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Time to move to maintenance?
Samby_v1
Posts: 202 Member
Hello! Hoping you can help me here. I'm female, at 25% BF, aiming for 20%. Most of my life I've maintained this weight but I want to get strong and ditch the belly. Here's where things get complicated, so please bear with me... When I began here I quickly discovered the joy of kettlebells and started to lose a few inches, on a small calorie deficit calculated by NROWL. However, I got a rather odd touring job recently and decided it'd be better to put things on hold - it's a very physical theatre piece where I run around in winter gear for an hour - and I've got the DOMs to prove it! It's definitely cardio, but I had no real way to monitor it (aside from borrowing a HRM, which I may well do out of curiosity if nothing else) but I knew it gave me a good workout and in need of recovery time. Here's the thing - TOM water-retention aside, in my over-100-days here I've just hovered around the same 4lbs. Having recently returned to my home city where it's easier to make sensible health choices AND log them, I'm trying to get back on the wagon. Thankfully I managed not to put on any weight during the tour, even though I took advantage of full English breakfasts and post show cocktails... I've got about a month left on the show - all performances are matinees, and I'm concerned that going back to kettlebells will make me too tired to perform to my best. I was thinking about waiting till this job is over and hoped you could advise. I also have the sneaking suspicion that I should just move onto body recomping and really start lifting heavy. I know it's slow, but seeing as I've never been able to lose more than 4lbs - even when I was logging every day - maybe slow is better than stalled. Looking forward to reading your responses.
Provide your stats (Height: 5'4"/Weight 133.8lbs (I tend to retain about 2lbs of water around TOMs - which it is right now) /Age 32/Body Fat 25%)
What's your current gross intake of calories, on average? 1661 on a 'rest day', 1809 if doing kettlebells
What's your current average intake of protein, carbs, and fats, in grams? (GRAMS, not percent!) Protein: 104g, Carbs: 166g, Fats: 65g (usually have too much fat in proportion to other macros)
Do you use a food scale and measure everything? Yes
Do you track all of your intake, daily? (Everything?) Yes, but please see rather long explanation above
Do you take cheat days or days off? No.
How much weight have you lost so far and over what time period? I keep losing and regaining the same 4lbs, but I've never been as much as my starting weight of 135lbs
Describe your activity (exercise and non exercise) and did you change that activity withing the last couple of months? All explained above, but for TLDR; was doing kettlebells for cardio/strength training, have been doing a strenuous physical theatre show for last month or so.
How long have you been stalled and if it is not a complete stall please be very specific as to how much you have lost over the stalled period. Aside from a sharp newbie loss, I've hovered around the same weight.
Are you breastfeeding? No.
Do you have thyroid issues/risks or PCOS? No.
Provide your stats (Height: 5'4"/Weight 133.8lbs (I tend to retain about 2lbs of water around TOMs - which it is right now) /Age 32/Body Fat 25%)
What's your current gross intake of calories, on average? 1661 on a 'rest day', 1809 if doing kettlebells
What's your current average intake of protein, carbs, and fats, in grams? (GRAMS, not percent!) Protein: 104g, Carbs: 166g, Fats: 65g (usually have too much fat in proportion to other macros)
Do you use a food scale and measure everything? Yes
Do you track all of your intake, daily? (Everything?) Yes, but please see rather long explanation above
Do you take cheat days or days off? No.
How much weight have you lost so far and over what time period? I keep losing and regaining the same 4lbs, but I've never been as much as my starting weight of 135lbs
Describe your activity (exercise and non exercise) and did you change that activity withing the last couple of months? All explained above, but for TLDR; was doing kettlebells for cardio/strength training, have been doing a strenuous physical theatre show for last month or so.
How long have you been stalled and if it is not a complete stall please be very specific as to how much you have lost over the stalled period. Aside from a sharp newbie loss, I've hovered around the same weight.
Are you breastfeeding? No.
Do you have thyroid issues/risks or PCOS? No.
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Given that your weight is stable, could we make the claim that you are already at maintenance?0
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Given that your weight is stable, could we make the claim that you are already at maintenance?
Well this is the thing - I eat and drink what I want and mainly sit on my butt; I maintain the same weight.
I eat at a calculated deficit monitored by weighing food and logging meticulously (and working out); I maintain the same weight.
Have we all got a berth of about 300 cals to eat within or something? My apparent 'maintenance' calories according to NROWL is around the 1900 mark which is probably how I've eaten most of my life. What I've not really understood is how months of eating at just over 1600 hasn't really made a dent. So shall I do the sensible thing of eating 1900 cals (i.e. what I'm used to and something I don't really have to think about), but with the proviso of getting more protein and attempting to build muscle? Or shall I cut more till I've lost at least 5lbs more and THEN start?
So many questions! Thanks for your patience.0 -
Generally speaking, maintenance is a range of calories rather than a fixed point. Activity levels fluctuate, and people have a varying response to feeding as far as how they regulate non exercise activity thermogenesis.
Having said that, we will take a closer look at your diary/stats and see what we find regarding your stall. We are quite behind so it may be a few days.0 -
Generally speaking, maintenance is a range of calories rather than a fixed point. Activity levels fluctuate, and people have a varying response to feeding as far as how they regulate non exercise activity thermogenesis.
Having said that, we will take a closer look at your diary/stats and see what we find regarding your stall. We are quite behind so it may be a few days.
That's great, and makes sense. Thank you. The only time I significantly lost weight in my life was after my Dad died and it was a struggle to eat anything at all. And the only time I significantly gained I was on a very easy tour, sitting on a bus most of the time and eating and drinking at restaurants at least twice a day. And even then it was only about 5lbs over a couple of months.
I only just started logging again yesterday after a long break, so am very happy to wait a few days so you have an idea as to what I'm eating!
Bear in mind I'm not logging the show I'm in under 'exercise'. That said, it's about an hour long and I sweat and get out of breath, if that helps...0 -
I only just started logging again yesterday after a long break, so am very happy to wait a few days so you have an idea as to what I'm eating!
Log as accurately as you can and give us at least 1 week of solid, consistent tracking data to work with. Reply here when you've had at least 1 week of tracking done.0 -
OK, got a week's worth down. Hit me!0
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Tagging0
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What is your current weight?0
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132.4lbs this morning…0
This discussion has been closed.