In the last 3 years I’ve been living by a food plan provided to me my a older man who has successfully lost weight. I have lost 160lbs, and maintained 120lbs of that loss for 2 years. I was too lazy and sloppy to track how much it lowered my BP, but I know why it works. I have to give up my own willful desire to eat the cookie and only eat what was on the food plan. For the first year my most common meal was 4oz of cheese, and 1/3 cup of ranch with a pound of carrots(baby carrots are sold in 1lb bags everywhere).
For a gamma, the best thing you can do is find a man has achieved some virtue that you know you lack. Ask him how he did it shut up and obey his advice, most especially when you most hate that advice. Then don't talk about it, just get it done. If you have honestly spent at least 30 days doing, not planning or talking, but taking actual action, and can't make progress, then ask what he would change.
That's the beauty of intermittent fasting: people rarely care about the meals you don't eat, and mostly don't have to know. Learning to ignore your hunger is also very good for challenging those gamma tendencies.
One of the gammas I deal with regularly has nothing physically wrong with him, symmetrical features, and is annoying as hell. Not being fat didn't help, but being fat could only increase their anxiety and bad behaviors.
At least as a skinny gamma, they could start to exercise and get a positive self-image from the mirror. As a fat gamma, just exercise wont give them any mirror benefits, and so I think the order needs to be: lose weight, get muscles, learn that "stay in your lane" can work out.
As a fat annoying person, staying in their lane has few positive outcomes.
I can't speak on any specific regimen, but coming from experience, you'll reap the reward of diet and exercise sooner than you realize. Just not overnight. If you keep going, you will succeed 💪
SYWM is great, it should really become the new STFU. It's not necessarily negative to think 'nobody else gives a shit about this, I'll keep it to myself', in fact it's great for everything and should be considered a cheat code for gammas.
The desire to 'Well actually' is intense sometimes. At best the person will wait patiently for you to change the subject or to leave altogether. At worst you're actively harming your relationships.
In the last 8 years I’ve been living the high protein and vegetable with low carbs diet and lost 40lbs of fat but gained 20 pounds of muscle, lowered my resting heart rate under 50bpm and have a lot more energy in general. I think it works by sticking to the basics (diet & exercise) and being very consistent over long periods of time. One week good or bad wont make or break your health journey if you're consistent over time.
Im not a gym guy, I prefer to do a lot of low impact cardio which I believe is the greatest foundation of all fitness and health. Ive found I love cycling for many reasons that I wont get into here - I pedal 6 days a week, 48 weeks a year usually during my work lunch hour. For the 4 planned 'off season rest weeks' I walk or do other activities instead.
I won my Manhattan Beach bike race this past weekend at 49 years old beating people many of which are 10-15 years younger.
The entering requirement: In the last 14 months I’ve been living a high quality diet, with increased activity and focussed strength training. I've lost 36 pounds, lowered my BP (140/90 to 125/65), and cholesterol (total 180 to 140, LDL-C 105 to 70) and it works because that's reality. There is some fine-tuning with nutrition, but everybody has to determine what works for them. You cannot escape the calories in v. calories out. I'm 6'4", and 225 now. I plan to drop another 6-8lbs, which will put me at the weight I was at 30.
I got lazy & fat in retirement. The prime motivating factor for improvement was an incident of irregular heart rate & a wife that pushed me hard to get evaluated. I was fortunate with an early, and only mild diagnosed problem. I also confronted myself that I was giving too much to alcohol and too little to God. I'm now in better shape, strength & mind than when I left Active Duty 17 years ago.
The broader point I see in this article: there IS a real possibility for evolution upwards/across the SSH. (Presumably, it could be downward, too, but that's functionally a lot less likely.) Yes, most patterns don't easily break. But I think they aren't - cannot be - immutable.
The SSH model absolutely works in day-to-day life, and for advantageous understanding of broader masculine social constructs. I don't apply it to females, but I use understanding of my patterns/outlooks to improve my life and encounters with them. I appreciate it, and Sigma Game is my favorite topic on Substack.
I'm introspective about more personally nuanced applications.
Broad brush, over my life: I was many ways gamma when young, definitely alpha across a long career, happy to be bravo for a couple assignments, with a lot of delta portions while married and raising a family.
