Eating more calories, lifting, and losing
prettypeach790
Posts: 27 Member
Hello,
I have recently been looking into the idea of eating more calories 1800-2100, and still losing weight. Every once in a while I will get to 1800-2000 and feel super duper guilty even when I burn off to be back in the green again)
I have seen pictures of these people who show themselves at a low weight without muscle/toning, and then themselves at the same weight/eating 1000 more calories, a higher weight (15-20lbs) and they look thinner/leaner than when they weighed less.
I want to go by how I look not what the scale says (sure I have a goal weight, but I am only like 8 lbs away from it... but I want to feel more toned in my stomach area (I am not tone at all there) but I may not be eating enough to get that muscle?
I have tried the last couple days to eat more, but I am chickening out, and fight myself.
I read people saying that if you eat 1200 your hair will fall out and your nails will be bad, but I never experienced any of that. BUT these days recently I eat my net of 1240 and then eat a around 150-200 of my workout calories back. I don't burn a whole lot, and I don't do hardly any weight lifting if any.... So am I already doing it right, and don't know it? Can I start to heavy lift with 1400-1600 calories? Can I get that lean toned stomach?
I don't want to get bulky at all... I am already a wider framed person, so I have that fear as well.
Any suggestions?
I have recently been looking into the idea of eating more calories 1800-2100, and still losing weight. Every once in a while I will get to 1800-2000 and feel super duper guilty even when I burn off to be back in the green again)
I have seen pictures of these people who show themselves at a low weight without muscle/toning, and then themselves at the same weight/eating 1000 more calories, a higher weight (15-20lbs) and they look thinner/leaner than when they weighed less.
I want to go by how I look not what the scale says (sure I have a goal weight, but I am only like 8 lbs away from it... but I want to feel more toned in my stomach area (I am not tone at all there) but I may not be eating enough to get that muscle?
I have tried the last couple days to eat more, but I am chickening out, and fight myself.
I read people saying that if you eat 1200 your hair will fall out and your nails will be bad, but I never experienced any of that. BUT these days recently I eat my net of 1240 and then eat a around 150-200 of my workout calories back. I don't burn a whole lot, and I don't do hardly any weight lifting if any.... So am I already doing it right, and don't know it? Can I start to heavy lift with 1400-1600 calories? Can I get that lean toned stomach?
I don't want to get bulky at all... I am already a wider framed person, so I have that fear as well.
Any suggestions?
0
Replies
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You will gain very minimal muscle while eating at a deficit to loose weight and even if you were to "recomp". If you have 8 pounds to loose, and if you want body composition changes, you are gonna have to lift weights while loosing weight so that you do not loose any muscle while eating a deficit. Choose a "moderate"deficit not an aggressive one.
You have several routes:
1) Loose weight and lift (helps you with maintaining muscle ((build very little newbie gainz)) and then tapers off.
2) Eat maintenance calories and lift (recomp). Muscle gainz will taper off and this process is very very very slow.
3) Cut and bulk cycles perhaps after you are done with loosing X weight and/or ready to move out from recomp if you chose this after weight loss.
Having dual goals when you have weight to loose is hard, so pick your poison and stick with that goal until you are ready to make another goal towards additional body composition changes. This takes years for us women and you will NOT get bulky.. not even close.4 -
prettypeach790 wrote: »I don't want to get bulky at all... I am already a wider framed person, so I have that fear as well.
You won't turn into Arnie by accidentally picking up a dumbell.
It takes years of hard work and commitment to build significant muscle. Eat well, lift heavy and you'll see results in short time.
8 -
Thank you!
I think i want to lose a few more lbs of fat maybe leave like 5lbs from my goal, and then start to lift.. I almost feel like I may be at the point where I look how I want, but I want to be lean and losing more weight won't do it, but toning will get that flat/flabby stomach look away.
Now I just need some workouts with weights that will tone up my body and make me visibly look as good as I feel and "in shape"0 -
No reason why you shouldn't start now, and then you might even begin to see the muscle definition before you lose those last few pesky pounds.
