Journey to the bottom of the food chain; Angus gains 0.33g of muscle!

[FuriousAngus]

Glorious progress phase 2, W2D7, 29/08/2025
Bodyweight: 81.15Kg

I have a lot of footage from this past week that I was planning to share but I was pretty busy with work this week.

New gym is an ABSOLUTE blast; I've been having a very hard time LEAVING the gym, lol. Made some new friends, too.

Update on Telmisartan
Still not much to report, but I am waking up at around 115-125/68-74, which puts me in the green so I'm not too concerned anymore; I'll probably get a slight boost in a week or so once the drug reaches its full effect.

Dihydroberberine
Noticed this has been causing me some gas and discomfort, so I'll be eliminating it again. I don't see the point anymore since adding some of the heavy hitters into my arsenal.

CGM/Libre Plus
I was able to pick one of these bad boys up for 50$! That's pretty cheap, at least here. I don't see the point in wearing one all the time, but I figured I'd get one (lasts 14 weeks) to gain some more insight into how my BG behaves, especially during sleep.

Also, I've been seeing the effect of Jardiance and I'm absolutely in love with this drug (I have said this multiple times before, but I can't stress it enough).

On training volume
I've been doing 12 sets per muscle per week (PPL x2) for quite some time now, but I've been thinking of increasing my volume for certain muscle groups to either 16 or even 20 sets per week; I'm so insanely full these days it almost feels like a waste not to do so. Of course, recovery will be taken into consideration and I'll be watching my body carefully over the new several weeks.

RECAP OF WEEK 2

BG has been climbing up slightly, so I'm actually thinking of doing 12ius of Lantus every night, to off set some of the damage.

I project I will hit 82kg by the end of week 4, which puts me at 0.5kg of weight gain a week, give or take. I think that's a solid rate that I'll be aiming to maintain throughout this progress phase.

Weekly update (shaved upper body but not lower, I do that once a month, lol)
Back; photos are about an hour apart.

Front

This was taken after a cheat meal; I could BARELY pull my stomach in and you can even see my hernia pushing out due to the food volume, lol.

I'll be aiming to make this a weekly thing; better way to track progress than just using the scale.

 

[Vanargandar]

Hope you're doing alright man!

 

[FuriousAngus]

Hope you're doing alright man!

Thanks for checking in on me! I'm doing great brother.

Been super busy with social media; I started a new social media (not in english) and it's been gaining traction very quickly. I'm thinking of removing pictures from this log so I've been busy thinking about things the past few weeks.

Bulk just ended; I'm up to 84kg, bigger than ever. Although I'm changing the plan; it's going to be...

6-8 weeks of bulking > 2 weeks of cutting, indefinitely (kind of, until I need a break). This will keep me VERY insulin sensitive ALL the time and I'll ensure I keep getting bigger AND leaner as time goes by, mainly for social media but also for vanity reasons.

I'm also ditching the slin x4 a day because it's making me hold an ungodly amount of water, so much water that it's hard to train legs at this point due to back pumps.

I'll be reducing calories (went a bit overboard but not that much honestly, just slightly), but most importantly I'll be shifting carb timings.

1st and 4th meal will have a maximum of 100g of carbs now, with the rest of ALL of my carbs peri workout (pre, intra, post); this means 200g before, 100g intra, and 200g post. This way I only have to use Humalog x2 a day, and my pancreas isn't too stressed out with meal 1 and 4.

My morning BG is still in the low mid 90s despite consumg around 850g of carbs. I have blood work tomorrow to check Homa-IR and other things, I want to see where my insulin sensitivity is at the moment. I just completed 6 weeks so I'll be starting my 2-week diet tomorrow, followed by another 6 weeks of pushing.

Tennis elbow is completely gone, and I've been working on shoulder mobility to try and get under the bar so I can start squatting again! I used to be relatively strong guys, I remember doing 375x25 in one set a few years ago (during cruise, kek).

