Just changed by Diary Settings/Goals UP! Bulking or Reset??

KickboxDiva

Good evening. Don't have much to report that's exciting but it should be expected. Lots of parties = unknown macros= scale gains. I'm 177.6 today. I'm really looking forward to structure. I've been tracking about 2200 but I really don't know since so much is eating out Ect. I'm not thrilled to see that number but thankful it happened towards the end of my bulk. I've tried to choose only " worth it" foods so I at least feel good about having enjoyed things I wanted and i think it will help with the stricter low sodium diet I'm planning. My husband went to the gym w me this week and reported, " some of the scale gains are muscle for sure". He said I'm growing in a good way so that's good. My waist feels squishy and doesn't look Great wearing my weight training belt but I feel good dressed. On the home stretch. I hope hope hope the reset was long enough and effective. I'm not sure how to tell when it's been long enough. My mental is good. I feel positive about the decision I made. You can't diet 365 days a year.

retirehappy

Thanks for the update. I like following others journey. The mental thing seems to be a big part of this method.

heybales

Realistic perspective. And that's what's nice with proper view - once you start the deficit - nothing says after 4 weeks when you know there will be a week of family visits and tough to be accurate meals - you take a diet break purposely.

I've known some that have pretty good yearly schedules like that and plan it out. If too much stretch between non-diet weeks - another is thrown in somewhere.

KickboxDiva

Starting the cut.. Cleaned out the pantry, fridge and freezer. Using the last of the frozen fish and veggies ect this week then I'll be meal prepping. I've been at 2400 and I intended to go to about 1900. Accidentally ended my day around 1600 and I feel like I'm starving. Lol I'm starting a bit up from holidays. 178. I'll be scaling back on the weights, adding in more reps and old school cardio between sets. I'm also cutting 1 weight training day and increasing 1 cardio day. That will put me 3 days lift 3 cardio only. I'm looking to hit a 500 cal burn on my fitbit those cardio days minimum and keep my food deficit to no more that 500 to average a pound a week. Wish me luck. Here's to hoping my reset worked and I can get to sub 20% body fat

heybales

I'd suggest don't go making vast changes to all potential variables at once - which you are.

If you think you were anywhere near TDEE with routine you had - you just changed the routine. TDEE is no longer valid.

Like if your lifting was heavy - the mere inclusion of cardio between sets will ruin that ability because it impacts recovery to go as heavy on next set.
If you can't go as heavy or make progress with more weight - you are no longer putting a load on the muscles that demands improvement - but rather the cardio system.

And changing from 1 day weights to cardio changes the TDEE too.

So you are doing a 20% deficit from old eating level which I guess you are assuming is TDEE, while at the same time increasing the TDEE and therefore the deficit to more than 20%.

So just wanted to share the math if you didn't do back of envelope at least to see it in writing.

This is almost sounding like the combo that gets people in trouble - big changes to eating less and moving more.

Suggest you keep manually logging the lifting in Fitbit so you get decent estimates of TDEE in the weekly reports, and keep the deficit eating level to whatever is reasonable - which could easily be higher than 1900.

Don't be afraid to change that eating level based on an old estimated figure that no longer applies.

You can do.

KickboxDiva

Yes, I know you are right. It's hard not to go back to old habits and force a quick change. My trainer and even my husband a little are skeptical of my attempt to reset. They are old school and I did gain some weight so I'm really eager to prove I was right with my new science. But I do want to be long term successful. It's part of the struggle ... not to just go at it.

KickboxDiva

I'm also considering taking the 3500 weekly deficit and splitting it so it's much lower deficit on weightlifting days and more on rest & cardio. When I do cardio it's pretty light, measuring 500 on the fitbit burn, so it's easier to eat less those days.

heybales

That is a valid way of doing it.
Eating a set TDEE-deficit goal means literally on some days bigger deficit than other days. There is nothing wrong with setting that up in the first place.

And recovery cardio is indeed higher % fat burn than intense - so bigger deficit that day not so bad.

But if willing to take bigger deficit, should also be willing to take no deficit on a day that could use it - perhaps that is the day after the biggest lifting day - or both. If lifting in the morning, then that day could be TDEE day. Rest day minor deficit, cardio day bigger deficit.