Are you in a gym? If not, have a look at New Rules for Lifting for Women (something like that) or Stronglifts 5x5. Both are excellent beginner programmes.3 -
I am not in a gym... I wish I was. I have a workout room in my house, and I have many heavy weights, I just need bars for them.
So if my base calorie intake is 1240, how many of my workout calories should I eat back to gain muscle, and not destroy my chances of in a healthy mindset, and body?0 -
Currently I eat about 1800-2000 and am doing Strong Curves. My intake is set for 1560 for .5lb loss per week (approx 2lbs from goal). I'm still losing between .5-1lb per week with the lifting and normal step activity. Felt like I was cheating the first little while but I've adjusted.
I'm definitely not getting bulky, not after only 2 months, but I am gaining strength and some muscle (not that's there's any definite way to tell how much without a dexa scan which isn't available in my little town), probably not more than 1/2lb.1 -
Well, you don't burn many calories lifting, you need cardio for that.
You can't build muscle in a calorie deficit (laws of thermodynamics and all that), but with sufficient protein intake you can. You might need to shift what you eat and there are plenty of other threads to teach you how to set your macros accordingly (1g protein for every 1lb of body mass, etc)0 -
prettypeach790 wrote: »Thank you!
I think i want to lose a few more lbs of fat maybe leave like 5lbs from my goal, and then start to lift.. I almost feel like I may be at the point where I look how I want, but I want to be lean and losing more weight won't do it, but toning will get that flat/flabby stomach look away.
Now I just need some workouts with weights that will tone up my body and make me visibly look as good as I feel and "in shape"
Start lifting now. Do not wait. Take advantage of where you are weight wise, You still have muscle/lean tissue that you do not have loose while loosing even more weight. What I am saying is you cans save some of it now and not have to rebuild it later on.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p14 -
prettypeach790 wrote: »I am not in a gym... I wish I was. I have a workout room in my house, and I have many heavy weights, I just need bars for them.
So if my base calorie intake is 1240, how many of my workout calories should I eat back to gain muscle, and not destroy my chances of in a healthy mindset, and body?
You're not going to gain muscle on 1240 calories other than from being brand new to lifting. That doesn't mean there's no reason to not lift now. Lifting while losing will help you maintain much more muscle than just eating in a deficit and doing cardio will.
Start now, adjust your deficit to half a pound a week if you haven't yet, and keep going once you reach your goal weight.0 -
That is where I struggle too. I don't fully understand the macros/rules of macros or how to even begin.Currently I eat about 1800-2000 and am doing Strong Curves. My intake is set for 1560 for .5lb loss per week (approx 2lbs from goal). I'm still losing between .5-1lb per week with the lifting and normal step activity. Felt like I was cheating the first little while but I've adjusted.
I'm definitely not getting bulky, not after only 2 months, but I am gaining strength and some muscle (not that's there's any definite way to tell how much without a dexa scan which isn't available in my little town), probably not more than 1/2lb.
I feel like I will feel that way too...
Do you have a workout plan that you can share? Or pointers what you do each week?You're not going to gain muscle on 1240 calories other than from being brand new to lifting.
I do eat back a lot of my exercise calories, does that not count? It ends up being around 1400-1600 on normal days. Do I need to have a higher base calorie amount?
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OP take your weight now and multiply that by .8? Perhaps start with that much protein. And the rest fats and carbs. Do not over think this process. There is no magic formula, diet or strategy to follow other than make sure your protein is ample enough to preserve muscle mass as I talked about earlier and keep your deficit in low/moderate, not aggressive. Set up MFP to loose x pounds a week and custom setup the protein setting. That's it. Eat and lift. Enjoy the process.
The link I provided gives you a lot of structured strength training plans to use for researching what you can select from based on your equipment you have/ or planning to go to a gym or doing the body weight to start with, etc.. and making and forming a plan.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p11 -
OP take your weight now and multiply that by .8? Perhaps start with that much protein. And the rest fats and carbs. Do not over think this process. There is no magic formula, diet or strategy to follow other than make sure your protein is ample enough to preserve muscle mass as I talked about earlier and keep your deficit in low/moderate, not aggressive. Set up MFP to loose x pounds a week and custom setup the protein setting. That's it. Eat and lift. Enjoy the process.
