vismal Member

No bariatric or cosmetic surgery of any kind. I wouldn't make muscle gain my concern if I was you. You don't gain much muscle in a deficit regardless of circumstances though some circumstances are more favorable than others. Breastfeeding is certainly working against gaining muscle. You should probably be looking at eating…

What is your height and weight? As you get leaner you can start to feel crummy. It starts earlier with some people then others. What I usually do is take a diet break and eat at maintenance for 2 weeks then go back to the deficit. This is mostly variable from person to person but from my own observations (non-scientific)…

Answers in bold That last few lbs can be troublesome. You just have to keep consistent and maintain reasonable expectations. 1-2 lbs a week of weight loss is reasonable when you have a lot to lose. When you are already lean trying to get very lean it can be 0.5 lbs per week or sometimes even less. I don't drink many…

See my above post. As for weight gain, that depends on a lot of factors. Was the weight gain rapid (1-2 weeks) or over the long term (1-2 months)? If you gained it rapidly it is likely to be neither fat nor muscle but water. If you are new to weights the likelihood that it is water weight increases. Long term weight gain…

I'm basically 100% over body fat percentage at this point. To me it's essentially a worseless number. There is no really reliable way to track it for most people and even if you had access to one of the more accurate measurements (dexascan) I still don't know that it's terribly useful. If you are losing weight over the…

Hi everyone! I am still alive! I've been crazy busy since my last post. I'm going to try and catch up on some answers for everyone! I never really felt like giving up but did get discouraged many times along the way. One thing I always stress is that in addition to a long term goal (lose 100 lbs, get 6 pack abs, run a…

I didn't follow a set diet. I simply counted calories and macronutrients. Before I started lifting I did cardio only which was a mistake. I should have started lifting from the very beginning. Keep losing fat. You can do ab workouts ad nauseam and it won't help if there is still too much fat present in the abdominal area.…

Sorry it took so long for replies. I used to get notified on my phone when someone posted here and apparently that stopped happening! I'll have to check manually more frequently! Logging food! That's the single best way to be consistent. Create your goals and log every single day. Even if you miss your goals it's important…

I'm not sure what research you looked at but your base statement that "resistance training burns more calories than cardio" is going to be false most of the time. Sure, if your resistance training is a high intensity circuit involving burpees and a rowing machine (isn't it cardio at that point? lol) and your cardio is…

I disagree with this completely. Almost everyone I have ever encountered "needs" a day where they can eat food without tracking calories or worrying about macronutrients. You say that the best diet is one you can maintain forever. I would argue that a diet that never allows for non-compliance isn't maintainable forever. My…

I go for 10000 steps a day and usually do the treadmill at the end of the day until I hit that 10k. Some days it's 5k steps or more, other days I don't even do it because I've hit my goal already.

You mostly answered the question for me. Like you I initially lost a lot of weight doing lots of cardio. Unfortunately a lot of muscle was likely lost too. If I had been lifting I could have preserved more lean mass and gained strength at the same time. I'd say only the genetically blessed will look "toned" through weight…

The third picture represents over a year of bulk/cut cycling. During a bulk the goal is to gain lean mass and keep fat gains to a minimum. During a cut the goal is to remove fat mass while preserving as much lean mass as possible. If you do it right, the net result after a bulk cut cycle is to end up with more lean mass…

I do not eat back exercise calories. I also do not use MFP's suggested calorie intake. I make my calorie goal assuming that I will do my regular exercise routine so it is already accounted for. I explain it better in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTb7lEs_6BU

I think with that plan you are far less likely to accidentally erase your deficit via inaccurate logging or bad nutritional information. Best thing you can do is try it out, give it some time, and evaluate how it's working. I'd also really recommend tracking your weights with something like the "libra" app or…

Can't say that I have

Hunger is a poor indicator of progress. Just because you are hungry doesn't mean you are losing weight. Just because you aren't hungry doesn't mean you aren't losing weight. It's the same thing with being sore after a workout. Many people believe the more sore they are, the more effective the workout and if they aren't…

If your TDEE is really 1700 and you are eating an average of 1500 calories a day, you will absolutely lose weight, but it will be very slow. Your average daily deficit is only going to be 200 calories. Generally speaking, it takes a 3500 calorie deficit to lose a lb of fat (it's much more complicated than this, I know, but…

It's often very hard to tell if someone should bulk or cut without seeing a picture of them. Regardless of if bulking or cutting is best for you, the number one best thing you could do is to beginning resistance training. Get on a proven beginners lifting routine (Greyskull LP, Starting Strength, Stronglifts, etc) and…

It's not so much a tip as it is "the way" to lose weight. Log absolutely everything you eat as accurately as possible (food scale, don't eat out often, etc). Once you're logging accurately weight loss is simple. Pick a calorie goal, eat that for a few weeks. If you lose weight, continue on, if you do not, again make sure…

You could, but I find that there are FAR too many variables involved in that approach. First off, it requires you to have excellent logging for 6 weeks straight, not an easy thing for most people. You'd also need to have a pretty consistent exercise regimen and lifestyle. Its difficult to assess whether a fitness device or…

"Breatharians maintain that they live purely off light and air, although those who don't die from the practice are usually caught eating or drinking real food in secret." Usually?!

Happy New Years everyone who's following along! Probably going to switch the diet back around to a weight loss phase within the week. That means new progress pictures roughly by May lol. Stay tuned...

Wow your eyes are blue!

Gilly

Very nice to meet you too ;)

You are correct in thinking that obsessing over the macros is uncessary. Hitting a protein goal is most important but the amount of carbs and fats matter much less, especially if you don't tend to eat low levels of fat. It's certainly worth a shot if you can do it without getting too obsessive with the numbers.

Myself included! If I ate what my device said I burned each day I'd probably be gaining weight at around a lb a week.

I don't think anyone disagrees that counting calories is the most accurate way to ensure a deficit exists but look at the advice both of you gave. "account for everything", "finding something you can maintain is key". Then look at what the OP wrote "Counting calories and macros has been difficult for me sometimes mentally.…

What makes you believe ketosis is that "something" compared to creating a caloric deficit while ingesting carbs?Losing weight with ketosis still requires a caloric deficit, and if that deficit is the same as one on a diet that does include carbs, fat loss will be same. What advantages do you think ketosis will offer you…