Dealing with the hard parts!

samiwami1993
samiwami1993 Posts: 3 Member
edited November 17 in Introduce Yourself
Im 21 and have lost (at my lowest weight) 80 pounds. I went from 220 to 140 and now i bounce between 145 and 153. Losing weight in the beginning was easy because i was ry heavy but now trying to maintain everything and turn remaining fat into muscle is really hard. I work two jobs. By day i manage a subway and at night im a server at outback steakhouse. So planning and finding time to get to the gym everyday is really hard. But overall not seeing any results is killing me! I wish i knew how to juggle everything from finding time to workout to planning the right meals. Help?

Replies

  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    edited April 2015
    Well...It can be difficult the closer you are to goal. If you're still trying to lose fat, an appropriate deficit would be to lose .5 lbs a week. That's only a 250 calorie per day deficit. You have to log extremely carefully and weigh all your food on a food scale. If you're off by 100 calories you've already pretty much wiped your deficit for the day in half.

    You can't turn fat into muscle. Are you looking to drop more fat and retain LBM or actually gain muscle?
  • samiwami1993
    samiwami1993 Posts: 3 Member
    Id like to drop fat and tone everything with muscle. This is where im at k2f5673qrzfh.jpg
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    You look great. Just for the purpose of setting goals and knowing what you want, there's no such thing as "toning" muscles. Muscles HAVE tone, but you cannot change the tone of your muscles. You can lose fat and reveal the muscle you have, all while lifting heavy in a deficit to maintain as much LBM as possible-or you can gain muscle mass, along with fat-by lifting heavy and eating above maintenance.

    Seems like you might want to do resistance training on a small deficit to drop a little fat and maintain LBM. It doesn't seem like you have too much time between your two jobs. Do you think you could find three times a week to start a lifting program?

  • samiwami1993
    samiwami1993 Posts: 3 Member
    I could probably find 3 times a week. Basically i dont want thins jiggling anymore!
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    samiwami1993 wrote: »
    I could probably find 3 times a week. Basically i dont want thins jiggling anymore!

    I hear you. I think you're a bit thinner than me, but our body comp is a little different. I'm still jiggly but I saved a lot of muscle mass lifting on a deficit, which has helped with my BF %.

    There are some great beginner lifting programs: New Rules of Lifting for Women, Strong Lifts 5x5, Starting Strength. If you can't join a gym-I believe there are some bodyweight routines on nerdfitness.com, but I am not too familiar with that kind of training.
  • msalamun
    msalamun Posts: 116 Member
    edited April 2015
    First of all, awesome job so far! That's a great transformation!

    If you've heard of the 80/20 rule, it's especially true for health and fitness. To really get the best results, it comes from 80% of your diet and 20% of your time in the gym. Those last few pounds are always the hardest to lose. Tighten up your nutrition - so log everything. And I know you're busy, but you might find it more difficult to really see solid results if you're only working out 3 times a week. Not saying you can't get those results, it will just take a bit longer. So stay right on track with you calories and macros at a slight deficit, and you'll hit your goal in time.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    msalamun wrote: »
    If you've heard of the 80/20 rule, it's especially true for health and fitness. To really get the best results, it comes from 80% of your diet and 20% of your time in the gym. Those last few pounds are always the hardest to lose. Tighten up your nutrition - so log everything. And I know you're busy, but you might find it more difficult to really see solid results if you're only working out 3 times a week. Not saying you can't get those results, it will just take a bit longer. So stay right on track with you calories and macros at a slight deficit, and you'll hit your goal in time.

    Seems like a proven program, such as SL 5x5, which works the full body three times a week would suit just find and do the trick.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories