jiggyj9 Member

I’m maintaining and my diary is open. I log daily. I’m pescatarian and (mostly) gluten free. Feel free to add :)

I’m half an inch shorter than you, so not sure if I qualify as tall in this thread. Lol. But my maintenance calories are around 1,900. :)

I’m 5’7, 135 lbs and about 19% BF. Deciding to stick to recomp instead of bulk/cut. It’s more sustainable for the long term. There are times though when I’m so indecisive and feel like I should bulk more and other times where I feel like I need to cut. Ugh! Would love to have friends on here with recomp experience :)

I used to use one. Temporary gratification, smaller appearing waist when you take it off, but it isn’t sustainable and can be potentially harmful in the long run by compressing organs.

That’s awesome. Where are you located? 😬

Thank you!! Do you have any idea what a good means for searching for an experienced lifting/strength coach would be, perhaps a reputable website?

Faith No More's cover of War Pigs

Your personal preference should always be yours to express, and I think this day in age body mods are just about the norm, but you do still want to respect the house you're in so to speak. I have a conservative profession so I choose to cover up my sleeve and have taken out my facial piercings (outside of ears). From my…

All makes perfect sense! I've also always felt my arms are very lanky. The day I could finally do a pushup was one of the greatest days of my life! Lol. I guess knowing the issues are the first step, right?! It's just overwhelming with all the information out there to figure out how to implement the solution. I am very…

That's true. And I feel you on that one! I hope at some point I can accept my body for what it is and just keep working towards being the best possible version of myself.

I have been lifting for about 5-6 years. However, I do not have an athletic foundation; I was an overweight kid, never played sports, knew nothing about form, lacked mind-muscle connection. I've learned a lot over the years through injuries (started my lifting journey through CrossFit so I had quite a few lol), PT,…

It would be great to just have a 24/7 team of trainers! Lol

I gain weight just fine (I would almost say easily), but I feel like a higher percentage of that is fat. I am progressing with time, but I seem to progress very slowly. Tracking it and progressing with intent is also not my strong suit, so I'm sure that has something to do with it, along with not having the patience to…

Thanks for the clarification! I’m actually a pescatarian. Just trying to cut out some forms of dairy to cut down the bloat.

I've never done a before and after split like this and it's actually quite cathartic! The first photo is approximately six years ago at 110 pounds when I had an eating disorder. Second pic is today, 135 pounds, after a complete shift in perspective and a lot of hard work. I wish I had a before before picture when I was big…

Related to this (this could probably be a separate thread), how detrimental is it to MPS to not meet all of your macro goals? I'm sure the answer will depend on whether your goal is bulking or cutting, so let's just say to maintain. I find that I consistently meet my protein and often my fat goals, but fall behind in carbs…

Awesome post. Can’t wait to listen!

Good to know that that's an option for long term. This is my first bulk so I'm going to keep with it and experiment with a mini cut before I hit 145 lbs if I get impatient as well.

Great advice. I'll just keep with it. How much weight do you typically aim to gain when bulking? A little off topic here, is there any way to skip the bulk and the cut phases altogether? What would happen if you eat your maintenance calories... would you just plateau essentially?

This does not count. I’ve always appreciated it when someone would come help me out when I couldn’t figure out how to adjust something. Other than that, I prefer to be unsolicited and I treat people the same! I’ll just think it to myself (unless someone is clearly going to injure themselves, and then I would get a trainer…

Yes! You’re a big part of my inspiration! ❤️

...and, surprisingly, only learned about the importance of sticking to a program and tracking everything recently! (For the results I want)

I’m on sort of a custom program, mostly created by myself with the help of my trainer (benefit is I’m definitely doing what I enjoy lol). I’m doing the big lifts/stronglifts on a progressive overload plus varying lifts that I switch up week by week and HITT. It’s exhausting though and a bit overwhelming to keep writing a…

Yes, those are all great! That's typically what I do as well. Sometimes I've wondered if I should be doing more sets, but as you said, the purpose is not fatigue. I'll be starting Strong Curves in a couple of weeks after I'm finished with the program I'm on now. Can't wait!

Awesome! I’d love to hear the answers. And good point ladies... no reason why you can’t do before and after! How many movements/reps/sets are you typically doing for a resistance band warm up vs burnout?

I had C6-C7 herniated disc a couple of years ago and I couldn’t lift for months (about 6). The pain was crippling. It sucked to have to stay out of the gym, but I didn’t have much of a choice. I went to physical therapy twice a week and kept working with resistance bands for a while after that before I picked up any…

Great response. Definitely puts it into perspective!

Yes, this is what I was asking

Honestly, I'm not totally sure. I don't have anything currently to measure my fat percentage. It feels like a little bit of both. I would say bloat around the belly, but I notice some extra cellulite creeping up in my butt.

Fair enough! I am currently following a progressive overload program. I think lowering my fiber may be key... I keep seeming to go over my daily fiber goal.