daily logs of my diet, energy level, digestion, workout quality, sleep quality, step count, etc, etc, etc.  That plus weekly check in with pictures.

So I started my own diet beginning of August.  My goal was just maintenance for now.  It was an experiment to some degree though because I changed some stuff now that I am doing it without a coach.  With my coach I had a normal day diet, high day diet, and a rest day diet.  I honestly hated that.  I hate high days because i was supposed to eat an ungodly amount of carbs and with lower fat amounts.  That equated to lots of plain rice and plain potatoes much of the time.  My rest days weren't that bad but it was a completely different set of meals.  It just made meal prep suck balls especially since he would tweak things constantly. My maintenance weight is basically staying around 185.  I have gotten lower than that no problem but it's pretty hard to sustain.  I'm pretty dang lean at 185.

So I kept a lot of stuff my second coach had me implement because I felt like much of what he had me do worked and I was and am firing on all cylinders.  Basically though I came up with a daily normal diet of 6 meals.  I eat those same meals every day.  Two days a week though usually Sunday and Wednesday I have a cheat meal and some sort of dessert or sweet.  I do really good adhering to my diet but I do go overboard on my cheat meals sometimes.  I think Wednesday I had like 8 spare ribs, curly fries, and literally half of an apple pie.  I didn't mean to eat that much pie lol but sometimes I get weak when I cheat.  I knew with my cheat meals I would need to keep my daily diet low.  So I only consume about 2000 calories a day right now but I eat 2 usually massive cheat meals a week.  So far it has worked perfectly and I haven't had to adjust anything.  Im usually 184-186 on the morning of the day I plan to cheat.  Then the morning after I'm anywhere from 192-196 from a massive water weight jump.  Then  3-4 days later when I get my next cheat I am right back at 184-186.  

I thought i might have to tweak stuff but the diet seems to have worked out like I want. When I decide to bulk again ill probably tone back the cheats and increase the daily diet.

It sounds horrible to most people eating the same thing every day but it is like easy mode for me getting 2 cheats a week. It also makes meal prep SOOO much easier.

Anwyays just wanted to share.

When I trained for a local physique comp, it was a really good experience. I had never had or coach or counted macros before. I liked the idea of the science experiment for my body to see what it could do. Totally did it all natural, not even creatine. Just whole foods and water. I was already pretty lean at 6'3" 190. It was a quick bulk up phase and then a cut and man the results were amazing.

I found the eating was the easiest part for me, I can eat the same thing for a week or two, same B/L/D/Snack prep. I loved having everything ready to eat everyday.

Right before covid I was training for my second comp and had a longer bulking phase. I was shocked at how fast I pul on pounds. The comp was canceled and I needed up stopping competing, but the experience and getting on stage were awesome. I started back to running and got into trail running mostly now.

Keep us updated with how its going on your own!

A 10 lb weight swing from a cheat meal seems huge

It's usually around 6lbs but when I have kinda went crazy it has been as much as 10lbs but that is rare.  I lose up to 5lbs of water over night sometimes.  It's always right back off within 3-4 days.  When my water weight goes up I sweat a shitload in my sleep for a couple nights.

I've been tracking my weight every day for a LONG time.  Pretty standard for me.

I drink a gallon of water, couple cups of coffee, a diet soda or two every day. Lots of oppurtunity to retain water lol.

Im honestly just giving myself a break for a couple months in a way that I can pretty much stay where I am not get bigger or leaner.  I will tighten up the cheat meals and increase daily calories with whole foods when I plan to bulk again but I will probably try to do more of a lean bulk next go.

So yesterday I was back down to 186 when i woke up.  Had a pretty big cheat yesterday evening.  This morning I was 192 and change.  About 6lbs which is typical.  I will be 184-186 by Sunday.

Just enjoying food a bit more for a bit.  Will probably switch to one moderate cheat meal a week and increase daily calories to start a lean bulk in a month or so.  Gotta give myself enough of a break to have good motivation and drive.

I do something similar although over a much more extended amount of time.  I keep to a strict calorie count for 2 months (8 weeks) and then I take the following weekend to eat anything and everything.  Works for me, down 35lbs. since Jan.

I'm not trying to lose weight.  I'm glad your plan is working.  That type of thing is helpful mentally and to keep motivation up.

I was actually surprised this morning because we went to a church memeners BBQ last night and I basically just had an extra meal yesterday.  This morning 186.8.  I had donuts this morning and now we are getting NY style pizza.  I'm sure
my weight  will be up tomorrow but the family and I are about to hit some bike trails for a couple hours.

I know the scale isn't everything but it is a helpful indicator on how the current nutrition is going.

I can fluctuate nearly 10lbs of water weight on a multi-hour training session.  

I'm going out on a limb and guessing a large part of his weight fluctuation is water weight/fluids from the meal not 10lbs of calories.

It's definitely not 10lbs of tissue lol.  It's usually not quote that big of a swing but it can be.  I honestly think I might retain more water than the average person.  I believe the water retention makes my carpal tunnel flare as well.

Take a measured break from it.

Set a date in your calendar that provides enough time to elapse and when you reach it see how you're doing fitness wise.  If you're doing poorly go back to the trainers, if you're not keep on trucking and set a new date to evaluate yourself on then just repeat over and over.   You can always go back if you need to do so.   Just don't let thing slide too much for too long though if they do, in fact, start to slide.   In short, give yourself a safety net to catch yourself by setting that evaluation date.  Also, set a reasonable expectation for where you should be without a trainer and accountability to someone else, because you're not going to be as fit as you were under that trainer.  

I only ever weight myself in the morning after I've used the bathroom and before I eat and shower.  The use my average weekly weight as my metric for my actual weight to account for the flux.  

I have found that two things impact by weight by as much as 3 lbs: (1) carbs, if I have more carbs than I should my weight will go up about 3 lbs the next day and depending on how much I've eaten that can last for as long as three days before it comes back down, (2)  swelling and inflammation, which typically happens after my leg days and the weird thing is that my weight will peek from that two days after the leg day not the next day (for whatever reason).  

A 10 lbs swing would be pretty incredible, but if you're a very large individual maybe that's just a percentage thing that is closer to my 3 lbs swings?

It's usually 5-6lbs but if I am a total glutton on a cheat meal and dessert the swing can be extreme but within 3-4 days weight is normalized.  I've already started toning back the cheats and increasing daily calories a bit.  I just needed a few weeks to get my motivation back really.  I have still been getting my daily set meals and proper protein.  

I really haven't gained much weight at all since I started doing my own thing.  At least nothing that isn't transient.

Yea I am already switching back to more daily calories and toned down cheats.  Just wanted a short break.

I've been doing great overall but this week seems to be an off week.  I'm just fucking sore everywhere right now.  Probably need to do some light days.

I do weighted Dips on Thursdays.  Usually my working sets are with 90lbs for 9-10 reps.  Today I couldn't hardly do 90lbs.  I did one set for 8 reps I think but the second one I could barely start for some reason.  Oh well an occasional off day happens.

Edited to add I guess I didn't have an "off" day I felt like shit the whole rest of the day.  I think I have a virus or something but I wasn't aware when I went into the gym.

I'm not posting any more threads here for a while but i am shifting back to getting more serious.  I've started shifting to doing a lean bulk.  I want to gain mass but I want to keep it tighter so I don't have to do a big cut afterwards.  Maybe I'll actually take some pics in the gym locker room that has perfect lighting in a few months after making progress.  Here I am this evening.  I'm not a big guy but I do feel like I've made good progress for my age.

The only  new thing I think i might implement is if I start to feel really like fatigue is building I may take extra rest days.  I've thought about doing the whole deload week but honestly just an extra day of rest when needed will serve me well.  I felt like absolute shit Thursday so I took Friday and Saturday off and I feel GREAT today.

Well I had tightened my diet up, increased daily macros, lessened the size of cheat meals.  I didn't want to try and pack on weight just gradually gain some.

Then last Saturday I started feeling unwell.  I got covid.  I had it once when it first broke out and it was like a mild cold.  Still worked out at home.  Not this go around.  I've been on my ass.  I coughed up bloody phlegm for several days.  I could barely swallow food Tuesday.  I got a steroid shot Wednesday and as a reaction that apparently exists I've had non stop violent hiccups off and on since Wednesday.  I feel alot better but these damn hiccups are like a nightmare.  It makes my digestive tract feel majorly fucked up.  They said i could stop quarantine Fri so my wife pressured me to Still go to pigeon forge.  She drove the whole 9 hours in the rv while I laid in the master bed.  I generally feel like shit but I've made myself do family stuff I just don't stay out the whole day like every one else.  I went to an urgent care and they gave me muscle relaxers today.  I'm still fucking having hiccups but with more breaks of them stopping periodically and they aren't as violent.

I'm scared what the scale will say lol when I get home.  I wouldn't be surprised if I've lost over 10lbs.  My face looks really damn thin in photos they took today at Cades Cove today.

I badly want to go to the gym.  This is the longest I've went without since I started.  This is the worst I've felt in years.  I'm not feeling nearly as bad or I wouldn't go out at all but the gym would be a mistake.  Last Tuesday I literally only left my recliner to pee.  I'm nowhere near that bad now but this feels like it will never end with the hiccups and still not feeling my best.

One thing I've discovered as I've aged is that if I'm both in a calorie deficit AND trying to do 5 days a week of weight lifting my body gets worn down, I don't recover as well between workouts, and as I get about 8 weeks into a regiment I start to see injuries flare up.   So, if I'm in a calorie deficit I dial my weight lifting sessions back to 3 days a week or 4 tops.   If I'm in a maintenance calorie intake I'll go ahead and push myself harder in the gym too, but if I'm in calorie deficit at that point I'm just trying to maintain and not trying to progressively improve with my lifting (i.e. I'm not adding weight as I go and continue to drop in weight).  It's just too much on my 40 something body to both lose weight, maintain a 5 day a week weight lifting regiment (even doing a bro split) and it just puts me at risk of injury (shoulder flares ups or my right forearm from old injuries).  

Another thing that I think works best for me is cycling myself.  For example, right now I'm in a 12 week cut, but the last two weeks of December I'll be at a maintenance level so I can enjoy some foods.  Even though I still want to lose some weight after this 12 week cut (I'm losing about 1 lbs a week right now) I'm just going to give myself two weeks to eat normally and enjoy myself.  

I think Jeff Nipard on YT did a video on how a study was done and showed that folks that actually took 2 weeks off from their diet programs to go into a maintenance level actually did better with more overall weight loss than folks that just plowed right through a 12 week cut.  

I have to say, that doing this @#$* naturally is a lot harder than folks thing when you're in your 40s.  I can definitely see the benefit of being on a TRT just in terms of recovery, because it's the recovery that becomes more important than the actual damn workout itself.  It's been a bunch of hard lessons for me since I hit 40 learning how to adjust and I'm still trying to find the right balance.  I imagine I'll be tweeking things nonstop from here on out as my body gets older.