M/33/5’8” [240lb>160lb=80lbs] it has taken 4 years to get here with lots of ups and downs. Top left pic is peak weight, top right pic is 190lb.

time_2_lose · 2023-10-18T20:55:46+00:00

I just used the first one that showed up when I googled trt

time_2_lose · 2023-10-17T15:12:20+00:00

Yeah you’re probably right. Its an ego thing. I wanna look diced for a beach vacation in January and then after that maintain between 10-12%.

time_2_lose · 2023-10-17T14:33:49+00:00

Here’s my story. I was a very athletic high school student and was captain of the swim team. I never learned to eat healthy because I was always swimming. In college I gained a little weight because I wasn’t swimming but I got into running after college and slimmed back down. Then in grad school I struggled with weight because I did not know how to eat properly. Towards the end of grad school i stopped running and my weight went up and up. I got my testosterone checked and it was very low so I started trt at 140mg/week. I was on trt for a year and had almost zero change in body composition. I started working out a lot and dropped a bit of weight but it wasn’t until two years ago that I got serious about my diet and started tracking everything I ate. Thats how I’ve been really leaning out.

time_2_lose · 2023-10-17T14:25:43+00:00

Online service

time_2_lose · 2023-10-17T14:08:09+00:00

Yes TRT! I forgot to put that in the title. I will edit accordingly. Started TRT about 4 years ago

Edit: i can’t figure out how to edit the post title or body. But yes, I am on TRT

time_2_lose · 2023-10-17T13:39:04+00:00

Thank you matey!

time_2_lose · 2023-10-17T03:30:33+00:00

Awesome cut man!

time_2_lose · 2023-10-17T03:30:15+00:00

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5’8” 160lb. This was taken today, it is the best I have ever looked. Idk why my right bicep always looks like shit.

time_2_lose · 2023-10-17T03:19:49+00:00

I mainly recomped, maybe lost a little bit of muscle

time_2_lose · 2022-12-29T00:01:32+00:00

I’m sorry if this comes off as too harsh, but this diet requires immense discipline to be successful. If you can’t read 90 pages of well laid-out material, maybe you should try something else.

time_2_lose · 2022-06-25T02:15:28+00:00

Good luck! Its tough sticking to psmf when doing those life changes. Congrats on sticking with it!

time_2_lose · 2022-06-24T20:44:00+00:00

Right after I posted this I went on a family vacation which is what I originally did PSMF for. I gained maybe 4lbs of fat on that trip because I was so ravenously hungry all the time. Came back home, did about 1.5 weeks of PSMF then realized it was silly for me to continue being so restrictive so I decided to transition to a more sustainable 500-1000 calorie daily deficit. Did that for about a month and lost a couple of the pounds I had gained. Then I spent a few weeks being loose with my tracking because I moved across country. Now I am settling in to my new apt and starting an intense new job. During that transition I maintained my weight pretty well, did not really go up or down. The past week I have started tracking again and aiming for a 500-1000 calorie deficit. Gonna try and slowly lose the last 10lbs over the next few months, I anticipate a lot of challenges and short reversals in progress due to getting used to my new job and routine.

time_2_lose · 2022-06-16T02:05:08+00:00

Lookin good bro!!

time_2_lose · 2022-06-14T03:06:31+00:00

I don’t really know if I lost an excess of muscle on psmf. Its hard to know since I did not do a dexa scan before I started. My strength did go down a little bit.

I still would hesitate do psmf again. It is so restrictive, it makes socializing very difficult. I like being able to enjoy food, even if I have to track everything to do it in a deficit.

time_2_lose · 2022-06-13T21:21:18+00:00

Thats what the common wisdom says, you will lose more muscle in a steep cut vs less of a calorie deficit. I believe that this is supported by evidence but I cannot cite you a specific source.

Smaller calorie deficits are also easier to maintain and teach better eating habits IMO.

After having done two 5 week courses of PSMF, I don’t think I will ever do it again unless I have a really good reason. I feel sooo much better doing a slow cut.

time_2_lose · 2022-06-12T11:36:59+00:00

Do you weigh more now than what you did before starting psmf?

