July Q and A
SideSteel
Posts: 11,068 Member
Got any general questions?
Feel free to drop them in here and I will take a look as time permits!
Feel free to drop them in here and I will take a look as time permits!
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Replies
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I've been weight training for 6 weeks (doing the Body Beast DVD program). I'm also doing cardio for 20-30 minutes most days (spin bike and walk/run).
I've lost 0.5 lb and 1" despite sticking pretty well to my calories (i.e. went over goal 7 days in June including a short holiday where I ate at maintenance).
Whenever I've started weight training in the past, my weight loss seems to stop or I even gain a couple pounds and I give up after two or three weeks. I'm determined to stick it out this time.
My questions . . . in your experience, how long does initial water retention usually last when beginning a program?
I'm aiming for a 500-calorie deficit each day through diet/exercise. Is it time to drop my calories slightly (BMR must be miscalculated or I'd be losing) or should I just hang in there longer so I can build some muscle for the duration of this program (strength is progressing slowly week to week)?
I'm 42, 5'8", and 184.5 lbs. Weight goal is 135-145. Thanks in advance for any advice!0 -
What's your average calorie intake and how's your satiety been the past couple of weeks?0
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Also I'm not asking net intake, I'm asking average calories consumed0
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Gotcha. Avg calories consumed for each of the last six weeks: 1830, 1618, 1678, 2162, 1766, 1635 = 1781.5 avg over the 6 weeks
I'd say satiety is good. I feel like I'm eating as much as I need to eat. I would be hungry if I ate less, but maybe that's what I need to get used to. My diet choices are ever improving. It's a struggle.0 -
RunRachelleRun wrote: »Gotcha. Avg calories consumed for each of the last six weeks: 1830, 1618, 1678, 2162, 1766, 1635 = 1781.5 avg over the 6 weeks
I'd say satiety is good. I feel like I'm eating as much as I need to eat. I would be hungry if I ate less, but maybe that's what I need to get used to. My diet choices are ever improving. It's a struggle.
I would consider making a 10% reduction and observe what happens over the next two weeks.
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Will do. Thank you!0
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I've been a cyclist for about 5 years, and started Stronglifts 5x5 just a few months ago. I've got a Century ride coming up in August. I feel like I need to cut back on lifting while I train for the ride, but don't want to lose my progress. Is it best to cut back on weight, cut back on frequency (once or twice a week instead of three times a week) or some other strategy? I am a 57 year old female, 5'6", 125 lbs.
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I'm working on my dead hang pull-up. I can do a few at almost full rom, but that bottom bit just isn't happening. To work on my lat engagement I've been doing lat pull downs, but I think there's an imbalance...my right shoulder feels more lax, harder to engage than my left. What's the best way to correct this?0
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Lisa_Ookoo wrote: »I've been a cyclist for about 5 years, and started Stronglifts 5x5 just a few months ago. I've got a Century ride coming up in August. I feel like I need to cut back on lifting while I train for the ride, but don't want to lose my progress. Is it best to cut back on weight, cut back on frequency (once or twice a week instead of three times a week) or some other strategy? I am a 57 year old female, 5'6", 125 lbs.
Best bet would be to integrate resistance training with the cycling in such a way that they don't interfere as much.
I'd suspect Alex Viadas book would do a much better job at this than I would but since he's not here in this thread, and you might not have his book:
I would probably start bringing volume down first. Go to 3x5 instead of 5x5.
At some point presumably your cycling volume will increase enough that dropping a day out of your lifting might be a great move for overall recovery.
So as you get closer to the competition you'd be on 3x5 twice/week.
Probably 2-3 weeks out I would drop lifting entirely assuming performance at the race matters to you.
Others can certainly chime in if you're an experienced dual athlete.
Overall idea though is to train less with weights as the cycling training grows.0 -
I'm working on my dead hang pull-up. I can do a few at almost full rom, but that bottom bit just isn't happening. To work on my lat engagement I've been doing lat pull downs, but I think there's an imbalance...my right shoulder feels more lax, harder to engage than my left. What's the best way to correct this?
A few things:
1) I'm not entirely sure I understand the issue.
