Recomposition: Maintaining weight while losing fat

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Replies

  • sistrsprkl
    sistrsprkl Posts: 1,013 Member
    @husseycd, amazing transformation! Great work! May I ask how tall you are?
  • husseycd
    husseycd Posts: 814 Member
    sistrsprkl wrote: »
    @husseycd, amazing transformation! Great work! May I ask how tall you are?

    Thx! I'm 5'5".
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
    husseycd wrote: »
    I've been recomping for almost two years now. It took a good 6 months to a year to see results and it wasn't until I was about 1.5 years into the process that people really started commenting.

    Here's August 2013 at about 128 lbs (always have to apologize for the standing on the toilet shots. Have, like 5 years of data at this same place, way before I ever thought I'd post them publicly):
    [img][/img][IMG]http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee322/jivete/Lifting progress/F-08192013.jpg[/IMG]



    And May 2015. Probably closer to 130 lbs.
    [img][/img][IMG]http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee322/jivete/Lifting progress/IMG_20150516_150836.jpg[/IMG]



    I started lifting in September 2013, right after the first picture was taken.

    ETA: pictures not URL

    Holy...now that's a recomp. Absolutely stunning. And props to you. I have last almost 3 months on my recomp and I'm already giving up :(
  • Valassia
    Valassia Posts: 64 Member
    anyone had results with jogging?
    i just want to tone up a bit (well my bottom :P) without losing weight, and running (and a bit of cardio at home) is all i can do!
    hello by the way i am new! xx
  • griffinca2
    griffinca2 Posts: 672 Member
    Jogging, running, etc. will not change your physique any; you need to be lifting weights. All cardio will do is make you smaller w/o changing your physique (i.e. toning up your bottom).
  • Valassia
    Valassia Posts: 64 Member
    i am a bit confused. i've been told cardio is the way to go, and jogging might help me toning a bit my butt.
    i don't really want to lose or gain weight i'm pretty happy with my shape, i just want to look a bit better! but i hate gym and weights :(
    do you have any useful link? thank you!
  • griffinca2
    griffinca2 Posts: 672 Member
    Go to Bodybuilding.com, they have all kinds of workouts and info that will help. But sorry, weight lifting is the way to go. Believe it or not once you start you will probably like it. Try to find a small to medium sized locally owned (not a chain if you can help it) gym--they will help you get on the right track. All cardio will do is eat at your muscle mass (which burns calories) just make you flabby, not toned.
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    Valassia wrote: »
    i am a bit confused. i've been told cardio is the way to go, and jogging might help me toning a bit my butt.
    i don't really want to lose or gain weight i'm pretty happy with my shape, i just want to look a bit better! but i hate gym and weights :(
    do you have any useful link? thank you!

    They're just tools. You can use them to get stronger. You can use them to build muscle. You can use them to recomp.

    Negative emotion towards an inanimate object won't get you towards your goals. You might as well be mad at a hammer because you want to nail a piece of wood.

    1) Get the diet right (high protein, maintenance calories).

    2) Do a progressive beginner's program (Barbell: Starting Strength, All Pro's, Stronglifts or Bodyweight exercise routines: startbodyweight.com, convict conditioning, YAYOG).

    3) Expect to take a year to see results. If you can't keep on point for at least that long and be consistent, you'll end up spinning your wheels and wasting your time.
  • AbsoluteTara79
    AbsoluteTara79 Posts: 266 Member
    Valassia wrote: »
    i am a bit confused. i've been told cardio is the way to go, and jogging might help me toning a bit my butt.
    i don't really want to lose or gain weight i'm pretty happy with my shape, i just want to look a bit better! but i hate gym and weights :(
    do you have any useful link? thank you!

    Can you share more about why you don't like the gym or weights? You might get some suggestions to help out.

    **It is also totally ok not to like something of course. But sometimes we *hate* things for reasons that can be solved.

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,373 MFP Moderator
    Valassia wrote: »
    i am a bit confused. i've been told cardio is the way to go, and jogging might help me toning a bit my butt.
    i don't really want to lose or gain weight i'm pretty happy with my shape, i just want to look a bit better! but i hate gym and weights :(
    do you have any useful link? thank you!

    Can you share more about why you don't like the gym or weights? You might get some suggestions to help out.

    **It is also totally ok not to like something of course. But sometimes we *hate* things for reasons that can be solved.

    Typically, people hate things they are not good at. So the underlying issue is the poster doesn't know how to properly use them.


