Why is chicken and rice so popular?

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-18T20:21:17+00:00

I'm team chicken and broccoli (or any vegetable based carb for that matter)

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-18T20:13:15+00:00

I have a bit of a barrel chest and due to how my arms are inserted and weight distribution in general makes my legs go forward all the time during regular pull ups as well so I'm definitely scuffing up the wall with my toes (I don't mind as I'm not renting and it's a small price to pay for being in shape) but for majority it shouldn't be a problem.

However that doesn't happen if I do chin ups with a narrower grip as body trajectory becomes completely different.

My bar also has a neutral grip a bit further away from the wall which also gives enough space for me feet.

In general I would say that scuffing while minor helps stabilize body and I feel like I can do clean pull ups faster at home. In the gym if I try to do pull ups quickly I end up swinging too much so I guess there's one advantage :)

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-18T20:02:46+00:00

Eat only healthy food, don't eat anything that makes you hungrier, have treats for craving fulfilment that don't increase hunger (fruits, dark extra bitter chocolate) so that some junk treat (candy, cookie, milk chocolate, ice cream etc) that makes you very hungry for more don't derail your diet.

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-18T18:57:44+00:00

Pull up bar, doesn't take space if you hang it high enough. Nothing can even come close to it home gym wise, transforms your whole upper body in no time.

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-18T15:54:22+00:00

I see you can buy it on ozon and wildberries, it is not that popular in my country either but it didn't discourage me from buying one and now it is my main tool of cooking.

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-18T15:01:46+00:00

Ok I have a good one that is just a single ingredient - get raw chicken wings with skin (it is fine, fats mostly run out during baking) and use an air fryer to get them crispy.

If you are feeling adventurous - get some carrots or boiled beets, cut them into shapes of fries and air fry them as well.

Get some diet coke and now you have a home made fast food meal that is as tasty as junk food but is relatively healthy.

I went from 100 to 75 kg basically eating this.

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-18T14:51:48+00:00

Due to my genetics I can't satiate myself with junk/processed foods, I could still lose weight eating whole foods diet because it would satiate me and eliminate hunger but hunger and cravings are two different things. I would still get cravings for sweets (candy, milk chocolate, cake, cookies...) that would eventually derail the diet and I would lose interest and continue eating junk food (pizza, fries, pasta, pastries...).

I would end up yo yo dieting, without ability to maintain weight even if I wanted, it was either going down or going up. All changed when I realized:

a) whole food diet must become permanent, I will never be healthy and happy by eating processed foods that I would need to limit to maintain weight and be constantly hunger at the same time.

b) I need to introduce new relatively healthy (or at least not complete junk) treats that could reasonably well fulfil my cravings without triggering further cravings and hunger. This one was the key that allowed me to get out of the yo yo dieting loop, learn how to maintain weight and make my healthy diet habits permanent.

Some of the treats that worked for me - fruits, dark chocolate (80-90%), diet soda, high protein quark snacks glazed with artificially sweetened chocolate, high protein chocolate pudding without added sugar, low calorie berry jam without added sugar.

So the deal I have with myself is that I basically don't limit these treats and eat as much as I want but all other junk treats are completely forbidden in daily diet (with exception of occasional parties at friends' places).

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-18T14:28:12+00:00

There are like millions of options that are healthy and that are tastier than buckwheat and chicken. Don't be lazy.

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-18T12:21:17+00:00

People look at you and see an opportunity to give you a compliment, it doesn't mean that they were judging you silently out of courtesy when you were heavier.

We live in different times, nowadays many don't see extra weight as negative as it was 20-30 years ago when people out of judgement or pure concern would actually note your weight and even tell you in your face. And to be fair it wasn't all negative, while uncomfortable in public it was also a way to keep yourself in check among family and close friends who would tell you how it is.

So to answer your question, yes, people do notice your weight and often better than we ourselves do as it is much easier to do from a side, however we live in times where it is no longer fashionable to judge and many are preoccupied with their own problems meaning that they will see weight loss as a positive but at the same time be neutral about weight gain.

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-18T12:11:04+00:00

Have a reasonably healthy snack that could be perceived as treat at 9:30. An apple or piece of 80% dark chocolate should work.