I went crazy as a widower and simultaneous empty-nester, for a few years. I recognized a top-shelf choice 4yrs ago, remembered that quality mattered, went after her & married her in 10 months. I see most of my life, now, as a happy mix of sigma and delta - she still works, hard, and I'm happy to manage our little ranch.
I've turned down several opportunities asking me to come back to some lucrative and significant status alpha positions - I'm not interested because they don't offer me anything that's better than what I've got and where I am now. I don't need more money, and IDGAF about who's who in the zoo. (And, yeah, Vox, I'm a tail-end boomer, but all our kids are regularly helped out. They're gonna be set when I'm pushing up daisies, hopefully not because of any pillow.)
Kurzgesagt, a really big "scientific" youtube channel (Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) just released a video providing gammas all of the sciency excuses possible for not working out.
The video is called "We Need to Rethink Exercise – The Workout Paradox" and just by the title and knowing who funds this, you already know.
I'm noticing more and more that Clown World is making propaganda against fitness/bodybuilding.
We are reaching the point where not being overweight and lifting are becoming revolutionary acts.
Interestingly enough, here in Brazil it's impossible that this gets any traction, the biggest fitness and bodybuilding channel in the world is brazilian and we are having a huuuuuuge wave of people picking up weightlifting and healthier choices, it's really been trending upwards for the last 10+ years, where it is almost considered strange and a problem if you are between 18~35 and not hitting the gym at least a couple of times a week.
Even for the over-40 gamma, or maybe especially, I think a sport with an objective score is required. Bowling and golf are traditional old man sports. Both can be done solo or in groups -- focus on groups. Most importantly, it has to be something with an objective score that you can't "well akshully" away.
Being in a golf-group with a set tee time or better, a bowling league, also requires you to show up, be ready, and be on time.
I just want to say what a fantastic post! I enjoy reading your work. This one was especially enjoyable. Thank you for sharing so much with us! God bless!
135 kg yo 1113. Regular use of a rower and as close to zero carbs and OMAD as I can do. Driven becausemyoat of the family have auto immune issues and I eat how they have to.
The data is simple. Nutrient dense diet is good for you. Carbs and franlenpila are bad for you. Real food is good for you.
Therefore do not buy manufactured food on a box, and est at home. That qlos helpabthe budget.
In active duty military, they regularly joke about the "You will address me by my husband's rank" phenomenon. Of course, soldiers rarely improve their SSH ranks, so their wives rarely upgrade, either.
Because our military is very weak and gay. Most are very low status for enlisted and only high status is officers but they are as weak as they have ever been.
Please excuse a solipsistic response to your excellent question.
My man went from being a middle-level millwright to a higher-ranking foreman. A millwright is a skilled craftsman who works on large and heavy mechanical power transmission machinery like shafts and gearboxes at, say BC Hydro or steel mills while a mechanic handles smaller machines like vehicles and aircraft. This change was great for us financially and in terms of our social status. Foremen have access to their own hunting lodge and special events, while lower-ranking workers don't. But when someone from a lower rank tries to move up, like a gamma becoming a delta or bravo, it can lead to issues. Sure, they gain access to the perks and this is good for their egos. But they brag about what should politely by kept close to the vest. As managers, they tend to make impulsive decisions that affect the work team negatively. These impulsive decisions add up and ultimately derail their careers.
From my limited perspective, the SSH reflects the degree of impulse control in a man’s character.
Their wives, who were used to being in control, flaunt their husbands position in public, which is a very, very bad thing. They may try to undermine their man when the man is viewed as being a wheel when he was just a cog before, because his wife is no longer treated as the girl boss by their social group. This leads to envy and resentment in the home, leading to divorce. I've seen this happen in every case I've witnessed.
Look guys, if you raise your status at work then you need to reset your status at home too. Most can’t and the home falls apart.
In the last 3 years I’ve been living by a food plan provided to me my a older man who has successfully lost weight. I have lost 160lbs, and maintained 120lbs of that loss for 2 years. I was too lazy and sloppy to track how much it lowered my BP, but I know why it works. I have to give up my own willful desire to eat the cookie and only eat what was on the food plan. For the first year my most common meal was 4oz of cheese, and 1/3 cup of ranch with a pound of carrots(baby carrots are sold in 1lb bags everywhere).
