Nomadic-ERE Year 5 - Wanderlust Prevails

[2Birds1Stone]

And speaking of gym access........getting small and fat over the past few months has lit a fire under my ass to prioritize fitness/health/well being going into year two of FIRE.......with a separate post coming on my thoughts/plans around this. It's going to get spicy though.....

We've been in Poland for just over two weeks now, the first couple of things I did was join a really good gym, purchased a bathroom scale and a food scale and took all of the knowledge around nutrition and training that has been sitting in my head for the past fifteen years, along with much of the new material I consumed over the past few months and formulated a plan around eating and training that would point me in the direction I wanted to go.....namely to get leaner and rebuild some of the lost lean body mass due to no/poor gym access and poor diet while traveling the past few months.

My starting point on 5/28 was a true morning weight of 212.3, which was already down from a high of 216-217 in early May. Estimated body fat % of ~20%. No gym at this point for 6 weeks.

The game plan for the lifting was to reintroduce resistance training steadily but limit loads and focus on reestablishing motor-patterns with good form, training with higher reps and slow eccentrics. I landed on a pull/legs/push split and chose 1-3 exercises per body part, with the first round only having me do one set of 30 reps per exercise using very light weight. The second run through the split, I increased the sets per exercise to two, keeping weight light and doing sets of 20-25. Then slowly increased the weights over the next several rounds while decreasing reps a bit where today I'm wrapping up a session doing 2 sets of 12-15 reps. The next step will be adding a third set to each exercise.

Diet wise, I'm focusing on hitting 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass, and shooting for a caloric deficit that has me losing between .5-1% of my body weight per week. Here were the results from the first two weeks;

Week 1 - av. daily intake = 2,647 cals, expenditure = 3,195 for a total deficit of 3,838 with a weight loss of 2.3 lbs
Week 2 - av. daily intake = 2,358 cals, expenditure = 3,264 for a total deficit of 6,344 with a weight loss of 1.7 lbs

The extra weight loss in week 1 is just glycogen/water, which is very normal when starting a fat loss phase. The big variable that will throw numbers off a bit for the first few weeks to possibly month is after going untrained for 6 weeks, some muscle fullness will return despite being in a caloric deficit which can make the numbers seem odd despite visual progress.

I am going to be sticking to this plan for the next four weeks until we return to the USA, and then assess whether to keep leaning out or if I'm back to a healthier bodyweight/body fat % bring food back up towards maintenance and then slowly work on improving lean body mass.

[Lemur]

I'm with you @2Birds1Stone. In a cutting phase myself. Not sure how long either but I'm probably right around 20% as well. Feels better and looks better to just be in that healthy 10-15% range. 500 calorie defict + 1 gram of protein per pound of LBM is pretty much what I do as well.

How are you getting the expenditure numbers? Curious about that. Using like an app or something? I've always measured calories in with an App...never measured calories out. That seems useful though.

[2Birds1Stone]

How are you getting the expenditure numbers? Curious about that. Using like an app or something?

I wear an older Garmin Forerunner 935 24/7 and it does a really good job of using base metabolic rate (so long as you keep your weight updated at least once a week), and capturing calories burned from both NEAT and workouts. The absolute numbers may not be 100% spot on, but the relative expenditure over time should be pretty damn close.

My expenditure is pretty high because I'm averaging 19k steps a day here.

[mooretrees]

You make the calorie counting sound so easy! I am considering a cutting phase but have never counted calories before. We make so much food food from scratch that I get easily overwhelmed with how to count. I am focusing on protein intake as a first step and slowly getting used to looking up protein amounts in the food I am eating.

Sounds like you will hit your goal with ease!

[2Birds1Stone]

You have planned so much further out than we have. I think too much of a plan makes DH anxious. We have a plan until mid to late August and then nothing.

The decision fatigue thing is real and for us that means we are traveling too quickly usually.

It's definitely give and take with regards to planning ahead.......up to this point, we would spend a solid week with our heads down researching and then buying the big ticket stuff like international flights and our longer stay accommodations. Typically this paid off because things tend to be cheaper and you have more options BUT it closes the door on serendipitous changes to itinerary without eating the cost of certain decisions. Usually accommodations are refundable, but if you buy cheap economy flights they rarely are.

We're learning that some parts of the world are easier to book on the fly than others. SE Asia has thousands and thousands of places to stay and cheap flights even at the last minute......Europe from May-October does not.