    Also, you don't have to follow a standard lifting program. Pretty much any resistance program will be beneficial. While i posted this earlier in this thread, I worked with a woman who recomp using crossfit 5 days a week. So just find a program you will like.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    edited July 2015
    Valassia wrote: »
    i am a bit confused. i've been told cardio is the way to go, and jogging might help me toning a bit my butt.
    i don't really want to lose or gain weight i'm pretty happy with my shape, i just want to look a bit better! but i hate gym and weights :(
    do you have any useful link? thank you!

    Been told wrong.

    Might read at least the first 2 pages of this topic to gain some better insight than whoever told you cardio was the way to go for your goal.

    At the least you'd need sprinting up hills to get close to what lifting would do for your tush.

    5 min warmup walk.
    5 min warmup jog.
    Sprint up hill as hard as you can for 15-30 sec. (hill, not treadmill, different).
    Walk for 2 min, perhaps back down other side.
    Repeat 8-10 times.
    5 min cooldown jog.
    5 min cooldown walk.

    You'll feel that in your glutes, and other leg muscles, for a few days. Do that 1 x weekly.

    That's as close to lifting as you'll get from jogging. Called HIIT. With this focusing on being max weight moved.
  • IronBatMaiden
    IronBatMaiden Posts: 378 Member
    Got any tips for a person who works a desk job and comes home really late from work? Do you recommend bringing some weights to work or doing them on your break?
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    husseycd wrote: »
    Thanks! As much as I'd like to attempt a true bulk/cut, I know it wouldn't work for me. I attempted a mini one last year (attempting to gain 5 lbs), but I never got that far before I was trying to do a mini cut for a Jamaica vacation.

    For a while I thought I was spinning my wheels by recomping, but not any more. I'm not looking for major changes at this point anyway, just small improvements. TBH, when I started I wasn't looking for major changes. I think that's why recomp is best when you're at a comfortable, healthy weight. I wasn't totally unhappy with my "before". I just thought I needed a little more ab definition and a little more thigh/glute muscle (still working on 'em) to balance out my top half, already pretty well defined from years of aerial circus type hobbies. If you are looking for a total overhaul or are really under-muscled, at least one true bulk might be in order.

    There's a Lyle McDonald article floating around (I searched his website, but I wasn't able to locate it) where he talks about how bulk/cut doesn't work for everyone. It helped me realize that I don't need to bulk. I still believe it's probably the fastest way to achieve goals, but I'm fine at this pace. It's sustainable for me.

    Not sure about Lyle, but Bret Contreras has this: http://bretcontreras.com/to-bulk-and-cut-or-not/

    (And I'm sure this has been posted somewhere in the past 24 pages, but my memory sucks.)
  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
    Got any tips for a person who works a desk job and comes home really late from work? Do you recommend bringing some weights to work or doing them on your break?

    Go when you have time, make time.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
    Got any tips for a person who works a desk job and comes home really late from work? Do you recommend bringing some weights to work or doing them on your break?

    Go before work or go during lunch.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    Got any tips for a person who works a desk job and comes home really late from work? Do you recommend bringing some weights to work or doing them on your break?


    Sounds a bit like me. I go to the gym first thing in the morning.
  • IronBatMaiden
    IronBatMaiden Posts: 378 Member
    TR0berts wrote: »
    Got any tips for a person who works a desk job and comes home really late from work? Do you recommend bringing some weights to work or doing them on your break?


    Sounds a bit like me. I go to the gym first thing in the morning.

    Looks like I'll have to just get my butt up earlier in the morning. Lol I am not a morning person.
  • carolineee321
    carolineee321 Posts: 4 Member
    Got any tips for a person who works a desk job and comes home really late from work? Do you recommend bringing some weights to work or doing them on your break?

    waking up earlier definatly helps. At the beginning you won't be a morning person but after a couple times you adjust. I find it better to have a plan of what I'm doing the night before so I'm ready in the morning!
  • klmnumbers
    klmnumbers Posts: 213 Member
    usmcmp wrote: »

    thanks for these links. I've actually read the first one before, but I think i am going to try and do the second one on my workout days. I have a very small gym in my apartment and have been kinda just absentmindedly doing a variety of weight machines to supplement my cardio without really focusing on what muscle groups I am working. So, I think I'd rather move to basic dumbbell exercises like this that cover more bases as my gym doesn't have a bar, etc but they do have some free weights.

    just a general comment - this is such a nice, supportive thread. I'm definitely not at recomp yet, but it's some nice weightlifting advice in general even for those of us still working through our deficit =)