Staying lean is tough. I should be fat. I drink beer. More often than I should. Not low calorie beer, either. I drink tasty milk stouts and hazy IPAs — beer laden with sugar and excess calories. I stuff my face with nonsense food, too. My appetite is worthy of admiration. Positioning myself as an [...]
Staying lean is tough.
I should be fat.
I drink beer. More often than I should. Not low calorie beer, either. I drink tasty milk stouts and hazy IPAs — beer laden with sugar and excess calories.
I stuff my face with nonsense food, too. My appetite is worthy of admiration. Positioning myself as an amateur competitive eater beats the alternative: admitting to an eating disorder.
Don’t get me wrong.
Most days, I don’t drink beer and eat junk. Most days, I eat vegetables, meats, and fruits. Oats. Rice. Beans. Potatoes.
But…
I do indulge more than the oft recommended once per week. And yet, I’m able to stay lean… for a rather silly reason, too.
Want to be disappointed?
Keep reading.
First, the non-silly reason.
In order for the “silly” reason to stick, you have to appreciate the real reason I’m able to stay lean: a few days per week, I strategically underfeed; I don’t eat more than 1000-1500 calories.
Currently, I eat two meals per day:
- Lunch
- Dinner
Lunch is simple: chicken breast, carrots, oats, banana, whey protein pudding. Somewhere around 500 calories. Dinner is when I do my damage; I eat 2000-3000 calories.
On underfeed days, I cut a huge chunk of calories from dinner. Instead of eating 2000-3000 calories, I eat 500-1000 calories. This calorie crater counteracts the days I indulge.
If you know what foods to eat, underfeeding isn’t difficult.
I can go to sleep with a full belly (not hungry) on underfeed days. But I’d much rather not underfeed; I’d rather eat 1000-2000 extra calories. Because, food.
When I rely willpower, I sabotage underfeed days 50% of the time. Meaning, half the days I’m supposed to underfeed, I won’t. I’ll eat extra stuff. Just because I can. My willpower is above average, too. One of the perks of being an introvert terrified of judgment and criticism: you learn how to bite your tongue and tame your brain.
Unfortunately, my environment breaks me down. I’m the chef. I cook dinner. If I don’t cook my wife carbs, she goes Exorcist. (Her favorite: my homemade french fries.)
Because of my chef duties, I end up hovering over types of foods and quantities of foods that don’t match my underfeed intentions. My willpower fails in Fyre Festival fashion.
Underfeeding 50% of the time isn’t good enough.
If I’m supposed to have two underfeeds per week, but I only have one, then I end up eating an extra 1000-2000 calories for the week.
No bueno.
The only reason I don’t gain weight, and why my underfeed average is above 50% is because: SO MUCH ROOM FOR ACTIVITIES.
I play in a few softball leagues. Yeah, I’m insecure about playing softball. I have a .750 average. You can’t do better. Also, I play ultimate frisbee (haven’t since becoming a dad, but I intend on playing again).
Usually, I have two games per week. They start at 6:30p.m., which is when I eat dinner. Cool kids don’t eat dinner until eight or nine o’clock. I’m not a cool kid.
Running around on a full stomach is suicide. So, on game days, I don’t cook dinner. My wife fends for herself, which is to say: she gets Chipotle. Chipotle is full of carbs, which is good. Otherwise, she’d be walking around the house like
Also, on game days, I don’t get home until eight or nine o’clock. Would take an hour to cook dinner, which is no bueno. Not a fan of eating truckloads before I go to sleep, unless I want nightmares and sleep sweats.
I end up eating a small portion of something that requires minimal prep, like cottage cheese and fruit.
Underfeed achieved.
Before you scamper off and experiment with underfeeding, know this: underfeeding is radioactive.
When used blindly, it could be a gateway drug to binge-purge behavior. It could also be a seed from which metabolic damage sprouts.
Keyword: could.
If you like to live dangerously and you wanna know how underfeed without Chernobyling myself, then check out Two Meal Muscle.
Even if you have no intentions to underfeed, don’t overlook the main message here:
Find ways to make important things easier to do.
For me, underfeeding is important. Playing softball and ultimate makes underfeeding easier. If I didn’t play these sports, I’d lose. My lifestyle rigs the deck in favor of underfeeding.
If your lifestyle doesn’t rig the deck in your favor, you’re asking for trouble.
May the Gains be with you,
Ant
ps
See? I wasn’t lying. The reason I’m able to stay lean is rather silly. Doesn’t matter. It works.
pps
One of the reasons underfeeding works for me: I have an intermittent fasting backbone; hunger doesn’t bother me. I can run around on an empty stomach, no problem. Being busy makes it easier for me to eat less, because I can go long stretches without food.
I’m not normal.
I don’t get hangry.
Underfeeding (and intermittent fasting) isn’t for everyone, but if you want to learn more, check out Two Meal Muscle.
/ppps
My underfeeding strategy doesn’t make sense. There are many flaws.
I could pre-cook dinner.
I could stop for fast food.
I could… you see what’s happening.
But I don’t.
I don’t know why I don’t.
I just don’t.
And I know, from experience, it’s EASY for me to resist pre-cooking dinner, to not order fast food, to whatever on game days. On the flip side, it’s NOT easy for me to underfeed when I’m at home cooking a bunch of food with no where to be.
Sometimes you just have to know yourself.