Bodybuilding saved my life because I overcame the nerd stage. I got picked on. I was fascinated with power, and then I decided to take that direction because I knew that would make me feel good about myself. This post was originally published on the Trans Can Sport blog. Growing up, I couldn’t connect with either fitness or my gender identity.
I was an overweight teenager, who thought exercise was a means to lose weight and “eating healthy” meant “eating less”. I would look in the mirror and all I could see was rolls of flesh in the wrong places. I would go to PE class and all I could hear were my peers’ jeers and jabs at my chubby shape. I hated to look at myself and I hated physical activity. So I never actually got to know my own body. And, when I did, it was in the most self-destructive, hateful way possible. I have always been an ambitious person. When I set myself a goal, I pursue it to the end of the earth. At 15, I made myself a promise: I would lose my excess weight.
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There is little that can withstand a man who can conquer himself. If you’ve ever dabbled in strength training, you must have heard of the terms “cutting” and “bulking”. In gym speak, during a cut you go on a moderate caloric deficit (usually 10-20% of your maintenance intake) to induce fat loss. During a bulk, on the other hand, you go on a slight caloric surplus to stimulate muscle growth. Putting on muscle comes at the inevitable cost of some fat gain, so one would usually alternate the two phases throughout the year, bulking and then cutting to shed fat and bring out their new gains.
In this three-part mini-series, I’m going to cover nutrition and exercise during my cutting phase, which lasted from mid-June to late October 2018. I’m going to tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly: the research I did, the strategies I implemented, the mistakes I made, and the results I got. In today’s introduction, I’ll talk you through my reasons to cut and my mental and physical state before and after the experience. |
Nikias TomasielloWelcome to my blog. I’m an online fitness coach with a passion for bodybuilding, fantasy, and bread. Want to work with me? Check out my services!Archives
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