KickboxDiva

Update: Started my cut 1/1. Yesterday I went to my trainer and we did baseline measurements to start the cut using the 7 point pinch. He hasn't talked much about scale weight and knew I was in a reverse/ bulking phase. I stepped on the scale and was 5 lbs up from summer ( last time we did body fat testing). I knew it, planned it, but still hated to see it. However, the body fat measurements were down 3.5%!!! Yay. I'm so excited to see some proof. I saw new muscles in the mirror but the number on the scale was in my head. I'm feeling very motivated to stay the course and lean out to see all the awesome new muscle I've been building this year.

jerilynconn

KickboxDiva wrote: »

Update: Started my cut 1/1. Yesterday I went to my trainer and we did baseline measurements to start the cut using the 7 point pinch. He hasn't talked much about scale weight and knew I was in a reverse/ bulking phase. I stepped on the scale and was 5 lbs up from summer ( last time we did body fat testing). I knew it, planned it, but still hated to see it. However, the body fat measurements were down 3.5%!!! Yay. I'm so excited to see some proof. I saw new muscles in the mirror but the number on the scale was in my head. I'm feeling very motivated to stay the course and lean out to see all the awesome new muscle I've been building this year.

Awesome!!!

Makes me want to get bodyfat tested but i am unsure of what kind. We live in a teeny, tiny town way a way from everything so probably no options here. And I don't want to spend a lot of money.

KickboxDiva

We've been using calipers for 2 years. I don't worry so much with the number as the trend. It's been my trainer doing it each time so the trend down should be accurate. Any one can measure w calipers but skill comes into play. I'd love to get a bod pod but there's none near me I guess.

retirehappy

KickboxDiva wrote: »

Update: Started my cut 1/1. Yesterday I went to my trainer and we did baseline measurements to start the cut using the 7 point pinch. He hasn't talked much about scale weight and knew I was in a reverse/ bulking phase. I stepped on the scale and was 5 lbs up from summer ( last time we did body fat testing). I knew it, planned it, but still hated to see it. However, the body fat measurements were down 3.5%!!! Yay. I'm so excited to see some proof. I saw new muscles in the mirror but the number on the scale was in my head. I'm feeling very motivated to stay the course and lean out to see all the awesome new muscle I've been building this year.

Congrats, that is awesome. Great way to start out a new year

heybales

Ditto's to several potential 5% accurate methods being averaged together.
Calipers in skilled hands.
Couple measurement methods using many body parts.
BIA scale used with correct hydration level.

Usually the least accurate method shows the most change.

jennytree

Best of luck with the cut - sounds like you're on the right path, excited for you

KickboxDiva

Notes: it's been one week. I started a bit up from holidays 178 ( normal is 172-175). I thought it was just an upswing that wold fall off but I guess it was a hard gain since a week after Christmas it was still there. Anyways, I lost 3 lbs this week. 175lbs. My deficit was 3250 calories. So I concluded that I lost a couple of pounds of glucose/ water weight and maybe a pound of "loss". Next week should be telling. Keeping at it.

heybales

Great job holding to it, and getting expected results.

And aren't you glad you didn't have those Fritos the day before weigh-in? ;-)

KickboxDiva

Got my call from my macro coach yesterday. We are going more aggressive but just for 8 weeks. My numbers for now are 1900 on training days 150 protein, 50 fat, 213 carbs. Then on rest days 1650 150/50/150. They also asked me to cut my training down to 3 days. So I can have more days in a deficit. Not sure I can do that so I'm doing 4 w 3 rest days. Rest days include: rest, yoga, or walking. No higher level cardio or weights. I'll check in soon!!

ambsnic17

Good luck!

