18 week analysis, how can I improve?

tomjanecourtney

Age 62 and after 46 lb loss in previous 6 months.
Weight now 180 19.3 % fat
Macros of P 45% (average 220g) - F 25% - C 30%
Weight training 3 times per week (ave 2 hours hard)
No cardio (hate it)
In 18 weeks I have lost 9lbs of weight, all fat with lean mass maintained ( no increase in muscle )

Worked out to reach my target of 15% fat I have to do the same again ie. lose another 9 lbs of fat if I can’t increase my muscle. Likely to take more than 18 weeks given slowdown....

Any suggestions......

StevefromMichigan

I think the obvious answer is the one you don't want to hear: you probably need to work some cardio into your routine. Have you tried different options? I hated the treadmill, but found using the elliptical at moderate intensity to be relaxing. Biking may be an option too.

Moving past the cardio, what is your height and current daily calorie goal?

tomjanecourtney

I’m 5’ 10” and managing to maintain 2200 calories, with discipline. My cals over the 18 weeks have averaged 2150.
I lift pretty hard 3 times per week and don’t think there is much I can reasonably do to increase muscle. Wish I could find the magic key to gain 4 or 5 lbs of muscle at my age.....that would ease my calorie restriction and make maintenance much more realistic.

dhimaan

tomjanecourtney wrote: »

I’m 5’ 10” and managing to maintain 2200 calories, with discipline. My cals over the 18 weeks have averaged 2150.
I lift pretty hard 3 times per week and don’t think there is much I can reasonably do to increase muscle. Wish I could find the magic key to gain 4 or 5 lbs of muscle at my age.....that would ease my calorie restriction and make maintenance much more realistic.

As you already know there is no magic key. You have to be in a surplus to gain muscle. With increasing age I have to work twice as hard. I also cannot eat too much otherwise I gain fat. Either you incorporate cardio or eat less.

Chieflrg

tomjanecourtney wrote: »

Age 62 and after 46 lb loss in previous 6 months.

Weight now 180 19.3 % fat

In 18 weeks I have lost 9lbs of weight, all fat with lean mass maintained ( no increase in muscle )

What test did you have to determine your body composition?

tomjanecourtney

I use a Boditrax http://boditrax.com
Stand on and hold electrodes job, I know these type of scanners are not accurate but I have had 7 scans over the 18 weeks, dismissing one as it was wildly out.
Good for indicative purposes and the 6 scans will show a trend. Would like to treat myself to a proper scan when I get near to 15%, if ever

jseams1234

What About BIA For Measuring Change Over Time?

"I've heard people make the argument that, while BIA may not be that accurate, it should work fine when tracking change over time. The theory, they say, is that the error should be the same each time you use it.

The problem is that this isn't true. As I mentioned in the article on hydrostatic weighing, the density and hydration of fat-free mass can change with weight loss. If this can affect the accuracy of hydrostatic weighing for measuring change over time, then you can be sure that the effect on BIA outcomes is going to be significantly larger.

Researchers have looked at the accuracy of BIA for tracking body fat change over time. In one study, the disagreement between BIA and the 4-compartment model ranged from -3.6% to 4.8% for measuring change. This means you could lose 3.6% body fat, but BIA would show no change. Or, BIA could tell you that you lost 8.8% body fat when you really only lost 4%. In fact, in this study, plain ol' bod mass index (BMI) did just as well as BIA for predicting change in body fat, except for in one person.

Let's take a look at that study on bodybuilders I mentioned earlier. The error gets even larger"

"The fact that BIA underpredicts fat loss in most people is not surprising. As I mentioned earlier, the electrical current of BIA won't even pass through fat underneath your skin, so you could lose a lot of fat and BIA won't detect it. In fact, the only reason BIA will even show a loss of fat is because you lost weight, and weight is a component of BIA prediction equations. This is why BIA doesn't do much better than BMI in some studies."

https://weightology.net/the-pitfalls-of-bodyfat-measurement-part-4-bioelectrical-impedance-bia/

quiksylver296

Go to the doctor and have your T-count checked? Get it supplemented if it's low?

se015

tomjanecourtney wrote: »

I’m 5’ 10” and managing to maintain 2200 calories, with discipline. My cals over the 18 weeks have averaged 2150.
I lift pretty hard 3 times per week and don’t think there is much I can reasonably do to increase muscle. Wish I could find the magic key to gain 4 or 5 lbs of muscle at my age.....that would ease my calorie restriction and make maintenance much more realistic.

