I look worse than before?

beebydoll

About a month ago I made a post discussing lower belly fat and how to get rid of it and lots of people had really great suggestions about lifting and body recomp and those sorts of things. Since then I've been doing body weight workouts, trying to eat clean as possible, and trying to get lots of protein but I honestly feel like I look worse than before I even started why bother

cityruss

It's been 4 weeks.

Give it time, lots of time.

dhimaan

I don't think you look worse. You are getting a little bit more definition to my eyes. If I were you I would continue doing what you are doing for the next 8 weeks. I promise you will look much much better.

Good luck.

yirara

I don't think you look worse. The only thing I would point out is that the light is different, you stand differently, you're closer to the camera in the second image, and your undies seem to sit tighter. Honestly, trying to build muscles and get leaner doesn't happen in a month. It takes a lot of time.

PinkPixiexox

You look fantastic!

ARGriffy

It looks like nothing to you but trust me, you're building definition and it looks tighter too. I know it's hard to see in ourselves (I was convinced for months that I had a lumpy bit of fat left. . Turns out it was my abs haha!) And the after pic is in brighter lighting which can mask definition too. So keep at it girl! !! Xxx

Therealobi1

i will swap with you. You look great
Keep with the lifting. Be patient.

Francl27

You look the same to me.

But yeah, recomposition can take months and months. Much harder for women to gain muscle (and I'm not sure bodyweight exercises really cut it).

trigden1991

This perfectly highlights why I am in the "anti-recomp" group. Far too many people jump on the bandwagon of eating at maintenance, doing exercise and expect to magically transform. It is basically a glorified way to not make progress with regards to body composition. If you have excess fat, eat in a deficit. If you want to build muscle, eat in a surplus.

@beebydoll I would move into a caloric deficit (250-500 daily) and lose enough bodyfat until you're happy with where you're at. Then slowly increase calories to maintenance.

PS- You certainly don't look worse!

BoxerBrawler

trigden1991 wrote: »

This perfectly highlights why I am in the "anti-recomp" group. Far too many people jump on the bandwagon of eating at maintenance, doing exercise and expect to magically transform. It is basically a glorified way to not make progress with regards to body composition. If you have excess fat, eat in a deficit. If you want to build muscle, eat in a surplus.

@beebydoll I would move into a caloric deficit (250-500 daily) and lose enough bodyfat until you're happy with where you're at. Then slowly increase calories to maintenance.

PS- You certainly don't look worse!

I agree with this.
You look great by the way and please be patient and keep up the hard work but if you want to lose fat and get lean, eat at a deficit and do more cardio. Once you're at your goal weight and you want to build muscle at that point either eat at maintenance and start a good progressive lifting program increasing your calories as you go or lift heavy and eat more.

TravisJHunt

You look great! Remember its a marathon, not a sprint.

jemhh

trigden1991 wrote: »

This perfectly highlights why I am in the "anti-recomp" group. Far too many people jump on the bandwagon of eating at maintenance, doing exercise and expect to magically transform. It is basically a glorified way to not make progress with regards to body composition. If you have excess fat, eat in a deficit. If you want to build muscle, eat in a surplus.

@beebydoll I would move into a caloric deficit (250-500 daily) and lose enough bodyfat until you're happy with where you're at. Then slowly increase calories to maintenance.

PS- You certainly don't look worse!

There are people who jump on cutting/bulking with the same expectation of fast results. The problem is not the method. It's a misunderstanding of what is to be expected doing either thing.

Sued0nim

So

you're eating clean (how many calories under TDEE?)

doing bodyweight (how are you managing the progressive resistance part?)

and watching protein (how many grammes are you eating and what's your current bodyweight?)

And what did you expect in just 4 weeks

You clearly have a slim build with poor posture (fix that and you'll be amazed at the photographic results)

There looks to be some normal body fat over your abdomen...if you want that gone you will need a small cut in calories

trigden1991

jemhh wrote: »

trigden1991 wrote: »

This perfectly highlights why I am in the "anti-recomp" group. Far too many people jump on the bandwagon of eating at maintenance, doing exercise and expect to magically transform. It is basically a glorified way to not make progress with regards to body composition. If you have excess fat, eat in a deficit. If you want to build muscle, eat in a surplus.

@beebydoll I would move into a caloric deficit (250-500 daily) and lose enough bodyfat until you're happy with where you're at. Then slowly increase calories to maintenance.

PS- You certainly don't look worse!

There are people who jump on cutting/bulking with the same expectation of fast results. The problem is not the method. It's a misunderstanding of what is to be expected doing either thing.

