Sab's thread

SabAteNine
SabAteNine Posts: 1,867 Member
edited October 2018 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hi everyone, and happy Monday!

I’m entering maintenance now and would really use a few workout and dietary suggestions from you more experienced and knowledgeable people around here. I’ve been reading around, but nothing compares to contextualized advice :smiley:

Basic stats:
  • 29 and female
  • 169 cm / 5’6-5’7-ish
  • 57 kg / 125.5 lbs (GW)

Measurements:
  • Waist: 66 cm / 26 in (went down from 31.5)
  • Hips: 97 cm / 38 in (went down from 42.5)
  • Bust: like a 12-year-old with extra padding, please don’t ask for specifics
  • Thigh: 55 cm / 21.5 in, which is pretty thick but then again my legs seem like my only powerful bodyparts.

Here's how that looks:
vtwbmdo1jqcc.jpg

Started off way back from 155 lbs and only recently kept track again. Since beginning of January (oh, new years’ resolutions!) I have lost 11 lbs. What worked:
  • 1450 cal intake for feb-apr (my BMR’s about 1350 cals and I am routinely walking about 12-15k steps per day plus quite a bit of stairs). Wanted to go slow and steady.
  • Staying at 20g carbs per day (C/P/F - 5/30/65) because I am turning into a monster if I get a taste of bread.

Online calcs out there put me at about 1850-ish calories per day for maintenance, but the actual loss of the last three months indicates more like 1750 (400 cals over BMR).

So the plan would be to increase intake to 1750, and increase weight training (every other day). It shouldn’t be too hard to get a positive outcome of the latter, seeing as how I’m basically at near-zero now and can’t overhead dumbbell press more than 5 kg, 2x10, for the life of me. Also, I'm right-handed and my left calls quits WAY before.

I have a set of dumbbells going up to 25 lbs at home and a barbell up to 50. I would like to continue to use these for the moment.


Question nr. 1: Does the 1750 cals sound like a good starting point to you guys? Should it be more right from the start if I weight train?

Question nr. 2: Could you recommend a weight training plan for beginners which uses bodyweight, dumbbels and barbell? I do not have a bench unfortunately but plan on getting one asap.

Question nr. 3: Should I increase carbohydrate intake in maintenance if I’m looking to recomp? I am asking because it feels much better staying at the lower end of the carb scale, but as far as I got to read, it’s a trade-off between efficiency / effectiveness of recomp (better with carbs) and my own personal preference (better without carbs). Ultimately I can change my preference if the advantages are worth it.

Thanks so much in advance!!!

Sabina
«1345

Replies

  • SabAteNine
    SabAteNine Posts: 1,867 Member
    Thanks for the insight, @cwolfman13! Glad to hear things improved with upping intake!

    I haven't been in a deficit for that long this round (maybe around 4 months) and my logging was crappy-to-none before that for about a year - so there's obviously a lot of trial and adjustment to be done, but I too am hoping my maintenance cals will be higher.

    Ironically, these first days I find it difficult to increase. Not that it would be a question of lack of hunger, but it calls for a mental re-framing. I'm a creature of habit and my diary is almost the same for the most days, so I figured the easiest way to transition is to just increase quantities of what I had eaten before, until expanding the menu doesn't make me nervous.
  • rimir74
    rimir74 Posts: 29 Member
    Male but height and weight is about the same as yours. MFP has me at 1770 calories to maintain a mostly sedentary lifestyle - and I've been maintaining for 1.5 years with that. So calorie count in your stated range should be kinda/ mostly ok I'd think.

    I track diligently and don't really exercise. If I exercise, I eat back the calories.

    Tracking calories and weight trends will let you know what your personal TDEE should settle at..

    Also I concur on the low carb being sub optimal. Eat what you want within your calorie allowance. As others and I have done, it works..
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    1750 is fine to start, just keep in mind that you may actually find your maintenance calories are higher. I was losing pretty slowly towards the end and thought my maintenance calories would be around 2400 or something given the math. As I increased calories I kept losing weight and was actually losing faster again. I finally topped out around 2800-3000.

    I believe this was likely do to a few things...for one, I had been dieting for 7-8 months without any kind of break...so when I upped my calories, my hormonal levels went back to normal. I also noticed a considerable boost in energy and more fidgeting, and my workouts were a lot better.

    I second this. I believe my caloric needs are increasing as my hormones return. Using this hopeful chance to push exercise slightly back as far as steady state cardio and more emphasis on weight training. I hope this is true. People are telling me I am looking a lot leaner at the gym. Only time will tell. I hope the best for your maintenance!
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    If you are feeling 'hangry and fatigued' change up those macros - you have been doing 1200 cals for months and its not been adequate to fuel your body so its telling you to feed it some more :smile:
    Carbs are not the enemy. They will give you a boost of energy (as well as being delicious :smiley: )
  • SabAteNine
    SabAteNine Posts: 1,867 Member
    @LivingtheLeanDream Thanks! It was the macros, and you're right.

    One cup of lentils at lunch went straight to my enthusiasm and will to lift. It also made someone offer me their seat in the subway, but that's another story...

    I spent just one month at the minimum (2000 cals) and the rest (feb-apr) on 1450. I am on 1750 now and testing it out.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    edited April 2018
    SabAteNine wrote: »
    @LivingtheLeanDream Thanks! It was the macros, and you're right.

    One cup of lentils at lunch went straight to my enthusiasm and will to lift. It also made someone offer me their seat in the subway, but that's another story...

    I spent just one month at the minimum (2000 cals) and the rest (feb-apr) on 1450. I am on 1750 now and testing it out.

