My Qs, Hoping for the As

[MAD-DUKE]

bumping them up to the neighborhood of 2000.

Solid advice from everyone here. I'm willing to bump to surplus but based on Veryhrm's earlier comments I had planned to increase my calories to around 2k or 2.4k which would still be a deficit but not as severe. I was also guesstimating that added with weight training I would probably maintain the same speed of weight loss, I am currently enjoying. However, in a solid attempt to be thorough, I took Miley's advice to ask about what calories I should be consuming on the nutrition forum. I basically want the SS program to flow and not end up with (to quote 'a clarification') 'YNDTP'.

Thanks appreciate all the continued help. And VERYHRM willing to argue his point convinces me he stands 100% behind his recommendation :-)

[Milo's Ghost]

I see the OP posted in Jordan's forum, and he'll get infinitely better advice there than any of us could give here.

Just to reply to a couple things:

1) I never said losing weight is easy. I never said *anything* about losing weight, period. It depends ENTIRELY on the individual, his weight history, metabolism, eating habits, current body comp, genetics, stress levels, age, sex, etc. For some people it's very easy; for others it takes a seriously dedicated effort. I hav written on this board how I think fat people often get an undeserved and unfair reputation as 'lazy' - I have seen many people work very hard and with a singular obsession to lose weight and they could not do it because of bad advice, etc. I've seen people nearly starve themselves and not lose weight because they fuck up their metabolism in the process. I have also seen people who eat nothing eat whatever and whenever they choose and stay thin as a rod. It depends. Do not put words in my mouth.

2) As for me - not that it's particularly relevant, but ok - yes, on my first run at SS I gained a significant amount of weight and got a little chubbier than what I'd call ideal. I was hardly fat, but still. The second time around, with Jordan's help, I have gotten much stronger at a leaner weight. I don't know what my bf% was then or is now - the quotes you posted were my fairly ill-informed guesses - but I would consider myself lean at present. Not Jordan lean (i.e. sub-10% bf), but lean. But here's the salient fact: I eat roughly 4500 calories a day, and adding more every week as I continue my LP. When I got a little fluffy the first time around, I was eating around 6000, and not as wisely.

The idea that you can successfully do SS and gain any appreciable amount of strength - adding 15 pounds to your squat EVERY WEEK for months - eating 100g of protein and 1200 calories is ridiculous on its face. It's not even close to necessary in order to recomp. And it might even be counterproductive, in that not only will strength gains not occur for very long (if at all), but fat loss may grind to a halt as well. I do not know this - again, it's highly individual - but it's not out of the question.

I've said my piece. OP: good luck and do what Jordan says.

[MAD-DUKE]

I've said my piece. OP: good luck and do what Jordan says.

I really have no choice as a noob and lack of real experience but to listen and obey to you people :-). I want to have the best progress with steady gains possible and I don't want to fuck shit up :-)

as for the post it took a day and my response apparently needs approval... I can't say I agree with the strict forum set up :-)

[veryhrm]

I see the OP posted in Jordan's forum, and he'll get infinitely better advice there than any of us could give here.

Just to reply to a couple things:

1) I never said losing weight is easy. I never said *anything* about losing weight, period. It depends ENTIRELY on the individual, his weight history, metabolism, eating habits, current body comp, genetics, stress levels, age, sex, etc. For some people it's very easy; for others it takes a seriously dedicated effort. I hav written on this board how I think fat people often get an undeserved and unfair reputation as 'lazy' - I have seen many people work very hard and with a singular obsession to lose weight and they could not do it because of bad advice, etc. I've seen people nearly starve themselves and not lose weight because they fuck up their metabolism in the process. I have also seen people who eat nothing eat whatever and whenever they choose and stay thin as a rod. It depends. Do not put words in my mouth.

2) As for me - not that it's particularly relevant, but ok - yes, on my first run at SS I gained a significant amount of weight and got a little chubbier than what I'd call ideal. I was hardly fat, but still. The second time around, with Jordan's help, I have gotten much stronger at a leaner weight. I don't know what my bf% was then or is now - the quotes you posted were my fairly ill-informed guesses - but I would consider myself lean at present. Not Jordan lean (i.e. sub-10% bf), but lean. But here's the salient fact: I eat roughly 4500 calories a day, and adding more every week as I continue my LP. When I got a little fluffy the first time around, I was eating around 6000, and not as wisely.

The idea that you can successfully do SS and gain any appreciable amount of strength - adding 15 pounds to your squat EVERY WEEK for months - eating 100g of protein and 1200 calories is ridiculous on its face. It's not even close to necessary in order to recomp. And it might even be counterproductive, in that not only will strength gains not occur for very long (if at all), but fat loss may grind to a halt as well. I do not know this - again, it's highly individual - but it's not out of the question.

I've said my piece. OP: good luck and do what Jordan says.

I didn't put any words in your mouth except to say that you recommended to OP to increase his calories, which you did. I agree with pretty much everything you said here, including your observation that doing SS on too low calories may stall his fat loss. In fact i think that's a danger regardless of whether he eats enough or not.
My main point is that OP has a track record of having been strong. He also has a track record of being able to eat. He does not (that we know of) have a track record of getting under 20%bf after years of being well over that. As such... if i look at OP's situation, the biggest risk i see is not that he won't get strong, but that he'll stay fat.

And when i look at OP's username all i see is this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJtYVpLAZmI
(i guess it is important to say that the Madea-like character that makes an appearance at the end there is named "Ma Dukes" )

[MAD-DUKE]

lol lmao... Dick !! lol

I might have history of being fat, but I strongly believe that's due to a lack of education on how calories work and how easy they are to track and regards to weight. Now that I understand that relationship, it seems as easy as math. Before it just seemed like some insane be lucky magical system of weight loss. Don't eat this but eat all you want of this, Eat at these hours.. Eat many meals not less meals.... These methods were hard for me to understand and work my mind around logically. My lack of understanding and desire to continue my behavior led me to basically giving up after very short periods of time. After taking time and educating myself on it... while progress isn't instantaneous I know understand how much weight Im losing and how much weight I will lose and where I will be based on how many calories I consume a week. Anyway... Im hoping for the same results with SS. However unlike consuming less calories which requires actually less work... This is completely reversed and requires a lot more effort. :-) Im looking forward to it.

Thanks again for the help... And I won't stay fat, hopefully will get strong and lean, but never mean... despite my name... lol that damn video... I watched it from the start and was like... Hmm Im the gardener rofl :-P

[veryhrm]

Ha ha. In my brain it was matched purely on the name, not on size or anything.

By this time next year you CAN be the gardener. Well... it might take a little longer to get there, but you could definitely be the bald-headed dude from Law and Order. That white hussy doesn't look half bad.

[Sean Herbison]

Rip explains this much better than I can, and it's in SSBBT and possibly PPST. However, even if you choose a shoe without a raised heel, it's still worth it in order to get the noncompressible heel.

Found it in MOMG too. "Eyeing the prize Some People Call Manly Footwear," location 9028 in the kindle edition.