1 Year Steem Anniversary – GAINS!

First and foremost: I'm not a model nor a photographer, so the quality is according to that, keep that in mind.

Ok, so originally I decided to do something little crazy or something out of the norm for me as a celebration for breaking the 1000 SP milestone which I've gone long past already at this point with having 1166 SP.

But for some reason I didn't bother to make that post...

Until I realized that my 1 year Steem anniversary is actually coming closer so, that would serve as a good "excuse" for this... whatever you would call it.

I took these shots in my civil service place's kitchen before the start of Mid Summer holidays – everyone had left early so the whole clinic was completely empty so there was no risk for awkward situations...

I do not know exactly why I wanted to do this, maybe there's something symbolic meaning to this, because I'm being kept here against my will because of law – at least one occasion to "release the beast" on the table where the middle-aged women usually eat their food while talking about mundane things, like their family.

^{I find it amusing that they have no idea what has happened on that table they eat on...}

In the beginning I had a lot of resistance for performing my service, and I partly neglected even those few tasks I had to perform, because I had a deep hate towards having to wake up every morning and go to this clinic where there wasn't even any real utility for me 80% of the time being there. In the winter I had one particularly dark episode with self-harming thoughts emerging in my head in order to get sick leave to not have to go to the service place.

I even went to the health center because of anxiety and depression. Didn't score high enough to the questionnaires to have any diagnosis – which in the end was only a good thing. Luckily this went past quickly, but I still cannot wait to get out.

So, as you can see I'm in a fairly good shape and a lot of is thanks to couple simple habits I've developed along the years: exercise and intermittent fasting. I have a pull-up bar at home that I can do pull-ups with, especially during the winter when the coldness kills the will to spend much time outside. You don't need a whole lot to build some basic muscle strength; pull-ups and push-ups work more than fine in the beginning.
Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern I've naturally developed, and there are a number of benefits to it: increased insulin sensitivity, increased growth hormone production (more muscle growth), and increased noradrenaline which promotes more effective breaking of fat cells into energy. There's a lot more too, but DYOR because this isn't a post single-handedly dedicated to that area.
Every day I usually have a window of 14 hours minimum when I don't eat anything. Usually I eat 'till 9-10PM and start eating around 11:30AM at earliest. Outside the fasting window I pretty much eat as much as I want, almost whatever I want – though chocolate and other potential treats I leave for weekends. I do not feel any hunger at morning, because my body has long ago adapted to this eating pattern. The pattern can be manipulated one way or another – and the body will adapt and start producing hunger hormones accordingly.

It's nice to see that there's at least some things I've done right in my life.

But my leanness is probably coupled with favorable genetics towards a slim appearance too. Having mentioned that, you shouldn't feel envy because of my looks or anyone else's either, because first of all, you might have a completely different structure and different genetics which could make it extremely hard or even impossible to look like me. And second, six pack isn't a definitive sign of health, it mostly tells about how much fat you have on your stomach (though low body fat – in the middle section too – usually correlates with better health), because the distribution of fat can vary: some have a focused distribution in lower body, some evenly, and some might have it on upper body which makes it even harder to get a six pack.
You can lower your general fat percentage but not from any specific area, that is determined by genetics, and that's why "fat burn targeting exercises" of a specific body part are bullshit.

This goes the other way too: With my lean structure it's impossible for me to ever look like Rock or "the Mountain", simply because I don't have those broad shoulders which are mostly defined by bone structure – you can affect the appearance of your shoulders only by so much with few inches by adding muscle. So, you have to know your structure to know what kind of results you can expect by cutting weight/and or adding muscle to not have any unrealistic expectations. I seem to be lucky to have low fat on my upper body as that goes along with today's fitness standards of lean muscle with sixpack and all that – and who looks anything else than the upper body with males? (Some claim they like butts, can anyone confirm?) Though standards change and have always changed so who knows what they'll be in a few years.

I have my flaws too: I have suffered from bad skin which has left permanent scars on my back and face. I also have stretchmarks on my back (which aren't visible here though because I liked to keep myself a bit in the shadow) the origin of which I'm not completely sure of. Maybe I grew too fast when young and my skin didn't keep up? Or maybe my diet was lacking collagen during that time, who knows.

Yeah, insecurities, we all have them. Luckily they can be overcome. We are the worst critics of ourselves anyways – something we deeply despise in ourselves might be completely invisible to another.

Man, full year already, and I'm kinda finding my place here, in Steemit. Once again I have to give a big 'thank you' to @escapist who dragged me to the Danger Zone steem.chat group (or Trash Zone, or whatever it is at the moment) because before that I was bit of a lost soul with not many connections here on this platform, except for @arbitrarykitten and @cabbagepatch (where have you gone Cabbage? 🙁) – the two of my earliest supporters.

and in the chat I found buncha crazy stupid assholes like me – even met some of them in real life!

I did my Steem user little before the start of my civil service and now I'm soon getting out – only 2 weeks left! The last day when I will finally get the papers signed and reclaim my freedom, I'm gonna be the happiest motherfucker on Earth. No more do you have to listen my dreadful jeremiads about the service. Obviously, I'm super excited to turn a new chapter in my life soon – and in Steemit.

Uhm... I do not really have anything more to add other than I'm certainly expecting even more crazy shit for the following Steem year, like SteemFest 3.

Oh, remember to power up kids, otherwise no gains in the future...

...cause you wanna have that steady Steem to monetize your protein for that bicep-growth, right?

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_{PS. I'm obviously bit nervous right now. Ok, I'm just gonna do it, I'll be back to read the comments soon.}