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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 23, 2024

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I’m a competitive bodybuilder and spend 4-6 months of the year in a bulking phase where I’m consuming around 6000 calories per day. And 8 to 10 weeks prior to competitions in extremely rigid diets.

And from this experience, I can tell you there is no doubt in my mind that food is 100% addictive, with a higher and higher level of caloric richness needing to reach satiety. When I’m on a restrictive diet pre-completion, I’d treat myself to chewing on a piece of seed bread before spitting it out — and it tastes so delicious.

And, on the other extreme, when I am bulking with no dietary restrictions (other than hitting minimum macronutrient amounts), I’d do things order a 12 piece bucket of KFC chicken, simply because I become so addicted to highly satiating food than I’m unable to force myself through the amount of lean chicken, tuna or whatever I’d need to meet my macro goals.

My experience from when I cut over between diets — bulking, cutting, maintenance — is how I know food is an addiction. When I begin cutting, the first 2-3 weeks is hell. I am lethargic, my head hurts, constantly starving, I have very bad breath, irritable, etc. But like clockwork I get used to the diet and go from choking down cans of tuna and steamed vegetables to actually craving the food I’m eating, and at that point I’m mostly on auto-pilot. The reason I am able to consistently do it is not because i have extreme willpower. Rather I’ve done it so many times before, I know the switch is going to flip and so in that sense it’s a huge bargain: you can get a 12 week diet for the price of only a couple weeks of actual grind up front.

I am not a competitive bodybuilder and do not care at all about size or cosmetics (other than not being a fatass).

But I do like to lift heavier and heavier weights.

Do I really need 1g of protein per 1-lb lean bodyweight?

Also, I'd love a hot take on rep ranges.

When I begin cutting, the first 2-3 weeks is hell. I am lethargic, my head hurts, constantly starving, I have very bad breath, irritable, etc.

That's not addiction. You literally ARE starving; you are taking far less in terms of calories than you're burning. That's what cutting is.

But those feelings go away after the first few weeks of the cut and I can continue in a similar caloric deficit without those effects. I also begin to find the bland cutting food — boiled eggs, chicken breasts, steamed vegetables, rice, etc — much more enjoyable. Which interpret as breaking the addiction to the much more satiating cutting/maintenance foods.