"TLFC" exercise and accountability support!

Strength: Full Body 

Hex Bar Deadlift 5x5
DB Bench Press «superset» DB Row 4x10
DB Shrugs 3x10
Arnold Press 3x10
Cable Rope Hammer Curl «superset» Cable Rope Overhead Extension 3x12
Machine Lower Back Extend «superset» Machine Weighted Crunch 2x15

Food: Dinner was meatloaf

@DiscusTank5

It is odd indeed with all the "upgrades" that keep coming along, it's still impossible to un-follow any discussion that you've made a post to. There's a few that I'd like to not be notified about going forward. Then maybe I could add some more.

Looking forward to seeing a new to me river very soon.

I think quite a few larger, more active men - even empathetic and supportive ones like you - don't fully viscerally understand what steps can be necessary to fit within a lower calorie allowance common for women, especially on a day when she might want to fit in some calorie dense semi treat foods like @DiscusTank5's "Skippy Bites . . . chocolate cookie dough flavored cashew butter . . . pina colada snow cone".

ETA: Discustank5, the breakfast you mention me eating had some nutritious elements, but was quite high calorie: I added the potatoes, lotttsss of ketchup, buttermilk biscuit, and honey to the veggies and scrambled eggs.

It wouldn't keep me happy to eat some of the breakfasts I see on that other thread, either . . . but everyone's different. 🤷‍♀️

On topic: Coached row today, bow of double, little under 7k.

Food so far: Peanut butter on Ezekiel pita, plain nonfat kefir for breakfast. Large skim latte as post-row snack.

😆 Not a lecture. Just a comment about human nature.

I have the same cognitive dissonance sometimes, just in the opposite direction, when contemplating how much protein bigger men need, or how many calories the larger male hard gainers need. That dissonance must be even worse for women with more average - i.e., very low - calorie needs.

When I read once that Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps needed 10,000 calories a day to support his eight hours of practice, I nearly fell out of my chair. I think I max out at under 3500 on Thanksgiving.

Eating that many calories of actual food every day sounds so daunting.Now if we're talking fast food burgers and milkshakes, I can see it adding up, but wow.

If you haven't seen them, you might enjoy some of Stephanie Buttermore's YouTube videos, which includes several about 10k calorie eating challenges, and in some instances a follow-up video about the aftermath from the standpoint of effects on the body. One set has actual lab measurements of various "metabolic" aspects. She has the usual influencer-type banner pages as clickbait, but don't be deceived by that. She's technically knowledgeable with solid science-based analyses. (She's also struggled with EDs, IMU.)

I wish I had a hard time going past 3500 calories. I don't. I'm not saying this as some misbegotten point of pride, but I've logged above 6000 on at least one day, and I'm sure there are days when I've eaten that much and more but not fully logged them, since weight loss. It's not a true binge, i.e., not out of control. It's hedonic. I just like food that much, have the capacity, and occasionally decide to indulge. (I've had to figure out how to make that work and stay at a healthy weight, yes.)

I actually got fat (class 1 obese) eating mostly whole foods, so I can eat a lot even without heavy indulgence in highly-processed foods, though a truly high calorie day usually has some chocolate or desserts and maybe alcohol in the overall total. I completely understand that most people find whole foods more filling - that some people here find them almost magically so if they've been eating mostly refined/highly-processed foods. Nonetheless, it secretly amuses me to see some say things like "it's impossible to overeat whole foods". Yeah, no.

One last thing: Some people here have found that they burn more calories as a smaller person. That's not a promise, but it's a possibility. It has to do with that "more energy" thing, including what the researchers sometimes call "spontaneous movement".

Maybe Niner or one of the other guys will hazard a guess. Published sources say around a pound a month is a decent muscle mass gain rate for women, but I believe that assumes relative youth, favorable genetics, a good program faithfully performed, good nutrition including but not limited to ample protein, and a calorie surplus rather than a deficit. Less than ideal conditions, probably slower gains, at best.

I don't have relevant experience. I strength trained pretty faithfully (free weights, machines) at times in my 40s/50s for up to a couple of years continuously, but lately it's been a few months in Winter at most of consistency. Back in my 40s/50s, I was still obese or near to, so I know I got stronger, and smaller at constant weight. Some of the changes were rowing-related besides, but I didn't look muscular because of the subcutaneous fat layer. I have no reading on body composition changes then, didn't even think much about it in those terms. Most of any muscle mass I have above average for my demographic is assuredly from rowing, not lifting, and developed over literal years - a decade at least - verrry slowly. I was very surprised about how I looked after weight loss, honestly: Far from bodybuilder-like, but some OK li'l ol' lady muscles showed up.

Strength training is always worth doing, and I'll never say otherwise or give anyone advice to the contrary, even though I'm not a great exemplar myself. (I do occasionally argue with "cardio doesn't build muscle" true believers, because I'm convinced that's potentially false. There are too many "cardio" modes to make that blanket statement, and too many ways to go about them. Progressive strength challenge - any type - builds strength and muscle. Classic weight training/resistance training is the most efficient approach. That's what I believe.)

I look like I train now, but that (arm) muscle could well have been there before, it just wasn't very noticeable under a layer of fat. I can see muscle developing above the knee from biking standing up, so that's something.

I'd like to think I've gained a little, but my starting goal was simply not to lose what muscle I already had. I do biceps curls with 15# weights, up from 10# in Jan. Lat raises with 12#, sometimes, instead of 10#. A few more reps for both. Still using a 20# dumbbell for skullcrushers, still at 12-13 reps / set, so no real increase there.