I went from morbidly obese to 6 pack abs! Ask me Anything

Flyingwarrior1966 wrote: »

Reduce cal by 100-200.. add more cardio and mix up the types of cardio you have been doing. GreAt success so far, the final 10 is always the toughest but you will get there.. hang in and good luck

I don't want to sound like a jerk, but this is twice now in just the last few days... There is a huge forum here on MFP where people post questions seeking general advice from whoever wants to give it. This thread however is an ask me anything thread. People post here to ask me questions and get my response. When others answer the questions it causes a few problems. It can confuse both myself and the person asking, it can be advice I do not agree with (and I do not fully agree with the advice you gave in this particular situation), and it generally defeats the entire purpose of an AMA thread. So I'll ask again that people not answer questions in this thread. If you have something to add or a follow up question after I have answered the OP that's fine and I encourage that. I know everyone has good intentions and is just trying to help but if I have yet to answer the question please save your thoughts until I get a chance.
More specifically to what you advised, I rarely tell people to eat more or less calories unless I have an idea of how well they count calories with the exception being when a goal is set way too high or way too low which is not the case here. You advise adding more cardio and mixing up cardio. She didn't really mention how much cardio she does so how can you know more is appropriate? Further, her goal in addition to fat loss was to gain/maintain as much muscle as possible. Excessive cardio will hinder that goal. She also might not like cardio. It's not necessary to lose fat. It can be a tool to use and I generally encourage it but it's certainly not required. Mixing up cardio is rarely something I recommend as it's usually not needed for simple fat loss.

designerdiscounts wrote: »

I would love some advice if you don't mind.

I'm female, 43 yrs old, 5'4", weight 145. Body fat % is probably high, I don't have much definition. I've been doing piyo classes 3 days a week and just started Nrol4w this week. I can only squat 30 lbs and curl about 12 each arm. I feel like I have another 10 lbs to lose but also want to retain/build as much muscle as possible. I'm eating about 1600 cals a day with 40% protein/30 fat/30 carbs. My question - the scale hasn't budged up or down for a month. Am I on the right track? Should I add something else or change calories or just be patient?

As I mentioned above, one of the most important things to establish is how well you track your calories. The biggest indicator is whether or not you use a food scale to weigh what you eat or are you just estimating/using measuring cups. This guide lays out recommendations for accurate calorie counting: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/38825118
If you are currently not doing much of what the guide suggests I'd start following it. You may not need to adjust your calorie goal, you might simply need more accurate tracking. If you are already doing most of the things from the guide then we can assume your count is fairly accurate. If this is the case I would reduce calories by about 10% and see if some weight starts to move. I'd also encourage daily weigh ins while tracking those weigh ins at trendweight.com. That website allows for a rolling average to be taken of your daily weights and it will let you know what your weight is actually doing. Sometimes losing 0.5 lbs a week is hard to notice between daily fluctuations in weight. Trendweight accounts for all of that in its averaging. I would not use macro ratios. Macros should be based on your weight, not a percentage. This video explains how I calculate macros
Another factor might be your new lifting program. Doing compound lifts can initially cause some water retention but this will take care of itself after a few weeks, just something to be aware of.