The other consideration is Visa requirements. Some countries do require you to request a visa ahead of time, and part of that application process is often showing proof of accommodation for your stay as well as the inbound and exit flights from said country. So for example, if we want to get a 60 day visa for Thailand in December, we need to book our stays and figure out where we are traveling to next, and buy those flights too.

@moretrees, it's not that difficult with the power of the internet at your fingertips. Here in Europe 99% of food products list the macronutrients and calories per 100g of the food product, so as long as you have a food scale and a little patience it's quite easy.

A few considerations; it's much easier if you tent to stick to mostly the same foods on a day to day and week to week basis. I would say that 90% of my diet is pretty much the same 20-25 food items/ingredients in a given week. Once you know the info for the foods you regularly eat, it gets much easier to do.

If you spot cook each meal from scratch it does take more effort.......but batch cooking and eating generally the same stuff most of the time makes it super easy.

I guesstimate when eating out, which is like 10-20% of the time here. There's no need to be 100% accurate, this is just a way I know for a fact will produce results over time. After you track this stuff at home for a while, you get pretty good at making educated guesses when you're eating at someone else's house or a restaurant.

[2Birds1Stone]

Musings & June Update

June flew by.....

The cutting phase by the numbers so far;

32 days
26 weight training sessions
7 short bike rides (55 miles total)
646,000 steps walked
78,000 calories consumed
106,200 calories burned
-28,200 calories of deficit
~8 lbs of body fat lost (~20% BF -> ~16% BF)

Overall feeling fantastic. Hunger and energy levels have been a non-issue, gym performance continues to improve and a good amount of the lean body mass I lost in Italy has returned.

We spent most of June hanging out in hometown, with family and friends followed by a 5 day trip up to the tri-cities part of Poland near the Baltic. It was the first time visiting that part of the country and we enjoyed it very much. The weather cooperated and we walked and saw a ton, found a gym where we got a 3-day pass and enjoyed a small AirBnB right in the heart of historical Gdansk.

A mere 13 days left in Poland before we fly back to NY......then we have a month to prepare for this epic round the USA road trip that's going down from August-October.

[AxelHeyst]

Wow nice progress! You're going to be a lean monster by the time you get here. I'll see what I can do about hooking up some 'real' equipment so you don't lose all your gainz over one weekend... no promises. Looking forward to following your road trip.

[2Birds1Stone]

Wow nice progress! You're going to be a lean monster by the time you get here. I'll see what I can do about hooking up some 'real' equipment so you don't lose all your gainz over one weekend... no promises. Looking forward to following your road trip.

Hehe, time will tell. I should be wrapping up the cutting phase in the next 4-5 weeks. By the time Sept rolls around I hope to be back on the gain-train.

PS: I am planning on spending ~week at QH (pretty sure that's what we RSVP'd for).

Likewise looking forward to following your trip to AK and back. Sounds like we may be in the PNW around the same time before Fest.

[AxelHeyst]

Oh that's right, great! If the equipment procurement process falls through we've always got paleo-weights, aka rocks.

[2Birds1Stone]

I love it when a plan comes together.....

Wrapped up week #6 of the concerted fat loss phase. Totals so far;

872,000 steps walked
35 weight training sessions
-39,000 calories of deficit
-12.0 lbs of body fat lost (6% BF)

I use a rolling 7-day average weight to track the fat/weight loss, but today was a notable single day weigh in of 198.8 lbs, the first under 200 since last October. The other cool thing, I was not this lean at 199 lbs last time, so the weight training is doing its job in a big way.

Excited to continue dropping body fat for another 4-5 weeks until I reach the low 190's and then it's time to slowly bring the calories back up to maintenance and beyond.

[Western Red Cedar]

Well done! From what I've researched you're at the high end of cutting fat while maintaining lean muscle. That's impressive.

I've noticed that it is more challenging for me to optimize health while nomadic. There are definitely benefits, like more incentives to move throughout the day, more time to focus on health, less sitting/sedentary lifestyle, and better sleep. The biggest challenge I've encountered is dealing with new environments, and thus new systems, every 2-4 weeks. Something as simple as not having access to a scale (or a decent gym) impacts consistency.

Ultimately, I'm a creature of habit so it is harder for me to stay consistent and disciplined with my nutrition in changing environments. Nutrition is 70-80% of the battle IMO, and there are definitely daily temptations on that front. With that said, I've actually found there are plenty of options for healthy food as well. There also seems to be plenty of nomads that prioritize health and continue to make progress on that front.

