Get cut without starvation?
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5KidsStrong
Posts: 9 Member
Hi there,
I'm a busy mom of 5 training to be a firefighter at age 38! I have always been active throughout my life as well as my pregnancies and have pretty much always eaten healthy. I'm a size 2 and trying to figure out what I need to do to get a little more cut without loosing much weight. I do yoga 4x a week (I like lifting utilizing my weight) and have just picked up a pilates class, a cardio class and a core class during my work day. You can kind of see my abs, but not super defined. I'd like my arms to be as cut as my legs. Advice? Thanks!
I'm a busy mom of 5 training to be a firefighter at age 38! I have always been active throughout my life as well as my pregnancies and have pretty much always eaten healthy. I'm a size 2 and trying to figure out what I need to do to get a little more cut without loosing much weight. I do yoga 4x a week (I like lifting utilizing my weight) and have just picked up a pilates class, a cardio class and a core class during my work day. You can kind of see my abs, but not super defined. I'd like my arms to be as cut as my legs. Advice? Thanks!
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Replies
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so your looking to lower your body fat %?0
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To lose body fat you need to eat in a deficit. You will feel hungry at some point....there is nothing wrong with feeling hungry.0
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Hi--Yes. But how do you do this safely? Eat more protein and less carbs?FearlessRobb wrote: »so your looking to lower your body fat %?
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I'm on my 4th day of feeling hungry and I think I'm starting to turn a corner. I normally eat very little meat--should I increase that and decrease carbs? Will it help with energy level? Thanks for your input! :-)livingleanlivingclean wrote: »To lose body fat you need to eat in a deficit. You will feel hungry at some point....there is nothing wrong with feeling hungry.
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5KidsStrong wrote: »
Hi--Yes. But how do you do this safely? Eat more protein and less carbs?FearlessRobb wrote: »so your looking to lower your body fat %?
Eat ~1g of protein per pound of Lean Body Mass. Besides that, eat at a minor-moderate deficit and lift heavy things.
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I am thinking a recomp might be a good approach for you. I suggest you spend some quality time reading this thread...
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p10 -
5KidsStrong wrote: »
I'm on my 4th day of feeling hungry and I think I'm starting to turn a corner. I normally eat very little meat--should I increase that and decrease carbs? Will it help with energy level? Thanks for your input! :-)livingleanlivingclean wrote: »To lose body fat you need to eat in a deficit. You will feel hungry at some point....there is nothing wrong with feeling hungry.
meat is not the only source of protein - you can get more protein from greek yogurt, eggs, fish, whey powder, etc.0 -
Strength train at least 3x/week and eat at a small deficit.0
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She wants the Aesthetics lol
agree with above.
Drop body fat which will lower overall weight and reveal more "cuts/shreds"
To do this, find your intake for you and adjust accordingly. This will answer whether you will need to lower/increase carbs/fat/protein etc.
There are many paths to Aesthetics on Mt Olympus, just be "consistent and adjust" as needed and you'll get there.
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Common cutting mistakes:
-Too aggressive of calorie deficit; anything over 15% deficit might cause some muscle loss. Stick to a safe range and preserve the hard earned gainz as you drop the fat.
-Not enough protein: You need to eat just as much as you would in a bulk. This becomes hard on less calories, food options get very limited. Don't waste your cals on stuff that won't fill you up and/or help you hit your protein goal.
-Not lifting frequently enough: This is probably the hardest part. Your weight training regiment really shouldn't change, aside from reducing the volume of your workouts a bit (80% of "normal" volume). You need to hit the muscles with a decent frequency to essentially tell your body it needs the muscle and isn't allow to thrift it for calories. Any program that makes sure you hit muscle groups two or three times a week will do this. If you aren't doing this now, you will need to. Typical upper/lower "bro" split, 3x fullbody routine, Stronglifts, or similar higher frequency routines will work. You have to do all this while likely feeling pretty hungry and not particularly energetic or enthusiastic about lifting due to lower carbs (since protein cals are crowding out the other macro groups now), no hope of any progression in weights while cutting, and looking foward to 20 minutes of extra HIIT at the end of your workout. Cutting is not a fun phase lol.
It is a mind-game for sure. The end results are awesome though, so just persevere and you will be rewarded with shreddedness!!
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You're the best! Thanks so much for the quality comment! While I'll be googling most of what you said, I appreciate your input. :-)Common cutting mistakes:
-Too aggressive of calorie deficit; anything over 15% deficit might cause some muscle loss. Stick to a safe range and preserve the hard earned gainz as you drop the fat.
-Not enough protein: You need to eat just as much as you would in a bulk. This becomes hard on less calories, food options get very limited. Don't waste your cals on stuff that won't fill you up and/or help you hit your protein goal.
-Not lifting frequently enough: This is probably the hardest part. Your weight training regiment really shouldn't change, aside from reducing the volume of your workouts a bit (80% of "normal" volume). You need to hit the muscles with a decent frequency to essentially tell your body it needs the muscle and isn't allow to thrift it for calories. Any program that makes sure you hit muscle groups two or three times a week will do this. If you aren't doing this now, you will need to. Typical upper/lower "bro" split, 3x fullbody routine, Stronglifts, or similar higher frequency routines will work. You have to do all this while likely feeling pretty hungry and not particularly energetic or enthusiastic about lifting due to lower carbs (since protein cals are crowding out the other macro groups now), no hope of any progression in weights while cutting, and looking foward to 20 minutes of extra HIIT at the end of your workout. Cutting is not a fun phase lol.
It is a mind-game for sure. The end results are awesome though, so just persevere and you will be rewarded with shreddedness!!
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5KidsStrong wrote: »
Hi--Yes. But how do you do this safely? Eat more protein and less carbs?FearlessRobb wrote: »so your looking to lower your body fat %?
