Slow down or keep the pace?

cherrybomb526

Hello! I am a 30-year-old woman. My SW three months ago was 195 lbs, CW 175. My GW is 160. If my maintain my current LBM, that will put me at 22.5% body fat, so I plan to re-evaluate at that point.

I am muscular and a primary goal is to retain as much muscle mass as possible. I have been lifting heavy weights for years and focused more on performance and less worried about body size, but as my weight creeped up my performance started to suffer, thus the weight loss. While restricting, I reduced my lifting days to a 2 days/week full body barbell routine with some fun kettlebell days mixed in, as well as occasional steady state cardio. I’m finding that my recovery has been impacted by restriction and that’s the level of activity I can maintain. HIIT tends to hit me hard recovery-wise, and I’ve been struggling to incorporate it with little success.

I’ve been strict about eating 1600 cals/day and not eating back exercise calories as the 1600 should account for that. I’ve calculated my TDEE somewhere around 2150-2250. I’ve lost 20 lbs this way. I don’t feel over-restricted and don’t have side effects from restriction other than lifting recovery being compromised, which is to be expected.

My question is about what to do now. Basically I’m debating getting myself totally back on track with the plan described above or slowing down my weight loss and building in more calorie-dense foods on the weekend. The past 3 weeks I’ve been finding myself going off-plan on weekends and consuming hot wings, beer, etc. I maintain my activity habits throughout, and consistently eat nutrient-dense whole foods for the most part. My weight loss has slowed to about .5 lbs/week. I would love to knock these last 15 lbs out quickly, but I also want to build sustainable habits, which for me mean including hot wings, drinks with friends, and the occasional lemon bar in my life.

Any thoughts about what has worked for you in terms of slowing down weight loss or keeping the pace up, or suggestions about balancing restriction with indulgence?

csplatt

I slowed down and creeped my intake towards maintenance when I had 5 lb left. However, I only had 20 to lose to begin with.

MichelleSilverleaf

0.5lbs is reasonable for so little left to go.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

Fantastic effort so far! Throw a party!

My most recent and most successful weight control effort began about 3 years ago: I lost 20 lbs and have been able to maintain my weight for the first time in my life. All prior efforts were temporary, meaning I gained the weight back, at least to some extent.

From this experience, I can advise you to 1) stay on the reduced-calorie diet until the weight is completely off (don't mess with a successful formula), and 2) when you go on maintenance, keep logging for as long as you can stand. A good goal is a year. You need to develop totally new eating habits if you want to maintain your new weight.

Best of luck!

middlehaitch

Sounds like switching to a 0.5lbs a week deficit would be something to seriously think about at this point.

It will give you more energy, and that should help with your workouts.
It will also help you slide into maintenance eating the food you love.

You could trial it for a couple of months and if it doesn’t work for you return to your previous deficit, or one that you are happier with.

Alternately, stay at your current deficit but take frequent diet breaks.

Cheers, h.

cherrybomb526

Thanks, all! Sounds like the answer is to do whichever increases the likelihood that I’ll stick with it. I hadn’t considered frequent diet breaks— that’s a great idea!