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Elaine's Questions
BikerGirlElaine
Posts: 1,631 Member
Hi everyone,
My goal is to keep every ounce of lean mass that I currently have while I lose 75 pounds of fat as quickly as possible :bigsmile:
My questions are:
1. Am I losing weight too fast.
2. If I lift for more reps, in the 8-12 range, and I'm not building muscle since I am in a caloric deficit, what effect does that have? Is it building endurance or strength or neither?
Here's my data:
I have been logging in MFP for the last four weeks and working on losing weight for the last seven. I am 5'4", 49 years old, and currently weigh 215. I started at 226 and my goal is 150. The military calculator method, when last I did it, had my LBM at 110 which I feel sounds right based on past history with calipers, etc., (none of which I am interested in doing this time). All of the below data is only based on the last four weeks.
I've been eating 2,047 average calories. My protein/fats/carbs averages are 178/64/191.
I weight my proteins and some of my starches. I measure the other starches. I eyeball veggies and fruits.
I do not track decaf coffee & herbal teas which I drink without adding anything to them. I do not track herbs, spices, or marinades that mostly slide off before cooking, but I do track sauces that stick
I don't take any cheat days, I do my best to log everything. I have had some higher calorie days but I'm not too anal about hitting my targets every day, except for getting enough protein each and every day.
I've lost 11 pounds so far, what I'm slightly concerned about is that I have lost 1.8 pounds per week in the last four weeks -- that's versus 1.5 per week for the first three weeks. Usually you lose a bunch in the first few weeks, so this is reversed. The little writeup that you have stickied targets 1.5/week for where I am at so that is why I decided to ask what you think.
I have a desk job during the week. I'm not particularly active outside of work, although I am on my feet a lot when I am doing my hobbies. In the last four weeks I have been siting and reading on MFP a lot in my spare time instead of my regular activities
I have been working out 4 times per week. I feel like I'm pretty skilled at working out but I get bored easily and I do believe that muscles adapt when you do the same thing over and over forever. I've been playing around with different resistance things trying to find what I like best right now, but I can say that it's been 3-4 days of resistance, and I use the stationary cycle at a fairly low intensity to round out the hour. My cycling intensity is about a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10.
I don't do well with circuit training and even supersets are pushing it for me, so I mostly do the classic stuff, maybe with some twists, 8-10 reps for 3-5 sets. Since January 1 I've been more focused on finding what works best for preserving all of my muscle, so I have tried higher reps and lower reps, full body to 4 day splits, yadda yadda yadda. I do some compound things and some isolation things. I use stability balls and stuff like that for some things. I always push for more weight and more reps every time except that I don't heal as fast as I used to so I listen when a joint complains.
After all the reading I've been doing here, I've settled for now on three days of full body workouts. One with classic compound strength lifting, one with isolation lifting, and one that's either yoga or a TRX workout. On the fourth day I do my stationary cycle and read a book.
My diary is open.
I sure appreciate you guys looking it over and telling me what you think. Thanks!
Elaine in CO
My goal is to keep every ounce of lean mass that I currently have while I lose 75 pounds of fat as quickly as possible :bigsmile:
My questions are:
1. Am I losing weight too fast.
2. If I lift for more reps, in the 8-12 range, and I'm not building muscle since I am in a caloric deficit, what effect does that have? Is it building endurance or strength or neither?
Here's my data:
I have been logging in MFP for the last four weeks and working on losing weight for the last seven. I am 5'4", 49 years old, and currently weigh 215. I started at 226 and my goal is 150. The military calculator method, when last I did it, had my LBM at 110 which I feel sounds right based on past history with calipers, etc., (none of which I am interested in doing this time). All of the below data is only based on the last four weeks.
I've been eating 2,047 average calories. My protein/fats/carbs averages are 178/64/191.
I weight my proteins and some of my starches. I measure the other starches. I eyeball veggies and fruits.
I do not track decaf coffee & herbal teas which I drink without adding anything to them. I do not track herbs, spices, or marinades that mostly slide off before cooking, but I do track sauces that stick
I don't take any cheat days, I do my best to log everything. I have had some higher calorie days but I'm not too anal about hitting my targets every day, except for getting enough protein each and every day.
