Feeling LOST + pics

motivatekait
motivatekait Posts: 90 Member
edited January 2016 in Health and Weight Loss
What does it REALLY take?
I'm 5'5", I weigh around 128-130lbs, and I would like to get somewhere around 120lbs (more concerned about body composition than weight though, of course.)

bdb7bes68x3n.png
(this was taken directly after my 10 day sugar 'cleanse', so I think I'm a little fluffier now)

I've lost 20lbs so far over the course of a few years, but now that my body is in a pretty healthy range, I'm noticing it's very difficult to make progress. I've heard from everyone that the last 10lbs are incredibly difficult so I'm wondering what kind of adjustments I need to make in order to make that happen.

I've only started counting my macros for the past 4 days or so, but before that I eliminated sugar, dairy, and gluten for 10 days (just for a personal challenge) and I got to 126. Water weight, I know, but is that the type of restriction I'll need to put in in order to make a serious transformation?

I've been doing pilates/some HIIT for like 8 months or so and I feel like I've capped in terms of what progress bodyweight exercises can give me. I want to get into lifting but I can't afford weights or a gym membership at the moment.

I currently eat around 1300-1400 cals, 30f/40c/30p, work out for 45-60 minutes a day 6 days a week (only 15-20 of that alotted to hiit). I have a hot lemon water every morning before breakfast. I drink 2L of water a day (not including lemonwater/green teas). I drink 1 cream 1 sugar in my coffee and I love pb+honey on some toast in the morning, I usually have an activia yogurt with flax every day, and otherwise stick to protein + veg based meals. If I hit my macros every day, even if my sugar content may be a little too high, is this enough to transform my body over time? If not, what do you think I need to change? I know if I cut out sugar and bread and everything I could get down there relatively quick I'm sure, but I know that's not a sustainable change for me. Is there anyway I could compromise a bit?

Thanks so much!
prog.png 912.1K
«1

Replies

  • Talan79
    Talan79 Posts: 782 Member
    I think you are in the right weight range for your height and look good now. My opinion would be to focus on lifting to change your body composition. You probably could bump your calories up a bit.
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
    edited January 2016
    You look great, imo get into lifting heavy or even a progressive body weight routine like You are your own gym or Convict conditioning.

    Honestly, I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve exactly. Do you want to reach a certain number on the scale like 120 lbs or a certain look/aesthetic? And if it's a certain look/aesthetic, maybe providing a pic of what you would like to look like may help.

    Edited to add: Have you checked out reddit's bodyweight sub reddit? Maybe that might help you along with a more progressive routine.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/
  • dwgray2015
    dwgray2015 Posts: 2 Member
    That's quite a change - your doing great, keep it up!!!
  • motivatekait
    motivatekait Posts: 90 Member
    You look great, imo get into lifting heavy or even a progressive body weight routine like You are your own gym or Convict conditioning.

    Honestly, I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve exactly. Do you want to reach a certain number on the scale like 120 lbs or a certain look/aesthetic? And if it's a certain look/aesthetic, maybe providing a pic of what you would like to look like may help.

    Edited to add: Have you checked out reddit's bodyweight sub reddit? Maybe that might help you along with a more progressive routine.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/

    Thank you, I'll check those out! http://motivatekait.tumblr.com/post/52806633048 Something like this would be my ultimate goal. Like I said I'm not quite as worried about the scale so much as I am my appearance. I'm almost certain everyone who's body I admire most lifts weights, so it's difficult to be in a position where I can't really participate in that yet.
  • _lyndseybrooke_
    _lyndseybrooke_ Posts: 2,561 Member
    Want to change your body composition? Lift heavy weights. Eat at a small deficit if you're set on losing a few pounds. By small deficit, I mean eat more than you're eating now. And unless you have an actual problem with any of these foods (diabetes, Celiac, etc.), stop cutting stuff out of your diet. It's pointless.

