Strength training advice please

Nadoriel

Hi everyone!

Hope you are all doing well

Basically, I'm looking for advice on my workouts. I eat around 1400-1600 calories a day and my tdee is estimated to be around 1800+. I eat usually on the low side of that. It's not on purpose, I'm literally just eating when I'm hungry, what I feel like. I really hate stuffing myself up.

I've been doing female version of starting strength for a few months, which with diet and stuff helped me lose 16kg so far. I'm not where I wanna be yet. However, my progress with starting strength reached its peak and actually started going back a little.

I dunno what I'm supposed to do now. I still want to lose fat. Should I just keep lifting 2-3 times a week my starting strength weights, knowing that I probably won't get them higher.

Should I move to the texas method and hope that helps me gain more strength?

Should I do something else entirely?

See, if I only wanted to maintain... I'd keep the same weights. My problem is that I still have plenty of fat to lose.

Also, again I'd feel very uncomfortable if all your advice is to eat more. I'm at a good point on my diet right now. I actually don't mind losing the weight and possibly lose muscle mass as well to match what I'm eating. I'll bulk later if I feel like it. But strength training is the only exercise I like right now and technically starting strength is only valid of you keep adding weight... Which I can't anymore.

Anyways thank you for your help!

KarenSmith2018

Hi

Good work undertaking a strength program while in a deficit.

If you are still wanting to loose weight then I agree that adding calories is not the way to go. However make sure you are still eating enough to fuel your workout i.e. you are eating your exercise calories back.

If you feel you have "completed" starting strength I would look at a different program that includes a similar set of lifts and all over body workout but that also mixes up the rep schemes and weights used, i.e. 60% 1rm for 3 sets of 12 or 80% for 5 sets of 3. Your absolute numbers cannot go up forever and eventually the strength gains will slow down and halt without the addition of muscle mass (yep here struggling with that one after failing to increase a PB yesterday, gutted!!)

If you want something different that still includes lifting I cannot recommend CrossFit enough. Yes its not for everyone but it includes strength work of all varieties including bar and body weight work as well as cardio in the form of running, rowing and cycling. It has made me the fittest I have ever been and while my gains have started to slow I am making tiny increases all the time.

The main thing is though, whatever you do, keep lifting and working your muscles to preseve muscle mass and ensure your diet is in a deficit to loose the weight that you want to! :-)

thunderztormdk

I'm personally a big fan of aworkoutroutine's beginner program. It covers the entire body, primarily via compound exercises, meaning you get a lot of bang for your buck.

Also make sure you eat enough protein if you want to minimize muscle loss while losing weight. But yeah, since you're losing weight, you will also lose muscle, so it's not THAT surprising that you're hitting a maximum.

deputy_randolph

Your lifts have stalled...and you are undereating by 200-400+ calories a day.

Switching strength programs isn't going to automatically increase your strength gains.

You don't need to run that low of a deficit. You can build strength in a deficit; but if your lifts suffer, it's time to add calories.

Nadoriel

Hey!!! Thanks for your input!! I feel more relieved now. I mean, I do believe I can't get anything else from SS. Even on stronglifts and with a higher weight a few years ago, I wasn't lifting a lot more. Or rather, my form was terrible, so I could afford to lift more (as in, half squats and back and arms deadlifts).

So the texas method probably works and is one of the recommended by Mark Ripptoe. It's 90% 5x5 Mondays, 80% 2x5 + pullups and back extensions Wednesdays and a new PR on Fridays 1x5. More or less xD

You're like... the second person this week advising me crossfit ahaha xD if it wasn't so expensive I'd probably give it a try. Going by Mark Ripptoe's discussions, one of the main issues with crossfit is progressing after the newbie gains. I'm clearly past it, but I probably won't be making any awesome gains on lifting anyways due to the cut.

Thing is... I'm super lazy and hate to break a sweat. xD Weightlifting gets my HR up and I need to catch my breath after, but still doesn't make me suffer too much since I have rest periods.

In any case, I'll keep an eye on the prices

Nadoriel

thunderztormdk wrote: »

I'm personally a big fan of aworkoutroutine's beginner program. It covers the entire body, primarily via compound exercises, meaning you get a lot of bang for your buck.

Also make sure you eat enough protein if you want to minimize muscle loss while losing weight. But yeah, since you're losing weight, you will also lose muscle, so it's not THAT surprising that you're hitting a maximum.

A workoutroutine!! Never knew that before! Wish I knew about it before SS. It actually looks pretty cool ^^ But apparently, they also recommend the texas method for intermediate. Their version of intermediate seems interesting and I'll see what actually fits best into my schedule.

Other than that.. I mean yeah. I don't mind muscle loss at this point. Just not a lot. Or maintain. But fat and weight loss are seriously my goals right now.

