30-40 pounds to loose
Expatmommy79
Posts: 940 Member
I've been playing with the idea of starting strong lifts... I have a good 30-40 pounds to loose.
Should I start SL now or wait to get closer to goal weight?
I'm 36, 5'2' and 182 pounds. I do about an hour of biking/walking a day. 2x a week I also do 30min boxing with a trainer, and 2x a week I play golf for an hour.
Should I start SL now or wait to get closer to goal weight?
I'm 36, 5'2' and 182 pounds. I do about an hour of biking/walking a day. 2x a week I also do 30min boxing with a trainer, and 2x a week I play golf for an hour.
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Replies
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Lift now. Don't wait. As you lose the weight you will have a good base of muscle to reveal.0
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I began strength training a month after I committed to a deficit, with 60-70 pounds to lose. I've lost 30-ish and am SO HAPPY that I didn't wait. I wear sizes that I couldn't get into at the same weight, previously. Your body is "tighter" when you preserve muscle. Now, I'm not lean...yet. It's cool that I'm more than 10 lbs heavier than I was the last time I could button some of the pants that I can button up, now. More than that, you feel really good. Being able to lift heavy things around the house, without struggling, is an amazing boost to the psyche. I move in a more confident manner along with feeling more sure of myself.
This is a personal thing, but I have very elderly dogs. They're pretty large at 95 and 70 pounds. I used to worry if something happened to them on a walk (loose dogs and such). How would I get them home? In the minivan to the vet? I can lift them just fine, now. The 95 guy isn't very cooperative but I can carry him to a helpful neighbor. I can carry my 70 pounder without a problem. I have kids who weigh less than my big guy and now I know that I can get them to a safe place if something weird happens. I never want to experience that, but I'm not nervous that I can't get them to help anymore.0 -
Thanks both for your replies.
Do I continue with walking/cycling/Pilates/golf while starting SL? Just do what I'm comfortable with? And it's ok to keep eating at a deficit?
I'm averaging a loss of 0.5/week eating about 1400/ day on exercise days. It's very very slow.... But I will have a hard time eating less as it is...0 -
working out while eating at deficit isn't going to kill you or do any physical damage, afaik. the only thing is that it might limit your rate of progress with stronglifts after a while. i was on a fairly steep deficit and doing all kinds of biking at the same time when i first started to lift. all that happened was i stopped getting anywhere wrt actual strength, after a couple of months.
so personally i gave up on the dieting and went for strength ;-) but each person is different and you can do whatever you prefer for yourself. one good note in favour of starting strength work now: if you're carrying an extra 30/40 pounds around right now, you're ALREADY strong. it would be a shame to throw that muscle away by dieting without doing any strength work to make sure your body keeps it.0 -
I didn't always eat at a deficit while doing SL because I had trouble eating so little while lifting. I'm 46 & 5'2" so my deficit is 1300ish to lose .5lb/wk. You will get hungry after lifting. Keep your protein up, it helps. I was probably eating around maintenance calories for 7 months & my weight would go down & then go back up. I had less than 20lbs to lose & I carry weight in lower body. I'll tell you what worked for me, I started doing intermittent fasting which helps me keep to my deficit. Though, it's not necessary if you can keep your deficit without IF. Once I stayed at or under my goal the weight came off. Since I'm lifting heavy while losing I'm losing fat and preserving muscle. I've lost a total of 14.5 lbs since January, half of that was lost in the last 3 months. So, yes, you can lift in a deficit & lose weight. You will retain water at first and get DOMS and your weight may appear to go up-it's just water and part of the process. Stay the course!0
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No problem doing cardio on days you don't lift. Especially walking & Pilates. You may not be fully recovered from lifting to cycle & box once the weights start getting heavy. I assume that you eat some exercise calories back. 1400 seems low for you & you are active.0
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Expatmommy79, we are the same height. My weight is 135 lbs. I want to get down to about 115 lbs. I am planning to start the program this coming Monday or the following Monday as it all depends on when I get all my equipment set up. I just ordered a power rack and a bench that has to be put together. I look forward watching your journey. I am so excited about starting this program.0
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I started at 140 in January. At 111 now. And I haven't been trying to lose weight consistently for the whole year...0
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I added strength when I had 50 lbs to lose (still have 20 to go), and I'm really glad I did. It's helped with daily life (current goal is to be able to lift my 70lb senior dog into the car), and it's helped with the cardio (running/biking).
Just make sure you aren't skimping on protein, pay attention when your body needs a rest, and you'll be fine.0 -
Thanks all.
I have spoken to my trainer... I think he is nervous for us to do SL since he isn't familiar with it at all. For now we will spend the next month doing some sort of strength training. Once I get my confidence up on the program and can better explain it to him why it is good/better than high rep low weight exercises we will start then. At latest I hope it to be in March. I will give him 10 weeks to work his program.
I am in a small town in Africa so unfortunately am limited to the 1 gym and 1 trainer. He is open to learning so that's good... I'm just not sure I know enough to be the one to teach it to him.0 -
it's kind of nice to hear about a trainer who realises his own limits, although i guess it's frustrating for you. i do think that beats getting set up for injury and bad form habits by someone who doesn't know what they're doing but thinks they do.
advice from me that you didn't ask for: ask him to find you exercises that will develop your core (abs, psoas, obliques, quadratus lumbothingy, lats), posterior chain muscles(hamstrings and bum) and your hip openers (more glutes, but also glute medius and minimus). upper back is good too - rhomboids, rear shoulder girdle and spinal erectors. separate from pure strength is teaching your body and mind the habits of 'engaging' the muscles you want when you want them engaged.
all of this will help you with form and stability when you do come to doing the more compound lifts. you can do them anyway, but the little specific muscle groups often make a big difference in the quality of your form.
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canadianlbs wrote: »it's kind of nice to hear about a trainer who realises his own limits, although i guess it's frustrating for you. i do think that beats getting set up for injury and bad form habits by someone who doesn't know what they're doing but thinks they do.
advice from me that you didn't ask for: ask him to find you exercises that will develop your core (abs, psoas, obliques, quadratus lumbothingy, lats), posterior chain muscles(hamstrings and bum) and your hip openers (more glutes, but also glute medius and minimus). upper back is good too - rhomboids, rear shoulder girdle and spinal erectors. separate from pure strength is teaching your body and mind the habits of 'engaging' the muscles you want when you want them engaged.
all of this will help you with form and stability when you do come to doing the more compound lifts. you can do them anyway, but the little specific muscle groups often make a big difference in the quality of your form.
Thank you! He is a qualified trainer from South Africa... He knows technique and is incorporating all the big muscle groups... He just hasn't heard of 5x5 and why it may be more effective than 15-12-10 or other methods. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and then basically run 5x5 from the ap and ask him to help with my form and pushing me to increase weights / evaluate when I should increase etc.
I did an upper body work out with him Friday and was still sore this morning (Monday) so I will take that as a win. I am very weak from three back to back bed rest pregnancies so am happy to oblige him for now
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