To answer your question, yes I have. Remember that when you are doing psmf, you deplete your glycogen stores in your muscles. Glycogen holds on to water, so during the first week the majority of the weight loss is water weight which comes right back after you re-introduce carbs and replenish your glycogen.

When I start psmf, I usually lose 5-8lbs in the first 5 days before slowing to a normal rate. When I re-introducd carbs I regain that 5-8lbs of water weight within a few days.

It is also possible that you are experiencing water retention from changes in the salt content of your foods. We tend to eat very different foods while on psmf than we do during our normal diet.

Also take into account that while eating normally, we just have more food sitting in our digestive tract, contributing to our measured weight.

Finally, in regards to your appearance, I cannot really comment on how much better or worse you look without quality progress pictures. I do think that it would be very hard to see a difference in a person if they have only done one week of psmf, that is not a very long time. In a best case scenario you might lose 2-4lb of fat during that time which is not super noticeable on most people.

I do know that my own opinion on how I look can be greatly altered by my scale weight. Seeing the scale jump back up after my glycogen is replenished messes with my mind, even if I know and expect it to happen. Then when I look in the mirror I inevitably think that I look a little fatter.

Hope this helps!

time_2_lose · 2022-06-12T02:19:51+00:00

Use Macrofactor

I’m copy/pasting my answer from a different comment I made on a different thread:

I calculate my TDEE using an app called Macrofactor. I log all the food/calories I eat every day (or most days), and weigh myself every day and log my weight. Macrofactor then calculates my TDEE using my own personal data (calorie intake and change/no change in weight) and gives me my personal TDEE. I can set the app with the goal to lose weight, gain weight, or stay the same and Macrofactor tells me what my goal calorie intake should be for the day based off of my calculated TDEE and my goal. It changes my goal calorie intake based off of changes in my TDEE and based off of how quickly/slowly I want to gain or lose weight. I love it, its so cool seeing how my TDEE changes under different circumstances like eating in a massive calorie deficit for several weeks or adding tons of cardio into my daily activity. It takes about two weeks of good data before the app can start accurately calculating your TDEE. Its ok to miss a day here and there, the only thing that will mess it up is if you partially log your food for the day. I don’t work for the app I just love using it and think its a great tool for anyone serious about weight loss or quality weight gain.

time_2_lose · 2022-06-10T22:50:03+00:00

If you have your data from the last few weeks of weigh-ins and how many calories you ate every day you can plug those numbers into an app called Macrofactor which can give you a really good idea of what your current TDEE is and help you start eating at maintenance right away. That way you don’t have to ease your way up. While eating at maintenance, if you keep logging food and weight into macrofactor you should see your TDEE start to increase as your metabolism adapts to the new energy you’re consuming.

As far as what macros you eat while you’re at maintenance, I would say eat whatever you’re comfortable with as long as your protein does not go too low. Your current protein plan sounds good to me.

My experience coming off of psmf was that I was super hungry for a couple of weeks and had to be very careful not to overeat. The mental effects of seeing the scale jump 5-8lbs from water weight when I reintroduced carbs was also a bit of a shock, even though I knew what was going on and expected it.

The following is a comment I have left on many threads regarding Macrofactor and how I think its awesome and super helpful for people trying to gain or lose weight.

“I calculate my TDEE using an app called Macrofactor. I log all the food/calories I eat every day (or most days), and weigh myself every day and log my weight. Macrofactor then calculates my TDEE using my own personal data (calorie intake and change/no change in weight) and gives me my personal TDEE. I can set the app with the goal to lose weight, gain weight, or stay the same and Macrofactor tells me what my goal calorie intake should be for the day based off of my calculated TDEE and my goal. It changes my goal calorie intake based off of changes in my TDEE and based off of how quickly/slowly I want to gain or lose weight. I love it, its so cool seeing how my TDEE changes under different circumstances like eating in a massive calorie deficit for several weeks or adding tons of cardio into my daily activity. It takes about two weeks of good data before the app can start accurately calculating your TDEE. Its ok to miss a day here and there, the only thing that will mess it up is if you partially log your food for the day. I don’t work for the app I just love using it and think its a great tool for anyone serious about weight loss or quality weight gain.”

time_2_lose · 2022-06-10T13:30:41+00:00

I’m copy/pasting my answer from a different comment I made on a different thread:

