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elizabethymartin
Posts: 198 Member
Admittedly I am an ex habitual under eater. A starvation artist is my flowery way of putting it. But have not been in about nine years though I do have my days. Due to a change in medication and quitting smoking last year I began to gain weight. I ignored it because I feared I would go back to old habits. I gained thirty five lbs. I've lost twenty using this app but have leveled off. I am terrified I don't burn enough to eat more cals. But I know I'm not eating enough. Hoping to find some motivation to get my *kitten* in gear and eat like a grown up. Looking frwd to reading all of your stories on here. 
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Welcome 0
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Hi @elizabethymartin! Welcome to our group. You will learn lots-make sure to read the stickies and don't be afraid to ask questions0
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Thank you!0
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Welcome Elizabeth. The stickies and the EM2LW website are both great sources of information. The videos are very helpful too. I know it is scary eating over 1200 cals. especially if you are a short person, but it can be done with good results.
Happy Hollies.0 -
Hi all.....new as well. I understand the overall concept here, but need to get more detailed to understand the specifics. Been lifting since Sept on my own and switched to a program 10 days ago. Been up and down with nutrisystem for about 2.5 years. So, when I try to eat clean(er), I have significant issues getting in my cals and protein. IMHO, better problem than eating way too much fat. So here to learn. Right now, I have set my daily calorie goal at 1600 and have not been obtaining it. Overall goal is fat loss...a slightly buffed body as a result is icing on the cake. I'm 57 and weighed in today at 172. Fairly active although I do have a desk job.0
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I'm not certain you can do both a fat loss and a body buff at the same time. You need to strength train to build muscle, and you cannot build muscle on a deficit in calories. However, you can burn fat in a deficit and you will be a 'smaller you' ... The people who are really buff adhere to a dicipline of bulking and cutting ... and never cutting more than BMR and only cutting for a specific amount of time before giving it a rest and maintaining. It's an ongoing process. .... at least, that's what I have gleaned from joining this group and getting wonderful emails with links to videos and blogs.
As for me ... I am in a reset phase and have been doing well at it except for the past couple of weeks where i have over eaten on carbohydrates and have water retention because of it. Hoping to get that under control and levelled out again real soon as I have a plan to start a modest cut next week.0 -
Hmmm.....Well we'll get rid of some of the fat and see what is underneath and then decide where to go from there!0
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If you are within your first year of lifting (and you are), and have enough fat stores to lose, and you may, and keep protein high enough - you can gain actual muscle mass while you lose fat.
That ability won't be available later with less fat, or after you've lifted longer. That's why the start is so important to take advantage of it.
Now, for women - only talking 1 lb maybe every 6-8 weeks depending on amount of deficit, compared to 1 lb 4 wks at maintenance, and 1 lb 2 wks eating in surplus.
And that requires a progressive resistance program like it sounds like you've perhaps gotten on. So good job.
So in the scheme of things, the real benefit is just not losing what you've got.
And if speed isn't of the essence because a minor amount - body recomp can be done instead of bulk/cut cycles.
And even if you gained no muscle mass - stronger muscles that are bigger from more stored carbs/water - will still look better as the fat melts away.0 -
Hi everyone, I'm new here as well. Have read most of the stickies and a lot of the posts...taking everything in. I am 60, a retired nurse, now very sedentary. I have a good bit of shoulder pain as well as in the hips, and am extremely flat-footed. I am 5'3" and currently weigh around 164. My basic goals are to walk several days a week for 30 min and to get to the gym twice a week and do some beginning lifting with the MedX machines, and see where I go from there. I would like to lose some fat and increase strength and flexibility. According to the Katch-MCardle calculator, my BMR is 1210, my TDEE 1547 and with a 15% cut is 1314. I have set my MFP goal to 1300 for now and will see what happens with adding in the above activity. If I don't have success, I will plan on doing a reset. In the past, I have gone from one extreme to the other with either overeating of the "wrong" types of foods, or under-eating and not having much success with weight loss after abusing my body with yo-yo dieting. So glad to have found this group. Any advice welcome. Oh, and I have been in peri-menopause for nearly 20 years. My doc says I am definitely outside the curve.
