Staying Lean
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from an old guy... stay "pretty lean" because as you age, it gets harder to lean down. stay the course on your exercise. settle that now. its just life and how it rolls...i will exercise. that too gets hard to embark on as you age.
so much easier to get that 10 pounds off than to get the 30, 40 or 50.
Best Wishes! 6 -
A few months ago, I was able to get down to 20% BF and i looked and felt awesome!! (Minus the hunger and some fatigue). But I've put some body fat back on and I'm feeling discouraged. Is it unrealistic to try and maintain that leanness? And how do I keep from feeling bummed when things change.
No, not at all. 20% BF isn't impossibly lean for a woman at all. I sit right around that/a smidge under and still get to eat ~1800 calls/day at maintenance, and at 5'1", I'm pretty small.
Having said that, it doesn't sound like it's something you in particular are comfortable attaining/maintaining, so maybe for you specifically it's unrealistic - which is fine and totally cool, you shouldn't be miserable. But, for the general public, 20% BF is not a crazy lean number to maintain.
20% is pretty hard for me to maintain0 -
Anyway, if you want to hold your current weight are the calories a bit higher than when you were maintaining at 20%? I find that if you eat in maintenance and focus on gym performance, the physique starts to come with it. You can recomp a bit and enjoy food.
Yeah, that's really my best bet. While cutting, I got down to a miserable 1,200-1,300 calories a day! My maintenance level is 1,600-1,800 with the occasional 2,000-2,300 on the weekends. But I just look "softer," and "puffier."
FWIW -
There's a big difference energy-balance-wise in cutting on 1200-1300 consistently, and maintaining on 1600-1800 with the occasional 2000+ day. Looking at round numbers, that's some 3000 additional cals each week. That's meaningful.
I would also wonder if water retention/dehydration played a role in looking lean vs softer/puffier... i.e. is it a matter of losing/keeping leanness, or is it a matter of staying "dry"?
This is a really good point. Last week I went from a lower calorie/lower carb two week cut up to just under maintenance calories. The scale is up several lbs this week. There is no way that is fat gain, but I'm way squishier. The big differences were higher carbs and sodium. I think playing around with sodium levels is definitely worth a try.
Yep. Low carb makes me feel and look lean. Also weak af lol4 -
A few months ago, I was able to get down to 20% BF and i looked and felt awesome!! (Minus the hunger and some fatigue). But I've put some body fat back on and I'm feeling discouraged. Is it unrealistic to try and maintain that leanness? And how do I keep from feeling bummed when things change.
Unrealistic? No. But it would likely require work...perhaps more than you're willing to do, which is fine. The important thing is to maintain a healthy BF%, not necessarily be as lean as possible.
I maintain pretty easily at around 12-15% BF which is healthy, but I'm not super lean, 6 pack, all that jazz. I can maintain below that, but it requires me to do more than I've been willing to do and it's not hugely important to me so long as I'm healthy and looking fit and healthy.6 -
Ironandwine69 wrote: »Anyway, if you want to hold your current weight are the calories a bit higher than when you were maintaining at 20%? I find that if you eat in maintenance and focus on gym performance, the physique starts to come with it. You can recomp a bit and enjoy food.
Yeah, that's really my best bet. While cutting, I got down to a miserable 1,200-1,300 calories a day! My maintenance level is 1,600-1,800 with the occasional 2,000-2,300 on the weekends. But I just look "softer," and "puffier."
FWIW -
There's a big difference energy-balance-wise in cutting on 1200-1300 consistently, and maintaining on 1600-1800 with the occasional 2000+ day. Looking at round numbers, that's some 3000 additional cals each week. That's meaningful.
I would also wonder if water retention/dehydration played a role in looking lean vs softer/puffier... i.e. is it a matter of losing/keeping leanness, or is it a matter of staying "dry"?
This is a really good point. Last week I went from a lower calorie/lower carb two week cut up to just under maintenance calories. The scale is up several lbs this week. There is no way that is fat gain, but I'm way squishier. The big differences were higher carbs and sodium. I think playing around with sodium levels is definitely worth a try.