The link I provided gives you a lot of structured strength training plans to use for researching what you can select from based on your equipment you have/ or planning to go to a gym or doing the body weight to start with, etc.. and making and forming a plan.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
Thank you very much! I am going to try to do some trials with this, and start lifting for a couple weeks. I know I focus too much on my scale, and I panic when it goes up. I will have to not weigh myself for that period of time so I SEE results in my body and not worry about the scale, cause I know it will go up and down, at first. At least that is what I would expect until I adjust and start to built muscle that in turn should burn fat?
I will definitely be looking at this link.1 -
Try this:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300359/most-helpful-posts-success-stories-must-reads#latest
After you read several of these enjoyable threads, you will start to see a pattern: ladies begin by eating very little and doing cardio for hours each week. *Interesting things happen here.* Then those ladies end by eating a satisfying amount of food, lifting 3 hours a week, often saying they wished they had started lifting way sooner, and in general leading more active lives because they just FEEL like going out and doing things, instead of forcing themselves to be active. It's a good place to start.
2 -
janegalt37 wrote: »Try this:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300359/most-helpful-posts-success-stories-must-reads#latest
After you read several of these enjoyable threads, you will start to see a pattern: ladies begin by eating very little and doing cardio for hours each week. *Interesting things happen here.* Then those ladies end by eating a satisfying amount of food, lifting 3 hours a week, often saying they wished they had started lifting way sooner, and in general leading more active lives because they just FEEL like going out and doing things, instead of forcing themselves to be active. It's a good place to start.
That almost seems to good to be true, but I have to step out on faith and believe it. I have seen that so many people believe they "can't" and that their "bodies are different" and I am in that boat. I have this mindset my body won't let me eat that much and lose weight, and I have bad metabolism, etc etc.
I just have to try it, but the fear of gaining and going backwards is in the back of my mind holding me back.1 -
prettypeach790 wrote: »janegalt37 wrote: »Try this:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300359/most-helpful-posts-success-stories-must-reads#latest
After you read several of these enjoyable threads, you will start to see a pattern: ladies begin by eating very little and doing cardio for hours each week. *Interesting things happen here.* Then those ladies end by eating a satisfying amount of food, lifting 3 hours a week, often saying they wished they had started lifting way sooner, and in general leading more active lives because they just FEEL like going out and doing things, instead of forcing themselves to be active. It's a good place to start.
That almost seems to good to be true, but I have to step out on faith and believe it. I have seen that so many people believe they "can't" and that their "bodies are different" and I am in that boat. I have this mindset my body won't let me eat that much and lose weight, and I have bad metabolism, etc etc.
I just have to try it, but the fear of gaining and going backwards is in the back of my mind holding me back.
I thought much the same for years. When I started my journey in January it wasn't about losing weight as I had given up thinking I could. It was about getting fit. Then I started losing weight and it really clicked then that it was possible. Now I'm almost to my second goal weight and feel great. I love Strong Curves and wish I had started it months earlier. I actually plan on buying the book again (i bought the e-book) so that I can flip through the indexes easier.0 -
This one's my favorite.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/977538/halp-heavy-lifting-made-me-supah-bulky/p12 -
OP take your weight now and multiply that by .8? Perhaps start with that much protein. And the rest fats and carbs. Do not over think this process. There is no magic formula, diet or strategy to follow other than make sure your protein is ample enough to preserve muscle mass as I talked about earlier and keep your deficit in low/moderate, not aggressive.
Hey @RoxieDawn
Great formula. Can I just ask you to pad it out slightly. Weight (in what) x 0.8 = Protein (in grams/oz?)
I'm aiming for 200g protein, being a 220lb guy.