Just go with a small deficit. I'm cutting quite nicely ATM on 2140 (5'6, 39 yr old) despite having struggled to lose on massive deficits in the past. For me, I think there's less cheating when my deficit is small.
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I only read the first few responses... but being cut is a function of low body fat and having reasonable muscle on your frame. Dropping fat is fine, but there has to be something to to reveal when the fat is gone. Might be time to add in some meaningful resistance training.
Maybe it's time to recomp? There's a good thread about recomping going on right now...
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p10 -
shreddedtrooper wrote: »She wants the Aesthetics lol
agree with above.
Drop body fat which will lower overall weight and reveal more "cuts/shreds"
To do this, find your intake for you and adjust accordingly. This will answer whether you will need to lower/increase carbs/fat/protein etc.
There are many paths to Aesthetics on Mt Olympus, just be "consistent and adjust" as needed and you'll get there.
At least I don't want the aesthetics first. Don't those people only visit the gym on New Years Day and that's it? I'm after aesthetics because it's what's missing. AKA, I've plateaued and I'm looking for guidance on the next level. Thanks for the input, please make sure you're supportive--that's more helpful than judging.0 -
5KidsStrong wrote: »
Hi--Yes. But how do you do this safely? Eat more protein and less carbs?FearlessRobb wrote: »so your looking to lower your body fat %?
Just go with a small deficit. I'm cutting quite nicely ATM on 2140 (5'6, 39 yr old) despite having struggled to lose on massive deficits in the past. For me, I think there's less cheating when my deficit is small.
I'm 5'5 and 1250--I'm not sure if that's a good place to be. But I'm hungry, haha. Thanks for the input!0 -
I only read the first few responses... but being cut is a function of low body fat and having reasonable muscle on your frame. Dropping fat is fine, but there has to be something to to reveal when the fat is gone. Might be time to add in some meaningful resistance training.
Maybe it's time to recomp? There's a good thread about recomping going on right now...
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1
Great point. Thanks for the article. Checking it out now.0 -
5KidsStrong wrote: »5KidsStrong wrote: »
Hi--Yes. But how do you do this safely? Eat more protein and less carbs?FearlessRobb wrote: »so your looking to lower your body fat %?
Just go with a small deficit. I'm cutting quite nicely ATM on 2140 (5'6, 39 yr old) despite having struggled to lose on massive deficits in the past. For me, I think there's less cheating when my deficit is small.
I'm 5'5 and 1250--I'm not sure if that's a good place to be. But I'm hungry, haha. Thanks for the input!
It'll take some practice and a lot of consistent logging to get a feel for what your numbers are... there's a lot of trial and error with all this, especially when you are just getting started.0 -
5KidsStrong wrote: »
Hi--Yes. But how do you do this safely? Eat more protein and less carbs?FearlessRobb wrote: »so your looking to lower your body fat %?
Eat ~1g of protein per pound of Lean Body Mass. Besides that, eat at a minor-moderate deficit and lift heavy things.
If I'm calculating right, my Lean Body Mass is 98. That seems like a lot of protein...but maybe not. Thanks for the tip!0 -
Common cutting mistakes:
-Too aggressive of calorie deficit; anything over 15% deficit might cause some muscle loss. Stick to a safe range and preserve the hard earned gainz as you drop the fat.
-Not enough protein: You need to eat just as much as you would in a bulk. This becomes hard on less calories, food options get very limited. Don't waste your cals on stuff that won't fill you up and/or help you hit your protein goal.
-Not lifting frequently enough: This is probably the hardest part. Your weight training regiment really shouldn't change, aside from reducing the volume of your workouts a bit (80% of "normal" volume). You need to hit the muscles with a decent frequency to essentially tell your body it needs the muscle and isn't allow to thrift it for calories. Any program that makes sure you hit muscle groups two or three times a week will do this. If you aren't doing this now, you will need to. Typical upper/lower "bro" split, 3x fullbody routine, Stronglifts, or similar higher frequency routines will work. You have to do all this while likely feeling pretty hungry and not particularly energetic or enthusiastic about lifting due to lower carbs (since protein cals are crowding out the other macro groups now), no hope of any progression in weights while cutting, and looking foward to 20 minutes of extra HIIT at the end of your workout. Cutting is not a fun phase lol.
It is a mind-game for sure. The end results are awesome though, so just persevere and you will be rewarded with shreddedness!!
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Whatever you decide to do, I suggest keeping a journal to record your level of satiety after each meal and whether you feel satisfied or not, as well as how long after the meal you start feeling hungry again. In my professional experience, this method has been very effective in figuring out the nuances between different nutrition plans.
As far as the most effective way to drop body fat in terms of nutrition, that's a very subjective topic. Decreasing carbs and increasing protein is a sure fire way to drop BF fast, but I've worked and talked with many people that respond just as well to higher carbohydrate or a higher fat diet. This is where the journal really helps because it allows the individual to eliminate, change and/or introduce variables to identify what is most effective for them.
For example, in the past I've done low carb/high protein/moderate fat to cut body fat and was extremely successful in doing so. However, I came across the same problems you were having in terms of energy. I was lethargic throughout the day and my performance suffered as well. Therefore, I switched to a higher carbohydrate/moderate protein/moderate fat approach and found that this worked just as well. I'm still dropping body fat relatively fast but my energy doesn't suffer and my performance has actually improved. Combining MFP with a food journal allows me to take the guesswork out of nutrition.
I'm also fond of flexible/macro dieting as it takes the guesswork down even further. If you would like me to provide specific guidelines in terms of your individual anthropometry and performance goals/lv just let me know and I'd be happy to oblige. I don't want to make this post any longer than I already have. Best of luck to you and your future endeavors.
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