I've lost 11 pounds so far, what I'm slightly concerned about is that I have lost 1.8 pounds per week in the last four weeks -- that's versus 1.5 per week for the first three weeks. Usually you lose a bunch in the first few weeks, so this is reversed. The little writeup that you have stickied targets 1.5/week for where I am at so that is why I decided to ask what you think.
I have a desk job during the week. I'm not particularly active outside of work, although I am on my feet a lot when I am doing my hobbies. In the last four weeks I have been siting and reading on MFP a lot in my spare time instead of my regular activities
I have been working out 4 times per week. I feel like I'm pretty skilled at working out but I get bored easily and I do believe that muscles adapt when you do the same thing over and over forever. I've been playing around with different resistance things trying to find what I like best right now, but I can say that it's been 3-4 days of resistance, and I use the stationary cycle at a fairly low intensity to round out the hour. My cycling intensity is about a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10.
I don't do well with circuit training and even supersets are pushing it for me, so I mostly do the classic stuff, maybe with some twists, 8-10 reps for 3-5 sets. Since January 1 I've been more focused on finding what works best for preserving all of my muscle, so I have tried higher reps and lower reps, full body to 4 day splits, yadda yadda yadda. I do some compound things and some isolation things. I use stability balls and stuff like that for some things. I always push for more weight and more reps every time except that I don't heal as fast as I used to so I listen when a joint complains.
After all the reading I've been doing here, I've settled for now on three days of full body workouts. One with classic compound strength lifting, one with isolation lifting, and one that's either yoga or a TRX workout. On the fourth day I do my stationary cycle and read a book.
My diary is open.
I sure appreciate you guys looking it over and telling me what you think. Thanks!
Elaine in CO
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Replies
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Hi! Myself or SideSteel will get back to you shortly.0
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Your rate of weight loss looks reasonable at this point in time.
I didn't calculate your macros but if you're able to maintain that pace of weight loss at that caloric intake then honestly I'd just keep doing it at this point.
Regarding training, If you're not training consecutive days then I'd do 3/week full body training (compound lifting all 3 days) and stucture your cardio related activities to personal preference.
I would recommend you pick something and get better at it rather than continually program hop.0 -
Your rate of weight loss looks reasonable at this point in time.
I didn't calculate your macros but if you're able to maintain that pace of weight loss at that caloric intake then honestly I'd just keep doing it at this point.
Thanks Sidesteel, that was my main concern. I picked 2,000 by doing the TDEE calculations, and am surprised that at my age I am losing faster than expected.Regarding training, If you're not training consecutive days then I'd do 3/week full body training (compound lifting all 3 days) and stucture your cardio related activities to personal preference.
I would recommend you pick something and get better at it rather than continually program hop.
Busted!!! :grumble: :flowerforyou:
I kinda sorta already knew you were going to say that, LOL. So I made a plan.
I haven't used someone else's program in a long time. I have spent a lot of time in the last month reading up on all the new stuff that's out there on the net since I last was into bodybuilding (I have 10 years to catch up on). This morning I sat down and wrote out a routine in JEFIT. One day is classics -- the five moves in Stronglifts. One day is full body, some compound some isolation, and with 3 weeks of slight variations that will keep me enthused. The third day is yoga or TRX. I really love yoga, and I want to learn how to work out on the TRX because it's nice and small and we camp on our motorcycle trips. I know it's not what you guys think is optimal, but it's a compromise -- something that I can look forward to because of the variety, so I'm less likely to stop doing it, still hitting full body heavy twice a week.
Should I keep my weight heavy and reps down in the 6-8 range? I have a perception that heavier weight/less reps is more likely to result in me injuring myself compared to 8-10 reps. I don't know if that's really true or just my perception, I should have kept track but haven't. Also, I have a history of fibromyalgia and I was told not to lift at all (yeah right), ever since then I have tended to slightly higher reps and less weight.
Thanks for your help in sorting this out.0 -
Regarding rep range I think you would be fine training in a slightly higher rep range if that's your preference.0
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Thanks, I am all set now, 'preciate it. :flowerforyou:0
This discussion has been closed.