 

[ChemBB]

Looking great, man

My morning BG is still in the low mid 90s despite consumg around 850g of carbs

Big tips with these BG tests, in case you didn't already know:

- Must let alcohol completely dry on fingertip, it'll dilute readings heavily
- You are supposed to dab away the first drop of blood, because it can get diluted from skin oils

I check my BG, one day out of curiosity I did 2 tests on 2 different fingers, and I got such a wildly huge variance (60-101)

So now I make sure that I dry my fingers thoroughly, and ALWAYS dab away the first drop of blood. Sometimes I repeat again on same finger to make sure...

 

[FuriousAngus]

Looking great, man


Big tips with these BG tests, in case you didn't already know:

- Must let alcohol completely dry on fingertip, it'll dilute readings heavily
- You are supposed to dab away the first drop of blood, because it can get diluted from skin oils

I check my BG, one day out of curiosity I did 2 tests on 2 different fingers, and I got such a wildly huge variance (60-101)

So now I make sure that I dry my fingers thoroughly, and ALWAYS dab away the first drop of blood. Sometimes I repeat again on same finger to make sure...

This is pretty useful, thanks @ChemBB.I do use a combo of a CGM and finger pricking, though; it tends to be fairly accurate for me.

Labs are in guys and they are SURPRISING!

My HOMA-IR is 0.7.

That's right; I'm still pretty sensitive despite being in a relatively large caloric surplus for 6 weeks and consuming around 850g of carbs (also going from 76kg to 84kg).

First two days with no slin I dropped 2.5kg, and I look a LOT leaner; almost look like I barely gained any fat at all, actually.

For those late to the party; I was using Humalog to cover a full meal load twice a day (pre and post), and partial coverage (6 units) for meal 1 and 4.

Overall I think this was an exceptionally successful "off season block", but I'll still be making the changes outlined above for my next one.

I might be doing my hernia surgery in a few weeks.

 

[FuriousAngus]

I'd like to add; I think I was only ale to keep sensitivity this high because of insulin use (Humalog x4 a day).

 

[The Answ3r]

Thanks for checking in on me! I'm doing great brother.

Been super busy with social media; I started a new social media (not in english) and it's been gaining traction very quickly. I'm thinking of removing pictures from this log so I've been busy thinking about things the past few weeks.

Bulk just ended; I'm up to 84kg, bigger than ever. Although I'm changing the plan; it's going to be...

6-8 weeks of bulking > 2 weeks of cutting, indefinitely (kind of, until I need a break). This will keep me VERY insulin sensitive ALL the time and I'll ensure I keep getting bigger AND leaner as time goes by, mainly for social media but also for vanity reasons.

I'm also ditching the slin x4 a day because it's making me hold an ungodly amount of water, so much water that it's hard to train legs at this point due to back pumps.

I'll be reducing calories (went a bit overboard but not that much honestly, just slightly), but most importantly I'll be shifting carb timings.

1st and 4th meal will have a maximum of 100g of carbs now, with the rest of ALL of my carbs peri workout (pre, intra, post); this means 200g before, 100g intra, and 200g post. This way I only have to use Humalog x2 a day, and my pancreas isn't too stressed out with meal 1 and 4.

My morning BG is still in the low mid 90s despite consumg around 850g of carbs. I have blood work tomorrow to check Homa-IR and other things, I want to see where my insulin sensitivity is at the moment. I just completed 6 weeks so I'll be starting my 2-week diet tomorrow, followed by another 6 weeks of pushing.

Tennis elbow is completely gone, and I've been working on shoulder mobility to try and get under the bar so I can start squatting again! I used to be relatively strong guys, I remember doing 375x25 in one set a few years ago (during cruise, kek).

Glad to hear you’re doing great, brother. I’ve got no doubt that with the way you carry yourself here, your social media will also grow and take off quickly. You’ve got the discipline and the mindset for it, and that always shows through no matter the platform.

I’m sure you’ll keep building something solid there, but don’t forget about us. Swing by with little updates from time to time, it’s always motivating to see how things are going for you.

 

[FuriousAngus]

Glad to hear you’re doing great, brother. I’ve got no doubt that with the way you carry yourself here, your social media will also grow and take off quickly. You’ve got the discipline and the mindset for it, and that always shows through no matter the platform.

