Relatively light people trying to get leaner

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Replies

  • kkress92
    kkress92 Posts: 118 Member
    Bump
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    Ancient first post, but it could use a bump.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    Ahhh this is great.. forgot about this thread. I feel like this comes up so often, definitely worth a read
  • tigerblue
    tigerblue Posts: 1,525 Member
    Y'all are saying what I have been thinking! Only I have gained this winter, and now I need to lose 10-15 lbs! But seriously, this is supposed to enhance our lives, not make them worse!
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
    I was just thinking about this thread the other day. Reminding myself that I'm already lean, I shouldn't feel guilty about not being motivated to get ulta-lean again right now.

    +1 yes lets cut ourselves some slack :smile:
  • mommarnurse
    mommarnurse Posts: 515 Member
    When trying to lose weight, weightlifting is valuable. It creates a buffer for people trying to lose a good amount of body fat. However, you only have 10 lbs to go. I'd focus everything on your diet and add in some cardio. You can easily tone/lift heavy after, but keep in mind there's an art to that, and from what I've read, you could end up adding a few pounds at that point, but it's lean body mass (muscle) so that should be taken into account. What is in the number 120 anyway, if it's not healthy lean body weight?
  • Sumiblue
    Sumiblue Posts: 1,597 Member
    I was just thinking about this thread the other day. Reminding myself that I'm already lean, I shouldn't feel guilty about not being motivated to get ulta-lean again right now.

    Me, too. I'm lean enough and I'm enjoying eating maintenance calories. I may do a small cut in May but I have not been motivated to try and stay sub-20% body fat for the last few months.
  • wellthenwhat
    wellthenwhat Posts: 526 Member
    I needed this post today, however old it is, lol. Gotta just keep my head down and keep biking into the wind.
  • finzi1981
    finzi1981 Posts: 12 Member
    edited August 2017
    Hi

    I've found this thread really helpful although I must admit I haven't read every post... In my defence it is quite a big thread now! :D I need a bit of help please, if anyone has any time.

    I am trying to lose 5lbs, but I want to do it sensibly and without neglecting strength training. I'm 5'6.4", 131lbs, my scales estimate that my body fat % is 17.7%. I do full body strength training three times a week. Once I can comfortably perform 12 reps at a certain weight I move up a weight. I mix in some HIIT and SIT, once or twice a week but some weeks I give myself a week off the cardio. I train with my Polar watch and I wear a Fitbit One, the Fitbit is out of curiosity really, but I love my Polar watch, I'm a bit of a geek and it's all about the numbers for me! It allows me to track what I'm doing and compete against myself. ;)

    As far as food is concerned, I tried using calculators like IIFYM. My general life is sedentary because of various restraints but I do like being active. I was concerned that using the rather generalised terms in the calculators (define 'moderate' and 'heavy' exercise by heart rate percentage?!) I set up the calculator to find out my BMR and TDEE based on a sedentary lifestyle with NO workouts. It gave me 1319 and 1517. Now originally I thought that I should reduce from 1517 to about 1400 because I was aiming to lose weight. The IIFYM calculator told me to cut 15%-20% to lose weight but if I cut that much I am quite a way below the given BMR, which of course I didn't want to do. Working on the basic principle of eating a little more to weigh a little less (sic) I took 1517 as my baseline, and added any exercise calories (taken from my Polar watch) onto the 1517 to give me the total number of calories for that day. For two weeks I did try taking 1408 as my daily basic intake and adding exercise calories onto that but I was so tired that I was concerned I was being counterproductive. Going back to 1517 as my base I am still quite tired and low a lot of the time so I'm worried that I'm either not eating enough or just having a low patch, hard to tell, it's been a stressful few months. I watch my protein levels but I'm not trying to skip carbs or anything like that, I'm trying to keep a sensibly balanced diet, no guilt and no excess, just a little of everything with snacks that include some protein.

    I've been training like this for about six weeks. My weight and body fat haven't budged but I am much stronger and I'm pleased with my strength training progress. I would still like to reduce my body fat percentage a touch, I want to get a little leaner. Not much, just a little. Based on all the above, what would you recommend I do with my calories? Should I be eating more as my baseline? Is it alright to cycle the calories this way, eating more on my exercise days and less on my rest days?

    Any thoughts you have would be welcomed. <3

    ***********


    ETA: P.S. I don't know if it's worth mentioning but the one macro I am quite strict about is my sugar intake. I watch my sugars carefully and try to make sure that I keep them below 15g. I don't like many fruits so I don't really eat them I eat veggies instead.
  • cs2thecox
    cs2thecox Posts: 533 Member
    These same people come to me claiming they've been in a plateau for nearly a year, feel like crap, have nagging injuries, zero motivation, etc. Turns out that if they'd just sit down, stay out of the damn gym, and eat some food... things would be much better.

    This! So glad I found this thread!!

    After years of being a cardio slave, I'm now a 3-weights-sessions-a-week-and-2,000-calories person, and in some of the discussions here I start to feel like I'm doing it wrong because I'm way more about macros, protein and gains than pure CICO :(

    Big up to the leanies who like lifting heavy things! :D<3
  • finzi1981
    finzi1981 Posts: 12 Member
    edited August 2017
    cs2thecox wrote: »

    After years of being a cardio slave, I'm now a 3-weights-sessions-a-week-and-2,000-calories person...

    For some reason my reply wasn't posted with this quote!

    This is my question - based on the info I gave in the post above yours, should I be eating the same number of calories on my rest days as I eat on my exercise days? When I exercise I eat 1580 cals + exercise cals, usually around 1900-2000 calories. On my rest days I eat 1580. Am I wrong?
  • cs2thecox
    cs2thecox Posts: 533 Member
    finzi1981 wrote: »
    cs2thecox wrote: »

    After years of being a cardio slave, I'm now a 3-weights-sessions-a-week-and-2,000-calories person...

    For some reason my reply wasn't posted with this quote!

    This is my question - based on the info I gave in the post above yours, should I be eating the same number of calories on my rest days as I eat on my exercise days? When I exercise I eat 1580 cals + exercise cals, usually around 1900-2000 calories. On my rest days I eat 1580. Am I wrong?

    If it's working, then no!

    I'm 1,930 on rest days and 2,000 on training days, with slightly different macro splits. I've basically negotiated my way to this with my trainer, as I don't find lifting makes me as hungry as cardio used to so I can take a flatter profile. It also doesn't burn all that many calories per session - the benefit is in increasing muscle mass and hence increasing your background burn all the time.
    I might do a bit of a cut when barbecue season is over, but this split makes me happy, so...