Maintenance?

wimberleybonnette737

Anyone at maintenance and doing a recomp (building muscle/losing body fat at slow and steady rate)?

DanyellMcGinnis

Well I have been in maintenance for a few months and keep saying I need to do recomposition, but have yet to actually get started...

desidelay

I am just beginning the maintenance phase and now concentrating on muscle building... Scared and excited

VanVanDiane

That's what I'm currently attempting - I'm doing it at home though so bodyweight only (so I guess it'll be VERY slow & steady) I've been doing you are your own gym for 8 weeks now. Have seen improvements / changes in my arms and legs, still little impact on the mid section jiggle. Slow & steady wins the race!

lps1dragonfly

this is me I am doing some yoga but I'm not consistent which is probably not helping.

DanyellMcGinnis wrote: »

Well I have been in maintenance for a few months and keep saying I need to do recomposition, but have yet to actually get started...

wimberleybonnette737

Awesome!!! Glad to see some ladies in the same -ish boat! Feel free to add me as a friend! My diary is open to friends too. Cheers!

MacMadame

I've been in maintenance for a couple of years now. Not happy with my body fat percentage though. Also, I was just diagnosed with osteopenia (runs in the family so knew it was coming) and need to go back to lifting weights. My doctor wants me to eat more calcium so that's why I'm back here tracking my food again.

mom23mangos

I would say that's what I'm doing intentionally or unintentionally. I've been staying at about the same weight for the past 6 months while continuing to lift hard. I've noticed changes in my legs, but that's about it. Considerably more fluff around my middle then when I was at my leanest.

schwelley

just hit goal weight, time to work on the composition.

kclewis416

Me... And it is a very slow process and I have to keep that in mind. I am cutting back my cardio and focusing more on weight training 3-4 times a week... I am fine with my shape and my weight, I just need to get stronger and lose body fat %.

I am still doing 1200 calories but usually go over.

I am thinking about carb cycling... still doing some research on it but it seems to be the best "diet" plan to go along with recomp.

I will need to up my protein as well but I always struggle with that and I am not a big fan of supplements (I do not enjoy the taste).

wimberleybonnette737

@kclewis416 I just found out what too much cardio does to a hardgainer like myself so starting this week (today) I have cut back cardio to 2 sessions/week (sprint HIIT intervals) and I lift 5 days a week (3 days lower body and 2 days upper).

You may want to consider slowly reverse dieting into maintenance cals. You can still lose bf% while getting stronger and building/maintaining muscle.

1skholloway

I want to start lifting more weights so I can build muscle tone. I am finding maintenance to be harder than I expected. It's difficult for me to shift my mind from from weight loss mode to maintenance mode. I have been trying to maintain for a month or more but I have actually lost a couple of pounds over the last couple of weeks. I am happy with my weight and don't want to have to purchase smaller clothes.

kellyshell215

I recently decided to maintain and slowly lose some fat, since I wasn't losing weight and plateauing for a long time. My routine is not always the same it depends on my mood and time, an example of last week:
Exercise: HIIT (1x), Cardio (3x) Lower body (2x), Upper body (1x) core (2x) Yoga (2x)
Diet: 1700-2000 cal

winejunky143

So to gain muscle you want to cut back on cardio? Is that the general consensus? I am at my goal weight and BMI and am starting the maintenance phase but would like to tone up. I was planning on running every day and doing some strength training as well but it sounds like that will be counterproductive? I'm afraid if I quit running I will gain back the fat I lost. Will strength training be enough to keep the fat away?

sardelsa

winejunky143 wrote: »

So to gain muscle you want to cut back on cardio? Is that the general consensus? I am at my goal weight and BMI and am starting the maintenance phase but would like to tone up. I was planning on running every day and doing some strength training as well but it sounds like that will be counterproductive? I'm afraid if I quit running I will gain back the fat I lost. Will strength training be enough to keep the fat away?

You don't need to cut it all the way out, but if your goal is to build muscle you want your strength training to take more priority. For example, if you are so beat up from running that your lifting suffers and you are not progressing, then yes, that can potentially affect it. Also, if you do so much cardio and you don't fuel you can put yourself back into a deficit then you will not be recomping so that will impact it as well. You don't have to stop running but just have to work your lifting around it wisely to ensure adequate recovery.