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prettypeach790 wrote: »OP take your weight now and multiply that by .8? Perhaps start with that much protein. And the rest fats and carbs. Do not over think this process. There is no magic formula, diet or strategy to follow other than make sure your protein is ample enough to preserve muscle mass as I talked about earlier and keep your deficit in low/moderate, not aggressive. Set up MFP to loose x pounds a week and custom setup the protein setting. That's it. Eat and lift. Enjoy the process.
The link I provided gives you a lot of structured strength training plans to use for researching what you can select from based on your equipment you have/ or planning to go to a gym or doing the body weight to start with, etc.. and making and forming a plan.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
Thank you very much! I am going to try to do some trials with this, and start lifting for a couple weeks. I know I focus too much on my scale, and I panic when it goes up. I will have to not weigh myself for that period of time so I SEE results in my body and not worry about the scale, cause I know it will go up and down, at first. At least that is what I would expect until I adjust and start to built muscle that in turn should burn fat?
I will definitely be looking at this link.
OP there is some thing variables to think about. You will not see any measurable results in a couple of weeks. Again this takes time. Secondly you may see weight gain in WATER in the scale fairly quickly from strength training. It is completely normal and is NOT fat.
If you are a scale monger LOL.. then you may need to make some peace with the scale and day to day fluctuations and perhaps do this very very slowly as you (your mind) adapts to this new process.0 -
prettypeach790 wrote: »OP take your weight now and multiply that by .8? Perhaps start with that much protein. And the rest fats and carbs. Do not over think this process. There is no magic formula, diet or strategy to follow other than make sure your protein is ample enough to preserve muscle mass as I talked about earlier and keep your deficit in low/moderate, not aggressive. Set up MFP to loose x pounds a week and custom setup the protein setting. That's it. Eat and lift. Enjoy the process.
The link I provided gives you a lot of structured strength training plans to use for researching what you can select from based on your equipment you have/ or planning to go to a gym or doing the body weight to start with, etc.. and making and forming a plan.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
Thank you very much! I am going to try to do some trials with this, and start lifting for a couple weeks. I know I focus too much on my scale, and I panic when it goes up. I will have to not weigh myself for that period of time so I SEE results in my body and not worry about the scale, cause I know it will go up and down, at first. At least that is what I would expect until I adjust and start to built muscle that in turn should burn fat?
I will definitely be looking at this link.
OP there is some thing variables to think about. You will not see any measurable results in a couple of weeks. Again this takes time. Secondly you may see weight gain in WATER in the scale fairly quickly from strength training. It is completely normal and is NOT fat.
If you are a scale monger LOL.. then you may need to make some peace with the scale and day to day fluctuations and perhaps do this very very slowly as you (your mind) adapts to this new process.
I find taking body measurements sometimes helps with scale mongering (love that term btw). Currently I am doing weekly measurements. Though more often than not it's every two weeks lol.0 -
[
OP there is some thing variables to think about. You will not see any measurable results in a couple of weeks. Again this takes time. Secondly you may see weight gain in WATER in the scale fairly quickly from strength training. It is completely normal and is NOT fat.
If you are a scale monger LOL.. then you may need to make some peace with the scale and day to day fluctuations and perhaps do this very very slowly as you (your mind) adapts to this new process.
yes, I try to only weigh once a week. When I know I am bloated or am retaining water, I can resist, so I am not as bad as some for sure, BUT when I DO weigh and its not what I want, I do beat myself up for the day.
I am going for it for sure. I already changed my weekly loss goal and it changed my daily intake to 1400sum a day, but I still don't know how many of the workout calories I should eat back. I feel like I usually have quite a bit left over. (except once a month when I can't hardly control myself).
Now the work is going to be the mind over matter with myself. I will measure to make sure I can have something to keep me from giving up.
0 -
prettypeach790 wrote: »OP take your weight now and multiply that by .8? Perhaps start with that much protein. And the rest fats and carbs. Do not over think this process. There is no magic formula, diet or strategy to follow other than make sure your protein is ample enough to preserve muscle mass as I talked about earlier and keep your deficit in low/moderate, not aggressive. Set up MFP to loose x pounds a week and custom setup the protein setting. That's it. Eat and lift. Enjoy the process.