    The thing about eating at a small deficit and lifting is that it's essentially a body recomposition. Don't expect dramatic changes in a short period of time. Recomp takes time.
  • motivatekait
    motivatekait Posts: 90 Member
    Talan79 wrote: »
    I think you are in the right weight range for your height and look good now. My opinion would be to focus on lifting to change your body composition. You probably could bump your calories up a bit.

    I really want to try lifting but like I said I can't really afford any of the equipment. I've tried to make my own at home but it hasn't worked out haha. I'm not sure whether I should eat more or less! I thought I should eat more (especially if I lift weights) but a few people have told me to lower my cals, including Jillian Michaels said to eat 1200 to lose the last 10. Gah!
  • womaninred53
    womaninred53 Posts: 2 Member
    edited January 2016
    suggestion: in place of weights/gym, use household items . fill empty jugs (like juice, punch, soda,etc) with sand/dirt/water; use canned goods-the weight is on the label; resistance bands are cheap and the more tense you pull the band, the more weight resistance you will have. good luck-you look GREAT-if only i was your age again! :smiley:
  • jeepinshawn
    jeepinshawn Posts: 642 Member
    Wow, you look seriously great! The hard work you have been doing had paid off! My advice is to maybe try changing routines a bit, I notice when I have done the same body weight moves for awhile the body doesn't respond as well. If I change it up I start feeling it . I use the daily burn program, if you have high speed Internet you can try it for a month free....
  • motivatekait
    motivatekait Posts: 90 Member
    Want to change your body composition? Lift heavy weights. Eat at a small deficit if you're set on losing a few pounds. By small deficit, I mean eat more than you're eating now. And unless you have an actual problem with any of these foods (diabetes, Celiac, etc.), stop cutting stuff out of your diet. It's pointless.

    The thing about eating at a small deficit and lifting is that it's essentially a body recomposition. Don't expect dramatic changes in a short period of time. Recomp takes time.

    Thanks for the advice. I'm relieved to hear I don't need to, it's just been difficult to differentiate between the heaps of information I've read.
    suggestion: in place of weights/gym, use household items . fill empty jugs (like juice, punch, soda,etc) with sand/dirt/water; use canned goods-the weight is on the label; resistance bands are cheap and the more tense you pull the band, the more weight resistance you will have. good luck-you look GREAT-if only i was your age again! :smiley:

    I've tried some home-made weights before and they just never ended up working for me unfortunately. I'm not even sure how much weight I should get to begin with though, so I guess I'm uneducated. The resistance bands aren't a bad idea though, maybe I'll look into those.
    Thanks :)
  • leanne0627
    leanne0627 Posts: 109 Member
    Do you belong to a gym or do you need all exercises that can be done at home without equipment? Sorry to say this but by looking at your dream body pic..that takes a lot of work to acheive. A lot of lifting etc that you will have a hard time acheiving with no equipment or gym. Doing body weight exercises will help though... but maybe not enough to get that kind of muscle definition
  • Talan79
    Talan79 Posts: 782 Member
    @motivatekait Do you belong to a gym? 1200 is low. I cut back to 1250 while doing extensive cardio and lifting and it was a mistake. I'm now doing a reverse diet to get my calories back up. I'm now lifting with no cardio.
    In my profile, I posted a pic of my arm/shoulder progress. I was eating 1450 and lifting. Newbie gains don't last long tho, therefore I am changing things up.
  • leanne0627
    leanne0627 Posts: 109 Member
    Squats planks burpees pushups will help and can be done with no equipement
  • motivatekait
    motivatekait Posts: 90 Member
    leanne0627 wrote: »
    Do you belong to a gym or do you need all exercises that can be done at home without equipment? Sorry to say this but by looking at your dream body pic..that takes a lot of work to acheive. A lot of lifting etc that you will have a hard time acheiving with no equipment or gym. Doing body weight exercises will help though... but maybe not enough to get that kind of muscle definition

    No gym membership unfortunately. I do squats, planks, burpees and pushups usually every day to some degree. I just follow the Blogilates calendar. If lifting is absolutely essential then I guess I'll have to try and squeeze it into the budget one way or another. Thank you!
    Talan79 wrote: »
    @motivatekait Do you belong to a gym? 1200 is low. I cut back to 1250 while doing extensive cardio and lifting and it was a mistake. I'm now doing a reverse diet to get my calories back up. I'm now lifting with no cardio.
    In my profile, I posted a pic of my arm/shoulder progress. I was eating 1450 and lifting. Newbie gains don't last long tho, therefore I am changing things up.