2) I'm not sure it's problematic as it's totally normal to have minor asymmetries and to struggle at the bottom of a chin up
But
3) typically when a muscle imbalance exists you are best off training it unilaterally (single arm in this case) on both sides and let the weak side dictate volume/intensity.0 -
Lisa_Ookoo wrote: »I've been a cyclist for about 5 years, and started Stronglifts 5x5 just a few months ago. I've got a Century ride coming up in August. I feel like I need to cut back on lifting while I train for the ride, but don't want to lose my progress. Is it best to cut back on weight, cut back on frequency (once or twice a week instead of three times a week) or some other strategy? I am a 57 year old female, 5'6", 125 lbs.
Best bet would be to integrate resistance training with the cycling in such a way that they don't interfere as much.
I'd suspect Alex Viadas book would do a much better job at this than I would but since he's not here in this thread, and you might not have his book:
I would probably start bringing volume down first. Go to 3x5 instead of 5x5.
At some point presumably your cycling volume will increase enough that dropping a day out of your lifting might be a great move for overall recovery.
So as you get closer to the competition you'd be on 3x5 twice/week.
Probably 2-3 weeks out I would drop lifting entirely assuming performance at the race matters to you.
Others can certainly chime in if you're an experienced dual athlete.
Overall idea though is to train less with weights as the cycling training grows.
Thank you! Sounds like good advice. I hadn't heard of Alex Viada so I googled him and read a few articles about him.0 -
I am so glad for both of these questions because I can relate to both! The responses were helpful.
First, I'm 37, 5'7", 179#. I've lost 57# since oct using mfp and lifting 2x/week with a trainer. Ive also started training for a half coming up in oct about 4-5 weeks ago. Weekly mileage is up to 11mpw, and will go as high as 22 before it's over. Goal weight is around 160.
My losses have really slowed to a painful creep over the last 2-3 months (which is part of why I'm doing the half- to have a non scale, personally rewarding goal). I felt like my food was under control and my Journaling was mostly on point, so I pulled my numbers for the last 90 days and did the math. Mfp says i should average 1650/day and my actuals are around 1800/day. While most days are at or below my allowance, I was over on 30 days-11of them pretty significantly. So I've launched a renewed effort on that front to try to be more cognizant of my daily allowance. #eatcrow #dataispriceless
But this doesn't make sense to me. 1800 is still 350 below what should be my maintenance calories, so I should still have seen some losses. Except I've maintained my weight eating around 1800/day for the last 2 months My maintenance surely cant be that low, could it? And as my mileage (and hunger) increases, I'm going to have an issue sticking to 1650/day. I'm at a loss as to what i should do on this one. Maybe my focus just needs to be on my race and i should be happy even maintaining my weight while training.
Any thoughts?
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Some suggestions I've applied successfully to lifting and cycling, beyond the great points SS mentioned.
Indeed keep the intensity. Lyle McDonald mentions doing about 1/3 of what got you to where you are, to maintain. But only drop frequency or duration - not intensity (weight on bar).
So to SS suggestion of dropping reps, and duration to 1 x weekly eventually may be needed.
At some point - it just becomes difficult to keep more than 1 x weekly lower body lifting in there - without just negatively effecting everything.
Keep the upper body going though, for sure. Time is probably factor there though.
You may get by with 2 x weekly, with reduced sets, may have time for short ride in there.
So for instance if you do long ride on Sat, rest day on Sun (perhaps upper?), then do lower lifts on Monday.
Tue is rest day (or upper?) or an easy ride to aid recovery - if you can really force yourself to do an easy ride. I never could, group rides forget it, even by myself just enjoyed pushing too much. So better for me to take rest day to actually recover properly from the lifting.
So that means the shorter rides on Wed, Thu, or Fri, with Fri proceeding long Saturday perhaps rest day (upper?), if you can't keep it calm.
But if you can make Wed an interval day, perhaps hill sprints - this will nicely replace lifting for sport specific muscles. Actually, running hill sprints helps biking too, and perhaps more control over timing to really benefit from it.
That depends on your terrain and ability to connect together enough hills for bike to be meaningful.
Last suggestion is for week prior, if in diet, come out - you really want all the extra glucose stores in muscles you can get. Don't even weigh that week if concerned, just water weight.0 -
I am so glad for both of these questions because I can relate to both! The responses were helpful.
