Feeling stuck (progress pic)

Emirena

Down ~10lbs in just under a year from my highest weight
(About 10, since combination of fat loss, muscle and strength gains, and water fluctuations are complicated)

But now I'm feeling stuck. I look at the above picture and feel like it doesn't look like 10lbs. I know I have extra inches in my pants and lost a whole jeab size, but I am beginning to have body image issues again.

On top of that I've been eating "whatever I want" and scale hasn't moved in 5 months. It could be worse considering I'm consuming about 2000kcal once a week, with weeks averaging about 1400. It was kind of a psychological test to make sure I could get comfortable with maintenance lifestyle and intake, but now I'm finding it hard to reduce again.

My maintenance intake is somewhere between 1500 and 1600, I'm petite with a small frame but lift...

2 yrs strong lifts, two 12 wk cycles of strong curves since last winter. LOVE the latter program and struggling to know what to do when I finish another 12 weeks around labor day... Any one else repeat programs back to back?

I don't always hate cardio, but find it hard when I'm sore or it's hot out. Also busy lately so lifting is all I have time for.

I also find I consistently end up with macros no one would recommend: ~80p ~90c ~75f

I have a taste for fatty foods, and after reintroducing carbs (years of keto diet) my natural intake habitually seems to float around 60-120g.

Again, glad I haven't gained anything after permitting myself dessert, carbs, alcohol again, but depressed if averaging 1400kcal weekly is not enough to lose

@_@ all I want is 1/2lb per week. Those pesky last 5 lbs...

Tips/encouragement welcomed.

bigrichieAF28

From the outside looking in, there is significant difference between the two pics. I would bet your body fat percentage dropped between the two pics. That's more important than any number a scale throws out at you. You're doing great!

hroderick

I don't have any advice, but can say your bod looks much better now in subtle ways. You've probably lost fat % and replaced with muscle. I can definitely say you should not have a bad body self image.

Emirena

Thanks to you both! I know my composition has changed for the better (doubled my pull-ups and upped my deadlift by 25lb!) At least I've figured out how to keep in equilibrium, something I've never been able to do before.

bigrichieAF28

As long as you keep lifting and building muscle, you may not see the scale move. But, you have the body type that should make you not give a *kitten*. You're gonna see results no matter what that stupid scale says because you're decreasing body fat and gaining muscle. You look great

erjones11

It looks like more than ten pounds of loss to me. It is a notacible difference so I would guess you have lost 20 pounds of fat and gained 10 of muscle. Can’t see six pack in before nut certainly can after. I would be happy with those results. Congratulations

sardelsa

You look great, I definitely see a huge difference in the photos! As you get closer to goal, physique changes can be slow. The last 5 lbs are a pain for sure. Would you consider switching to maintenance and recomping? That would help you lose fat and gain muscle over time, you look like you are in a good position to do that body comp wise.
In terms of programming, after Strong Curves you can use the template to design your own program, or use the advanced program and switch up the exercises. I moved on to Get Glutes (which I heard is no longer available unfortunately) but it was essentially following a similar template to SC and changed monthly.

Emirena

sardelsa wrote: »

You look great, I definitely see a huge difference in the photos! As you get closer to goal, physique changes can be slow. The last 5 lbs are a pain for sure. Would you consider switching to maintenance and recomping? That would help you lose fat and gain muscle over time, you look like you are in a good position to do that body comp wise.
In terms of programming, after Strong Curves you can use the template to design your own program, or use the advanced program and switch up the exercises. I moved on to Get Glutes (which I heard is no longer available unfortunately) but it was essentially following a similar template to SC and changed monthly.

Thanks! (And same to everyone else)

Recomp was kinda what I was aiming for, but I ended up deciding to just get comfortable with eating what appealed to me and attempting to keep protein high.

As macros quoted imply, my fat and carb intake tends to sneak up fast. After years of post-ED 6 month up and 6 month down weight trends within a 20lb range, I'm just glad I didn't start sweating my diet or body until today. Definitely a NSV.

I love that strong curves provided such a nice template, but I'm currently juggling work, studying for certification exams, and school starting in 3 weeks, so I'm honestly too lazy to spend time putting together all new exercises for all 9 possible workouts in SC... Think just performing one set of workouts a,b,c would be sufficient (instead of customizing weeks 1-4,5-7,9-12)?

Get Glutes sounds like what I need - was it put out by bret or someone else (just curious).

And y'all are right... I don't have to give too much of a damn about my diet or body. Giveb ny experience that led me to eventually lifting, it's actually imperative I don't get too restrictive.

Thanks for the honest second opinions. Makes a difference hearing it from outside onesself

mom23mangos

Sounds like your head is in the right place, but just wanted to reiterate that you've done a great job so far and there is a huge difference between photos. I think you look perfect right now, but I also know we are our own worse critic. I second you continuing to feel comfortable eating and just recomp. You will continue to see changes.

