Reporting from beautiful California! I've been doing starting strength for 6 months now and have had an amazing transformation. I've gone from 6'2 185 to 6'2 230 and have 5 rep maxes of 415 on the squat, 495 on the deadlift, 285 on the bench press and 175 on the press at 26 yrs old. The problem is my girlfriend has been giving me a lot of grief about the weight I have gained and the amount of meat I eat. I'm worried I will have to give one of the two up.
Before I did starting strength, I did calisthenics training and cardio and was a very lean/fit person, but not very strong. I was vegetarian as well and ate two meals a day to stay thin. My girlfriend used to always compliment me on my fitness and it was something that helped our relationship. The change occurred when I stumbled upon a video from starting strength early this year, and decided to try strength training. I have pretty much lived by the book, following the meal guide in practical programming and increasing my numbers first linearly and now less linearly as I get closer to my natural limits. I gave up being vegetarian and have meat with almost every meal.
My girlfriend at first was supportive, but she's gotten more and more upset with me over time and now openly complains about my increased weight and eating habits. I try to explain to her the benefits of being strong, and showed her some starting strength videos but she doesn't seem to get it. She shows me studies about how increased weight is associated with higher risks of heart disease and cancer and argues that what I'm doing is unnatural. She really hates Rip in particular, and says things like "why do you take fitness advice from a fat, bald, pink old man?". Sometimes to get under my skin, she will say things like "you look a little flushed today; all that red meat you are eating must be turning you pink". We go on a hike once per week, and now she leaves me in the dust on the trail to make fun of the fact that I don't have as much endurance as I used to. She says things like "you're harder to kill now? I'll see which one of us survives when we are running away from a bear". Or "You're pretty useful now, if we ignore everything you do outside of your squat rack."
I am a relatively unattractive man and it was very difficult for me to get my girlfriend in the first place. I'm at the point where I don't think there's much else I can do and I will have to choose one or the other. I'm at my wits end and am just looking for any kind of advice on how to get through this.
You look better now. Get a smarter girlfriend. The problem is California.
If this is a real story, because the "fat, pink man" bit smells funny, you need to dump her. None of what she's been saying to you is what a mentally/emotionally healthy, mature, adult female should be saying to anyone, let alone to her partner.
Basically, what she's telling you is that by focusing on yourself, her narcissism is no longer being fed. This is a dangerous position for you to be in. Very dangerous.
Punch out, Maverick.
“Troll”
Maybe. But instructive anyway.
Your recipes and pictures go here.
The past few years, my wife has made a pretty good pecan pie. About a week ago, I mentioned your aunt’s pecan pie recipe to her (replacing the white syrup with good old Mrs. Butterworth’s). Well, today, she made the pie with Mrs. Butterworth’s, and I dare say that it may have had as positive an impact on my life as your books did. As always, my wife, son and I are ever in your debt.
I’ve been making maple syrup pie the last few years, from an online recipe. I imagine it’s similar to Rip’s Aunt’s pecan pie (maple syrup version) except without the pecans, but I haven’t checked the Karo bottle to be sure. And being a Yankee, I use Grade B pure maple syrup instead of Mrs Butterworth.
Original recipe is behind a paywall, but here’s the republished version: https://www.aarp.org/food/
I use a store-bought Keebler shortbread crust, as I have no interest in messing with unnecessary baking.
I've started making a curry pumpkin soup for these fall feasts and it always goes down very well.
Not really a recipe, per se, but my sister's method of serving turkey is to make it well ahead of time, brew up a very large pot of gravy, then carve the bird and mix all the meat into the gravy pot. An effective antidote to the dreaded dry breast meat. Plus, there's a lot of gravy.
I made a turkey sous vide this year. After thawing the turkey, I quartered it. In a hot as hell skillet with butter, I seared the skin of all the pieces. I used gallon ZipLoc bags for the boneless breasts and the dark meat. (4 bags total). Since I only have one sous vide, I did the turkey breast at 131 for 24 hours while the dark meat was in the fridge. After the breasts were done, the dark meat went in the bath at 149 for 24 hours. Thanksgiving day, I brought them up to temp in the oven.
When I carved into the breast, they were the juiciest I had ever seen. Dark meat was so tender the bone pulled out easily. All of the leftover juices in the bag were used to make some serious gravy. If you guys have the patience, I heartily recommend trying sous vide.
The Trifecta of Squat Cues –Phil Meggers
Throwback Q&A –Tommy Suggs, Mark Rippetoe, and Jim Wendler
Highlights from the StartingStrength Community. Browse archives.