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Agreed w heybales because I did exactly that. I kept wondering why the scale was moving so slow, why I didn't weigh as little as I did w previous diet and walking. This time I weight trained at could wear a size 4/6 at 165-175lbs. 5'7 Crazy, shows the difference muscle can make. All that happened working out and a moderate diet, heavy weights, first year. Not bulk/cut. After the 1st year is when it all stalled and I found may way to em2wl.0
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Hi everyone, I'm new here as well. Have read most of the stickies and a lot of the posts...taking everything in. I am 60, a retired nurse, now very sedentary. I have a good bit of shoulder pain as well as in the hips, and am extremely flat-footed. I am 5'3" and currently weigh around 164. My basic goals are to walk several days a week for 30 min and to get to the gym twice a week and do some beginning lifting with the MedX machines, and see where I go from there. I would like to lose some fat and increase strength and flexibility. According to the Katch-MCardle calculator, my BMR is 1210, my TDEE 1547 and with a 15% cut is 1314. I have set my MFP goal to 1300 for now and will see what happens with adding in the above activity. If I don't have success, I will plan on doing a reset. In the past, I have gone from one extreme to the other with either overeating of the "wrong" types of foods, or under-eating and not having much success with weight loss after abusing my body with yo-yo dieting. So glad to have found this group. Any advice welcome. Oh, and I have been in peri-menopause for nearly 20 years. My doc says I am definitely outside the curve.
Good circuit training can be great at start for fat loss - because it burns more than straight heavy lifting. Because it's closer to cardio.
But that also means you can get muscles and tendons/ligaments use to the movements - though you miss the balance in machines, you can go heavier.
Just confirm your form and position in machines is correct, usually the bending joint at same level as pivot in the mechanics.
The order they laid out the machines may not be best at all. It may be best to skip around machines - which could aggravate people attempting to do them in order.
Start lower body, and alternate to upper.
In a couple weeks get your weight up to point you can barely do 15-20 reps with good form. Then do 3-4 circuits of that. Rest 1 min max between lifts.
At some point you'll probably be bothering people enough going out of order, or waiting for machines - and you can switch to using some dumbbells to use the same muscles - and you'll have an idea of the weight needed.
Hopefully not so aggravating taking 2-4 sets of dumbbells and putting them around a bench or step bench at the least, and then hog them.
And that does NOT sound like the correct TDEE if you plan on doing that workout routine - that is 1.28 x BMR, and that doesn't sound like it includes exercise.
90 min walking and 60 min circuit training (could be longer depending on how many machines, though simple ones like curls and triceps should be skipped for time to use bigger muscles that use those smaller ones automatically, like a bench press type machine uses the triceps already), while perhaps not a huge amount - is likely more than 1.28.0 -
Thanks @heybales. Our fitness center does have the machines set up lower body to upper, and has enough machines that I shouldn't have an issue moving out of order if I need to. I will start out gradually, but will definitely increase my TDEE as I move to a higher level of activity.0
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I realized I meant to say alternate back and forth between lower and upper lifts. Allows slight recovery before coming back to same half of the body.
Here's good order of muscles worked if they have the machines to hit them.
Glutes
General back
Quads
Chest
Hamstrings
Lats
Stomach
Shoulders
Calves
Some of those should hit biceps and triceps automatically and no need to do them. If they accomplish the above upper body without using bi/tri's - then indeed tack them on at end.0 -
Ah. Ok, thanks. I appreciate your help.0
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What qualifies as the first year of lifting? Do I get a second chance if I lifted (stronglifts) for a few months back in 2014 and since then just messed around what the machines?
Please say yes. 0 -
Oh yeah - you lost whatever you did back then.
Serious for one year - constant program of progressive overload.
I start out as beginner every year when I start lifting again in the winter. Otherwise I could be advanced if I didn't switch to cardio for 8 months almost totally.
It's not about knowledge or experience, but the constancy of doing it.
Now, I'll get back up to speed faster than say a novice beginner truly starting.
Which in theory should help me. If I don't get injured, because I got up to speed faster on muscles than say, tendons and ligaments.0 -
Hi everyone in this thread! Please feel free to friend me.0
