My transformation and how I did it

[Zivic]

This summer i havent been watching as closely, but as of yesterday I am going strict. Stayed around 2700 (59 fat, 269 carb, 246 protein). I'll have to watch this on days I'm very active because it might be too little. I am active at work, but some days much more than others. Some days I'll load all day (45-50 lb boxes for 10 hrs). Other days just a lot of back and forth from the field hooking up trailers. It really varies so I need to be flexible with my food.

To the other extreme, come November I am a man of leisure. I can train 2-3 times a day (1-2 times being cardio) and have all the time I need to eat right. Its nice but it can be a bit too much.... Everything you do, you think about how it affects your build or your training, that isn't good.

 

[SP33Demon]

my work kills me with with my food. today I have been up since 3:30....probably be up till midnight. how do you plan your meals when you are awake for 20 hrs? and then try to plan your training meals when you don't know when you will be training? I work everyday for about 150-200 days so I have my wife prepping food (at least chicken) so I mainly live off the eggs and rice I make myself in the morning and then:
chicken breasts and mustard
bananas
apples
quest bars
rice cakes
almonds
and recently now, some total zero FAGE

today momma did make me some sweet potatoes and I found that to be very tasty

I find noon to 2pm is the hardest of my day. I am hungry, and I am tired. I catch a second wind about 3 and a little preworkout gets me through the training, but meals are difficult to time.

I hit the gym last night and did arms and I felt good through the first half and half@ssed the second half. I was 204.6 this morning and not happy with how I am looking overall, so I fired up myfitnesspal and I am tracking again, it's been a few weeks now since I have been 'tight' on my diet. no more BS snacking or even excess portions, I am going to use my activity working to help lean out a bit. going to try to stay right around 200, don't want to go below 197-198. just plan to keep my carbs as low as I can through out the day. If I feel sh!tty, I'll add them back in around when I train -> some days I make it by 7 pm.... other days, not till 10:30 or so

I don't blame you for not being tight on your diet. 3-4 hours of sleep a night after doing physical labor, your body is going to be screaming for carbs carbs carbs. Not getting the proper amount of sleep will alter your body chemistry, specifically hormones that control appetite called leptin and ghrelin.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC535701/

The combination of low leptin and high ghrelin is likely to increase appetite. In other words, short sleep might stimulate appetite, which increases weight.

Not to mention not giving your brain adequate time to clean out protein plaques from the brain (which can lead to Alzheimer's).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...f49e40-377a-11e3-8a0e-4e2cf80831fc_story.html

“Brain cells shrink when we sleep, allowing fluid to enter and flush out the brain,” Nedergaard said. “It’s like opening and closing a faucet.”

They also found that the harmful beta-amyloid protein clears out of the brain twice as fast in a sleeping rodent as in an up-and-about one. The study was published in the journal Science on Thursday.

I would really try to find a way to get your sleep if possible. Maybe hire a migrant worker to do some of the work? Not sleeping is one of the worst things you can do to yourself and you may pay the price in not only short term, but long term.

 

[Zivic]

I know lack of sleep is a killer, that's why they invented stimulants/preworkouts. All kidding aside i can tell my brain gets foggy and I dont clearly as the season wears on.

I get to points where my body just shuts down. On the 16th we had a birthday party for my son. I worked from 5 am on the 15th till 12:30 am (had a two hour window from 9-11 pm where I went and trained) on the 16th. Back up at 3:30 and worked till noon when I left for the party. At 3 I couldn't really stand. Felt sick and told momma I had to lie down.... Slept till 5 am the next morning.... Could have slept all day. Not every day is only 3-4 hrs, but not getting more than 6.

It is what it is, but what gets me is after the farm season I get insomnia for a good month. Go to bed by 10; maybe asleep by 1:30, and up by 5. Then after a month I am sleeping till 9 and napping for 2 hrs in the afternoon..... Its just a f°cked up way to live, but its the path I chose.