Keep up the good work!

[delay]

-12.0 lbs of body fat lost (6% BF)

I use a rolling 7-day average weight to track the fat/weight loss, but today was a notable single day weigh in of 198.8 lbs, the first under 200 since last October. The other cool thing, I was not this lean at 199 lbs last time, so the weight training is doing its job in a big way.

Congratulations on passing the 200 lbs mark! That felt great when I did it. Of course without knowing your height, it's hard to tell where this puts you on the road to healthy weight.

[2Birds1Stone]

@WRC, your research is correct. ~1% of bodyweight per week is about as much as you can/want to lose in order to prevent muscle loss and keep things sustainable and sane. Similarly, it's advised to only lose up to 10% of your total bodyweight in one shot, followed by a maintenance phase of equal length to your weight loss phase. So if you took 10 weeks to drop 10% of your bodyweight, reverse slowly back to maintenance, hold it there for 10 weeks and resume cutting (assuming you have a lot to lose).

It's definitely more challenging for me too, especially when traveling to new places and having no kitchen or regular gym facility. Poland is a VERY controlled environment for this project. We have one of the best gyms I've been to in the world 500 yards from our apartment, a Lidl store practically next door, a full kitchen, large fridge, and a huge park along the river that borders our building with ~7 miles of walking/biking trail. It doesn't get any better for sticking to a good exercise/nutrition regimen. Poland's Lidl stores are also chockfull of high protein/low calorie goodies, making it super easy to eat higher protein while still satisfying the taste buds to a degree.

Temptations are abound here too, but since it's a place we are at regularly almost every year, I don't have FOMO of having to *try all the things*. It's going to be interesting in the winter when we're back in Thailand/Vietnam/and most likely Japan later this year.......though I imagine it will be a LOT easier to stick to a quasi eating plan when it calls for 3-3.5k calories a day vs. the current 2.2k I'm averaging.

@delay, thanks. I'm 183cm and currently sitting ~14% body fat......so probably leaner than 90% of the male population in the western world at this point. The goal is to get down to ~191-192 lbs @ ~10% body fat, which would be the lightest/leanest I've been since last competing in drug tested bodybuilding back in spring of 2014. I was a lot younger back then, so this will be completely uncharted territory as I rapidly approach 40 y/o.

[Western Red Cedar]

Chiang Mai is actually one of the best places we've found to balance health and wanderlust on our trip. I think you guys will love it here. After our first week here we found out that 7-11 has multiple options for plant-based protein shakes for sale. My breakfast is usually a vegan protein shake ($1.10) and a couple boiled eggs with soy sauce ($.50) from 7-11, so I feel pretty good about spending a bit more on a healthy lunch and dinner. Initially I was hammering a peppered chicken breast, but the chocolate tofu shake is better on so many levels.

The city is very walkable, the drivers are courteous, and it has lots of options for healthy restaurants at bargain prices. There is art around every corner - if you look for a bit. It is a city designed for serendipity, as is the case with all good cities.

The main setbacks are traveling during rainy season (which limits our ability for longer trips into the mountains), but that shouldn't be an issue for you.

And....we've had the best Pad That and Crab Fried Rice of our lives at the same restaurant. it costs like $5.75 for both

[2Birds1Stone]

That's music to my ears, WRC.

I finished the deeper hypocaloric portion of my nutrition plan a few weeks ago and have been slowly walking up calories towards maintenance.

Last week, I got a DEXA scan done and I'm currently sitting at 12.X% bodyfat. I decided that this was lean enough as a starting point for a longer slow/clean mass gaining phase for the next 12-16 weeks. Ideally I'll slowly gain 3-5 lbs of tissue before doing another short 2-4 week cutting phase prior to leaving for Thailand.

Gym performance has been good, and I'm seeing the results in a big way. The addition of creatine monohydrate three weeks ago also allowed for some pretty nice recomp for two weeks.

We're in FL for a few more days, visiting family and friends. Fly up to NY this weekend and if all goes well leaving due west on August 15th or 16th.

We're going to be doing a lot of driving for the first few days until we hit Badlands NP area....then depending on weather/temps we'll hang for a day before moving on towards Grand Teton and Yellowstone NP's. From there it's a stop at Glacier NP before linking up with a forum member in the Seattle area for some backpacking and nerding out.......hopefully a lift too?