Candyspun

I can see a difference. Look at your belly button; it's much more shallow, now. Also, I echo what others have said about you having less body fat now

kimber0607

Your mid section looks awesome! bg difference
I lost 1.5 pounds in the last 17 days...so I feel your pain..but def see results! Keep it up!

shaf238

Definitely a noticeable difference, you look great! Your abs and hips are a lot more defined in the more recent pic. Great effort, you should be proud!

sardelsa

Emirena wrote: »

sardelsa wrote: »

You look great, I definitely see a huge difference in the photos! As you get closer to goal, physique changes can be slow. The last 5 lbs are a pain for sure. Would you consider switching to maintenance and recomping? That would help you lose fat and gain muscle over time, you look like you are in a good position to do that body comp wise.
In terms of programming, after Strong Curves you can use the template to design your own program, or use the advanced program and switch up the exercises. I moved on to Get Glutes (which I heard is no longer available unfortunately) but it was essentially following a similar template to SC and changed monthly.

Thanks! (And same to everyone else)

Recomp was kinda what I was aiming for, but I ended up deciding to just get comfortable with eating what appealed to me and attempting to keep protein high.

As macros quoted imply, my fat and carb intake tends to sneak up fast. After years of post-ED 6 month up and 6 month down weight trends within a 20lb range, I'm just glad I didn't start sweating my diet or body until today. Definitely a NSV.

I love that strong curves provided such a nice template, but I'm currently juggling work, studying for certification exams, and school starting in 3 weeks, so I'm honestly too lazy to spend time putting together all new exercises for all 9 possible workouts in SC... Think just performing one set of workouts a,b,c would be sufficient (instead of customizing weeks 1-4,5-7,9-12)?

Get Glutes sounds like what I need - was it put out by bret or someone else (just curious).

And y'all are right... I don't have to give too much of a damn about my diet or body. Giveb ny experience that led me to eventually lifting, it's actually imperative I don't get too restrictive.

Thanks for the honest second opinions. Makes a difference hearing it from outside onesself

Get Glutes was originally put out by Bret and Kellie, then somewhere after month 30 (I believe) Bret moved on to his own program and Kellie took over. Now she runs her own site with great glute focused programs (I don't know how similar they are to SC I ran one and it was a 6 day split type which was nice but not something I could stick with long term).

You could keep running the same program just up the weights as you go or there is also Strong by Bret, it is a monthly subscription program similar to SC and Get Glutes I believe. However it is a bit pricey. I don't have proper equipment but once I do I will sign up for it.

Emirena

sardelsa wrote: »

Emirena wrote: »

sardelsa wrote: »

You look great, I definitely see a huge difference in the photos! As you get closer to goal, physique changes can be slow. The last 5 lbs are a pain for sure. Would you consider switching to maintenance and recomping? That would help you lose fat and gain muscle over time, you look like you are in a good position to do that body comp wise.
In terms of programming, after Strong Curves you can use the template to design your own program, or use the advanced program and switch up the exercises. I moved on to Get Glutes (which I heard is no longer available unfortunately) but it was essentially following a similar template to SC and changed monthly.

Thanks! (And same to everyone else)

Recomp was kinda what I was aiming for, but I ended up deciding to just get comfortable with eating what appealed to me and attempting to keep protein high.

As macros quoted imply, my fat and carb intake tends to sneak up fast. After years of post-ED 6 month up and 6 month down weight trends within a 20lb range, I'm just glad I didn't start sweating my diet or body until today. Definitely a NSV.

I love that strong curves provided such a nice template, but I'm currently juggling work, studying for certification exams, and school starting in 3 weeks, so I'm honestly too lazy to spend time putting together all new exercises for all 9 possible workouts in SC... Think just performing one set of workouts a,b,c would be sufficient (instead of customizing weeks 1-4,5-7,9-12)?

Get Glutes sounds like what I need - was it put out by bret or someone else (just curious).

And y'all are right... I don't have to give too much of a damn about my diet or body. Giveb ny experience that led me to eventually lifting, it's actually imperative I don't get too restrictive.

Thanks for the honest second opinions. Makes a difference hearing it from outside onesself

Get Glutes was originally put out by Bret and Kellie, then somewhere after month 30 (I believe) Bret moved on to his own program and Kellie took over. Now she runs her own site with great glute focused programs (I don't know how similar they are to SC I ran one and it was a 6 day split type which was nice but not something I could stick with long term).

You could keep running the same program just up the weights as you go or there is also Strong by Bret, it is a monthly subscription program similar to SC and Get Glutes I believe. However it is a bit pricey. I don't have proper equipment but once I do I will sign up for it.

ooh, grateful for the info. Yeah - I can only do a 3 day split right now. played with 4 days in first 4 weeks of second round of SC, but schedule is hitting the fan soon. Will check out Kellie and Bret's recent offerings, or just tweak and keep making gains. Considering going to 5/3/1 or madcow cycle cause I really miss deadlifting and squatting all the time (and made recent PRs on both with just SC as my program) However, 2 years of 5x5 and SS I think resulted in a bit more quad dominance than I would like, and doing SC a couple times has really evened out my glute strength and size.