Confessions of a Fat SSC

by Michael Jones, SSC | October 02, 2025

There is a reputation. A bad reputation. A dirty cliché of a
reputation that is hurtful and untrue. Well, mostly untrue. And it is
that we are all fat. Strong and fat, at least. And there is a good
reason for it: many of us are, or have been at one time. And there is
a good reason for that: gains.

When each of us began
our linear progressions we listened to our coaches. They told us to
eat in excess through the LP, and even through the early, mid, and
even late intermediate phases of our training. Is 1 gram of protein
and carbs per pound of bodyweight really that much (the FDA
recommends .8 for males)? Our coaches told us that there will be a
time for leaning out, increasing our metabolic conditioning, and
looking sexier naked. But now was not the time for it.  

First, we needed to become part of the sticker club. That would be a start to getting strong, and a good baseline level of
strength. No one cares about the opinion of a skinny, weak barbell
coach.

I recently ate my way
to a lifetime squat PR. It was true that if I didn’t get in the
food, then my training would not go well. Completing 5 triples of a
heavy squat is a nutrition- and recovery-dependent event. If I hadn’t
eaten that triple burger the day before, then it was distinctly
possible that I would have struggled more than necessary on one of
the last reps late in the sets, and may have been depleted enough to
miss a rep. And I don’t allow myself to miss reps.

Nor miss out on a
strawberry milkshake. I am not making a case for an excuse to eat
like an asshole. I was, however, eating for PRs. And that takes a
commitment that most casual fitness enthusiasts don’t have in them.
I’m 38. I get up in the middle of the night to go pee. During that
era of reaching for a new PR, the urge to alleviate my bladder was
also accompanied by ravenous hunger. So I used that opportunity to
also drink the protein shake that I prepared the evening before.

Funny things happen when we do things of this nature. A bigger gut
means our deadlift stance will need to be widened. That might mean
less-than-optimal leverages. But it also means a lower center of
mass, which might make the squat feel easier since that lower center
of mass is also a more forward center of mass, and that means – all
other things equal – we might get to bend over more to stay
balanced. And we might even get a bit of rebound off of said gut
against the thighs out of the bottom.

But we do not need to
gain a gut in this endeavor. And I exaggerate about getting fat. When
I did this, I didn’t just add in calories willy-nilly. It was a
slow titration that yielded data from which I then used to make
decisions in my diet. That late-night shake was potentially
gratuitous, yes. But I was hungry all the time and really did wake up
in the middle of the night very hungry.

To confess, in those
first midnight refrigerator rendezvous I may have noshed on my
daughters’ snack food before I began making the shakes (16oz of
whole milk, 3 scoops of Fruity Pebbles-flavored protein powder, and
fill the rest of the space in the shaker with instant oats, shake
vigorously, let sit). But after drinking these shakes nightly for 6
weeks and not seeing the bathroom scale budge indicated to me that I
was moving in the right direction for my goals: gains without getting
fat.

The other pieces of data that confirmed this were my training
numbers, which were moving up consistently. I also woke up
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed daily, and my t-shirts were tighter in
the arms/chest, and looser in the waist. CPAP and TRT likely helped
too – I am 38, after all.

When we eat to gain
muscle and strength it helps to have it well-planned. We don’t just
have a casual day of eating, then wolf a shake, but that is a
possible scenario that can work. An average day of eating in my life
looked something like this:

• 4:30am: wake up to
  coach
• 4:32am: protein bar and
  Greek yogurt (60 grams of protein)
• 8:45am: train then
  drink Fairlife protein drink (40 grams of protein)
• 1030am: chicken
  burrito, meal prepped (40 grams of protein)
• 10:35am: nap
• 12pm: coach
• 1:45pm: tuna salad,
  meal prepped (40 grams of protein)
• 3:15pm: pick up
  daughters, eat protein cereal with them (30 grams of protein)
• 6:30pm: dinner with the
  family (40-60 grams of protein)

I am not including in
this the daily banana, or the milk I drank when thirsty, or the stray
handful of Cheez-Its, roasted pistachios, or spoonfuls of peanut
butter. Or the midnight protein shake. Most of my meals are planned
out and repetitive. Two daughters and full-time coaching means that
if meals are not planned, then I don’t get enough food in the day.

The repetition of meals
does come in cycles, however. Sometimes it’s not a burrito, but a
deconstructed lasagna I make with extra beef and cottage cheese,
sometimes a mash-up of beef and potatoes, etc. These things are
macronutrient dense. It also means that I don’t really have to
think about it during the week since I meal-prep everything on
Sundays.  

Then there is my wife’s cooking. We plan this together before
grocery trips on the weekends. And she supports my strength training
endeavors (she trains as well). It is important to have a supportive
home network when you embark on major health and fitness goals. So we
always plan to buy extra protein for the meals she makes – both to
have some extra meals during the week just in case, and to get enough
macros at dinner. I’ll tell you, it’ll make you a better human
being once you’ve had her maple-glazed salmon, her butter-chicken
masala, or her chocolate mousse (made with chocolate protein powder).

Despite this seeming
excess, I was consistent in not eating like an asshole 95% of the
time. But it doesn’t take 95% compliance for most athletes. Maybe
80%. That is actually where I see most of my clients fail – the
sleep and eating compliance, and either going balls to the wall right
out of the gate or not taking it sincerely enough. The training is
the easy part. They do not embrace recovery and fueling as a kind of
lifestyle, which is exactly what it is – a lifestyle. I find a
subtle change of perspective is helpful: I am not doing all of this
because I am a strength athlete. I am a strength athlete because I am
doing all of this.

Maybe doing these
things sounds like an extreme change from what it is you are
currently doing. If it is and you want big numbers and a strong, sexy
body, then it might be worth re-examining your goals and whether they
are attainable based on what you are doing. If it indeed sounds
extreme and you want big numbers and a sexy body, then make small,
doable changes that you can do everyday without it disrupting your
peace of mind and daily status quo. Do that for a while. Then add a
little more. Repeat.

That is how most of us
got to where we are: small changes over long periods of time.

I hate to end on
platitudes, but that is how we began this discussion. Think 10 years,
not 10 weeks. It’s not easy. If it were, everyone would be doing
it. Enjoy the heavy squat; enjoy the strawberry milkshake.

 For a more academic treatment of nutrition see Bob Santana’s papers
and check out his podcast, Weights and Plates. And if you want further help, employ a Starting Strength Coach who is
also a nutrition coach. Many of us coach both barbells and nutrition.