Yep. Low carb makes me feel and look lean. Also weak af lol
Yes, there is that. I'm more than willing to figure out how to lower sodium, but I'm keeping my carbs.0 -
Since one of your goals is to build up the glutes, perhaps rather than focusing on getting back down in weight and getting leaner, maybe eating at maintenance and doing more lower focused training you can recomp, and even if you gain a little extra it won't be the end of the world (and may even be a good thing!). Then if you have a vacation, special event, etc you can focus on leaning down again. So basically you are going between focusing on growth/bodybuilding/performance, and then being lean for short periods of time. I don't know where you live, but you can also cycle between being more lean for hotter months, then a bit heavier (less lean) during the cool ones. Whatever you prefer.
That is what I would do vs. trying to be very lean all the time.10 -
about two years ago I got down to 12-14% body fat range...ran a couple bulk/cut cycles and was hitting macros/micros spot on. About a year ago, my girlfriend moved down to Fla along with her son, and since then it has been harder to be spot on with accuracy of logging, so I have just been intuitively eating and maintaining at about 180# and probably 15-16% body fat ....I also like to eat and enjoy the occasional, or not so occasional alcoholic beverage. I might try to get sub 15% again, we will see ..
To answer your question, it does require dedication and spot on training and micro/macro adherence to maintain a certain level of leanness...2 -
Since one of your goals is to build up the glutes, perhaps rather than focusing on getting back down in weight and getting leaner, maybe eating at maintenance and doing more lower focused training you can recomp, and even if you gain a little extra it won't be the end of the world (and may even be a good thing!). Then if you have a vacation, special event, etc you can focus on leaning down again. So basically you are going between focusing on growth/bodybuilding/performance, and then being lean for short periods of time. I don't know where you live, but you can also cycle between being more lean for hotter months, then a bit heavier (less lean) during the cool ones. Whatever you prefer.
That is what I would do vs. trying to be very lean all the time.
This sounds like a great plan!2 -
Ironandwine69 wrote: »A few months ago, I was able to get down to 20% BF and i looked and felt awesome!! (Minus the hunger and some fatigue). But I've put some body fat back on and I'm feeling discouraged. Is it unrealistic to try and maintain that leanness? And how do I keep from feeling bummed when things change.
No, not at all. 20% BF isn't impossibly lean for a woman at all. I sit right around that/a smidge under and still get to eat ~1800 calls/day at maintenance, and at 5'1", I'm pretty small.
Having said that, it doesn't sound like it's something you in particular are comfortable attaining/maintaining, so maybe for you specifically it's unrealistic - which is fine and totally cool, you shouldn't be miserable. But, for the general public, 20% BF is not a crazy lean number to maintain.
20% is pretty hard for me to maintain
Ok. 1 -
To be fair my only experience of this kind of process is YouTube fitness channels but it seems like people who go for this kind of physique do it intermittently and it's project based, not an all the time lifestyle affair.6
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Totally hear you.
Love (and relate to) the "jellybean" focus. That was me during my successful weight loss - when my exercise was moderate and a lower priority, and all of my attention and commitment was on diet. I rejected the symbolic jellybeans too!
But I find I always have to choose. I can't bring that 100% game to my diet AND bring 100% game to my fitness goals. I can have more moderate / less hard goals for BOTH diet and fitness, or intense, hard goals for either / or. But I've only got 100% to play with. So... the more challenging my one goal (currently: fitness is taking 75%), the less focus, energy and drive I seem to have for the other (25% is left for diet).
At this point, I'm really, really into feeling strong and achieving my fitness goals. I'm killing it. But also... eating like 2750 calories a day and sorry-not-sorry about it. I'm 5 lbs above where I feel like I "should" be (10 over my low-low weight, achieved in the 90%-95% diet-focused phase).
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I got down to about 20% bf. It was fun to be the leanest I'd ever been...for about a month. Gym performance started to suffer. I switched my focus to training for a pl competition.
