Gaining muscle mass for dummies... (need it broken down a bit)

#62

I’ve been unable to check in too! So no worries. This is my first time back since I asked :rofl: So glad I’m in comparable company. Lolol

Yeah I need to adjust something. I don’t think I’m eating enough but it’s because of the cost of groceries. But I’m having stomach acid problems, my weight has stalled, and I’m suddenly drowsy around noon again and I haven’t had midday drowsiness for over 2-1/2 years since I started! I feel drained every day. I’m thinking that while I’m getting more than enough calories, they aren’t the best because we have dialed back on the good fresh meats we were eating before. So now I’ll have more lunch meats or sausages, and more munchies stuff like peanuts and coconut chips, things like that.

I noticed that suddenly soft cheeses and yogurts are causing instant acid reactions that burn so bad I can’t stand it. Heavy whipping cream doesn’t do it though. :woman_shrugging:t3: I used to eat a LOT more almond flour baked goods in my first year and an half, and never had a problem losing weight or with acid. I dialed that back several months ago so it’s weird that now I’m having stomach issues.

Anyway, I think I need better quality meats when I do eat, and more than just one serving at one meal of 6-8 oz. Your story makes me think I need to up my protein. Thanks for the reply.

(Brian) #63

I haven’t noticed a lot of noticeable change in the taste of veggies with the exception of one; lettuce. As a vegan and vegetarian (where I was for a very long time before keto), I ate a lot of salads. A lot. Anymore, even if I try to eat lettuce, I really do NOT like it. I just do not like the taste, I do not like the texture, and I find it totally unappealing. It’s similar with other greens but not as dramatic as the lettuce.

As a vegan especially, I probably ate way too much spinach and beet greens which even though they’re generally considered “keto”, they’re horrible if looking at oxalates. I kinda lost my taste for those, too, which is a good thing. I also kinda lost my taste for almond anything and I suspect that is good, too, as when I started keto, I went nuts on the keto desserts many of which are almond flour based.

I like that a lot of stuff that wasn’t so good for me has kinda faded away, not so much because it was all that purposeful but more because my desires have just changed over time. Yeah, I still do eat some garbage at times, usually special occasions. If step-son brings home a box of donuts, I AM gonna have one or maybe two, I just am. I think that situation has happened once in the last 2 years. And I’m not sorry. But… I know better than to go get another box, no. Old habits would be easy to go back to and I have to be mindful.

(Edith) #64

I believe this is because as we age and lose muscle mass, our metabolisms slow down, so the demand for calories goes down as well. I also believe the problem with this is that we still need the same amount of vitamin and minerals or maybe even more since older bodies don’t absorb things as well. So as we age and eat less, we start to get vitamin and mineral deficiencies which compound our health problems.

That’s one of the reasons I’ve come to realize just how important resistance/strength training is. If we can keep our muscle mass up, we can eat more. Plus all the other benefits that go along with having more muscle, of course.:grinning:

The health industry causing people to be afraid to eat meat has not only done a disservice to the health of the population as a whole, but I feel it has especially done a disservice to the elderly.

(BuckRimfire) #65

Agreed. I don’t mind more with body weight exercises (on a good day I can do my first set of dips to a little over 20 reps) but with most weighted exercises I prefer a weight that gets to fatigue around 11 +/- 4. Doing over 20 squats or deadlifts with a light weight seems weird, although I should probably be doing that because one of my knees has a small tear in the cartilage. Sooner or later, I’m going to need a partial knee replacement.

One exception to this is doing “drop sets.” I mostly do these with dumbbells when doing rows, overhead press or lateral raises. Pick a weight that fatigues at 5-8 reps, then as quickly as possible drop down five pounds, do another set to fatigue, then drop down another five pounds and do another set to fatigue (and maybe one or two more steps). That can add up to 20 or 25 reps in one “set,” but something like a third of the reps are in that desirable state of being near fatigue. Kinda fun if you have access to a large enough assortment of dumbbells and not a lot of other people trying to use them.

I should probably be doing drop sets of dumbbell split squats or deadlifts instead of multiple sets of conventional lifts to see if that babies my knee while getting enough fatigue on the muscle, but for some reason I haven’t been doing that lately. Probably ego, which isn’t a very good reason…

#66

As there is virtually no blood flow to the cartlidge, it can take a lot longer for it to heal. Has your doctor said that it could heal on its own? Or will you definitely need surgery? If you need the surgery, the sooner the better. This is because the cartilage is already damaged, you run the risk of making the knee worse.

#67

I don’t normally do those but it sounds good to me - and way less boring than doing many reps with a light weight… Sometimes I do finish my exercise with a lighter weight right after my last reps though I usually change up something to train some other part of the muscle (like for shoulders. IDK how important is that but why not? I just do something quickly, not much extra time and effort is wasted)…
My warming up adds reps too. I noticed it does really good to me and when it’s a new exercise or I skipped times, I may have 2 sets of warming up… I definitely can use the volume and it helps me to brave the “big” weight in some cases :smiley: And one warming up set is totally needed.
I train at home so the right weight is no problem, I just don’t want to disassemble dumbbells all the time so my warming up weight is often my weight for another muscle group.

No way I would want many reps when it comes to leg exercises. I don’t even like those but I decided to do some, just as many as I am mostly fine with… I started with 3 empty squats yesterday (I stop as soon as I don’t like the feeling and it comes quickly), now I am at 9… :smiley: I know I can do several with 28kg but it was years ago, once so I slowly go back to it and beyond. I have more weights now. I am curious what will happen. I surely will keep the reps lower, the weight doesn’t bother me nearly as much as many reps.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #68

I wouldn’t have any trouble. That’s basically a 10-oz. ribeye for lunch and another for supper. Of course, I’m a carnivore, so I’m not filling up on carbs.

On the other hand, I weigh 225 lbs., and that comes to 31 oz. of meat, or [(225 g x 4) / 454.54 g ] x 16 oz. = 31 oz. That would definitely be too much for me.

If I go by 1 g/kg instead of 1 g/lb., however, two ribeyes works out just right.