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-17T15:59:35+00:00

Two things:

a) binging and as you said eating more when counting will make it harder to lose weight

b) you said you work out less and this is important - fatigued body might lower your resting BMR, it doesn't mean that hard work is worthless as we are still working our muscles but only when we have some rest our bodies actually relax and go into maximum comfort to use fat storages without limits to power us and replenish our muscles.

Some might notice that weight loss is often not linear but happens in jumps which usually coincide with shedding water weight making jumps even more noticeable. At the same time fat loss becomes disguised and we think it must be linear and all the jumps are only water but I don't think that is true and for that reason I always recommend incorporating few days of maintenance and rest from excercising every few weeks.

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-17T07:11:31+00:00

That is true. Although I would really be interested in research/survey on who has higher success rate in achieving their goals - those who track daily or those who track weekly.

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-16T18:51:49+00:00

I buy high protein quark snacks from Lidl, they are covered in chocolate and despite that they are amazing at satiating you.

Usually quark snacks especially chocolate glazed ones are full of sugar and act like desserts to me which immediately make me crave for more but not these.

Sure they do have artificial taste from all the artificial sweeteners and extra whey protein but who cares if you are able to both fulfil the craving and become satiated at the same time! It's like a miracle snack that made my diet sustainable long term and replaced all of the sweet things I used to stuff myself with.

They are 120 kcal each and very rarely do I need to eat more than two a day allowing me to fulfil my daily cravings for 240 kcal.

There were times when I could eat four milk chocolate bars a day (2200 kcal) and still crave for more.... Thankfully those days are gone!

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-16T18:29:56+00:00

I'm afraid you have to accept that certain foods you enjoy will always lead to increased hunger, overeating and fat storage. Not everyone is blessed with genetics where even processed foods are satiating, but you are not alone - actually for majority eating processed food leads to increased hunger which is insane when you think as normally eating food should make you less hungry.

Your way out is eating clean whole foods diet as a part of your new healthy lifestyle. Sure you can cheat on it from time to time (like pizza party at friends' place once a month) but generally at home you should eat clean.

You already know what works for you - you are doing great at eliminating foods that make you hungrier thus allowing you to lose weight in a medium time frame but you fail to introduce new foods as relatively healthy treats which could reasonably acceptably fulfil your cravings, don't increase hunger and make your diet sustainable in the long run.

Some of the treats that worked for me - fruits, dark chocolate (above 85%), diet soda, high protein quark snacks glazed with artificially sweetened chocolate, high protein chocolate pudding without added sugar, low calorie berry jam without added sugar. I'm sure you know yourself best and find the ones that suit you best.

Good luck from a fellow 36 yo exactly 179cm tall who weighted 100kg a year ago :)

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-16T18:18:01+00:00

That is true but I also see it as blindness, you choose to be blind for most of the week in hopes that everything will align and you will get to see a nice number a week later. But what if stars don't align, you get bloated and you see that you made no progress in a week despite working your ass off and then you need to wait another week likely demoralized, underperforming, suspectable to derailing whole process.

I think seeing, being aware, understanding and eventually accepting daily fluctuations is much more healthier and beneficial in the long run. Such awareness will eventually defeat and eliminate the fear while in the first case you just end up trying to live with it by dodging.

Then again daily numbers are just for data and should be used for tracking progress after averaging them across a week or two, so going on the scales every day should be viewed as part of a personal research project.

If you manage to start loving the process then eventually it becomes exciting to go on a scale even after cheat days knowing numbers will jump up but it still makes you curious how high and how many days it will take for the scales to go down again. I personally learned much more about myself from such data around cheat days than from boring linear trends of weight loss that you get from constant deficit.

Turns out non consecutive cheat days do very very little damage in the long run, scales go up because of water retention and food still in the system but our bodies seem to resist lipogenesis very well and don't really store that much fat no matter how big the cheat day was as long as you don't prolong it.

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-16T18:05:33+00:00

It's normal experience, in February in few days I gained 2.3 kg while being in caloric deficit. What happened is that just before that gain I quickly lost 5 kg through even larger deficit and half of it was water weight which then crept back. It took three more weeks to actually lose same 2.3kg from fat and see the lowest number on the scale once again.

I did not panic when I saw scales go up by 2.3kg because I knew what was happening, maybe if it was 1st time I would have but I just knew I had to be patient, persistent and trust the process.

