naurugirl Member

You didn't mention if you had a fridge, but if you do, you might want to get a crockpot...it's very easy to make 4+ meals at once that can be eaten throughout the week. For one serving meals, something like a tasty bite + couscous (doesn't need to be cooked on a stovetop, just add boiling water). And almost any veg can be…

TDEE is supposed to take exercise into account, so no you do not eat back exercise calories. If you are looking to lose fat, eat 10-20% below your TDEE. Do not eat below your BMR without medical supervision.

That's a contentious issue. The numbers I've seen the most at 1g/lb of LEAN body mass, 0.8g/lb of total weight.

I second the recommendation of keeping protein high and continuing with the strength training. Also, losing at a slower rate (lower deficit) will help preserve LBM as well.

This! Upping your protein and eating more (i.e., a smaller deficit) will help preserve lean body mass as you lose weight. I'm guessing a big part of your loss in muscle mass had to do with eating at such a drastic deficit. Resistance training will also help preserve LBM.

Wow! Congrats on the weight loss! Just wanted to chime in and say that the concept of going from deficit to maintenance back to a deficit is called a "re-feed". I'm not 100% about the science behind it, but the basic idea is if you've been eating at a deficit for an extended period of time, it can be beneficial (in terms…

Anyone who claims to have the "secret to weight loss" is full of **** and just trying to get your money. Weight loss is about calories in versus calories out.

TDEE is always going to be an estimate -- either number could be "correct" or they could both be wrong. You could split the difference and aim for 1600, see how the fat loss goes for a month or so and adjust your calories accordingly.

I think your caliper measurements are probably off. At your height/weight, and only a month into lifting, 16-17% bf seems very low. Is someone helping you with the caliper measurements? It's near impossible to measure certain spots (anywhere on the back of the body) correctly by oneself. And congrats on the weight loss!…

Cottage cheese! The kind I eat is ~90 calories per 1/2 cup and 14g of protein!

If your main goal is fat loss, the most important thing to focus on is diet and eating at a reasonable caloric deficit. I'd suggest calculating your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure, aka calories you burn in a day) and subtracting 20%. I would NOT use the MFP calorie goals -- they tend to be way too low! As for…

Two words for you: cottage cheese. The one I eat (2% fat) is 14g protein per 90 cal serving and relatively cheap.

Are you talking about pre-made shakes or powders? Powders are definitely cheaper (I like Met rx, good cal/protein ratio but doesn't dissolve the best). If you do made your own shakes, keep in mind that protein shakes are not necessarily low cal...when I'm bulking my morning shake has about 600cal! Of course you can make…

I've started to do front weighted squats and I feel like it has helped me from leaning forward (compared to when I do a typical barbell squat with the bar across my shoulders). You can also get a little deeper (I think mainly because you stay more upright) which provides an extra challenge. I had been squating 95 pounds…

A while back I wanted to try out a new weight machine in my gym and went about trying to adjust the seat height. Simple, right? Nope! I spent about 5 minutes yanking and pulling on the darned thing trying to adjust it until a fellow lifter took pity on me and showed me how to adjust it. I turned beet red, did about two…

I definitely noticed the difference in your arms -- keep up the great work!