I'm maybe 23% bf now, which is still very lean by "normal" standards..and I've added 100+lbs to my total. 3% extra is totally worth it.3 -
20% isn't really lean so it will be maintainable if you have your intake/expenditure in check.4
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I think it may not be sustainable depending on the time you want to spend. I think for my own life enjoyment I prefer to be less strict with my food and I do not do a massive amount of exercise.
when I was younger I was doing sport on a competitive level and hence I was quiet lean but the sport I did had weight categories and there is quiet'some'pressure to be low on weight.
now I am at 51 kg was gaining to 58 due to pcos and fertility treatment. while I liked how I looked at 48 and how fit I felt I dont think I have the time to train so much 2 to 3 hours a day and I want to eat some of the foods that I did not eat at that time like cake or chocolate. so being that lean is not achievable for me for the effort that I am willing to put into this at this point of my life
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I would stick to what you can comfortably maintain. If you want to drop your bf%, it takes a entire lifestyle change to hold it there, and it's usually not fun. Everybody's weight fluctuates(: 12% is where I'm at 80% of the year. Still gotta cut once in a while, just to remind yourself that it's achievable1
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I've never really been able to find that happy medium point to stay at. When I'm lean enough to see my abs and I like how I look in the mirror I feel weak and tired. When I'm heavier I feel puffy, slow, and bloated. I recently did a 15lbs bulk and I didn't enjoy the feeling of eating in a surplus or having the extra weight on. Now I'm trying to cut back down to my prebulk weight. My original goal was 175-180lbs but I've never gotten below 184-186 even at my leanest.0
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deputy_randolph wrote: »I got down to about 20% bf. It was fun to be the leanest I'd ever been...for about a month. Gym performance started to suffer. I switched my focus to training for a pl competition.
I'm maybe 23% bf now, which is still very lean by "normal" standards..and I've added 100+lbs to my total. 3% extra is totally worth it.
I hear ya! Especially mornings for me... During a cut, I wake up feeling like I never slept. And I survive off of espresso! Lol! My workouts feel cumbersom and I don't get a great pump like when I'm running off of good fuel.
I heard a quote last night in this "America Ninja Warrior," inspired show... the guy said, "I'd rather be able to do really awesome and challenging things then look good." And I think I need to shift my mindset more in that direction. And like you guys have said, maybe do a cut now and then just for the sake of good life discipline.
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After few years of up and down weight I decided that I will focus on the lowest weight I can happily maintain. It isn't as low as I was hoping it will be. But I can't go on trying to hard and not being able to sustain it again
I read this quote and it was life changing for me! I am at my best weight. I have been lower weight before, but I wasn't as happy as I am not and I was not able to sustain it and enjoy my life as much as I do now
Dr Yoni Freedhoff
""Best weight” is a non-statistical goal that is easy to set and easy to explain to patients. Patients can diet themselves down to any weight they put their minds to, but to maintain that weight, they need to actually enjoy the lifestyle that got them there.
A patient’s best weight is therefore whatever weight they achieve while living the healthiest lifestyle they can truly enjoy. There comes a point when a person cannot eat less or exercise more and still like their life. The weight they attain while still liking their life is thus their “best” weight, as without the addition of pharmacotherapy or a surgical intervention, no further weight loss will be possible.
We need to remember that in modern society, eating is not simply about survival. We use food for comfort and for celebration and, with the exception of religious prohibitions, there should be no forbidden foods. If your patient cannot use food to comfort or celebrate, or if they consider certain foods “forbidden,” then they are likely on a diet, and unfortunately diets are known to fail over 95% of the time. For sustainable weight management, a patient should be consuming the smallest number of calories that still allows them to enjoy each day. Some days will simply warrant more calories, such as birthdays, anniversaries, religious holidays, and days when injuries, illness or fights with loved ones occur. Simply put, ice-cream and cookies and their cultural and ethnic equivalents are vital parts of a rich life experience.
With exercise, a patient should be encouraged to be as physically active as possible and include as much additional exercise as they can enjoy each day. Some days obviously will allow for more activity than others, but there is a maximum, above which the patient would run out of time or energy, hurt themselves or come to hate exercise. That is when they quit. Eating less and exercising more within the context of a life the patient does not enjoy is the very definition of a diet, which is why diets almost always fail over the long-term. If a patient does not enjoy the way they are living while they are losing weight, they will almost certainly revert to “normal” practices and gain the weight back."16 -
I love that @HappyGrape ! I am at my "Best Weight" right now too. And your best weight could change through different phases of your life.3
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Love that @HappyGrape thanks for sharing!!!!1
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