Look into Test boosters, they are sold over the counter and are relatively harmless if used properly, some are fake though so beware. Also at your age (no offense lol) I'd check your natural test levels and if you'd be interested maybe start on some test therapy that might be an option for you in that regard.

Make sure when you lift, you're progressing as much as you can. Remember in order to gain muscle you do have to feed your muscles so trying to lose fat at the same time is quite challenging. Maybe I would be on the maintenance side of calories while lifting for awhile, add some strength, muscle size, and then slowly cut down fat again? That's my suggestion though.

AnvilHead

Seth1825 wrote: »

...Look into Test boosters, they are sold over the counter and are relatively harmless if used properly, some are fake though so beware. Also at your age (no offense lol) I'd check your natural test levels and if you'd be interested maybe start on some test therapy that might be an option for you in that regard...

Any "test booster" that's sold over the counter is bogus, 100% useless and a complete waste of money. Sure they're "relatively harmless" - that's because they don't do anything. If they actually boosted your test levels to any significant extent, the FDA would be all over them and they would be shut down in a very short time.

Don't be a victim of the fraud and advertising hype of the supplement industry.

kimny72

tomjanecourtney wrote: »

Age 62 and after 46 lb loss in previous 6 months.
Weight now 180 19.3 % fat
Macros of P 45% (average 220g) - F 25% - C 30%
Weight training 3 times per week (ave 2 hours hard)
No cardio (hate it)
In 18 weeks I have lost 9lbs of weight, all fat with lean mass maintained ( no increase in muscle )

Worked out to reach my target of 15% fat I have to do the same again ie. lose another 9 lbs of fat if I can’t increase my muscle. Likely to take more than 18 weeks given slowdown....

Any suggestions......

I'm no expert, but a couple of thoughts that popped into mind:

As you get lighter, weight loss does get slower and more difficult. And since you are concerned about muscle, slow is best anyway.

It is pretty hard to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. While some people in certain circumstances can, it's likely you aren't one of them.

If you want to focus on losing more fat, you need to eat at a deficit and accept that your goal is to preserve muscle until you are done with weight loss. If you want to focus on gaining muscle, maybe consider eating at a surplus and putting on some weight and see if you are happier with a higher weight and more muscle. Your third option is a recomp, which is eating at maintenance and being super patient to lose weight and build muscle s-u-p-e-r slow. Like over years.

It couldn't hurt to get some blood work done to see if there are any medical reasons why you can't build muscle. I'm not familiar with that area at all.

tomjanecourtney

Appreciate the suggestions, keep ‘em coming. This is what I’ve decided.....


Maybe I should continue on my current plan with a few tweaks. I do tend towards impatience. I’m very pleased with my new body shape, probably best it’s ever been.
Want them abs though


I’ve decided to ...

Get a blood test done, can’t do any harm can it?

Accept I’ll probably never get a ‘do you work out’ comment from a pretty girl at my age now

Modify my training to feature more progressive overload. Starting with 4 weeks of Dropsets to hammer the old muscles then 4 weeks of Stronglift 5x5. Recording and increasing either weight or reps meticulously.

Increase core exercises in my routine. Recently added a little core exercise and can see a hint of abs in my ‘Rose Tinted Mirror’

Re-introduce the old supplements I’ve dropped recently. I’ve calculated the dosage recommended, and made up a one scoop twice a day mixture of BCAA’s, Glutamine, Creatine, Supergreen 5 a day and daily Vitamins. It tastes ok

Try to increase the Protein from food percentage, currently 50/50 food and shakes. Research ‘good carbs’

tomjanecourtney

Then.....

Re-assess after the 8 weeks and consider introducing the dreaded Cardio if necessary (that’ll concentrate my efforts )

Comments and suggestions welcome.