Expectations are definitely something to manage closely before changing anything. My outlook would be this after a month;

- Eat in a 500 cal deficit = 4lb of fat loss
- Eat in a 500 cal surplus = 4lbs of weight gain ( potentially 2lbs muscle)
- Eat at maintenance = gain 0.5lbs muscle & lose 0.5lbs fat (probably less)

2 of the above will net noticeable results, the other does not.

jemhh

trigden1991 wrote: »

jemhh wrote: »

trigden1991 wrote: »

This perfectly highlights why I am in the "anti-recomp" group. Far too many people jump on the bandwagon of eating at maintenance, doing exercise and expect to magically transform. It is basically a glorified way to not make progress with regards to body composition. If you have excess fat, eat in a deficit. If you want to build muscle, eat in a surplus.

@beebydoll I would move into a caloric deficit (250-500 daily) and lose enough bodyfat until you're happy with where you're at. Then slowly increase calories to maintenance.

PS- You certainly don't look worse!

There are people who jump on cutting/bulking with the same expectation of fast results. The problem is not the method. It's a misunderstanding of what is to be expected doing either thing.

Expectations are definitely something to manage closely before changing anything. My outlook would be this after a month;

- Eat in a 500 cal deficit = 4lb of fat loss
- Eat in a 500 cal surplus = 4lbs of weight gain ( potentially 2lbs muscle)
- Eat at maintenance = gain 0.5lbs muscle & lose 0.5lbs fat (probably less)

2 of the above will net noticeable results, the other does not.

Edited.

I believe that your advice often ignores the differences between males and females as far as what size of deficits, excesses, etc. are appropriate and how fast changes are likely to be made under any method. I'm going to step out of this thread though because I'm just not up to getting into the conversation right now.

rainbowbow

trigden1991 wrote: »

This perfectly highlights why I am in the "anti-recomp" group. Far too many people jump on the bandwagon of eating at maintenance, doing exercise and expect to magically transform. It is basically a glorified way to not make progress with regards to body composition. If you have excess fat, eat in a deficit. If you want to build muscle, eat in a surplus.

@beebydoll I would move into a caloric deficit (250-500 daily) and lose enough bodyfat until you're happy with where you're at. Then slowly increase calories to maintenance.

PS- You certainly don't look worse!

I am also anti-recomp for this reason.

Unless you are already in a low body fat range and don't have any particular goal, i will never recommend it.

I would rather pick an option to lose weight while maintaining mass, or purposely gaining mass. Why try and do both... but... as inefficiently as possible? Again, unless you are just maintaining a healthy lifestyle and happen to recomp without thinking about it over months and months of time.

Anyways, OP, if you were my client here's what we'd do.

You'd be in a calorie deficit (i'd probably go for a pound a week judging your current body fat level). You'd switch to actual heavy lifting instead of body-weight work. We'd be consistently increasing weight lifted in mostly compound lifts. And...You'd be consuming adequate protein (.8-1.2 g per pound LBM).

DebSozo

You are making progress. I can see faint outlines of abdominals forming that weren't there. Give it a few more months.

RoxieDawn

rainbowbow wrote: »

You'd be in a calorie deficit (i'd probably go for a pound a week judging your current body fat level). You'd switch to actual heavy lifting instead of body-weight work. We'd be consistently increasing weight lifted in mostly compound lifts. And...You'd be consuming adequate protein (.8-1.2 g per pound LBM).

OP, this...

I am not sure where, when or how the recomp idea came to fruition, but its only been 4 weeks.. and you can change the plan now and hopefully start a new goal that will help you achieve the body composition changes you want.

DebSozo

Just. Don't. Give. Up. Keep persistent. This will take time but will be worth it.

sardelsa

RoxieDawn wrote: »

rainbowbow wrote: »

You'd be in a calorie deficit (i'd probably go for a pound a week judging your current body fat level). You'd switch to actual heavy lifting instead of body-weight work. We'd be consistently increasing weight lifted in mostly compound lifts. And...You'd be consuming adequate protein (.8-1.2 g per pound LBM).

OP, this...

I am not sure where, when or how the recomp idea came to fruition, but its only been 4 weeks.. and you can change the plan now and hopefully start a new goal that will help you achieve the body composition changes you want.

If I'm not mistaken in a past thread OP stated that she was almost underweight (correct me if I am wrong I could be thinking of someone else) so that was why recomp was recommended to her rather than a continued deficit.

DebSozo

I think OP is happy with her weight but just wants to change body composition and flatten belly.