HumpGAINZZZ Thread

I'm personally back into GAINZZZing, after a spell of no GAINZZZ. The changes I made were:

* Sticking to the low-carb diet more
* Throwing in a few long fast days (this happened last week, but I guess it took a little time to kick in)
* Drinking a lot more water
* Easing up on the protein shakes

On the last point, I was just having too much protein in shake form, thinking I was building a lot more muscle than I was. The result, I guess, was that the protein got turned into glycogen and put me out of ketosis and maybe even added weight.

Drinking more water seems to have had an effect. I never have drank enough water as it is, and when I go into stalls, I very stupidly drink even less, because I want to lie to myself and pretend that being dehydrated is the same as being de-fatted. It's a very stupid lie to tell yourself. I also think that water is the limiting factor in a lot of metabolic processes, including probably fat-burning (and general metabolism for energy), so anyone shorting on water is going to find herself in a low-energy, low-GAINZZZ state.

Anyway, drink water.

Another thing I've been looking into is upping testosterone (which is both helps shed fat and build muscle, in both men and women).

Only 2% of your total body testosterone is "free" and circulating in your blood, capable of effecting changes on your body. 98% of your testosterone is bonded to two different protein complexes -- sex-hormone binding globulin, or SHBG (also called Testosterone-Estrogen binding globulin, or TeBG, as it binds to both sex hormones), and albumin.

SHBG binds strongly to testosterone, and thus makes it more or less unavailable for any muscle-building or fat-shedding use. Albumin only weakly binds to testosterone, so, while it is bound, it also unbinds easily enough.

When you get your biologically-available testosterone reading from a lab, that number includes both the free testosterone (always available) and the testosterone binded to albumin (often available, I guess assuming on the body's need for it). It excludes SHGB-bound T, which is generally too bound up to be used for anything much at all.

Men ( and I think only men) can increase their available testosterone by reducing their SHGB -- he wouldn't be increasing his total testosterone, but by reducing his SHGB, he would be freeing up an amount of testosterone that's in his body but not available for use. (I'm not sure if this logic holds for women, because SHBG is Testosterone-Estrogen binding, so reducing SHBG would also free up estrogen in addition to testosterone -- and as women have a lot more estrogen then men, much more estrogen would be liberated. And estrogen is a fat-adding hormone. In addition, this site suggests that there are health risks for women who have too-low SHBG.)

I looked for ways to reduce SHGB, and wound up, quickly, perusing the various Dangerous Illegal Steroids I could buy on the sly, but then discarded that idea as too risky and too bad for the liver. This site lists 23 ways to naturally, legally, healthfully lower SHGB.

Among the easier suggestions: Make sure you're getting enough zinc, magnesium, and boron. There are also various exotic plant extracts thought to reduce SHGB, but you can check the list yourself.

But most important out of any of these, I think, is Vitamin D. If you work in a northern latitude (above, say, South Carolina), if you work indoors and don't get out much, and if it's winter where you limit your hours outside -- you're likely deficient in Vitamin D. Studies have found that 32% of people are Vitamin D deficient, and I don't think that includes the spike in deficiency that happens in winter months. (Vitamin D can be produced naturally in the skin, by exposure to direct sunlight.) Including people who are not just diagnosably deficient in Vitamin D, but have a low level of it (that is, they are Vitamin-D insufficient), it's estimated that 50% of the people in the most well-fed country in the world are low in D.

Symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency include depression (the so-called SADD syndrome of winter blues is usually blamed on low Vitamin D), muscle and bone pain, and weight gain.

Warning: GAINZZZing Morons are telling me that Vitamin D taken in excess can get stored up in the fat until bad things happen. (I guess like Vitamin A.) So I'm being told by people "check with a doctor" before exceeding recommended daily allowances. That said, I think the US RDA couldn't be dangerous to take, since it's the recommended dose, and I'm guessing it's set low enough to not cause bad things to happen. So I still think that at least getting the recommended daily allowance in a supplement would be a good thing for most people. Just maybe not the higher levels I'm suggesting.

It turns out Vitamin D is actually one of the supplements one can take to increase bioavailable testosterone. And having a low T means you'll gain fat (and lose muscle mass).

I just started seriously taking Vitamin D yesterday. I had been taking none of it, despite having a nice bottle of Carlson's Cod Liver Oil (with sweet lemon flavor) in the fridge. Now I'm taking three teaspoons a day, which is 300% of the RDA, and something like 1200 iu's of the stuff.

Several studies, like this one, have found that increasing Vitamin D increases testosterone, especially those deficient in D (which is most people). I don't know if it does this by just increasing testosterone or by reducing SHGB -- I think it's just by increasing total testosterone, because this study seems to speak of total testosterone, not the bioavailable fraction.

More D = More T = More G = More P.

That's Science.

I'll let you know if I see any improvements in anything. Obviously way too early to tell. Early signs that it's working would be improved mood, less feelings of stress, and more energy. But obviously that doesn't happen with a single day's dose.

One more thing: I suggested to someone that under the fence push-ups are a good exercise. I've been doing them for a few weeks, and I'm seeing real GAINZZZ, particularly in the shoulders and triceps. I'm also doing light weightlifting, but, due to injury from my jackass dumbbell row form, I've been doing very little weightlifting.

So the nice GAINZZZ I'm seeing in the shoulders and triceps I think are coming from the under-the-fence push-ups, mostly.

They're tricky to do at first -- it's not a dangerous move or anything, just not how you're used to moving -- but you get the hang of it.

By the way, the exercise ends in a back-bend position -- like a seal up on its front paws -- and that might be a good thing in itself, because most people, especially those who sit at desks, have shortened hamstrings, and really could use a stretch that reverses that. The back bend stretches those muscles out; during long periods of sitting, they fall into a contracted and cramped state.

Good week for GAINZZZ for me personally. Down two pounds-- finally below my previous low mark of 174, down to 172. And showing all sorts of GAINZZZ in the shoulders and triceps.

Moron Recommendation: A commenter says that Vitamin K2 MK7 (which I never even came close to hearing of before) is an important supplement to take if you're taking D, because apparently an excess of D will draw calcium from your BONEZZZ and pump it into your blood. K2 MK7, they're telling me, keeps the calcium in your bones.

Video Discussion of The D: LauraW, who I hear loves The D, says to listen to this podcast about her favorite thing in the world, The D, and All The D, starting around 18:30.

Thanks again to Laura "I'm Just All About The D" W.

posted by Ace at 04:47 PM

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