For a gamma, the best thing you can do is find a man has achieved some virtue that you know you lack. Ask him how he did it shut up and obey his advice, most especially when you most hate that advice. Then don't talk about it, just get it done. If you have honestly spent at least 30 days doing, not planning or talking, but taking actual action, and can't make progress, then ask what he would change.
That's the beauty of intermittent fasting: people rarely care about the meals you don't eat, and mostly don't have to know. Learning to ignore your hunger is also very good for challenging those gamma tendencies.
I have found people very much care about the meals you don't eat.
A skinny gamma is still a gamma
One of the gammas I deal with regularly has nothing physically wrong with him, symmetrical features, and is annoying as hell. Not being fat didn't help, but being fat could only increase their anxiety and bad behaviors.
At least as a skinny gamma, they could start to exercise and get a positive self-image from the mirror. As a fat gamma, just exercise wont give them any mirror benefits, and so I think the order needs to be: lose weight, get muscles, learn that "stay in your lane" can work out.
As a fat annoying person, staying in their lane has few positive outcomes.
I can't speak on any specific regimen, but coming from experience, you'll reap the reward of diet and exercise sooner than you realize. Just not overnight. If you keep going, you will succeed 💪
SYWM is great, it should really become the new STFU. It's not necessarily negative to think 'nobody else gives a shit about this, I'll keep it to myself', in fact it's great for everything and should be considered a cheat code for gammas.
The desire to 'Well actually' is intense sometimes. At best the person will wait patiently for you to change the subject or to leave altogether. At worst you're actively harming your relationships.
After reading an admonition to shut up about your diet, the comments are full of people talking about their diets. This SSH is so good.
Did you catch the part about UNLESS youve been doing it over a year and can explain why you think it works?
Yes of course. Why do you feel the need to mention this to me?
The caption about eating more protein cut a little too deep. I'll just have to learn to shut my whore mouth.
In the last 8 years I’ve been living the high protein and vegetable with low carbs diet and lost 40lbs of fat but gained 20 pounds of muscle, lowered my resting heart rate under 50bpm and have a lot more energy in general. I think it works by sticking to the basics (diet & exercise) and being very consistent over long periods of time. One week good or bad wont make or break your health journey if you're consistent over time.
Im not a gym guy, I prefer to do a lot of low impact cardio which I believe is the greatest foundation of all fitness and health. Ive found I love cycling for many reasons that I wont get into here - I pedal 6 days a week, 48 weeks a year usually during my work lunch hour. For the 4 planned 'off season rest weeks' I walk or do other activities instead.
I won my Manhattan Beach bike race this past weekend at 49 years old beating people many of which are 10-15 years younger.
The entering requirement: In the last 14 months I’ve been living a high quality diet, with increased activity and focussed strength training. I've lost 36 pounds, lowered my BP (140/90 to 125/65), and cholesterol (total 180 to 140, LDL-C 105 to 70) and it works because that's reality. There is some fine-tuning with nutrition, but everybody has to determine what works for them. You cannot escape the calories in v. calories out. I'm 6'4", and 225 now. I plan to drop another 6-8lbs, which will put me at the weight I was at 30.
I got lazy & fat in retirement. The prime motivating factor for improvement was an incident of irregular heart rate & a wife that pushed me hard to get evaluated. I was fortunate with an early, and only mild diagnosed problem. I also confronted myself that I was giving too much to alcohol and too little to God. I'm now in better shape, strength & mind than when I left Active Duty 17 years ago.
The broader point I see in this article: there IS a real possibility for evolution upwards/across the SSH. (Presumably, it could be downward, too, but that's functionally a lot less likely.) Yes, most patterns don't easily break. But I think they aren't - cannot be - immutable.
The SSH model absolutely works in day-to-day life, and for advantageous understanding of broader masculine social constructs. I don't apply it to females, but I use understanding of my patterns/outlooks to improve my life and encounters with them. I appreciate it, and Sigma Game is my favorite topic on Substack.
I'm introspective about more personally nuanced applications.