    No gym yet. I love the sounds of no cardio though haha. You look great! I'll definitely try my hardest to get into the gym. I heard the stronglifts 5x5 program works wonders, do you follow any particular plan?
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,053 Member
    leanne0627 wrote: »
    Squats planks burpees pushups will help and can be done with no equipement

    @motivatekait are you doing the above already?
  • motivatekait
    motivatekait Posts: 90 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    leanne0627 wrote: »
    Squats planks burpees pushups will help and can be done with no equipement

    @motivatekait are you doing the above already?

    Yes, just about every day.
  • Will_Run_for_Food
    Will_Run_for_Food Posts: 561 Member
    I used to strength train 4x/week and limited cardio to about 3x/week but have switched it up a bit and now do more cardio than strength train. I've lost about 4 lbs in three weeks and that is the only change I've made so I think it's working.

    Bottom line: switch up your fitness routine.
  • motivatekait
    motivatekait Posts: 90 Member
    I used to strength train 4x/week and limited cardio to about 3x/week but have switched it up a bit and now do more cardio than strength train. I've lost about 4 lbs in three weeks and that is the only change I've made so I think it's working.

    Bottom line: switch up your fitness routine.

    Yeah I think while I can't hit the weights just yet it'll probably help if I at least add more HIIT to my routine. Thanks
  • Talan79
    Talan79 Posts: 782 Member
    edited January 2016
    @motivatekait I worked with an on line coach. I have two months of custom program on a five day split. I only did cardio before. Lifting has helped me a lot with changing composition.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,053 Member
    leanne0627 wrote: »
    Do you belong to a gym or do you need all exercises that can be done at home without equipment? Sorry to say this but by looking at your dream body pic..that takes a lot of work to acheive. A lot of lifting etc that you will have a hard time acheiving with no equipment or gym. Doing body weight exercises will help though... but maybe not enough to get that kind of muscle definition

    No gym membership unfortunately. I do squats, planks, burpees and pushups usually every day to some degree. I just follow the Blogilates calendar. If lifting is absolutely essential then I guess I'll have to try and squeeze it into the budget one way or another. Thank you!
    Talan79 wrote: »
    @motivatekait Do you belong to a gym? 1200 is low. I cut back to 1250 while doing extensive cardio and lifting and it was a mistake. I'm now doing a reverse diet to get my calories back up. I'm now lifting with no cardio.
    In my profile, I posted a pic of my arm/shoulder progress. I was eating 1450 and lifting. Newbie gains don't last long tho, therefore I am changing things up.

    No gym yet. I love the sounds of no cardio though haha. You look great! I'll definitely try my hardest to get into the gym. I heard the stronglifts 5x5 program works wonders, do you follow any particular plan?

    Here are some options for making a gym membership affordable:
    1. Is there a $10 per month Planet Fitness near you?
    2. YMCAs offers a sliding scale for people of lower income.
    3. My gym halves the rate for people who agree to only go on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and the weekend.
  • RavenLibra
    RavenLibra Posts: 1,737 Member
    I don't see walking lunges in your workouts... got a back pack? fill bread bags with sand or gravel do walking lunges... modify your strides on alternate days... go straight ... then side to side... then crossovers... keep the back pack on... do push ups, find a bench and do tricep extensions...box steps...burpees...create your own circuit routine... and by bench I mean a park bench... drop the back pack in your lap and do hip thrusts... use the backpack like a kettle bell... IF you want to get lean... only one thing... and lots of it... running... not jogging...running... train until you have a 6 minute mile...When you can run a sub 40 minute 10K YOU should like what you see in the mirror