I wanna convert to the dark side (weight lifting)

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  • cjamestn
    cjamestn Posts: 4
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    If it's any help, I started lifting about a month ago after just doing an hour of cardio daily. Despite what I've read, in my experience you can build muscle, atleast in the beginning, whilst remaining at a deficit.
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
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    Sorry last question. So my goal is lose another 20ish kilos give or take because of lifting or drop another 2 dress sizes (that will be the size I was before kids but I was skinny fat) then I wanna focus more I wanna focus more on building lean muscle. How would I eat for those goals.

    Secondly I know I may get a bit bigger size wise before I start to get smaller. I have an event in 6ish weeks. I don't wanna not be able to fit in my clothes properly (I wanna look banging hot lol) so would this "noob" gain interfere with that?

    1) You should shoot for adequate protein. Everyone reacts differently. The minimum I would shoot for is around 0.8-1g/lb. It's much more important to get high protein when you're cutting fat and eating at a deficit. You need to tailor the rest of your macros carbs/fat depending on how you react. Some people (I am one) do react badly to low carbs. I do other physical activity on top of lifting and cutting carbs leaves me feeling wiped out. Other people do well on low carb (but need the occasional carb-fest to keep hormones in whack). There's no real way to know without getting your protein right and adjusting the other macros so you stay within your calorie goal and see how you perform/cope. Adjust as necessary.

    2) Noob (muscle) gains won't make you appreciably bigger. You'll take on extra water weight in the first couple of weeks which may puff you up a bit, but that'll likely drop within a month. As long as your diet is on point and you're consistent with your training sessions, then you'll drop fat and look better. The tape measure is the key. All that being said, it's a marathon, not a sprint and you'll likely start really reaping the rewards 6-9 months down the road. There are no quick fixes in life and lifting is no different. You'll need drive and gumption to stay the course for the long haul and get the most out of it. All these great looking ladies who lift on this site have one thing in common: they are consistent and have put the time and the hardwork in to get the results.
  • Snow3y
    Snow3y Posts: 1,412 Member
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    How is this the dark side?:/
  • GiGiBeans
    GiGiBeans Posts: 1,062 Member
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    How is this the dark side?:/

    Yeah! The dark side is suppose to have cookies! :sad:
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    Instead of quoting and responding to a dozen different points, I'm going to try to just distill my opinion on the topic overall and hope I address all of your concerns lol.

    1. I would most certainly NOT rack up my calories by ~1500 calories all at once. TBH, you can most likely add 300 calories a week and be doing just fine. As has been stated already, most of the initial training adaptation you make as a rank beginner will be neural adaptation, which doesn't really require calories to build anything. I'd plan to tack on ~300 a week and keep an eye on the mirror and see how it goes. If you start to feel particularly weak due to your activity level, eat more. If you feel ravenous after a workout...eat more.

    2. NROLFW is a good book for convincing women that lifting is a valuable way to pursue the body they want. Other than that it's silly. The workout is overcomplicated and obtuse, and the diet is ... just no. Since you've already decided you want to lift, don't bother with it.

    3. IMO Starting Strength is the best beginner resource out there, and it's a steal at about $30 on Amazon. That having been said, I didn't see you mention anything about having a power rack in which to squat. Do you have the ability to actually do barbell squats? Is your weight set an Olympic style set? How much weight do you actually have?

    4. Check out the "so you think you can..." bench, squat, deadlift video series' on YouTube. Don't watch only them, nor consider them 100% gospel, but definitely check them out.

    5. Your weight might NEVER go back down. But I think you'll find that you won't care all that much. Watch the measuring tape and the bodyfat calipers (get some if you don't have any-they're cheap online) and forget all about the scale unless you plan to compete and need to make a weight class.

    This is very good advice.

    Re your questions: Firstly, if your pic is current it doesn't appear that you have anywhere near 20kg to lose. Looks like more of a body recomp situation. I would continue to eat the same cals you have. (1g per lb of bw protein is a good idea approximately). That is if you have been losing slowly on those cals. With the reduction in cardio, your deficit may not be as large and also because of the glycogen in the muscles the scale may go up. Don't be discouraged. Stick with it. Adjust cals down if required to keep losing.

    If you haven't done any resistance training so far, it is possible that by the time you get to your "goal weight" you won't have enough LBM to get the look you are after. (subjective so unsure) If that is the case, THEN you would slowly add cals back in. 100-200 per week I'd say until you start to gain slowly. This is called reverse dieting. I've written an article about it here :smile:

    2. You won't get appreciably larger if you are still in a deficit. It is possible that you will get some noob gains (grow muscle while in deficit) but it is highly unlikely that it will increase your measurements by much.

    Put it this way, I TRY to get bigger all the time and have so for about the last 5 years and my largest increase in measurement is 2" on the quads in 2 years. Most other measurements are 1" or less change. (and that is with bulk and cut cycles)

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