It's all about the plan?

Yes. I've been logging the whole time religiously. I stay around 1300 calories per day. I've heard some say "calories are the only thing that matter", but I've heard others say "Macros are important!!" so I decided to do both.

IsaackGMOON wrote: »

IHeartEarth wrote: »

Yes. I've been logging the whole time religiously. I stay around 1300 calories per day. I've heard some say "calories are the only thing that matter", but I've heard others say "Macros are important!!" so I decided to do both.

Well your macros make up your calories... they're related and equally important.

Yes. That's the way I see it. Of course that doesn't mean I'm right. I feel like it DOES matter which macros I eat the most of, least of, etc. I'm mostly curious if others manipulating their macros to achieve certain goals think my macros are set proportionately with my goals.

B_TEEN wrote: »

Do you really have 10lbs of fat to lose or are you just obsessed with the numbers? Why not eat a healthy diet that matches your physical activity (lifting, cardio or whatever)? Since you probably don't have much body fat to lose, you're probably better to measure goals and progress by body fat percent than total body weight.

As far as accelerating it...good health, dietary habits and physical fitness is a lifelong commitment. Your body, inside and out is a reflection of those choices -- be consistent and be patient and the results will come.

It's not so much of the # as it is my ideal size over all. In other words, I am happiest with my body shape, the way my clothing fits, etc when I am at around 120. I am 5'3" with a petite frame. When I climb to 130 I notice that I am not comfortable. So the 120 is more just a goal based on previous experience of where I am happiest. At the same time, if I am much under 120 I begin to feel too thin which I don't desire. So it's a happy medium.

RGv2 wrote: »

IHeartEarth wrote: »

I developed a plan for myself. My first goal was to burn fat and go from 130lbs to 120lbs. At my goal weight of 120, then I would begin focusing on building lean muscle for definition and toning. I'm about 4-5 weeks in to food restriction and about 4-5 lbs down. I feel like this is moving very slow, though in reality it is a healthy progress.

I currently have my macros set to: P45%:F35%:C20%
I burn about 1500-2000 calories per week in exercise.
I am keeping sugar to an avg of 20g or less per day.

Are these good macros for fat burning? Is there anything I can do to accelerate this? I find myself getting discouraged at this point. And, as a female, I happen to gain 2-3 lbs during ovulation so that is also mentally difficult for me to accept.

Any advice, suggestions, or encouragement?

If you only have 10lbs to lose, IMHO you should be more interested in a recomp that losing weight.

Also, it is really inefficient to lose weight first, then come back around and try to rebuild the muscle you just lost. When losing weight, the body loses water, fat, and muscle. By lifting in that deficit we work to retain the muscle so we lose mainly fat and water, uncovering the muscle that we have maintained giving more muscle definition....or tone.

With your plan, you'd be cutting down to 120, than would need to eat at a surplus or near maintenance while lifting hard (which would mean most likely adding fat again) in order to build the muscle you lost, and then cut again to remove the fat that was just regained.

This is why lifting in a deficit is recommended. And on the muscle building....it is a slow plodding process...for guys, it's exponentially tougher for women (T-levels), so that step would probably take longer than you'd like as well.

You make a good point. My dilemma is how to recomp? I'm doing intense bikram yoga 3 days a week where my muscles feel like jello afterwards. A couple years ago I had an accident and I found that yoga was the ONLY thing I could do that removed my pain long term. I always hated going to a gym. So I took on yoga full time. I got in great shape. I've always been very active. Then my boyfriend got killed in November and I got out of doing ANYTHING......and so here I am. I have found my motivation again and for that I am so grateful. But, I'm just kind of stuck on whether or not I am doing the right things and if not, what I can do differently. Since I don't belong to a gym (other than my bikram yoga gym), I have limitations on heavy lifting but I want to find things I can do that will help me achieve my goals.

RGv2 wrote: »

IHeartEarth wrote: »

You make a good point. My dilemma is how to recomp? I'm doing intense bikram yoga 3 days a week where my muscles feel like jello afterwards. A couple years ago I had an accident and I found that yoga was the ONLY thing I could do that removed my pain long term. I always hated going to a gym. So I took on yoga full time. I got in great shape. I've always been very active. Then my boyfriend got killed in November and I got out of doing ANYTHING......and so here I am. I have found my motivation again and for that I am so grateful. But, I'm just kind of stuck on whether or not I am doing the right things and if not, what I can do differently. Since I don't belong to a gym (other than my bikram yoga gym), I have limitations on heavy lifting but I want to find things I can do that will help me achieve my goals.

I'm sorry to hear of your loss and what you have been going through.

"Heavy Lifting" I tend to thing is a general term used in place of having a structured program that includes progressive overload. A gym isn't needed for heavy lifting per se. There are plenty of body weight programs out there that would be considered "heavy lifting" along side yoga.

I would search the maintaining weight forum a little bit. There's normally quite a few threads going on recomp and establishing a plan.

Many thanks!!!