Recomposition: Maintaining weight while losing fat

Options
1…8687899192…127

Replies

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Options
    bioklutz wrote: »
    usmcmp wrote: »
    Alright, I have some comparison photos. I did some unintentional recomp at 200 pounds because I was not motivated to cut. The photo is March 2016 to March 2017, both are exactly 200 pounds. During that time frame I rarely logged food and if I did it wasn't really accurate (more about getting protein). I followed programming similar to PHAT and PHUL with an extra/modified day for delts because mine don't grow.

    And yes, I have cellulite as well as stretch marks.

    Holy crap - your trap muscles!

    Traps and lats and delts - oh my!
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
    Options
    heybales wrote: »
    bioklutz wrote: »
    usmcmp wrote: »
    Alright, I have some comparison photos. I did some unintentional recomp at 200 pounds because I was not motivated to cut. The photo is March 2016 to March 2017, both are exactly 200 pounds. During that time frame I rarely logged food and if I did it wasn't really accurate (more about getting protein). I followed programming similar to PHAT and PHUL with an extra/modified day for delts because mine don't grow.

    And yes, I have cellulite as well as stretch marks.

    Holy crap - your trap muscles!

    Traps and lats and delts - oh my!

    Thank you both! I lean out from the top down, so I'll be happy when this cut is over and I can see the lower body changes. The delts have been slow growing.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    Options
    usmcmp wrote: »
    heybales wrote: »
    bioklutz wrote: »
    usmcmp wrote: »
    Alright, I have some comparison photos. I did some unintentional recomp at 200 pounds because I was not motivated to cut. The photo is March 2016 to March 2017, both are exactly 200 pounds. During that time frame I rarely logged food and if I did it wasn't really accurate (more about getting protein). I followed programming similar to PHAT and PHUL with an extra/modified day for delts because mine don't grow.

    And yes, I have cellulite as well as stretch marks.

    Holy crap - your trap muscles!

    Traps and lats and delts - oh my!

    Thank you both! I lean out from the top down, so I'll be happy when this cut is over and I can see the lower body changes. The delts have been slow growing.

    For that I am jealous. Striated quads but no clear ab's. Great progress btw.
  • LeoT0917
    LeoT0917 Posts: 206 Member
    Options
    usmcmp wrote: »
    Sarasmaintaining wrote: »
    Thanks for the info :) I looked into this, but since I do body-weight strength training and not heavy lifting, I don't think it would work for me, bummer!

    There are ways you can add resistance to body weight exercises and there are modifications that make body weight exercises harder. Progressive overload is generally viewed as adding more weight, but we can overload the muscles in other ways.

    One note on this post. When adding weight to body weight exercises, I would highly recommend using a weighted workout vest so the weight can be evenly distributed. Depending on the type of movement, you can throw your form "out of wack" if you are not careful. Using a weighted vest will help to mitigate this risk.
  • cnbbnc
    cnbbnc Posts: 1,267 Member
    Options
    I'm getting frustrated and don't know if I can recomp or not because I can't keep my weight steady. I'm always gaining a few pounds. Then I'm back in a deficit to lose a few pounds. I can't drop fat if I keep gaining weight, and the deficit is doing me no good!

    I feel like I should just bulk/cut because I can gain and lose weight but seem to have issues keeping my weight steady enough. Think I'm just spinning my wheels.....
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
    Options
    cnbbnc wrote: »
    I'm getting frustrated and don't know if I can recomp or not because I can't keep my weight steady. I'm always gaining a few pounds. Then I'm back in a deficit to lose a few pounds. I can't drop fat if I keep gaining weight, and the deficit is doing me no good!

    I feel like I should just bulk/cut because I can gain and lose weight but seem to have issues keeping my weight steady enough. Think I'm just spinning my wheels.....

    I did something similar during my year of recomp. As long as you are lifting and progressing with the lifting you'll make progress on lean mass gains. Swings of 20 pounds or more is time to reconsider how you plan to maintain weight long term.
  • cnbbnc
    cnbbnc Posts: 1,267 Member
    Options
    usmcmp wrote: »
    cnbbnc wrote: »
    I'm getting frustrated and don't know if I can recomp or not because I can't keep my weight steady. I'm always gaining a few pounds. Then I'm back in a deficit to lose a few pounds. I can't drop fat if I keep gaining weight, and the deficit is doing me no good!

    I feel like I should just bulk/cut because I can gain and lose weight but seem to have issues keeping my weight steady enough. Think I'm just spinning my wheels.....

    I did something similar during my year of recomp. As long as you are lifting and progressing with the lifting you'll make progress on lean mass gains. Swings of 20 pounds or more is time to reconsider how you plan to maintain weight long term.

    Yeah....no way to twenty pounds! I go up and down 3-5lbs, but I'm not talking fluctuating weight. It sticks and then I'm in a battle to get it back off. Overall I've been maintaining for a year so I'm proud of that, but keeping myself at a stable trend weight without having to flip back and forth has been hard.... I'll keep pressing on though.

    Interesting to hear you say that all you did was track protein because I was toying with the idea of trying it myself. I'd love to be able to be more flexible with that. I'm wondering if it might help me with adherence too. I think I tend to overeat sometimes because I'm feeling held too tightly to everything fitting macros perfectly.