    That's great :smile: and now I wanna hear the subway story :smiley:
  • Pastaprincess1978
    Pastaprincess1978 Posts: 371 Member
    Yeah waaaah? Nobody gives up a subway seat in China lol
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    SabAteNine wrote: »
    LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »
    SabAteNine wrote: »
    @LivingtheLeanDream Thanks! It was the macros, and you're right.

    One cup of lentils at lunch went straight to my enthusiasm and will to lift. It also made someone offer me their seat in the subway, but that's another story...

    I spent just one month at the minimum (2000 cals) and the rest (feb-apr) on 1450. I am on 1750 now and testing it out.

    That's great :smile: and now I wanna hear the subway story :smiley:

    Well there's only so much you can say about the balloon effect which carbs in general tend to have on me, at least in the first stage. I'm right there with Jupiter and Saturn in the hall of fame of gas giants. If this carries on I'm thinking of carrying around the good old „What to expect when you're expecting”... for sh*ts and giggles and a place in the subway.

    oh dear! you just need to look for someone else close by that you can give dirty looks in the direction of to throw the blame on :wink:
    I don't have that problem with carbs but then I've never ate low carb so maybe its just your body adjusting.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    Based on the chart/spreadsheet, it looks like you're pretty on-point. I've seen the similar pattern in scale weight... slight increase then leveling off, but still within what most consider normal range/fluctuations, though my fluctuations tend to be greater than what I see in your chart/numbers.

    When you say that you're "technically" still in a deficit, what does that mean? The chart/numbers suggest otherwise...
  • SabAteNine
    SabAteNine Posts: 1,867 Member
    jjpptt2 wrote: »
    Based on the chart/spreadsheet, it looks like you're pretty on-point. I've seen the similar pattern in scale weight... slight increase then leveling off, but still within what most consider normal range/fluctuations, though my fluctuations tend to be greater than what I see in your chart/numbers.

    When you say that you're "technically" still in a deficit, what does that mean? The chart/numbers suggest otherwise...

    Thank you for taking your time and checking the numbers!

    My net average is on point (1350 would be my BMR), in the following circumstances:
    • I am not counting strength training calories. Those would amount to about 150-200 every two days (approx. one hour). It's a minimal deficit of about 500-700 cals per week.
    • The exercise calories, where running isn't mentioned, are mostly from walking about 8-10k per day, at around 3.7 mph. Comparing with other calculator readings, I am strongly on the „safe side” of adjusted calories. If I am correct in this assumption, on the medium term (ca. 2 months) this should also result in a loss.

    Time will tell :smile:
  • SabAteNine
    SabAteNine Posts: 1,867 Member
    LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »
    Thanks for the update OP :smile: I've only glanced at your spreadsheet, I'm having one of those busy busy days.

    You seem to be doing just fine, give it time and and do trust the process. Goodness even I doubt myself and I've been at maintenance for years (5). but the majority of the time I KNOW I'm doing just fine :smile:
    Give yourself a +/-5lb weight range, or a little bit less. And go by your month on month figures. You will start to relax over time. But while you have the data, you really can trust the process. Keep going with that mantra :smile:

    Ruth

    Thanks so much for the encouragement, Ruth! You've been great to have in this thread :smiley:

    And congratulations for the lengthy period of maintenance. This is indeed impressive to me. But yes, I don't think doubts really ever go away for anyone who's ridden the weight gain-weight loss rollercoaster.

    I was awfully bad at keeping records consistently in the past. My MFP chart has settled for the most part into a „yearly mountains” pattern of recording a higher weight and then losing again over a couple of months, stop, repeat next year. This is the first time I am actually monitoring things closely and the insights are fantastic.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    Just a suggestion - you may want to try using a weight trending app such as Happy Scale (iOS), Libra (Android) or Trendweight.com (web). I see you have the weight graph on your spreadsheet, but the trending app smooths out the daily fluctuations and gives you a good idea of what's actually going on in the "big picture".

    Agreed! :smile: , a weight trending app is a great idea and use one myself.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    I didn't woo, but I don't use a trending app because for whatever reason my spikes are rarely even 2 pounds. For example, I have been within a pound of 160 every time I have weighed for over 2 weeks.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    I certainly think you're on the right track. A little more patience, and more focus on trends rather than point-in-time numbers can never hurt.

    As for the deficit vs maintenance... don't forget that there is a certain degree/margin for error that, even with the most careful measuring/logging, we can't completely eliminate.
  • SabAteNine
    SabAteNine Posts: 1,867 Member
    LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »
    @SabAteNine a lot of Woo'ers (usually newbies) actually think woo is a positive thing...

    That makes sense. I know I struggled with its meaning as well in the beginning.

    @CarvedTones That sounds very lucky! My readings are much more volatile :smile:
  • RadishEater
    RadishEater Posts: 470 Member
    Hello,
    I have similar stats to you 27yr old female, 5'7-5'8 maintenance weight 127-130. I've been in maintanance for 5months now and I'm still trying to figure out how much calories to eat and what ratio of fats/fiber/protein works best for me, and then events like weeklong trips, family in town can throw data into wack. mzkl843bjlbd.jpg

    I- was a week of no logging due to being on a ski trip (and I think the number is superficially low to me being dehydrated from a night out of partying the day before)
    II- was having chocolate and peanut butter cravings go out of control
    III- dad visited, ate lots of sodium from eating out ate back all my calories and more

    But you can see at first a downward trend, then slightly upward, and now back downward, idk what's going on with this week. Those sharp peaks can really be hard to deal with but I leave my report set to have my view at least 3+ months so that it gives me a more trend view than what has happened in the past couple days.

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