Thinking about maintaining but....

shorty35565

I'm really nervous about it. Can I still lose inches and body fat while maintaining? I am lifting, 3 days a week. Doing the compound lift: bench press, overhead press, Bent over Row, Squat and Deadlift.
I'm 5'5 and weigh 122.8lbs. I feel like I still have fat arms and I have a belly too, love handles, fat back & upper inner thighs. My butt is getting so skinny that it's not comfy at all to sit on hard surfaces. I can like feel my pelvis touching the surface when I do.
These are the most recent pics I have. It was a couple weeks ago.


Should I even maintain?

Playingwithfire89

If you wanna Skype sometime i'll show u my magic butt workouts

shorty35565

Maintaining means your maintaining your weight, how can you lose inches and body fat and stay the same weight?
Add muscle mass, but very unlikely in your case.

If you want to lose more fat go for it, if you don't, then don't.

If YOU'RE NOT HAPPY with your body, what difference if anyone else is? we can tell you look great and all that stuff, but if you don't like your body, really won't make a difference what we say.

I want to lose from my torso, but you cant spot reduce. Then how is it people even out? I'm getting close to being underweight & I'm a long way off from what I want. I swear I've seen people say you can eat at maintenance, lift and lower your body fat %. But mayb I was imagining things.

GreyEyes21

Do insanity or p90x, something that will tighten and help you lose inches without making you lose or gain too much, if you do gain it will be muscle, and if you lose it will be all fat, you will just look over all more toned. Lifting sometimes isn't enough, and wont be enough to help with the "fat" you mentioned. YOU look great though! absolutly amazing!


ETA: I see on your profile that you completed 4 programs, but changing the program to something more difficult like p90x which uses weights, and core strenthining will definately help

NeuroticVirgo

I think your were leaning more towards asking if you could eat more?

I've seen people who workout hard and bump their calories up to like 2300 and still lose inches, but more toning rather than getting skinny.

I'm no where near this kind of stage, just commenting on what I've seen MFP friends do that seemed to work for them.

Barberini

I am on Day 83 of p90x and during the program I have lost 3-4% body fat and several inches but only lost a pound, all while eating 1800-2200 calories a day (5'3", 114lb). You can do it if you follow the right program. Friend me if you want, we have similar goals. I will be posting my final results and pics at the end of the program.

wmagoo27

I'm really nervous about it. Can I still lose inches and body fat while maintaining? I am lifting, 3 days a week. Doing the compound lift: bench press, overhead press, Bent over Row, Squat and Deadlift.
I'm 5'5 and weigh 122.8lbs. I feel like I still have fat arms and I have a belly too, love handles, fat back & upper inner thighs. My butt is getting so skinny that it's not comfy at all to sit on hard surfaces. I can like feel my pelvis touching the surface when I do.
These are the most recent pics I have. It was a couple weeks ago.


Should I even maintain?

Upping your calories while lifting is a factor of recovery. You have to give your muscles enough fuel to recover and repair. I would suggest that you up your calories to maintenance, and start monitoring you progress with scale and body measurements. After a couple of weeks, lower your calorie intake a couple hundred calories and track for another couple weeks. Repeat this again and again. If you feel like you don't have the energy to workout, and you seem to be sore longer than usual or you just feel like crap, then up your calories again. The trick is to find the magic number that will allow you to continue losing weight, but will supply your muscles adequately after heavy lifting. Note too that as your daily activity changes and you burn more or less calories, you may need to adjust your calorie intake slightly to accomodate it.

donna_glasgow

you can maintain and lose bf and inches ,,,, hell I gained 3 lbs and still lost BF% ....

this month I have stayed exactly the same weight ... lost 1.5 inch from my belly 0.5 from my waist and 0.4 from my hips ... which meant a 1.1% drop in BF ...

personally I dont care if the scales ever move again as long as my body keeps changing

maintain and see how you go for a few months

bdtyson77302

EVERYONE is telling me that I'm getting too thin and my face is changing....yet when I look in the mirror I still see things I want to change. We have to get to the point of trusting ourselves. We know what to eat to be healthy...so keep eating healthy and change up your work out. Just like it took time to lose weight, it will take time to transform your body! You may never be 100% happy.....that just means you're a woman. None of us are!
By the way....I think you look great!! Good luck.

shorty35565

I'm really nervous about it. Can I still lose inches and body fat while maintaining? I am lifting, 3 days a week. Doing the compound lift: bench press, overhead press, Bent over Row, Squat and Deadlift.
I'm 5'5 and weigh 122.8lbs. I feel like I still have fat arms and I have a belly too, love handles, fat back & upper inner thighs. My butt is getting so skinny that it's not comfy at all to sit on hard surfaces. I can like feel my pelvis touching the surface when I do.
These are the most recent pics I have. It was a couple weeks ago.


Should I even maintain?

Upping your calories while lifting is a factor of recovery. You have to give your muscles enough fuel to recover and repair. I would suggest that you up your calories to maintenance, and start monitoring you progress with scale and body measurements. After a couple of weeks, lower your calorie intake a couple hundred calories and track for another couple weeks. Repeat this again and again. If you feel like you don't have the energy to workout, and you seem to be sore longer than usual or you just feel like crap, then up your calories again. The trick is to find the magic number that will allow you to continue losing weight, but will supply your muscles adequately after heavy lifting. Note too that as your daily activity changes and you burn more or less calories, you may need to adjust your calorie intake slightly to accomodate it.

