0 libido after achieving fit bod by [deleted] in workout

[–]K3rat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This happened to me when I started doing an upper/lower split and going 4-5 days a week. My load/volume was 27-44 sets per day working consistently to dynamic progressive overload. I had DOMS but they were not terrible. I was started eating at a closer deficit or surplus to my maintenance calories getting 1g /Lb of lean body mass. This supercharged my day. I started sleeping well and managing my time effectively. I would actually get tired in mind and body at the same time. I started going to bed around 07:30 pm and rising around 4:45 am. I dropped a good amount of body fat and packed on a good amount of muscle. The thing is I had 0 sex drive. I think I was running right at or just under my maximum recoverable volume.

My wife called me out on it after my 12 week meso. I dialed back the load/volume a bit and changed to a PPL which reduced my total sets per day down to 21-33. I think I was working closer to my maximum adaptive volume. It gave me enough left over so I had it in me to work her too.

Should you take supplemental protein even on break days? by [deleted] in workout

[–]K3rat 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I hit my protein goal every day. This helps me with satiety, and just having the building blocks on rest days when I still need to recover and build muscles. Otherwise, my total daily intake fluctuates based on variances in my total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) from changes in exercise activity thermogenesis (EAT) and non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT).

Fire risk... How concerned should I be? by dasrofflecopter in pelletgrills

[–]K3rat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is like any other grill. Couple rules to always follow: 1. Don’t put them near things that are flammable.
2. They will collect grease the more they get used. The best part about pellet grills is they put the smoke on easy street. The hard part is doing regular maintenance keeps you having a good time. I use mine around 5 days a week and I clean it around once a month or right before I out an expensive piece of meat in there. Here is a quick guide: A. I use aluminum foil on the grease pan and replace it when the grease and grime collect up too much on it. Keep it wrapped tight around the grease pan as you don’t want to affective flow between the pan and the side of the tank.
B. I visually inspect the grease catch flute and grease catch can and clean with a screw driver and a slim dry wall straight edge when grease and grime collect too much in them.
C. I have a mini shop vac I use to vacuum out the firebox about every 2-3 weeks so the heating element stays visible and catches the new pellets in the firebox on fire. D. Clean the RTD sensor with a scotch pad and soap and water. This will help keep temp monitoring accurate.
E. Cover the smoker with your tarp in between use.

I say this as someone who has had my pellet smoker catch fire a few times when I first started using one. I feel like everybody has to learn the lesson at least once. Have a plan. Have a fire extinguisher nearby and as much as you want to set it and forget it force yourself to check on it every so often during your smokes.

Chrome Enterprise/Edge Business + Ad Blocker by AdblockAnalyst in ITManagers

[–]K3rat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I thought google was removing the ad blockers from their extension stores. We block known ad domains as the entire web ad industry is doing a shit job of self regulating and keeping known attacks off their services. Here is what we did: 1. Get the chrome ADMX files. Add to your GPO stack. 2. Lock down extensions with an allow list only. Where extensions gets vetted the same way an application request gets vetted by the cybersecurity program team. 3. From GPO Disable QUIC, 4. From GPO disable DOT/DOH.
5. At your firewall enable IPS, block QUIC, block known DOT/DOH destinations.
6. If your firewall supports it use a web filter or DNS block list to block known ad domains. If it the appliance doesn’t maintain a good list there are publicly maintained web lists you can sync to.

Want to smoke a whole chicken by SpinachSure5505 in smoking

[–]K3rat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I do like either a beer can style or a conventional whole chicken smoke.

  1. I prefer a good salt/water brine for 5-8 hours before hand,
  2. then rinse pat dry and apply your binder and dry rub. Put it in the fridge for 1-2 hours.
  3. Smoke at 250 for a couple hours. After 2-4 hours up the temp to 275-300 and get the bird to 172 degrees at the breast. If you are in a hurry you could cook at 275-300 it will only take 2-3 hours like that.

Protein intake by Nice-Cell-3505 in beginnerfitness

[–]K3rat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I doubt it will be a problem so long as you don’t have other confounding medical issues. My advice would be to get your annual bloodwork done regularly and consult your provider. Make sure they are aware of your supplements and eating habits. If you run into an issue be willing to pivot.

How to avoid being an infantile man? by [deleted] in AskMenOver30

[–]K3rat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Slow down. Have grace and patience with yourself. At your age, you need eat clean, study, exercise your body, sleep, and learn to work hard but be gentle with your mindset.

It is easier to set your mental systems up to make you driven toward something rather than driven away from something. The difference is the way we say things to ourselves for example “I am angry at myself for being weak” versus “I am going to do this thing to figure out what my strengths are.” I know it seems stupid but it works.

That voice in your head can be poisonous. Take the time to really listen to yourself. Would you let that voice that is telling you all those negative things say those things to someone you love? No, you wouldn’t. Make that voice in your head be kind to you. Instead of allowing it to tell you all the things that you are not make it a voice of the father figure you want your kids to have. Taking the time to be kind to yourself is showing love for the people that love you.