One of the big question marks for this trip, as we meander through the country towards 'fest24.........will the van make it? It creaks, leaks and makes funny noises as it moves down the street......it also has no AC. But, a free borrowed van is a free borrowed van......so we kitted it out with a folding mattress, sleeping bag, fan, cooler, tent and hammocks and we are going to see how far we get......if all goes well, we'll cover something like 10k miles by end of October.

[Lemur]

Nice! You flew through this cutting phase. I wish I didn't waste July floundering about but at least I just logged my 5th perfect day just now and I'm melting the fat. So there is that S-Curve like motivation that comes from the initial drop in water/glycogen and even face-fat...https://earlyretirementextreme.com/bett ... urves.html

I'll take your post as further inspiration*. I came across a video saved in my back pocket by Mike Israetel - basically he has this neat video on fat loss dieting psychology and how to stay motivated for the long run. I'm sure you can relate to some of these ideas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcKthx5LTbI

He plots Time on the X axis and Adherence on the Y axis and shows a lineral (possibly exponential) progression of adherence from Inspiration --> Motivation --> Intention --> Discipline --> Habit --> Passion.

I really like this video not only for dieting reasons but seems to align with other useful tidbits about building good habits in general. One neat trick that stood out to me was how instead of thinking about how you can't have that donut, we can flip to a positive connotation and say each time we don't give in to the donut, we build that skill. The skill of overcoming temptations. We can become passionate about that too.

I tried to think about his model through something like changing consumer habits:

Inspiration: The initial spark. Watching a documentary on minimalism. Reading an article on No Buy Years. Seeing other people accomplish super frugal goals. I want to do this too!

Motivation: Overcoming purchasing temptations. Noticing your expenses decreasing. Logging a check box of each day of not buying anything except the bare essentials. Studying why be frugal and why not to buy things. Takes a lot of deliberate effort and thought. Needs vs Wants are scruntinized here.

Intention: A road map is built so that base needs are always met. A system is designed (WOG).

Discipline: Adhering to said system but still takes deliberate effort. Discipline builds for each day the system is followed and grows stronger.

Habit: No longer have a mental drain from discipline because you've been doing it for so long it is automatic. Deliberate effort is not needed. Like brushing your teeth at night, you're not necessarily passionate about it but you just do it without thinking.

Passion: Creativity flourishes. Not only are you in the habit of not consuming things, you've figured out ways to value-add in your system. You like to and can teach others confidentely.

[Laura Ingalls]

I sent to a pm.

[2Birds1Stone]

Thank you for your help, Laura!

Super fast update from Wild Joe's in downtown Bozeman, MT.

We left Long Island on Wednesday and spent a day and a half near Harrisburg PA staying with close friends. We departed the area on Friday morning and drove all day until we got to the Mississippi River. Slept in the van and drove on to Sioux Falls, SD the next day. We camped at a rest stop and had no problems, on to Badlands NP the next day. After Badlands blew our minds we drove to Rapid City, SD where we spent the night in the Black Hills, again boondocking. The next morning we drove into Wyoming and drove to Casper, camping in the van at 8,000 feet of elevation on top of Casper Mountain. From there we had a scenic drive to just before Grand Teton NP where we stayed in a beautiful state campground. The following morning we made the short drive to Grand Teton NP and hiked the Jenny Lake loop, we drove north afterwards into Yellowstone and boondocked at a picnic spot on top of one of the 8,000' passes. We woke up early the next morning and visited ol' faithful, catching the first eruption after sunrise, spent a few hours exploring the other geysers. We picnicked in the center of the park, then drove up to Mammoth Hot Springs and hiked to the top of the springs in the heat. It was breathtaking, in the afternoon/evening we drove to Bozeman and got a lift/shower in, then boondocked in a national forrest about 20 miles outside of town. Today we got a lift/shower in, did our first laundry since leaving 8 days ago and now I'm hanging at a cafe typing this.

Tonight we're driving to Missoula, camping outside the city, getting a lift/shower in at PF, and then driving north toward Glacier NP, we'll stop at a Walmart Supercenter to get supplies, then drive in Friday afternoon and stay until Monday morning......be well my friends.

[suomalainen]

Why such a blitz through 3 national parks?

[2Birds1Stone]

Driving to fest, hitting the PNW and Cali on the way, don't have too much time but wanted to get a little taste of each. We're still going to North Cascade, Olympic, Redwood, Yosemite and Sequoia.....plus visiting family near San Fran....all in the next <3 weeks.

See you soon my peeps.