A Ton of Food

400 pounds, 5 reps. That’s a ton of weight, literally and figuratively. That was my deadlift assignment for the Crossfit Football workout this afternoon. It wasn’t so long ago that this was my *one*-rep max, but I felt ready. Then I started thinking about how slippery the bar was, even with all the chalk I had scraped onto it, and how jealous I was of the guy squatting 275 next to me. And how wobbly my knees felt from stretching this morning. And the 5th rep just wouldn’t come up.

It’s the second disappointment I’ve had so far this week with lifting, the first being my woeful attempts with the 255lb squat yesterday. 4 reps, then 4 reps, then 3 reps (with a goal of 5 for each round). Why was my strength stalling so much this week. For once, I’ve been sleeping well, stretching, warming up, and not increasing too much with the weights. And then it hit me. It takes a ton of food in order to lift a ton. And over the past few weeks, I’ve been as concerned (or more concerned) with reining in the food intake and dropping my body fat than with loading up on high-quality anabolic dairy and packing on muscle.

In short, I’m eating about as much now as I did when I started, and it’s just not working. I’ve put on 10 solid pounds of muscle, and need to adjust my diet accordingly, trusting that I won’t put on *that* much fat if I keep my cheats to a minimum (1 meal a week?). Also, I’m going to resign myself to the fact that if I want to be the kind of person that squats 275×5, that means adding another 10 pounds to my frame. So what should I eat?

Well, shooting for 200 pounds and 15 calories/lb (not counting an extra 100g/400cals of carbs on training days), that’s 3000 calories from protein and fat alone. I doubt I’ll go over 200g of protein a day, knowing what Perfect Health Diet says about the worries of chronic nitrogen overload on the liver. We’re not meant to eat like lions; our livers aren’t big enough to handle the waste products/metabolism from all those amino acids. So 200g protein is 800 cals, and let’s say that protein (pork, buffalo, eggs, chicken) drags along 60-70g fat with it. Thats 1400 calories spoken for, and another (3000-1400)/9 or 180g fat to add in. A can of coconut milk, a few slabs of butter, and cups upon cups of olive oil. Sounds like a chore. I’ll let you know how it goes…

Crockpot recipe of the week: Mediterranean pulled pork stew!

Ingredients:
1 Boston butt (3-4 lb)
24 oz chopped tomatoes
1 cup olive oil
4-8 oz olives
1 diced onion
1 diced bell pepper
4-5 cloves garlic
2 tbsp capers
2 tsp salt
2 tsp rosemary
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp red chili flakes

Mix everything but the pork butt in a saucepan or the crockpot (turned on high), to get it simmering. Add the pork butt and smother it in the tomato sauce. Close lid, put on high for 3-4 hrs, then low for 4-5 hrs. Take pork butt out and pull meat off with a fork. Add meat back into crockpot and mix. Serve with (or over!) potatoes.