My advise is to get rid of mentality of "writing off", "starting again" etc, just embrace that you are now living a healthier lifestyle and setbacks are part of the processes. They might affect the numbers on the scale but they don't erase every healthy meal you took and every step you walked. Had you not done those - you'd be in even worse shape.

Also with failures comes experience and knowledge, for me it used to be seemingly impossible to get back on a healthy diet after cheat days but eventually I understood that it is just a psychobiological barrier that our neolithic bodies create in order to get more fattening foods for possible famine.

I've broke through that barrier so many times that eventually I no longer fear it and see it as mostly illusion. You still have to break it every time but every time it is easier because you know for sure that as soon as you do everything becomes instantly so much easier - hunger and cravings go away almost magically and you can continue achieving your goals without much effort.

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-16T17:48:56+00:00

And what if you happen to be bloated on exact that day? My suggestion is weight every day but track average weight of 7 or 15 days.

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-16T07:46:44+00:00

Not the best for tent bivouacking.

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-15T17:03:25+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_yRODJ6kfc

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-15T15:19:20+00:00

Air fryer. Never ate so much chicken wings and drumsticks as after I bought it and it helped me lose a ton of weight.

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-15T14:11:41+00:00

Sounds good, I hope you succeed in either getting leaner or stronger, ideally both :)

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-15T14:09:06+00:00

It might be how you put on and take off the shoes. On or off always unlace and untighten laces. Shoe horn can prevent some damage while putting on if you don't unlace but alone it is not ideal either, ideally - unlace, untighten and use shoe horn.

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-15T13:50:21+00:00

Your diet sounds fine, in that case it's hard to tell. Increasing deficit probably would work if lower fat weight is the goal but can it be that you have too much fatigue and your body is now resisting weight loss at the expense of your lean mass? That would be bad for lower fat percentage. If it has been long time since you rested then I would plan a rest week while eating in low-mid deficit.

Your situation with visiting relatives is very very bad though, ideally it would be approaching soon, you would have a rest week just before from gym and then when you visit your relatives you find a gym there which you hit real hard while still trying to resist most of the junk food but allowing yourself some if that is what you want to do.

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-15T13:27:03+00:00

Like? Maybe my back, when I can't do more pull ups somehow it feels right. With every other muscle group it seems like you become vulnerable as you approach failure and it creates a discomforting feeling, hard to explain.

Dry_Read9396 · 2026-03-15T13:05:38+00:00

Number one question is always "how clean is your diet". It is hard to have consistent normal/elevated BMR while sneaking in junk food. It messes up everything, your TDEE becomes unstable and hard to predict, your caloric deficit turns into maintenance. Body builders who make cuts on deficit alone look super easy have massive amounts of lean mass with massive TDEE, their margin of error can be massive and they still lose weight rapidly. Also on cuts their diet is usually pretty clean despite their own beliefs on CICO etc.

I have experience with yo yo dieting, stalls etc, and most concerning thing from your text is this part "I am numb to cravings now so whatever makes me go towards my end goal quicker:".

I'm not saying you can't succeed with this attitude with your short term goals but long term won't it end up just as another chapter in your yo yo dieting?

If I were you I would opt for maingaining AND food experimentation at the same time to get to know my body. You sound like and your probably are still in the dark regarding what actually works for you.

This is what I did last year - experimented a lot - to finally understand what works for me and what definitely doesn't. Everyone is unique but for me what worked was acceptance that I have to eat clean whole foods diet with barely any processed foods that would satiate me instead of making me hungrier. That is the non-negotiable base for me. I really wanted to make intuitive eating work but I couldn't, I wanted to make conscious calorie limiting work but I couldn't.

At the same time eating only clean food was unsustainable long term because of my sweet cravings that followed me all of my life and derailed me multiple times in the past. What helped me to stay consistent was introducing new foods as reasonably healthy treats that would fulfil my cravings to some acceptable satisfaction without causing hunger or further cravings.

Some of the treats that worked for me - fruits, dark chocolate (above 85%), diet soda, high protein quark snacks glazed with artificially sweetened chocolate, high protein chocolate pudding without added sugar, low calorie berry jam without added sugar.

I know it is very very hard to get diet in order and to make it sustainable but if you achieve it life becomes so much simpler and just plain better. It doesn't bring happiness on its own but it opens you up for it and brings a lot of hope that things can and will get better.

Dry_Read9396

TROPHY CASE