The link I provided gives you a lot of structured strength training plans to use for researching what you can select from based on your equipment you have/ or planning to go to a gym or doing the body weight to start with, etc.. and making and forming a plan.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
Thank you very much! I am going to try to do some trials with this, and start lifting for a couple weeks. I know I focus too much on my scale, and I panic when it goes up. I will have to not weigh myself for that period of time so I SEE results in my body and not worry about the scale, cause I know it will go up and down, at first. At least that is what I would expect until I adjust and start to built muscle that in turn should burn fat?
I will definitely be looking at this link.
OP there is some thing variables to think about. You will not see any measurable results in a couple of weeks. Again this takes time. Secondly you may see weight gain in WATER in the scale fairly quickly from strength training. It is completely normal and is NOT fat.
If you are a scale monger LOL.. then you may need to make some peace with the scale and day to day fluctuations and perhaps do this very very slowly as you (your mind) adapts to this new process.
I find taking body measurements sometimes helps with scale mongering (love that term btw). Currently I am doing weekly measurements. Though more often than not it's every two weeks lol.
Great point.
I do measurements monthly, scale weight daily (use a trending weight app), pictures monthly (same clothes or lack there of..LOL) ...0 -
prettypeach790 wrote: »[
OP there is some thing variables to think about. You will not see any measurable results in a couple of weeks. Again this takes time. Secondly you may see weight gain in WATER in the scale fairly quickly from strength training. It is completely normal and is NOT fat.
If you are a scale monger LOL.. then you may need to make some peace with the scale and day to day fluctuations and perhaps do this very very slowly as you (your mind) adapts to this new process.
yes, I try to only weigh once a week. When I know I am bloated or am retaining water, I can resist, so I am not as bad as some for sure, BUT when I DO weigh and its not what I want, I do beat myself up for the day.
I am going for it for sure. I already changed my weekly loss goal and it changed my daily intake to 1400sum a day, but I still don't know how many of the workout calories I should eat back. I feel like I usually have quite a bit left over. (except once a month when I can't hardly control myself).
Now the work is going to be the mind over matter with myself. I will measure to make sure I can have something to keep me from giving up.
I am going to make a suggestion.. perhaps use your scale to trend your weight daily or weekly. Like Libra, Weightgrapher, Happy Scale etc. This will help you with the day to day, weekly fluctuations that occur in your weight. When trying to put on muscle (body composition/lifting weights) seeing things on the scale clue me in on what time of the month it is, something changed in my eating, or exercise (intensity/volume) changed or upped the weights, sodium and even hydration and lack there of all show on the scale,, And if you do not eat enough, this too will show (meaning your deficit may be too aggressive) puts the body through stress and you will hold on to water.. no doubt about any of this!0 -
I am going to make a suggestion.. perhaps use your scale to trend your weight daily or weekly. Like Libra, Weightgrapher, Happy Scale etc. This will help you with the day to day, weekly fluctuations that occur in your weight. When trying to put on muscle (body composition/lifting weights) seeing things on the scale clue me in on what time of the month it is, something changed in my eating, or exercise (intensity/volume) changed or upped the weights, sodium and even hydration and lack there of all show on the scale,, And if you do not eat enough, this too will show (meaning your deficit may be too aggressive) puts the body through stress and you will hold on to water.. no doubt about any of this!
So should I start weighing daily from the beginning, or do you find it better to start weighing daily after a couple weeks?
Also, do you have a suggestion on how many workout calories I should eat back?
0 -
janegalt37 wrote: »Try this:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300359/most-helpful-posts-success-stories-must-reads#latest
After you read several of these enjoyable threads, you will start to see a pattern: ladies begin by eating very little and doing cardio for hours each week. *Interesting things happen here.* Then those ladies end by eating a satisfying amount of food, lifting 3 hours a week, often saying they wished they had started lifting way sooner, and in general leading more active lives because they just FEEL like going out and doing things, instead of forcing themselves to be active. It's a good place to start.
^This is so true.0
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