Frustration, whats the next step?

symba1130

I am at week 8 of this adventure. I am loving what it is doing for my shape. I have only lost a couple pounds, inches I have no idea as I am terrible about measuring, but all my pants from before baby (which is now 13mths old) FIT! And some are a tad too big.

But, I have been failing on lifts and I am not sure why.

I stopped weighted squats for a couple weeks because of knee pain. This has gotten better and I am now at 85lbs on squats, started at 45lbs 8 weeks ago

OHP - Still at 50. Ideas on what I can do to help this along?

ROW - I was up to 80 last week but failed miserably at 85 this week.

DL - 135 feels good, 145 is manageable, 155 is IMPOSSIBLE! I am now going to be warming up (Duh, I cant believe I wasn't doing that)

BP - 65 is good, 70 I fail after a couple sets of 5 reps

I work out first thing in the morning and I drink a protein shake (scoop of powder + water) on my very fast 8 min drive to the gym.
Do I need more food?
I am also eating at a deficit as I am still trying to loose fat and reshape this body of mine. I don't care so much about the # on the scale if my shape is evolving.

Would love to hear thoughts from some of you ladies.

PS - I posted a form video of squats if anyone has a chance to check it out and provide feedback. TIA!

katro111

It very well could be the food. The more I eat, the better I do with my lifts. Upper body lifts are also harder than the lower body lifts for most females; if you're stuck at 50lbs on OHP, go down in weight and increase the reps. If you can do 5x5 @ 45lbs, then bump it up to 5 sets of 6. Then 7. Then 8 and so on. I would say once you can do 5x10 @ the lower weight, then move up to 5x5 at the next weight. You could also get fractional plates and increase your upper body lifts by 2.5lbs at a time instead of 5lbs.

ketoandbarbell

Try upping your calories even by 100 if you want to progress more on lifts. There are also days in your diary that you still have 100+ left for the day. Eat them! Try and keep your calories as close to your goal as possible. I hit PRs when I upped my calories. Now I'm stuck again but go well I'm stuck at a higher weight on all lifts except OHP :grumble:

symba1130

Thanks ladies!

Do I have to choose between strength gains and weight/fat loss? Or can I do both but just not as progressive on either?

katro111

You can do a recomp, it's just a slow process. I ate at maintenance (actually a little bit higher than maintenance) for all of August and September. I had no stalls on any lifts and hit PRs on OHP, squats and DL. Scale weight hasn't changed by more than .5lbs, and my "trouble spots" are looking better (and I can feel with my hands that there is less fat). I have to take my measurements still, will probably do that tomorrow, it just took 2 months to make that progress.

symba1130

You can do a recomp, it's just a slow process. I ate at maintenance (actually a little bit higher than maintenance) for all of August and September. I had no stalls on any lifts and hit PRs on OHP, squats and DL. Scale weight hasn't changed by more than .5lbs, and my "trouble spots" are looking better (and I can feel with my hands that there is less fat). I have to take my measurements still, will probably do that tomorrow, it just took 2 months to make that progress.

This makes me feel so much better! I meant to take progress pics this morning and forgot. I don't see a huge difference in my tummy area, but something must be changing if I am going down in pant sizes. Plus, I got 2 compliments on my arms last week :blushing:

katro111

You can do a recomp, it's just a slow process. I ate at maintenance (actually a little bit higher than maintenance) for all of August and September. I had no stalls on any lifts and hit PRs on OHP, squats and DL. Scale weight hasn't changed by more than .5lbs, and my "trouble spots" are looking better (and I can feel with my hands that there is less fat). I have to take my measurements still, will probably do that tomorrow, it just took 2 months to make that progress.

This makes me feel so much better! I meant to take progress pics this morning and forgot. I don't see a huge difference in my tummy area, but something must be changing if I am going down in pant sizes. Plus, I got 2 compliments on my arms last week :blushing:

Yes, most definitely take pics! Since you see yourself every day, and so often we see ourselves as we were sometime before, it's hard to spot any differences. Like you said, though, if you're dropping pant sizes then there's definitely some changes happening!