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    edited April 2017
    Options
    3-5 lbs is known expected water weight fluctuations for all kinds of reasons. And not just daily.

    Sodium induced can hold on for 3-4 days even.

    Increased blood volume for cardio in heat will stay on all summer until you do less and/or cooler.

    Water for inflammation from good workout can last 2-3 days.

    Stress induced can last weeks, which the stress of seeing increased weight can add more.

    Obviously as a woman your BMR and ability to retain water change through the month too, with a week or more hold pattern there.

    30 day trend is about the minimum you can give consideration to for discerning something useful.

    And hoping you know you can't have a weight goal as in a single number - gotta have a weight range goal as ucmcmp mentions.

    Don't trust the scale as a single measuring device.
    If stomach is your first place for fat gain like vast majority - other figure to track is measurement of waist at belly button. Straight around and level.

    Valid weigh-in measurement day to minimize known water weight changes.
    Morning after rest day eating normal sodium levels, not sore from last workout.
  • Morgaen73
    Morgaen73 Posts: 2,818 Member
    Options
    Ok so what is reasonable weight range for maintenance? Say I want to maintain on 100kg. What would be my minimum and maximum weight range?
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    Options
    @cnbbnc
    How are you defining "steady" - what kind of range? Over what time period?

    "Spinning your wheels" - how are you measuring progress? Again over what time period?

    Recomp happens in a zone around maintenance not just precisely at maintenance so not really seeing weight zigzagging as a problem in terms of potential development.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    Options
    Morgaen73 wrote: »
    Ok so what is reasonable weight range for maintenance? Say I want to maintain on 100kg. What would be my minimum and maximum weight range?
    @Morgaen73
    It's very individual, my weight often jumps around a couple of kilos day to day.
    On the other hand my colleague hardly varies by a few grams day to day or even week to week.

    Plus of course you are a big guy at 100kg so small percentage changes give a bigger number.
    Would suggest you just track for a month and try to see what is natural for you.

    (PS - congrats on that impressive weight loss!)
  • Morgaen73
    Morgaen73 Posts: 2,818 Member
    Options
    sijomial wrote: »
    Morgaen73 wrote: »
    Ok so what is reasonable weight range for maintenance? Say I want to maintain on 100kg. What would be my minimum and maximum weight range?
    @Morgaen73
    It's very individual, my weight often jumps around a couple of kilos day to day.
    On the other hand my colleague hardly varies by a few grams day to day or even week to week.

    Plus of course you are a big guy at 100kg so small percentage changes give a bigger number.
    Would suggest you just track for a month and try to see what is natural for you.

    (PS - congrats on that impressive weight loss!)

    Awesome thanks :) My weight doesnt very all that much although before Easter weekend it did go down to 99.2kg and after Easter it was at 100.7kg lol I figuere 1kg eiher way is ok with me.

    Thanks for the compliment :)
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
    Options
    Morgaen73 wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    Morgaen73 wrote: »
    Ok so what is reasonable weight range for maintenance? Say I want to maintain on 100kg. What would be my minimum and maximum weight range?
    @Morgaen73
    It's very individual, my weight often jumps around a couple of kilos day to day.
    On the other hand my colleague hardly varies by a few grams day to day or even week to week.

    Plus of course you are a big guy at 100kg so small percentage changes give a bigger number.
    Would suggest you just track for a month and try to see what is natural for you.

    (PS - congrats on that impressive weight loss!)

    Awesome thanks :) My weight doesnt very all that much although before Easter weekend it did go down to 99.2kg and after Easter it was at 100.7kg lol I figuere 1kg eiher way is ok with me.

    Thanks for the compliment :)

    Up to 3 kg is fairly normal. If you hit 5kg above where you normally are and it doesn't drop within a few days it's time to make adjustments.
  • macchiatto
    macchiatto Posts: 2,890 Member
    Options
    Love the insights from @usmcmp and @heybales. I have definitely struggled with maintenance at times. Last year I lost a little over 20 lbs from Nov '15 to Mar '16. But then from Mar '16 to Jan '17 I struggled with bouncing around, usually 0.5-5 lbs over my goal range for maintenance (128-133 lbs). It was frustrating b/c like @cnbbnc it seemed like I was constantly going back to a deficit trying to re-lose. I'd get down to like 133.4 and then bounce up again; it seemed like I could never stay stable within range.

    More recently I was up solidly to 5 lbs above goal range so I did a DietBet for accountability and lost the weight. Maintenance has been going better so far this time around in that I've stayed within goal range for over a month (still weighing food, logging carefully, reverse dieting, etc.). Five weeks might not sound like much but it's a better start than I had a year ago, so I'm starting to feel more confident that I can keep this up long-term. I just need to avoid the mentality of "I'm back at goal range, I was disciplined for so long, I can be a little more careless now" ... My new Fitbit Charge 2 has also been great so far in terms of motivation to stay active and being more mindful of (and more accurate with) the CO side of the equation.
  • macchiatto
    macchiatto Posts: 2,890 Member
    Options
    I'll add, I do plan to recomp starting in a month. I'm training for a race on May 13. Right now I'm playing it safe by doing my physical therapy home program for strength on my non-running days; after the race I plan to keep eating at maintenance, start YAYOG 3x/wk and go from there.

Categories