First, I'm 37, 5'7", 179#. I've lost 57# since oct using mfp and lifting 2x/week with a trainer. Ive also started training for a half coming up in oct about 4-5 weeks ago. Weekly mileage is up to 11mpw, and will go as high as 22 before it's over. Goal weight is around 160.
My losses have really slowed to a painful creep over the last 2-3 months (which is part of why I'm doing the half- to have a non scale, personally rewarding goal). I felt like my food was under control and my Journaling was mostly on point, so I pulled my numbers for the last 90 days and did the math. Mfp says i should average 1650/day and my actuals are around 1800/day. While most days are at or below my allowance, I was over on 30 days-11of them pretty significantly. So I've launched a renewed effort on that front to try to be more cognizant of my daily allowance. #eatcrow #dataispriceless
But this doesn't make sense to me. 1800 is still 350 below what should be my maintenance calories, so I should still have seen some losses. Except I've maintained my weight eating around 1800/day for the last 2 months My maintenance surely cant be that low, could it? And as my mileage (and hunger) increases, I'm going to have an issue sticking to 1650/day. I'm at a loss as to what i should do on this one. Maybe my focus just needs to be on my race and i should be happy even maintaining my weight while training.
Any thoughts?
Great write up and detail.
I do have some thoughts, but I want to be very clear on this because this is something I talk to my clients with on Skype but when speaking, I can deliver the message more accurately and quite frankly, sensitively than I can with writing.
But here goes;
Many, many people eat more than they think they do [1,2]. Calorie and macronutrient labels can be off [3,4], you can forget to log that handful of peanuts, or you may lick the peanut butter knife, or you may forget to log condiments, supplements that have calories, and MANY other sources of error that can add up to a substantial difference between what you log and what you consume.
It's NORMAL.
And it isn't necessarily a function of honesty or integrity. Perfectly honest, well intentioned people make normal human errors with logging because logging is very hard to do accurately.
These small errors can add up to a significant difference in energy intake.
Fortunately, your results will always tell you the truth. YOUR truth right now is that you are maintaining for the past two months eating what you SUSPECT is 1800 calories.
Whether or not it actually IS 1800 calories is only semi-relevant (if the difference between expectation and result is WAY off then perhaps start asking questions).
The two strategies you could use (I've used both when coaching and it depends on the individual) would be as follows:
1) Reduce intake by about 10% or so and see what happens in 1 to 2 weeks.
2) Break out the food scale, prepare ALL of your own food in the next week (no restaurant food at all, minimal pre-packaged food), and log like it's your damn job. Be as OCD as you can but just for 1 week, at the same goal intake you have now.
I suspect that either one of these will bring results.
If you are 100% convinced that there's no way you're off in your logging then I would say two things:
a) That's a rarity, ask yourself again
b) You should probably go with option 1) above instead of 2).
References, just because I'm blogging about this on someone else's site soon and I was just talking about this tonight lol:
1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12396160
2. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199212313272701
3. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/101.9
4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3605747/#R19
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My losses have really slowed to a painful creep over the last 2-3 months (which is part of why I'm doing the half- to have a non scale, personally rewarding goal).
But this doesn't make sense to me. 1800 is still 350 below what should be my maintenance calories, so I should still have seen some losses. Except I've maintained my weight eating around 1800/day for the last 2 months My maintenance surely cant be that low, could it? And as my mileage (and hunger) increases, I'm going to have an issue sticking to 1650/day.
Any thoughts?
Summer heat and sweating more, longer runs.
The amount of extra water weight your body can change and hold on to (good water weight, needed for workouts you desire) may be shocking.
Have you ever weighed yourself before and after the long run when sweating decently?
I lost 7 lbs on 10 mile run Wed in high humidity, if it had been dry enough to lose more, would have. I've lost 10 lbs on 2 hr ride despite drinking 3 lbs during the ride.
The body had to build up those kind of reserves as the sweating was increasing into summer heat, and longer runs more frequently.
And I was in no way pass-out dead dehydrated afterwards either, so had more available.
And indeed, your maintenance will go up as your mileage increases - you could just keep eating the same, and let the runs get longer, that will create a deficit too.0 -
My losses have really slowed to a painful creep over the last 2-3 months (which is part of why I'm doing the half- to have a non scale, personally rewarding goal).