KickboxDiva

So here I am 1 month into my cut. I started at 178 and weighed in yesterday at 172.4. Which sounds AWESOME but I was 174.5 on Christmas Eve and 172.x during my entire bulk until Christmas to New Year’s. I need to let that go but how the hell I went from 174-178 in one week and it stuck to me is beyond me. OK So that is the LAST time I'm going to complain about that. This is where the hard part is. When you bulk and cut there might not be so much of a scale change but a larger lean tissue change. That's ultimately what I want but much harder to measure yourself so it's easy to get discouraged. I'm waiting to hear back from my macro coach on her take on this but here is my progress so far... I'm eating at a deficit on workout days from my previous TDEE of 500 calories and on my 3 rest days 800 calories. Mathematically that is about 1.25 lb. a week. (But honestly I'm more at a 3500 calorie when I go over a bit here and there) So that's been about 5 weeks and I lost about 5 lbs. On track. The weird thing is I was at the same weight from 1/14 until 2/1 with NO CHANGE AT ALL. I took a high calorie day Friday and had great dinner and yummy chocolate cake and presto!! Monday I was down 2 lbs. So, I'm back to the plan. I've been very sedentary on my 3 rest days. I'm going to try to do a bit better a get more steps in but no high cardio and see where this takes me. I've got about 5 more weeks to go. I'd be thrilled if I lost 5 more pounds. I'll probably wait until the end to do the pinch test. I sure wish I had access to something more accurate but in the end its how your clothes fit anyway and I can tell a difference there already.

ambsnic17

Awesome! It's great to hear your success! Congrats

heybales

Nice hard work.
Strength remaining so far?

Well, actually, on anything that includes your body in the weight lifted - you should have added at least 5 lbs to the bar or kettle ball or whatever.

KickboxDiva

My trainer is keeping up the strength training but it seems like we are going slightly up in weight but down in reps on the major muscle days and on accessory days we do higher reps. Also, first of year he always adds in lots of extra cardio stuff between sets like mountain climbers, jump rope, burpees so it's just a bit different all around.

KickboxDiva

Got a message from my macro coach this week it's time to go to the next step. I'll be decreasing calories to the next level. 1650 for training days and 1450 for rest days. Keeping at 150 protein and 50 fat, adjusting all off carbs. Not looking forward to doing it but hopeful for results. It's just a few weeks then I'll reverse out. I'm at 172 today.

jennytree

Good progress so! Glad to see you're getting results

KickboxDiva

Hi guys- it's been a month since I checked in, work is so busy. I was supposed to cut just 8-10 weeks. I decided to do the maximum since summer is around the corner and I need to have a few spare pounds lost to allow for bounce back upon reverse. So I'm happy and I'm not... I'm at 169.5 today so I lost 2.5 this month. 8.5 total. You can plainly see my metabolism has down regulated to nearly match my food input. So far I've kept my 4 days lifting and typically get in one day 1 hour moderate walk. For the next 2 weeks I'm slightly increasing cardio. A Hitt for 20 mins twice a week after training is my goal. I had hoped to be in the lower 160's at the end of 3 months but life is not textbook and I wasn't 100% compliant to the plan. I have to reverse and eat full tdee for 3 months before another cut so 4-5 months of reverse??? I wish I had not taken so long to get to tdee, wish I had been more compliant.. Lessons to learn. The diet cycle is short so I should have meal prepped and carried a cooler to be successful. I wish I would have embraced the reset and not been timid so I was at very high maintenance calories. When you don't, then once you cut there's no where to go on the deficit so you are forced to end the cut and start over w a reset.

I tracked but still ate out some which makes tracking difficult. But overall I'm happy. I mean it's not like I'm in a competition, I just want to be leaner. Cycle diets are new to me. I think it's easier to by compliant for short bursts like that and then reverse to normal life rather than live on a "diet" where I fail a lot and never lose. So, I see this way works. You do need to rev up your metabolism ( by eating) so that you can eat at a deficit to lose. Keeping my protein to 150grams 50gr fat and restricted carbs was hard for me. Lots of shakes and protein snacks. If I had planned my days in advance I could have done it rather than wing it. This weekend I'll get body fat tested and that will really tell me where I stand. My body fat ratio should be down. Since I ate lots of protein, kept cardio to a minimum, and lifted heavy still my lean mass should not decrease by much. This is where I wish I had access to the nice expensive body fat testing machines instead of just the calipers and In body but it should show a trend even if it's not 100% accurate. I'll share results when I get them. I see the results. Jeans are comfortable, I see muscles in my back, my arms, shoulders, and chest are leaner. I see some more definition in my legs. That part is hard. I had this idea I was going to cut and look like a competitor but that didn't really happen . Guess those girls must starve themselves. That's ok, I'm not willing to do that. I feel pretty good but I felt much better ( awake, no headaches, recover faster, ) on higher calories and do look forward to the reverse. Has anyone else complete a spring cut after reverse/ bulk? I'd love to hear your results.