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Today is day 47 of my 75 Hard for Mental Health. I’ve learned a ton throughout the process so far and wanted to share some updates, learnings and nerd out a bit. I’ve got two days left before Dani and I head to Italy for my pre-planned, 14 day hiatus.
On day 1 I was 166.2 lbs. That was a high reading. I had just gotten back from my brother’s wedding and was eating all kinds of crazy food for several days. I was averaging 163ish prior to that trip, so that’s a more accurate baseline. I’m currently averaging 169.1. So, somewhere around 6 lbs gained in 47 days. I came into the 75 Hard in the middle of a bulk. I finished my cut on August 15th, where I weighed in at a low of 158.8 lbs. It’s important to know that I was low carb when I was 158.8, so there are a few pounds of water to account for. I’m essentially up about 8 pounds in the last 2 months. That’s a solid pace.
My training started as a split routine. Chest, back, shoulders & traps, legs. In between each of those days, I was doing neck, grip & core. Lifting 5-6 days per week, each session 45-60 minutes. The rest of my training has been rucking, running, Jiu Jitsu and skateboarding. I shifted a few weeks ago to full body workouts, still with a neck, grip & core day in between each. I actually think that made it more difficult to recover. I need more time for each muscle to recover than I have been giving them. I ego lifted* a bit too hard and tweaked my back. Fortunately, I sprang into action the next few days with my go-to rehab/prehab moves and got that nipped in the bud.
*it wasn’t that bad. I was slowly progressively overloading. But, all signs were pointing toward cutting that set short, and I didn’t listen to the signs. I suppose I wasn’t ego lifting “on paper.”
I’ve been eating between 3500 and 4000 calories a day. 90+ minutes of training with as many as 20,000 steps a day has me MOWING through calories.
I made some nutrition adjustments by bringing cheese and milk into the mix. Not much milk, but plenty of cheese for sure. I made this decision about a week in advance to make sure it wasn’t on a whim. I also started eating a lot fewer nuts and seeds. Those are super high in calories, which isn’t a problem given how much food I can eat, but I’ve found that I’m so insatiably hungry all day that I’d prefer to eat lower calorie food so I can eat more food volume. I didn’t have any clearly identifiable gut differences from adding more dairy. But I did learn, which I kind of already knew, that garlic annihilates me. I’ve been eating virtually no garlic since I started, and when that finds its way into restaurant meals or foods Dani and I make at home, I know. Even down to pickles. Pickles that have garlic in the juice. Destroyed.
I’ve been eating a ton of fruit. And honestly, binge eating it. Still within my calorie goals, but it has amounted to 150-200g of sugar per day some days. I’ve noticed a lot of brain fog, irritability and cravings. It also seems to be more directly related to when I smash tons of fruit on its own and not in mixed meals.
This would all seem to be consistent with what I’ve learned in my coaching certifications as well as Dr. Chris Palmer’s Brain Energy Theory. We know that eating mixed meals slows blood sugar spikes and crashes. We also know that simple carbohydrates tend to spike blood glucose faster than complex carbohydrates. The core of the Brain Energy Theory is that mental disorders are metabolic disorders of the brain. A large component of that might be elevated glucose and insulin levels leading to insulin resistance. Similar to how people develop type 2 diabetes, the theory is that mental disorders can be another consequence.
I’ve noticed improvements in mood, anxiety and depression on lower carb diets. It’s just not always practical or desirable. Carbs can improve performance in the gym, for example. So, it’s a tradeoff.
I’m not going to track while we’re in Italy, but presumably that will be a surplus of calories. We’ll get a ton of walking in, and one big day of hiking. My plan is to toss in a little band work and sneak some BODIED workouts in. There will be some down time and some times when I’m waiting for Dani to get ready that I can toss a few things in. It’ll be nice and a perfectly timed change in stimulus to scrape out a few last gains from this bulk. Once we get back from vacation, I’m going to do a mostly low-carb cut to finish off the 75 Hard. It’ll help kill these cravings and clear up that brain fog. The goal is to lean out now that I’ve spent a good portion of time building. I’ll also get an apples to apples comparison to where my weight is now compared with my low carb, low weight of 158.8. I’ll head into the holidays primed for another surplus, and plan to do that through to the new year. I’ll see how that goes and reassess.
My mental health has been good for most of this challenge. Good news, because that’s the primary goal. Working out twice a day has the potential to massively improve both physical and mental health, but only if it’s done in a structured way that allows for sufficient recovery. I’ve definitely been playing with fire but done a solid job of dialing back when needed.
Most days have been relatively easy for me. I train 90 minutes or more per day most days anyway. But, there have definitely been some difficult days, particularly with my job’s return-to-office twice a week and when those days overlap with workload spikes.
To combat that, I’ve had to be very intentional with my time on those days. My go-to has been to wake up and ruck on my WalkingPad while I get a jump start on work. Then I’ll take the dog out for a run in the sun, quick cold shower and hit the road about 8:00AM. Breath work in the car.
Something that has been a clear negative is the feeling of “I have to work out.” Especially on those busy days. It’s a good thing and a bad thing. It’s a great way to metabolize stress, but it can also contribute to stress. I really noticed that it started to hinder my recovery, especially when I switched to full body days. I wasn’t sleeping well. If I was to truly analyze, balance and optimize my mental health, I’d probably pull back. I spoke a bit with my therapist about that. For the purposes of experimentation, I don’t mind gritting my teeth a little bit. And realistically, out of 47 days, there have only been maybe 2 or 3 where I think my mental wellbeing would have benefitted from skipping a workout. The key has been to just dial the intensity appropriately.
I’ve had some incredibly challenging times at work lately that spiked my stress levels. I felt the familiar dark thoughts. When that happens to me now, I have two distinctly different responses when compared to when I was really struggling in my past. The first is that I immediately identify the root cause and some tweaks I can make to combat it. The second is I do the best that I can to embrace the learning. My struggles with depression and mental illness have been the largest catalysts for growth in my life. I wouldn’t be here without that growth. So, I try to figure out how these challenges can make me better. It’s not easy, and plenty slip past the goalie. These recent challenges have been no exception.
I’m looking forward to a breather and slower pace in Italy. Lately, I’ve been feeling like I’ve been going through the motions in everything in my life. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. Being in that state of autopilot is fantastic for things like physical health, financial health, etc. It just starts to drain my mental health because I’m not feeling present and mindful.
I think the lesson I want to take with me going forward as I wrap this challenge up, and as I start to look forward, is to slow down and be more intentional with what I do. Quality over quantity. Move more slowly. Do less of what doesn’t matter to make room for more of what does. Make things very intentional. Arnold talked about savoring every rep, knowing every rep was getting him toward his goals. I can tell you that I have definitely not been savoring reps, haha… I’ve noticed that skateboarding is a lot more fun when I’m thinking about the current trick, not the trick that comes after. When I’m thinking ahead, I make more mistakes and get frustrated. I miss all the fun along the way. I want to take that approach and apply to my training.
Do you have any questions on this article? Do you have any topics you'd like to see covered in the future? Email me at jack@leaveitcinders.com and let me know!
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CINDERS utilizes affiliate marketing, all of which are products I legitimately use and have purchased myself. I don't think you "need" any of these things, they've just provided a lot of value to me in my mental health journey. 10% of all revenue from all CINDERS, including affiliate sales, goes to mental health charity.