But this doesn't make sense to me. 1800 is still 350 below what should be my maintenance calories, so I should still have seen some losses. Except I've maintained my weight eating around 1800/day for the last 2 months My maintenance surely cant be that low, could it? And as my mileage (and hunger) increases, I'm going to have an issue sticking to 1650/day.
Any thoughts?
Summer heat and sweating more, longer runs.
The amount of extra water weight your body can change and hold on to (good water weight, needed for workouts you desire) may be shocking.
Have you ever weighed yourself before and after the long run when sweating decently?
Yes! The scale is incredibly friendly after a long, hot run. I wish those weigh ins counted!
You may be right- I might have some extra water reserves for the summer months. And that's OK.
thanks! 0 -
Thanks @SideSteel . Lol all you had to say was "If your results say one thing and your logging says another, you're not as good at logging as you thought." It's cool. Lol
The last week, I've been doing #2 religiously. Like it's my job. Looking up nutrition information from the source. Paying closer attention to my macros. How I feel when I fuel instead of feast. I'm sure I got a little complacent on my logging over 9 months, so we're trying to fix that. A 10% cushion might not be a bad idea either. There will always be little things that slip because, well, that's life. I'll give that a try as well.
Thanks for your input! Post the link to your work when it's done. I always get *something* out of it.0 -
RunRachelleRun wrote: »I've been weight training for 6 weeks (doing the Body Beast DVD program). I'm also doing cardio for 20-30 minutes most days (spin bike and walk/run).
I've lost 0.5 lb and 1" despite sticking pretty well to my calories (i.e. went over goal 7 days in June including a short holiday where I ate at maintenance).
Whenever I've started weight training in the past, my weight loss seems to stop or I even gain a couple pounds and I give up after two or three weeks. I'm determined to stick it out this time.
My questions . . . in your experience, how long does initial water retention usually last when beginning a program?
I'm aiming for a 500-calorie deficit each day through diet/exercise. Is it time to drop my calories slightly (BMR must be miscalculated or I'd be losing) or should I just hang in there longer so I can build some muscle for the duration of this program (strength is progressing slowly week to week)?
I'm 42, 5'8", and 184.5 lbs. Weight goal is 135-145. Thanks in advance for any advice!
To address the water retention, if you are new to weight training, or coming back from time off, you can easily add 2 or 3 lbs of water. Its fluids to repair muscle. And if you keep weight training it may stay since your body will stay in a state of repair. But after the intial gain you should start seeing weight loss again. When i weight train, i
always carry 2 lbs. If i go a few days without, it comes right off. So when i baseline my weight its always after the first day of exercise.
But bare in mind that a body has natural fluctuations, even more so for women. So what i generally advise is looking at patterns over a 4 to 6 week period.
Sidesteel makes a good recommendation on calories. Considering beast is 5 days of lifting and only 30 mins of cardio (plus what you add on top) of cardio a week, expenditure its not going to be as high as some other programs.
Also to add, adding more volume foods can help you too. Egg white, dark leafy greens, low gi fruits, low sugar veggies, lean meat and etc... has really helped me stay full and keep on track.0 -
To address the water retention, if you are new to weight training, or coming back from time off, you can easily add 2 or 3 lbs of water. Its fluids to repair muscle. And if you keep weight training it may stay since your body will stay in a state of repair. But after the intial gain you should start seeing weight loss again. When i weight train, i
always carry 2 lbs. If i go a few days without, it comes right off. So when i baseline my weight its always after the first day of exercise.
But bare in mind that a body has natural fluctuations, even more so for women. So what i generally advise is looking at patterns over a 4 to 6 week period.
Sidesteel makes a good recommendation on calories. Considering beast is 5 days of lifting and only 30 mins of cardio (plus what you add on top) of cardio a week, expenditure its not going to be as high as some other programs.
Also to add, adding more volume foods can help you too. Egg white, dark leafy greens, low gi fruits, low sugar veggies, lean meat and etc... has really helped me stay full and keep on track.
Thanks for the great explanation about water retention. It was exactly what I was wondering. I appreciate all the other suggestions too.0 -
Quick question about protein. I keep reading conflicting information about basing it off LBM or bodyweight. Should I be aiming for 111 g (LBM from last caliper check) or 185 g a day (bodyweight) or something between?