Nadoriel

deputy_randolph wrote: »

Your lifts have stalled...and you are undereating by 200-400+ calories a day.

Switching strength programs isn't going to automatically increase your strength gains.

You don't need to run that low of a deficit. You can build strength in a deficit; but if your lifts suffer, it's time to add calories.

Hey! Thanks!

I understand I'm not gonna get stronger in a cut. I'd be happy with at least maintaining my muscle mass though.

Now the thing is... I have food issues. I wouldn't be here if I didn't have them. And atm I'm kind of at peace with my diet. This is rare okay? But I'm eating what I want when I'm hungry/want. I do monitor calories every now and then because I panic I'll gain weight. That's me.

Now.. full on calorie count works. I've done it for a while until I plateaued and got crazy. But... Calorie counting has 1 effect on me that I hate:

- I pretty much go from struggling to eat just the calories I should be eating to actually stuff myself like a pig to make up calories on a different day. This little cycle makes me feel fat and ugly and guilty most of my time.

Now, I'm pretty sure I'll eventually plateau the way I'm doing it. And maybe then, I'll go back to straight calorie counting. Going from calorie counting (TDEE-200) to actually increase the cut (TDEE-400) when I plateau... Now, that's really hard for me (as in, never happened... I always ended up maintenance and then dropping calorie counting altogether out of frustration), because I get used to the food amount.

And I really like not feeling stuffed just because a chart says I ate too little on that day. Because panicking that I ate too much is always gonna be a thing.

ninerbuff

Lifting weights doesn't burn more body fat. It just keeps you from losing muscle if you're on a calorie deficit. If body fat is your concern, you just have to keep a MODERATE calorie deficit. If the deficit is TOO high, it affects your resting metabolic rate and you burn LESS fat calories than if you were at a moderate calorie deficit because the body is comping for what little calories you're supplying.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Hamsibian

For the calorie counting, try reaching for more calorie dense foods that are easy to consume. Oils, Full fat dairy, nuts, seeds, nut/seed butters, avocados, dried fruit like dates and apricots. A handul or spoonful of these will bump you right up to your calorie levels without feeling stuffed.

Barfly57

Have you looked at the Madcow protocol for intermediate lifters?

lorrpb

I'm so confused, you want to lose fat, don't care if you lose muscle, want to get stronger, but don't want to work harder, you think it's ok to lift heavier with bad form, and you don't want to follow MFP nutrition/calorie guidelines. This is what I gleaned from your posts. I'm so grateful for other peeps here that can explain things for you.

My main insight is that I've found when I can't increase weight, I increase reps. Once I get the reps up about 20%, I usually can increase weight. The only thing I can't do that on is OHP and delts. Sometimes I back off the weight a bit and work on my form if I think that might be an issue. Good luck to you.

ijsantos2005

The next step would be the women’s version of the Texas method. You’ll get more recovery and slow down your progression following that template.

mreichard

I don't reallly have advice, but I'll just chime in that I've had pretty good success losing fat and getting stronger by increasing my protein intake. I previously was eating 0.8 grams per pound of lean mass. I upped that to 1 gram per pound of body weight, and I've dropped 12 pounds and I look much leaner than I ever have. At the same time, my lifts seem to still be going up (switched from SL5x5 to 531, so it's a little tough to tell). I'm eating in a slight deficit and doing cardio 3x per week.

Chieflrg

Nadoriel wrote: »

Hey!!! Thanks for your input!! I feel more relieved now. I mean, I do believe I can't get anything else from SS. Even on stronglifts and with a higher weight a few years ago, I wasn't lifting a lot more. Or rather, my form was terrible, so I could afford to lift more (as in, half squats and back and arms deadlifts).

So the texas method probably works and is one of the recommended by Mark Ripptoe. It's 90% 5x5 Mondays, 80% 2x5 + pullups and back extensions Wednesdays and a new PR on Fridays 1x5. More or less xD

You're like... the second person this week advising me crossfit ahaha xD if it wasn't so expensive I'd probably give it a try. Going by Mark Ripptoe's discussions, one of the main issues with crossfit is progressing after the newbie gains. I'm clearly past it, but I probably won't be making any awesome gains on lifting anyways due to the cut.

Thing is... I'm super lazy and hate to break a sweat. xD Weightlifting gets my HR up and I need to catch my breath after, but still doesn't make me suffer too much since I have rest periods.

In any case, I'll keep an eye on the prices

It's possible you have run out your LP, if so you would benefit from a program such as "The Bridge" which is written by two starting strength coaches that are on top of the strength game.

Rip doesn't recommend TM to most people as a intermediate program and certainly not to someone on a deficit. It is designed more for a young inspiring powerlifter if anything who is of appropriate weight to handle its grueling work.

Regardless TM is a horrible program for the general intermediate lifter as is Wendler's as written. Crossfit is more exercise than strength when you disect the programming with regards to frequency.

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