Reached my desire weight loss...what next? Advice needed

balancedbrunette

Hi guys, I'm not sure if I should PM you or post this on here but I guess any advice will be much appreciated.

As stated I have reached my desired weight loss, when I joined here I was over 9 stone. My weight loss journey was definitely a learning curve as I went from cardio bunny to actually learning about muscle loss and how I should prevent this. I have lost slowly and gradually over a year. I guess I am at the stage now where I am happy with my weight but not exactly my body image, currently 112, from various body fat calculators I've worked it out to be approx 24.5% (perhaps im off) . I was usually eating around 1400 calories while cutting.

Now I think i should be upping my calories a good bit more, however, i'm not sure exactly how to go about this without the concern of putting it back on. I am happy with my body but my tummy area (although it has gone down a lot) still needs a lot of work. Do I need to loose more or just work on strength/bodyweight training?

Below are some pics, I have better ones which I can PM if it would help with giving me some advice. But hopefully these will give some idea.



flexing



And when sitting - this is the problem...





I'm at the stage where I've been cutting for so long that i'm nervous to take the next step, it seems jeuvenile but i would really appreciate some input, i'm at a loss with where to go from here.

Hope the pictures work and thanks for helping.

balancedbrunette

ok pictures don't seem to be working sorry about this will try and fix it.

heybales

How much have you lost the last 3 weeks in total?

How much have you been eating daily in total, on average?

Weight lost (assuming only fat) x 3500 / 21 days = deficit you must have had in place during that time.

Avg eaten daily plus deficit is your maintenance level for whatever the workout routine was during that time.

You should at least regain water weight, some of the exact same water weight you lost when diet started, glucose stores finally topping back off.
Never fear though, that is part of LBM, and actually increases metabolism - so good weight, especially considering working out.

Just wanted to let you start on gathering your stats for math while you get other suggestions on getting rid of the skinny fat problem all too many discover happens.

Picture are just fine, and congrats on reaching goal. Always keep that in mind as you work on other goals. You can reach them with time and effort.
Because I'm sure the coming advice is going to freak you out, and you likely know what it is if you've been reading in here much.

SideSteel

Tagging

balancedbrunette

How much have you lost the last 3 weeks in total?

How much have you been eating daily in total, on average?

Weight lost (assuming only fat) x 3500 / 21 days = deficit you must have had in place during that time.

Avg eaten daily plus deficit is your maintenance level for whatever the workout routine was during that time.

You should at least regain water weight, some of the exact same water weight you lost when diet started, glucose stores finally topping back off.
Never fear though, that is part of LBM, and actually increases metabolism - so good weight, especially considering working out.

Just wanted to let you start on gathering your stats for math while you get other suggestions on getting rid of the skinny fat problem all too many discover happens.

Picture are just fine, and congrats on reaching goal. Always keep that in mind as you work on other goals. You can reach them with time and effort.
Because I'm sure the coming advice is going to freak you out, and you likely know what it is if you've been reading in here much.

The last 3 weeks in total i've lost 1.5lbs...I know doesn't sound a lot but i'm trying to maintain now. Daily on total it has been 1350-1400. Yea I had worked out a deficit of -20% from tdee which was around 1750. I'm gradually trying to introduce more into my diet to get my figures up a bit so I can maintain again .

Thanks for your advice, I know stats are so important and I've discovered myself although I have lost the weight I did not recalculate my stats enough as I was loosing.

Hope I can get more advice from the pics above, I apologise if bumping this thread is not allowed I know you guys have a lot of posts to respond to.

Sarauk2sf

Tagging

SideSteel

1) Are you currently lifting weights and if so, what program are you on? If you are not on a specific program please type out what your routine is.

2) What is your height?

ghfit

Sorry, just marking as I would love to see advice,

balancedbrunette

1) Are you currently lifting weights and if so, what program are you on? If you are not on a specific program please type out what your routine is.

2) What is your height?

I'm not. My workout consists of a mixture of Julian Michaels 3;2;1 circuits 3 times a week (weights im using are 1.58kg). I do one hour of kickboxing on a monday (classes will be on a break for 6 weeks soon) and lately have just started incorporating more bodyweight exercises using the You Are Your Own Gym app for half an hour 2 nights a week.

I take it what i'm doing is not effective strength training exercise at all and looking for advice on whether I should start a proper program?

I'm 5ft3.

prattiger65

I will let more knowledgeable people advise you on what to do next. I just wanted to say " Well Done". I figure I am probably past my goal weight weight and will have to bulk and cut...rinse and repeat to get back to it.

Sarauk2sf

Do you have access to a gym? If not, what equipment do you have access to?

balancedbrunette

Well i was holding out until I returned to college in september as I have free gym access but i'm considering pricing it in my local town just to see - if this is my only possible way to weight train effectively.

Would not have any weight training equipment otherwise apart from a pullup bar at home. I know there is an outdoor gym park near here that has machines such as the pullup, shoulder press and leg extension...thats about it though.

PriceK01

Congratulations on reaching your goal weight!!

Your pictures look about like mine when I was close to goal weight and before I started lifting. Sounds like we were doing pretty much the same thing. I was also around 1400 calories. Once close to goal, I bumped it up to 1700 and began barbell training following the Starting Strength novice program. I was nervous about upping my calories, but I've not gained (in fact lost a couple more pounds), but my measurements and appearance have greatly improved. I'm thinking some more substantial strength training would benefit you, too, but will defer to our experts

Sarauk2sf

One more question. Are you looking to gain more muscle or just lose the extra bit of fat you have on your stomach?

balancedbrunette

Thanks PriceK01, still nervous bumping aswell but i've definitely increased my intake this past month, at approx 1600 now, thanks for your advice, appreciate it!

One more question. Are you looking to gain more muscle or just lose the extra bit of fat you have on your stomach?

Main concern at the moment is to loose the extra bit of fat on my stomach.

Sarauk2sf

To lose that you will have to lose more body fat, which means either eating at a deficit or eating at maintenance and recomping. As you can have 'newbie' gains, I would take advantage of them and stay at a deficit for a bit longer, at least until you can get access to a gym and have lifted for a month or two. If you get too thin for your liking, then just switch to maintenance.

Check out Convict Conditioning (you can find examples of the routines on YouTube). You should then start a good progressive loading strength routine like AllPro when you have access to a gym.

The AllPro routine can be found here: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=4195843&page=1

balancedbrunette

To lose that you will have to lose more body fat, which means either eating at a deficit or eating at maintenance and recomping. As you can have 'newbie' gains, I would take advantage of them and stay at a deficit for a bit longer, at least until you can get access to a gym and have lifted for a month or two. If you get too thin for your liking, then just switch to maintenance.

Check out Convict Conditioning (you can find examples of the routines on YouTube). You should then start a good progressive loading strength routine like AllPro when you have access to a gym.

The AllPro routine can be found here: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=4195843&page=1

Was away for the week so only seeing this now, sorry for bumping the thread.

Being honest the only reason I'm afraid to eat at a further deficit is because i've lost a lot of weight on my boobs and I don't want to loose an awful lot more so going to start lifting as soon as possible.

Thanks very much for the advice and the above routine.