I have a bodymedia, so I know what I burn daily. I normally eat just right under 1700. On days I dont do much, I burn about 1850 or so. Seems 1900 is probably the average number. I will get to 2000 every once in a while. I'm still losing weight, so my friend mentioned tht lifting weight is speeding up my metabolism. Weight loss just isn't enough for me anymore. It's not giving me what I want. Inches & BF% are what matter most to me.

shorty35565

you can maintain and lose bf and inches ,,,, hell I gained 3 lbs and still lost BF% ....

this month I have stayed exactly the same weight ... lost 1.5 inch from my belly 0.5 from my waist and 0.4 from my hips ... which meant a 1.1% drop in BF ...

personally I dont care if the scales ever move again as long as my body keeps changing

maintain and see how you go for a few months

I knew I had read somewhere that I could, but how to I do it. Is it by eating maintenance?

hesn92

I am apparently too skinny. My body fat % is lower than "ideal" according to this health assessment I took yesterday at work. lol. I do not want to lose anymore weight but when I look in the mirror there are still some parts of my body that could lose some fat. Like my tummy. I guess that's it.

I am eating at maintenance and lifting. *shrug* I'm not that worried about it. We'll see what happens. I plan on experimenting with my food intake to see what happens when I do what.

DavPul

You can do this. Eat at a very slight deficit (200-300 cals below maintenance) and continue lifting. Make sure you are adding weight to the bar each week. Do this for a few weeks and keep taps on both your measurements and your scale weight. You can do cardio once or twice per week if you feel you need to scoot the process along a little bit.

When I last did this (my personal term for it is "consolidation") I did it for 3 months and lost only about 3 lbs total. But I lost 4+ inches off my waist along with lowering my BF% and looked significantly different at the end. It should work for you as well.

Sarauk2sf

How long have you been lifting (heavy) for?

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange

I highly recommend against a deficit at the moment--you don't need weight loss you need muscle gain. Eat at maintenance and lift heavy weights. Be patient--it takes time.

LorinaLynn

Love handles?! Where?! All I see is the natural and beautiful transition from your waist to your hips.

I highly recommend against a deficit at the moment--you don't need weight loss you need muscle gain. Eat at maintenance and lift heavy weights. Be patient--it takes time.

This. I'm pretty much eating at maintenance (just about 10% below TDEE to allow for a little wiggle room because I'm not logging on weekends or holidays), doing stronglifts, and my body is continuing to change.

About six weeks ago, I switched to Dan's Road Map style of eating, after doing MFP numbers plus exercise calories since December 2010. It's so much easier for me. Here's my progress since starting that: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/774969-after-the-road-map-switch

Edited to add: It's not like anything is carved in stone, either. You can always lose more weight later on if you decide that's what you really want.

shorty35565

You can do this. Eat at a very slight deficit (200-300 cals below maintenance) and continue lifting. Make sure you are adding weight to the bar each week. Do this for a few weeks and keep taps on both your measurements and your scale weight. You can do cardio once or twice per week if you feel you need to scoot the process along a little bit.

When I last did this (my personal term for it is "consolidation") I did it for 3 months and lost only about 3 lbs total. But I lost 4+ inches off my waist along with lowering my BF% and looked significantly different at the end. It should work for you as well.

I have a bodymedia that tell me my TDEE & I've been eating ab 200 or 300 below that number, sometimes only 150 and I lost almost 1lb last week. I thought my weight loss was gonna slow down like a 1/2 lb or something. Is it possible I am burning more than my bodymedia says?
I've been doing 3 sets 7-10 reps each, is that good? Or do you recommend something different. I can't up my weight for my upper body every week like that. I took me 3 wks to get from 30 to 35lbs on my bench press. My upper body is weak

shorty35565

How long have you been lifting (heavy) for?

It will be a month Monday. So not very long.

shorty35565

I highly recommend against a deficit at the moment--you don't need weight loss you need muscle gain. Eat at maintenance and lift heavy weights. Be patient--it takes time.

Patience is one thing I don't have. I guess I better learn huh? lol

shorty35565

Love handles?! Where?! All I see is the natural and beautiful transition from your waist to your hips.

I highly recommend against a deficit at the moment--you don't need weight loss you need muscle gain. Eat at maintenance and lift heavy weights. Be patient--it takes time.

This. I'm pretty much eating at maintenance (just about 10% below TDEE to allow for a little wiggle room because I'm not logging on weekends or holidays), doing stronglifts, and my body is continuing to change.

About six weeks ago, I switched to Dan's Road Map style of eating, after doing MFP numbers plus exercise calories since December 2010. It's so much easier for me. Here's my progress since starting that: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/774969-after-the-road-map-switch

Edited to add: It's not like anything is carved in stone, either. You can always lose more weight later on if you decide that's what you really want.

The love handles go past the hip bones in the picture. I can grab a handful of fat on each side from the back I HATE it.
Very beautiful! Ur pictures.
I have a bodymedia & I've been eating 300-150 cals away from the TDEE it give me and I still seem to lose weight. Mayb I'm just worrying over nothing. I lost 2.8lbs in 3 weeks, that's not such a big loss, so mayb what I'm doin is working? I panic a lot because I just hate the way I look & wanna make sure I get optimal results.

Madholm

I would suggest upping your calorie intake slowly in 15% increments on a month over month basis (focusing on adding more protien) just to see how you adjust.

As for the exercise regiment, you should be look into a few different options and see which works for you. Basically, you seem to be looking for something to covert your weight from fat to muscle. You won't get that from lifting by itself. You need high intensity workouts that don't skimp on muscle building. As other have said P90X is good for this, but it's not the only option.

Your body is a complex system. You are better off turning a few nobs a little bit instead of expecting ONE thing to make a huge impact.