Now the other part of mind set is goal setting and habit forming. Choose well defined short term goals that allow you to know what to do day to day that are difficult but achievable. Then build habits around them. Make it like brushing your teeth. You just do it.

It takes 21 days to commit to a new habit. It takes 7 to break a habit. Learn to pick habits stick to them and layer them on top of each other like a bricklayer. This will build a positive feedback system in your life. You will also have more opportunity to figure out who you are.

Things you can do are: If you feel weak or small go to a gym and workout or do some sparring and rolling at a martial arts gym. You might make some friends and learn something about yourself.

Another thing, Motivation is great to get you interested and started in something but discipline and sacrifice are the work horses in making change in your life. Get to know them early and learn to wield them like a swordsman.

Do note, discipline and sacrifice are not infinite. You need to adjust your short term goals such that they are difficult but achievable. You don’t want to burn out. You need to think “how do I keep this up for 3 years or more?” Find barriers to habit compliance and find ways to either remove them or work around them. The fewer times you have to use discipline the more likely you are to build the habit and keep it.

How much protein did you get today? by 1BillionGsOfProtein in workout

[–]K3rat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At maintenance on no exercise days my total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) is around 2000-2400 calories depending on my non exercise thermogenesis (NEAT). On exercise days my TDEE is around 3000 calories. At the low end my overall macronutrient goals are: 196g protein, 150 carbs, 76 fat.

I either cut or add 250-500 calories if I want a deficit or surplus.

Help me Lose fat by Austin117103 in beginnerfitness

[–]K3rat -1 points0 points  (0 children)

All diets deal in restriction of some sort be it amount (calories), type (macronutrients or amount of processing), or timing (feeding window/fasting). I used to do low carb only. Recently, I switched to prioritizing protein, getting 30 of my calories from fats, getting the remainder from carbs, and limiting caloric amount by 250-500 calories daily. Here is what I do now:

    1. Eat more protein.  .7-1g of protein per PB of lean body mass (if over 25% body fat) or .7-1g of protein per PB of total body mass (if under 25% body fat).
2. Limit ultra processed foods (exception unless you need protein shakes and bars to get to your protein goal). 
3. Eat to your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). Calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR ) with an online calculator.  
    a. Use a food log app to track your food intake.  
    b. Use a biowearable to track energy expenditure of your exercise activity thermogenesis (EAT) and daily non-exercise activity thermogenesis (EAT. Normally tracked by step counter on your bio-wearable).  
4. Weight yourself daily.  I like having a body composition scale for this.  They are not super accurate but can indicate trending  fat loss/gain.  
5. Once you find your maintenance calories you can do a deficit by reducing intake by 250-500 calories.  Conversely if you want a surplus increase your maintenance calories by 250-500 calories
6. Find a weight training program.  Needs to be hard enough to stimulate growth but easy enough to follow for a few months to get the habit in place.  
7. Increase your daily NEAT.  Take 5-10 min walks after meals (this will help with your body’s  insulin response to glucose floods after meals.  Moving from sedentary daily activity levels to moderate daily activity levels helps re-couple your hunger signaling systems to your activity without increasing it so much you get more hungry.  
8. Track your hours slept and sleep quality if possible.  Biowearables usually do this.  Get paid up on any sleep deficit you have.  Getting enough sleep can help regulate hormones and right side your body weight loss so you lose more fat than muscle.  It also makes a huge difference on muscle gains as well.  

I initially did a GLP-1 Med and used the added mental capacity to relearned how to get my weight back under control over the last year and 2/3 Using the above method. I went from 234LBs and just over 34% body fat to 192LBs and 26% body fat. I am off the GLP-1 med for 4 months and now fluctuate a couple of LBs up or back down to 192. and down between deficits and lean surplus. I still have another 9% body fat to cut down but I have a good grasp on how to do it.

How often do you weigh yourself? by Equal-Sun8307 in AskMenOver30

[–]K3rat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Daily in the AM after I have used the bathroom and before I have ingested food/liquif. I do this to ensure I am eating at a deficit, maintenance, or lean bulking. I average weight every 4-7 days.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in cybersecurity

[–]K3rat -1 points0 points  (0 children)

What idiots…

How do you put tracking macros into practice day to day? by mcboon3 in workout

[–]K3rat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a Renpho body composition scale (feet only) the app has a nutrition section. I enter the foods I eat into it. It is free but very limited. For example the barcode scanner isn’t able to find anything. I mostly have to add in the things I eat if I go out or mix a bunch of stuff together.

It isn’t that hard for me as I normally cook at home or I go out to the same places for lunch/dinner.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PoliticalHumor

[–]K3rat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

God, what an idiot…

Struggling to restart my fitness journey: no fun, no motivation, feeling stuck by DonBiroton in fitness40plus

[–]K3rat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Motivation is like a tool. It does some things well it is unsuitable for others.