I averaged 106 g a day over the last 6 weeks. Goal is to retain or grow LBM and lose 40ish pounds (not really sure what I should way). I've lost 45 lbs over 20 months and started with LBM of 112 lbs (current 111).0 -
RunRachelleRun wrote: »Quick question about protein. I keep reading conflicting information about basing it off LBM or bodyweight. Should I be aiming for 111 g (LBM from last caliper check) or 185 g a day (bodyweight) or something between?
I averaged 106 g a day over the last 6 weeks. Goal is to retain or grow LBM and lose 40ish pounds (not really sure what I should way). I've lost 45 lbs over 20 months and started with LBM of 112 lbs (current 111).
I'd see where 1g/lb goal weight puts you.0 -
Great. Thanks again!0
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Hello!
I'm a 36 yo F, 5'5", SW ~167 lbs, CW 143 lbs. Lost those ~20 lbs since January logging. Have been aiming around 1500 cal (average for June 1542) and 100g protein (average 112g) a day. I have been following the book Strong by Alwyn Cosgrove and Lou Schuler and am 6 months into that (3 days full body weight lifting). I have also ramped up via C25k to now running ~10-11 miles a week (3 days a week). I am also fairly purposefully active in my job (walk a lot, mainly).
Though I've seen great improvements in my cardiovascular health from running, I haven't noticed much progress in my strength or muscle development. I estimate that I am still around 35% body fat.
Question is this: I am having a bit of diet/logging fatigue as the above posters and I'm hungry often. Weight loss has slowed a little bit, though I think I lost 3 lbs in June. I have toyed with the idea of going to a smaller deficit (-250 cals a day) with the idea that maybe I could do better in the gym. However, I still feel like I have too much fat to lose to go to a true recomp. I think I would have to get to the range of 115-120 to be lean enough. Wondering what your opinion is? These are recent pictures.
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If I were you I'd bring cals to estimated maintenance for two weeks, then resume deficit.0
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If I were you I'd bring cals to estimated maintenance for two weeks, then resume deficit.
That's a good idea, will try that. Around 2000 then?
My other kind of overreaching concern is that I can't seem to get stronger with my lifts, whereas it seems a lot of other newbie women do. I'm slightly sore usually so it's not that I'm not working hard. People have told me that I can't get stronger because I'm in a deficit so that's why I was thinking of a smaller deficit to preserve as much muscle as possible, maybe make some strength gains. I guess I was just expecting some newbie gains and didn't get them, and it seems like other people do.
My PRs after 6 months of lifting: Deadlift 124lbs 4 reps, Squat 71 lbs 5 reps, Bench press 60 lbs 5 reps.0 -
You absolutely can get stronger in a calorie deficit, at least most people can.
Now if you're a very advanced athlete, and you are quite ween, and you are still dieting, you probably aren't going to gain strength.
If you're not getting stronger the first places I would tend to look would be programming and technique.
Now, it will be easier to gain strength in a calorie surplus, but you should still expect to be getting stronger while dieting0 -
Ok, great! I have 3ish months left of Strong so will finish that out and see where I am.
I suspect my technique is more the issue than programming, so will take more videos too.
Thanks for the help 0 -
This is probably a dumb question but will ask anyway I have been doing the same strength training routine for 8+ weeks and seeing solid results. Any reason I should consider changing?
Second question. I used to run track (sprinter) and looking to regain lost speed. Any specific exercises or routines?
Thanks!0 -
This is probably a dumb question but will ask anyway I have been doing the same strength training routine for 8+ weeks and seeing solid results. Any reason I should consider changing?
Second question. I used to run track (sprinter) and looking to regain lost speed. Any specific exercises or routines?
Thanks!
To answer the first question, as long as you continue to make progress I would stick with the program. The exception to that rule would be if you start to not enjoy it.1 -
This is probably a dumb question but will ask anyway I have been doing the same strength training routine for 8+ weeks and seeing solid results. Any reason I should consider changing?
Second question. I used to run track (sprinter) and looking to regain lost speed. Any specific exercises or routines?
Thanks!
To answer the first question, as long as you continue to make progress I would stick with the program. The exception to that rule would be if you start to not enjoy it.
Agreed. As far as the second question for regaining lost speed the first thing I'd do is start sprinting again. You'll likely regain a good chunk of what you lost just by doing it often.1