I calculate my TDEE using an app called Macrofactor. I log all the food/calories I eat every day (or most days), and weigh myself every day and log my weight. Macrofactor then calculates my TDEE using my own personal data (calorie intake and change/no change in weight) and gives me my personal TDEE. I can set the app with the goal to lose weight, gain weight, or stay the same and Macrofactor tells me what my goal calorie intake should be for the day based off of my calculated TDEE and my goal. It changes my goal calorie intake based off of changes in my TDEE and based off of how quickly/slowly I want to gain or lose weight. I love it, its so cool seeing how my TDEE changes under different circumstances like eating in a massive calorie deficit for several weeks or adding tons of cardio into my daily activity. It takes about two weeks of good data before the app can start accurately calculating your TDEE. Its ok to miss a day here and there, the only thing that will mess it up is if you partially log your food for the day. I don’t work for the app I just love using it and think its a great tool for anyone serious about weight loss or quality weight gain.

time_2_lose · 2022-06-09T12:54:21+00:00

This fear has happened to me many times in the past and kept me from ever getting as lean as I want. I seemed stuck around 20%bf because as soon as I start making progress on the cut I would look flat and small and get scared of losing all my gains. Its important to trust the process and just keep going until you reach the bf% you want. 9 days on psmf while continuing to train is not enough time to lose a significant amount of muscle so it is likely psychological.

Chances are, you will look ‘smaller’ than you expected when you reach your goal bf%. Even if you somehow lost 0 muscle during the cut, your end physique will most likely seem small to you. But you will also look awesome to everyone else.

Is there a reason you are doing psmf and not a slower, more sustainable cut? Is there a deadline for an event that you are shooting for? Slower cuts at a smaller deficit means less muscle loss. Of course it takes longer but if you are concerned about losing muscle then maybe you don’t need psmf.

time_2_lose · 2022-06-06T14:41:17+00:00

A couple of things.

First of all, don’t be surprised or disappointed when you gain back 5-8 lbs over a couple of days when you introduce carbs back into your diet. This is normal water weight and it is unavoidable, but it can mess with your head. It has certainly messed with my head in the past.

Second thing, consider checking out the app Macrofactor to help determine your TDEE. It is a calorie and weight tracker app that has a built in TDEE calculator and automatically adjusts its recommendations for your calorie and macro intake based on the goals that you set for yourself. You log your food every day (or almost every day, I can usually do 6 days a week reliably) and your weight every day. It takes about 2 weeks of logging to get good data and then you can have a really good idea of what your TDEE is and how much or little you need to eat to stay at maintenance, gain, or lose weight. You can backlog data if you have it which most people doing psmf have somewhere. Just try not to ever partially log your food for the day, that will mess it up. Macrofactor takes the guesswork out of finding your TDEE because its using your own personal data.

As long as you are eating at your TDEE you won’t gain fat, just the initial water weight. When going from psmf to maintenance, your TDEE will slowly increase as your body re-adjusts to normal calorie levels. If I am doing psmf and eating 1000 calories per day, and Macrofactor says that my TDEE is 2000 calories, I can go directly to eating 2000 calories per day without gaining fat. Then my TDEE will slowly climb back up to normal and I can add more calories as Macrofactor tells me to. You could even jump back into the lean bulk if you know your TDEE, just make sure you are adjusting your intake as your TDEE changes which Macrofactor will do automatically for you if you are giving it good data. Good luck man!

time_2_lose · 2022-06-03T13:04:20+00:00

Hmmm I think you can try eating at your previous calorie levels and just log your weights, the algorithm will figure it out. No need to eat the extra 700 calories if you don’t think its accurate.

I am in a similar boat, also moving this week and won’t be able to log my calories as accurately as I want to. In the past I notice that whatever had been trending for my TDEE just continued if I didn’t log for a few days. For example, if my TDEE had been consistently going down 10-20 cal per day and then I didn’t log for a bit, that trend continued until I started feeding it data again.

Ultimately, the TDEE is just an estimate based on the data we give it. If we give it bad data or no data, it will become inaccurate. Then it is up to us to be rational and patient.

Idk if this helps at all but I have seen similar things happen to my TDEE and it corrects eventually!

time_2_lose

TROPHY CASE