Up The Game or Maintain the Gains?

trbp72

OK...I thought I'd open this up to the general populace...I've been trying to get back into the swing of things in regards to logging and using MFP...but my life is a bit up and down and the recent Bank Holiday Weekend here in the UK threw me off the logging wagon again...when I have more spare time...I tend to slip out of the routine if you catch my drift...I've had my first strength workout since last Thursday today, the gym of which I am a member has restricted opening hours during bank holidays and it didn't really work for me...so though I wanted to at least try to get there I did other relaxing activies which meant I was awake into the early hours and then on top of that had a family issue that pissed me off and so I hit the bottle at bit hard...not that hard...but hard enough...

This morning wasn't as bad as I feared! I can feel it...which I guess isn't a bad thing...but I'm almost at the end of the gym monthly logging card as well (that is maintained as a record of my visits)...so now I need to decide whether I'm upping my game or continuing down the road I'm on presently...I feel like everytime I think about upping my game, I overstep the mark and end up reverting back to the comfortable routine and with the constraints on my workout time brought on by life...I don't want to head down the "gym bunny" route...I don't really have "an hour" a day...let alone a couple of hours a day to spend pumping iron (I generally get through in 45 minutes) and then at weekends because my gym opens later that during the week (it's 07:15 Mon-Fri and then 09:00 Saturday and 11:00 Sunday) so again spending extra time is counter productive as it eats into time I need to spend either with family (I take my Mum shopping generally on a Saturday morning) and at the moment I really need to sort out our house as we have items that need bringing in that there is little space for currently.

I have weight loss goals currently...but want to maintain the muscle mass I have...it's not much presently...but I don't want to lose it for the sake of losing weight and building it back up...I am losing weight steadily and I'm good with that...I don't want to drop loads quickly...I'd rather chip away slowly...I'm 123Kg at present (that is what I weighed at my medical review) and that is a 7Kg improvement on last year...so I am also good with slow weight loss...I have an end game in mind...but I want to take things steadily as I turn 47 in a few weeks and am past the overburn stage! lol!

So I realise if I want people's input...you might need to know what I'm doing presently...

I do 3 strength workouts that incorporate chest press, leg press, pec fly, mid row (both grips) and pull downs exercises (I'm lifting 42.5Kg's on the arm ones and my tree trunk legs are pressing 55Kg's)...I keep dabbling with Ab Crunching and Back Extensions...but then recently read that Ab Crunching isn't effective if your body fat percentage is over 22% (mine probably is! But I'm working on it!)...so I cut that exercise out and stuck to elbow planks for working that area...

On my cardio days...I do two days of pure cardio (these are straight 45 minute sessions), both on the cycle machines...there are 3 cycles, 3 treadmills and 2 recliner cycles at my gym...if I can get on a treadmill for one of the days I do...it depends on how many people are there...sometimes it's busy enough for the machines to be occupied, sometimes not...but I tend to get in a 10 minute treadmill session as the wind-down on the strength days...I don't want to contemplate the stair machine or the cross trainer...I can't get on with those...I've tried and it just doesn't motivate me...

So if you have any suggestions about upping the game to perhaps increase the loss/up the muscle gain or if you think that what is working now is good enough to continue...I'd be interested to hear your opinions...

AnnPT77

It sounds like you're doing fine. Slow and steady is a good thing, and a way of eating and an exercise routine that's sustainable long term for you, that you can enjoy, is ideal.

If you want to increase your calorie expenditure incrementally over time, give a think to what you can do to increase calorie expenditure in non-exercise daily life. For some people, that's good for a couple of hundred calories a day. There are several threads about that, one of which is here:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss

erickirb

Is your lifting program something you put together or is it a structured routine with progression and rests, build in?
Are you lifting full body 3 times a week or a split?

If you put the program together and don't have rest and progression built in, you may want to look at the list of programs here, see if something else may be more appropriate:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

trbp72

Thank you both! I will look into both linked topics and perhaps go from there...

AnnPT77, it's good to see someone say that my current routine seems fine...I think I get to a point where I feel like I should be doing more...but then I up everything too much and it begins to seem counterproductive...so perhaps I'm on the right track...but I'm alway open to making tweaks here and there...my biggest roadblock is my love of food (and drink) and though I am more mindful of what I eat (and drink)...I don't want to become some bland package food tee-totaller (that's just not me!)...but I never seem to have the time to sit and plan a meal strategy that doesn't annoy the other half! She hates structured planning, but I keep trying to make subtle changes! We are gradually moving away from a lot of processed crap...and because she is pescatarian it means I have cut down my bad meat intake...the best money we have spent recently was on a bread maker...we have not bought any processed loaves since...and being able to tweak the recipes has meant we have found some really tasty bread that is not as bad as shop bought stuff (some do call for a lot of unneccessary sugar...for preservative purposes that we have halved as the bread gets eaten fairly quickly!)

erickirb, the routine is a continuation of my original instructor prescribed workout...as it's a council run gym they have essentially cut out instructors since last year though...the guy who set me off was given a job higher up in the council's fitness programme and so I have adapted it and added weight when I feel it is not getting to be a challenge...but also I am wary that the number of sets/reps is indicative of the way the muscle mass is treated (4 swift sets is more about weight loss as opposed to 3 metered T.U.T. sets being a muscle builder)...I've been flipping between 3 sets and 4 sets every couple of months recenty...but because I'm wanting to cut weight before I rebuild as it were...I'm on the 4 set side at the moment...my ultimate goal is to get my weight down to around 111Kg or thereabouts so I have some space to work with for rebuilding muscle mass...I'm not wanting full on Hulk...but I want to have some definition...and power or at least that is what is in my mind...

It's good to know that I'm not too far from the mark...

AnnPT77

In my world, it's important to find an approach that allows good life balance - enough time and energy for family, work, other important things - while incrementally moving us toward long-term goals. We have to change our habits to change our lives, but we don't necessarily need to make sudden revolutionary changes that rip up overall happiness.

You certainly might want to consider changes in what program you do at the gym (the link erickirb suggested is a good one), but you should be able to make progress with your current time allocation, and it sounds like hugely increasing time wouldn't be a happy change, for you. Happiness is important.

Persistent gradual change will let you make progress toward you goals; just stick with it.

Best wishes!

JBanx256

A limit on the energy transfer rate from the human fat store in hypophagia.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15615615

someone submitted a question to James Krieger about the study (linked above) about how much of a deficit could be run, assuming nutrition goals are met (eg, adequate protein etc) and James' response was:

"...you’re referring to data from Dr. Seymour Alpert, who estimated that the maximum rate of fat loss would be 69 calories per kilogram of fat each day. So, if you’re 100 kilograms and 30% body fat (30 kg of fat), then your maximum deficit would be 30*69 = 2070 calories per day. This would be approximately a 4 lb loss per week (initially), which is about 2% of body weight. If you are 80 kilograms and 10% body fat (8 kg of fat), then your maximum deficit would be 8*69 = 552 calories per day. This is a loss of about 0.6% of body weight per week. This ties in nicely with another study that found that 0.7% loss per week maintained lean mass and training performance in athletes better than 1% per week. So, I would say, the best simple heuristic would be to keep the rate of loss to about 0.5% per week for lean individuals, and 1-2% per week for overweight/obese individuals (probably erring closer to 1% to keep the energy deficit more sustainable without causing severe hunger)."

So, my $0.02 in regards to your question is - make sure you're getting enough protein, figure out what deficit is "safe" (in terms of minimizing potential muscle loss), and start there. If you continue to lose weight, try bumping the cals up a bit, ride that out for a couple/few weeks; if you continue to lose, bump up again, etc.