Broad brush, over my life: I was many ways gamma when young, definitely alpha across a long career, happy to be bravo for a couple assignments, with a lot of delta portions while married and raising a family.
I went crazy as a widower and simultaneous empty-nester, for a few years. I recognized a top-shelf choice 4yrs ago, remembered that quality mattered, went after her & married her in 10 months. I see most of my life, now, as a happy mix of sigma and delta - she still works, hard, and I'm happy to manage our little ranch.
I've turned down several opportunities asking me to come back to some lucrative and significant status alpha positions - I'm not interested because they don't offer me anything that's better than what I've got and where I am now. I don't need more money, and IDGAF about who's who in the zoo. (And, yeah, Vox, I'm a tail-end boomer, but all our kids are regularly helped out. They're gonna be set when I'm pushing up daisies, hopefully not because of any pillow.)
Sound advice.
Kurzgesagt, a really big "scientific" youtube channel (Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) just released a video providing gammas all of the sciency excuses possible for not working out.
The video is called "We Need to Rethink Exercise – The Workout Paradox" and just by the title and knowing who funds this, you already know.
I'm noticing more and more that Clown World is making propaganda against fitness/bodybuilding.
We are reaching the point where not being overweight and lifting are becoming revolutionary acts.
Interestingly enough, here in Brazil it's impossible that this gets any traction, the biggest fitness and bodybuilding channel in the world is brazilian and we are having a huuuuuuge wave of people picking up weightlifting and healthier choices, it's really been trending upwards for the last 10+ years, where it is almost considered strange and a problem if you are between 18~35 and not hitting the gym at least a couple of times a week.
Even for the over-40 gamma, or maybe especially, I think a sport with an objective score is required. Bowling and golf are traditional old man sports. Both can be done solo or in groups -- focus on groups. Most importantly, it has to be something with an objective score that you can't "well akshully" away.
Being in a golf-group with a set tee time or better, a bowling league, also requires you to show up, be ready, and be on time.
I just want to say what a fantastic post! I enjoy reading your work. This one was especially enjoyable. Thank you for sharing so much with us! God bless!
135 kg yo 1113. Regular use of a rower and as close to zero carbs and OMAD as I can do. Driven becausemyoat of the family have auto immune issues and I eat how they have to.
The data is simple. Nutrient dense diet is good for you. Carbs and franlenpila are bad for you. Real food is good for you.
Therefore do not buy manufactured food on a box, and est at home. That qlos helpabthe budget.
How do women of low to middle status react to their man raising in SSH rank?
I can imagine either raising their rank through effort, or sabotaging the relationship to prevent rejection.
Anyone have thoughts?
In active duty military, they regularly joke about the "You will address me by my husband's rank" phenomenon. Of course, soldiers rarely improve their SSH ranks, so their wives rarely upgrade, either.
Because our military is very weak and gay. Most are very low status for enlisted and only high status is officers but they are as weak as they have ever been.
Please excuse a solipsistic response to your excellent question.
My man went from being a middle-level millwright to a higher-ranking foreman. A millwright is a skilled craftsman who works on large and heavy mechanical power transmission machinery like shafts and gearboxes at, say BC Hydro or steel mills while a mechanic handles smaller machines like vehicles and aircraft. This change was great for us financially and in terms of our social status. Foremen have access to their own hunting lodge and special events, while lower-ranking workers don't. But when someone from a lower rank tries to move up, like a gamma becoming a delta or bravo, it can lead to issues. Sure, they gain access to the perks and this is good for their egos. But they brag about what should politely by kept close to the vest. As managers, they tend to make impulsive decisions that affect the work team negatively. These impulsive decisions add up and ultimately derail their careers.
From my limited perspective, the SSH reflects the degree of impulse control in a man’s character.
Their wives, who were used to being in control, flaunt their husbands position in public, which is a very, very bad thing. They may try to undermine their man when the man is viewed as being a wheel when he was just a cog before, because his wife is no longer treated as the girl boss by their social group. This leads to envy and resentment in the home, leading to divorce. I've seen this happen in every case I've witnessed.
Look guys, if you raise your status at work then you need to reset your status at home too. Most can’t and the home falls apart.
Anyhow, this is my view from over at Team Delta.
Very helpful! Thank you