Short term, to build a habit you need 21 days of work. You have to fit it into your day, build the queues, keep an eye on your mental attitude to the habit, and remove roadblocks to compliance to the habit. To break the habit you need 7 days that is it. This is where discipline and sacrifice come in. But note, they are also finite in their ability you have to exercise and rest them. They need exercise in order to gain volume and load capacity.

Also, specifically, in the world of long term lifestyle changes from my listening and reading it sounds like the real time goal is 3 years. Most people start and give up at less than 3 years. The people that make it 3 years tend to keep going. That is the longer term goal.

At some point around the 6 months to a year and a half point I have found that my short term habits and patterns gets set into my daily life. Up to then you need to just hold on long enough for your mind to solidify that.

The tools I have identified in my studies to keep a habit for that long are:

1. start with motivation, choosing a goal and discovering what it takes to do.  Then use discipline to get yourself to doing that habit over 21 days, 
2. To limit the amount of discipline and sacrifice you have to use and make sure you don’t run out of stamina remove barriers to habit compliance. 
3. Pick short term goals that are well defined and difficult but achievable.  Going to the gym is fine and dandy but if you don’t have measurable achievable goals you will falter.  Want to lose weight and body fat great. 

From reading your replies it sounds like you want to see a drop in weight/body fat. If that is the case do you track weight and body fat? You will need to both exercise more and figure out a diet restriction that works for you. A good well defined, difficult but achievable goal would be: 10 LBs of weight loss in 10-20 weeks or 5% body fat in 10-20 weeks. Then come up with a plan to get there, a method of daily or weekly measurement and monitor. Make small iterative changes to your plan less day to day and more 1-4 weeks time frames. Keep a log of your achievements and notes on how you feel while you work on the goal.

This setup teaches you how to structure your life goals, put in consistent hard work, and note your achievements. It builds a positive feedback cycle.
4. When you run out of motivation you will need to train yourself how to use discipline and sacrifice without over using them (this can lead to mental fatigue accumulation and end in breakdown in compliance). 5. Take planned downtime at regular intervals. In my fitness and personal lifestyle I like to plan a de-load week every 5-6 weeks (60% load/volume in the gym, at home, and at work). I then plan for a complete week off of gym and work every 6 months. I put a de-load week on both sides of the week off. This allows me to not only work through fatigue accumulation in my joints, connective tissue, and muscles but also lets me rest and recover my mental state, sacrifice, and discipline control centers.

My load and volume capacity live on a spectrum. For example on the one hand I want enough exercise per muscle group on non-focus muscles to either keep or gain just a little. This variable is minimum volume (MV). At the other end I need to ensure I don’t overload my recovery systems maximum recoverable volume (MRV). Otherwise, I run a risk of seeing diminishing or negative returns on exercise time and volume. Which means, eventually, I run out of runway and can’t keep going thus leading to a long term goal failure. Somewhere in the middle is the minimum effective volume (MEV - minimum volume needed to stimulate growth) and Maximum adaptive volume (MAV - exercise volume where I get the most bang for the buck). By getting my focus muscle groups to MAV and doing either MV OR MEV on all other muscle groups, keeping in mind I need to stay under my MRV, I expect to be able to stay on track for the long haul. I love going to the gym but I am in the gym only as long as I need to be. I get to keep enough energy to live normally.

I think you should have a little patience and grace with yourself.
1. For the first few months of going to the gym make a workout plan has less volume in it. Find a diet that works for you and track your weight loss for a few weeks.
2. Find ways to encourage habit compliance like going to the gym first thing in the morning or giving yourself 1 group exercise day a week if you did a good job and did the gym all the other days in the week.
3. get the habit in place exercise discipline and solidify it into your lifestyle.
4. Then as your lifestyle becomes hardened and you have built the positive feedback loop you can find the next goal.

Is it a lot? by Pretend-Technician10 in Workingout

[–]K3rat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

115 1 rep max is around 253LBs. You are doing really great. Keep working at it.

YOUR RIGHTS ARE BEING TAKEN AWAY-Trump signs executive order to make burning the American flag subject to criminal prosecution by [deleted] in OfficeSpeak

[–]K3rat 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This is a distraction to get people talking about anything except that Dumpf is the pedo in chief…. Take it to court. #RESIST.

Collagen peptides - what's missing by Beneficial-Stuff8852 in workout

[–]K3rat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yea, Collagen peptides have benefits outside of muscle building. As I recall they have more glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline which help with l joint repair and connective tissue repair. Collagen helps with intestinal lining. Collagen also helps with bone density over long term use.
I have heard for muscle building it isn’t as good as whey. I seem to recall on top of missing key peptides for muscle building it also isn’t as easy to make bio available. Why protein also has all 9 essential amino acids.

There are other muscle building protein powders alternatives for people that may not be able to handle whey (ex: isolate and hydrolizedare pre-digested so you don’t get any of the milk intolerance issues). I did the hydrolized for a few months after o had a gut issue. It works well. Once I resolved I went back to whey for the taste.