AnvilHead

tomjanecourtney wrote: »

Re-introduce the old supplements I’ve dropped recently. I’ve calculated the dosage recommended, and made up a one scoop twice a day mixture of BCAA’s, Glutamine, Creatine, Supergreen 5 a day and daily Vitamins. It tastes ok

You could save yourself some money and get rid of the BCAAs (useless and probably counter-productive), glutamine (useless) and supergreens (useless). Get adequate protein intake, take 5g creatine monohydrate/day and a multivitamin.

tomjanecourtney

Oops

tomjanecourtney

AnvilHead wrote: »

tomjanecourtney wrote: »

Re-introduce the old supplements I’ve dropped recently. I’ve calculated the dosage recommended, and made up a one scoop twice a day mixture of BCAA’s, Glutamine, Creatine, Supergreen 5 a day and daily Vitamins. It tastes ok

You could save yourself some money and get rid of the BCAAs (useless and probably counter-productive), glutamine (useless) and supergreens (useless). Get adequate protein intake, take 5g creatine monohydrate/day and a multivitamin.

Ive read the reports, opinions vary though.
I used to take them when progressing well, bought them and have a couple of months supply in stock. May as well use ‘em up, can’t do any harm. It’ll actually free up some space on my boat, never a bad thing

tomjanecourtney

The oops was inserted as I double posted and couldn’t delete a post without ‘body’

not_a_runner

tomjanecourtney wrote: »

Appreciate the suggestions, keep ‘em coming. This is what I’ve decided.....

Modify my training to feature more progressive overload. Starting with 4 weeks of Dropsets to hammer the old muscles then 4 weeks of Stronglift 5x5. Recording and increasing either weight or reps meticulously.

Is SL 5x5 your current program?
If your main goal is hypertrophy, Stronglifts is not really the most optimal program for muscle gains..


And as mentioned, you've been in a calorie deficit. Not many people are able to gain muscle in a deficit. If you've lost fat and maintained your current muscle, that's a win.
I would say continue to lose fat for a bit and then try a slight calorie surplus for the muscle gains. It's going to be two separate things.

It doesn't sound like you necessarily need to "improve" anything, aside from adjusting your expectations.

tomjanecourtney

not_a_runner

Plan to do a Dropsets routine for 4 weeks then thought maybe SL 5x5 purely to mix things up a bit. Tried SL briefly a few months ago but dropped it as my back/core wasn’t strong enough and I had a niggling shoulder injury.

But if a bind sticking to 2200 cals and only losing 1/2 lb per week while working so hard in the gym. Jealous of these guys who maintain at 3000+ but over the moon at maintaining my lean body mass during this cut.

Of course your spot on with the “expectation” problem. I have always been impatient, I dive into everything head first, buy all the gear then work far too hard.
I get results though and I’m pleased with my new body shape.
Just want them abs and I want ‘em now!

I’ll re-assess after the 4 weeks Dropsets and decide whether SL 5x5 is right for me or try another program....

tomjanecourtney

15 hours and 1 sleep since yesterday’s 1st Dropsets workout in my new regime and them old muscles are aching nicely, reminding me they’re there
My ‘rose tinted mirror’ is getting well used

Yesterday I hit heavy compound lifts for Chest, Shoulders and back, 2 exercises each, 5 sets of 8 ish reps last one to failure then Dropsetted (new word?)

Not going to be too anal about sticking to a strict, laid out gym regime like I’ve done up to now. Depending on how I feel I may do lower weight but higher rep dropsets next time but ensuring I end up the week having done a good range of exercises on 3 visits. Plus 1 session doing Arms and 1 session of legs. Will also throw in an ab exercise each session.

So 5 days/visits per week but for days I can’t get to the gym I have bought an EZ bar, plates and Powerblock dumbbells for the odd session on the boat. No excuses accepted.
Have also decided to treat myself to an extra 100 calories on Training days
Will stick to this and re-assess after 4 weeks.

Who knows I may even pluck up the courage to post a pic after the 4 weeks.

Gym junkies rock