I am quite sure that some of you will be irritated that I'm not posting pictures, yet. I will get to that but not until I'm leaner. We all have our shit and my shit is that I don't post pictures until I'm much leaner. I have high expectations for myself, and I refuse to selfie myself until I'm in condition that is not typical of my usual condition. When I get down another 10 pounds, I will start posting pictures.

STARTING POINT

I started 3 weeks ago and 225. I'm now 217.4. I am honest when I assess my condition and the truth is that the first week will always be roughly a 5 pounds drop for me. It's a water game, and locking everything in with the diet, supplements, and training typically yields a loss in this range of 5 pounds. From there, I have dropped roughly 2. 5 pounds in the last 2 weeks.

Another of my patterns (because I've done this for—oh, I don't know—decades now) is that I do not ever drop weight very quickly after the first week of a new cut phase. I drop consistently but the drops are quite small for the first 6-8 weeks. The reason for this is because I almost always recomp during this time. I gain some muscle while getting leaner. When you do both at the same time, the scale isn't going to move very much—or shouldn't, if you do it correctly. During this time, I am progressing in strength and size, and I am getting leaner every week.

HUNGER

Hunger is non-existent during this initial 6-8 weeks. I have never been one to have emotional ties to food (thankfully), so hunger and cravings aren't usually a thing for me—never have been. Right now, I'm just eating my meals, training, and everything is on point. I'm what I call "locked in." Everything is 100% and even though this is just a cut phase without competing, I treat it as a contest prep. This means every meal is timed perfectly, water intake is 100%, supplementation is spot on, and my training is very structured and regimented. I even prefer to train at the same time every day.

One of the main things I love about a cut phase or a prep phase is the structure. I am the most boring person, ever. I admit it. I like to do other things outside of bodybuilding, but I only do things during a cut phase if it fits with the priority of my bodybuilding at that time. I will not do anything that will cause me to miss a meal, a workout, etc. I am the textbook definition of a machine when it comes to structure and routine. It's my safety net—my "safe space," if you will. Yes, I have a safe space. F you.

ZERO CARDIO

As usual, I am doing ZERO cardio. I will do this entire cut phase with no cardio. At some point, I will increase my NEAT by going on leisurely walks every night prior to working on the computer around 1am. That will not start for a while, and I will only start it when I feel it is needed. To be more clear, I will wait as long as I can before starting it. I like walks, but I have a ton of work to do, so I am not going to take time from my work until or unless it is necessary. I much prefer for my diet and training to do the very large majority of the work to get lean.

GOALS

When I hit the 210 mark, I am going to be pretty damn lean. Anything under 210 will show dramatic improvements each week. 200 would have me stage-ready (give or take a couple pounds). I should add that this year might be a bit different because I don't have the leg size that I used to have due to the glute injury followed by the knee injury. These injuries impacted my leg training for what has been almost 2 years. Otherwise, I would get on stage this year. There is just no way that I could step on stage with my legs this small and be satisfied with the package I would present.

If my knee continues to progress as well as it has, I MIGHT be able to get on stage in 2023. That's a big "might" because I don't know if the knee will ever be 100% or if I can even regain some of the leg size that I had prior to the injuries. Of course, I am approaching it as if I can accomplish this. In reality, I don't know if that is going to happen or not.

I plan to be close to 210 by the first of May. It might be more like 212, but I do not have a hard deadline. If it takes longer, I'm good with it. The plan, though, is to be in damn near show condition by July. I have this weird need to prove to myself that even after these injuries, I can still get into crazy condition.

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