I’m sure you’ll keep building something solid there, but don’t forget about us. Swing by with little updates from time to time, it’s always motivating to see how things are going for you.

Thanks brother, I really do appreciate the kind words, I do my best!

And I'll definitely be posting here and there, that's a guarantee! This board has given me so much. This is a back shot from last week AFTER I dropped 2.5kg of water weight 2 days after I stopped using slin x4 a day; just as lean as I was when I started (almost).

I gained noticeble size in my upper body in those 6 weeks; my arms aloine gained a 0.5 inch AFTER the slin water has gone down, which is insane (this is more than they grew in the last off season after 12 weeks).

Pushing calories further was hard and it looked ugly (lots of water), but it really did work like magic.

 

[FuriousAngus]

Short update; I'm at 80kg here depleted and no slin, been dieting less than a week and I plan to diet a bit more before my hernia surgery, which is likely to happen in less than 4 weeks.

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9KBzpKG0S74


I'm MUCH sharper/leaner in reality, but the video has undergone some compression, etc.. I actually have striations on my lower back.

 

[Eddie.]

Short update; I'm at 80kg here depleted and no slin, been dieting less than a week and I plan to diet a bit more before my hernia surgery, which is likely to happen in less than 4 weeks.

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9KBzpKG0S74


I'm MUCH sharper/leaner in reality, but the video has undergone some compression, etc.. I actually have striations on my lower back.

Looking good man! How are you going to proceed with gear during recovery? Have any idea how much time off you ll have to take from gym?

 

[ChemBB]

I'm MUCH sharper/leaner in reality,

I was going to say, that lighting doesn't seem to be the most anabolic, congrats on having the balls to post it anyways -- looking solid man!

 

[FuriousAngus]

Looking good man! How are you going to proceed with gear during recovery? Have any idea how much time off you ll have to take from gym?

Thanks brother! I reckon I'll need about 6 weeks for full recovery (or at least I hope it's not more than that); I'll be running 4-5mg of BPC daily + a minimum of 8iu HGH, maybe even stick to 12 split over two shots. Test will go down to perhaps 500mg until I can actually go to the gym/lift light weights, will start to ramp up back to 1000mg slowly at that point.

Once I'm fully healed (around the 8 weeks mark,. probably), I'll start pushing again. I'll also be keeping Reta throughout, but cutting it a week or two out from surgery as I heard it could interfere with anesthesia? Something to that effect, I'm not sure.

I was going to say, that lighting doesn't seem to be the most anabolic, congrats on having the balls to post it anyways -- looking solid man!

Thanks brother; tryina' be diced like you are! I like using that spot mainly because it's not too busy. I'll be posting proper photos in a week or two (I just bought a OneBlade razor so that should help with shaving, I always take photos with body hair covering everything lol).

EDIT: I do not know how or why, but my heart rate has dropped a bit recently; about 10 bpm, despite the excessive slin/Reta/food intake/weight. This started when I was 84kg.

It's either that my body got used to Reta and dropped the increased heart rate some (been on it for months at this point), or Telmi (or Jardiance?)has done something to my heart that resulted in it beating slower. Either ways, it's good!

 

[Eddie.]

Great! I think I've read somewhere that after a surgery it's better for couple days to not use anything fancy "healing wise" because you need that immune response, i don't know if it's true or not though. Obviously after couple days pouring the healing peptides and GH is a no brainer haha.

I have no idea about reta but you better discuss all gear and supps you take with your anesthesiologist. What i know for sure is you must avoid anything that makes blood thinner before surgery, even omega 3s.

 

[FuriousAngus]

Great! I think I've read somewhere that after a surgery it's better for couple days to not use anything fancy "healing wise" because you need that immune response, i don't know if it's true or not though. Obviously after couple days pouring the healing peptides and GH is a no brainer haha.

I have no idea about reta but you better discuss all gear and supps you take with your anesthesiologist. What i know for sure is you must avoid anything that makes blood thinner before surgery, even omega 3s.

You're probably right Eddie, I'll be taking all of this into account. I'm actually pretty damn excited, lol. This little booger in my belly button is kind of making me not look as lean as I really am...