Muscle Building 30 Day Challenge Update – Week 1 (7 days in)

After eating the same thing everyday, at just below maintenance calories, I’ve realized something: I’ve had a really hard time committing to building muscle.

Every time I try to maingain, lean bulk or anything like that, I end up getting anxious about the few pounds I’m about to gain, and I immediately turn around and drop my calories.

The problem with this is that I lose most of the muscle I put on, I get weaker in the gym, I get really hungry, and if I do put the weight back on at all, I end up looking the same as I did before. Not much progress.

Now, I’m not going to lie and say I’ve made no progress – I like my current physique enough. Probably because I was still consistent in the gym, I managed to build enough muscle to do things I couldn’t do before (Like pushups and pull ups). I can also see my muscles a lot more now than I could even a year ago. And I think that’s why I’m finally ready to commit to putting on muscle.

Progress is addicting.

If I could make even a little progress with the wrong diet, I can only imagine the progress I will make if I finally start eating enough.

I figured I couldn’t be alone in these feelings. The fear of gaining weight, even if done intentionally and with a clean diet, is real. So I turned to my favorite muscle building podcast, LiftingLindsays More Than Fitness, and I just so happened to find the most timely episode. On July 14 of this year, she uploaded an episode titled The Key to Happiness: Stop Chasing Fat Loss (Even If You Still Want Some Fat To Go).

She talked about people like me. People who are afraid to even eat at maintenance. People who’ve lost enough weight to be healthy, but are still chasing fat loss. People who would benefit immensely from letting themselves eat a normal amount, and put on size for once.

At one point she said that if you’re afraid of eating at maintenance, just commit to three months of it. That’s it. Just get yourself to eat enough for three months and see how you feel.

That’s exactly what I’m going to do. Ill still be eating the same foods for the first 23 days remaining, but now I’m also eating at maintenance. Which means ill have to up some of the portions in my current diet.

Eating in a deficit isn’t the way to build muscle. It doesn’t work. Trust me I tried, you’ll only get away with it for a very short time.

I’m finally ready to embrace eating more to see real progress, and this challenge helped me realize that. Because honestly, the 1550 or so calories a day that I’ve been eating is the most I’ve had in a while, and I already feel better with that. I’m pretty excited to see how much better my gym sessions will be as well. I’m sure it’ll be nice to feel stronger for once.

Now that I’ve finally committed myself to eating enough food for muscle growth; I’m not letting myself back out of it. Posting here is me committing to this and promising myself to give it a shot.

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Here’s my adjustments to my current meal plan:

Lunch will stay the same

Snack will have a tbsp of peanut butter 

Dinner will have 100g of avocado

It isn’t much, but I know it’ll feel a lot better, especially because my diet was lacking in fats.

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There was also one other thing that pushed me to want to try this.

Someone who hasn’t seen me in a while told me I looked fitter, and not as skinny as I did before – and honestly, I took that as a compliment. I feel a lot better too. My strength in the gym has been solid. And like I said, I’m excited to see how much better that can get. I was also proud of myself for not being offended at the comment. Being fit and strong is the goal after all – I’m not trying to be skinny. And being lean can always come after putting on muscle and fixing my relationship with food.

I do feel like I’ve become stronger since my bodyweight exercises have improved recently. One week didn’t make me the hulk or anything, I finally have energy and strength in the gym that I was lacking before.

That answers the first question I had: Will this style of eating benefit my workouts?

Yes.

For the other questions…

Will this improve my sleep?

Yes, so far, I think my improved workouts are helping me sleep. I get more tired at night so I’ve been going to sleep much earlier. I also sleep deeper. I’ve struggled to get out of bed most mornings, but I think that’s just my body wanting to recover longer.

How much physical progress will I see in 30 days of eating just below maintenance? Will I be able to do more pushups and pull ups?

So far, I started at 12 push ups and moved up to 15 this morning. I’ve had about a consistent 5 pulls, though they do feel like they’re getting easier. Though, this question is now eating at maintenance. Which I hope will help me make more progress in the next 3 weeks.

What challenges will come up as far as planning, scheduling, and finding time to cook rather than eat out or have snacks?

Yeah… that is a factor in this. It’s not been too difficult yet, but I am cooking more, so I have to be more careful about how I plan my days. I’m also grocery shopping more since a lot of my ingredients are fresh. Not too inconvenient yet, but it has forced me to take my calendar, to-do list, and scheduling more seriously. Which is honestly a good thing. I only slipped up hard one night. It was around 10pm when I realized I hadn’t made my lunch for work. I stayed up to cook, that was awful, so I’ve been much better about it since.

Can I use the simplicity of this eating style – which will hopefully make things like grocery shopping, cooking, and eating faster and most efficient – to do more stuff with my time?

Honestly, I have been writing, reading, and doing a lot more stuff since I started this. Though I’m not sure I can give all the credit to the meal plan. Life is just, doing better? But I definitely enjoy not having to plan meals. This is pretty easy to follow, it doesn’t suck or anything. So far I prefer convenience over eating more variety.

Can I still find enjoyment in these same meals 30 days out?

As of right now I still really enjoy my meals. I don’t see them becoming less enjoyable, though it is a bit awkward turning down food offers. Which for some reason happens to me a lot. I don’t tell people why, just a polite no thank you.

Overall I’d say this challenge has been nice. I’m glad I decided to do it. And I’m even more excited for 30 days of eating at maintenance to build muscle.

Stay Psyched

You can also catch up with me on YouTube, I uploaded a video on this topic.