marigolds1

Um, YEAH. When I was bodybuilding I was 165 lbs at 18% and I wore a size 4. I think you're getting women's percentages mixed up with men's, probably; anything sub 20% is hard to reach for women.

Yep. Helps with piriformis syndrome/problems as well. Gotta work the taint, people.

Shoot, for a 2 day/week routine for a rank beginner who wants to add muscle, two full-body workouts with the Three Big Ones (squat, deadlift, bench) plus some dips and chins would be perfect. You could do this for 2-3 months until the newbie gains level off; THEN you can go to a split routine. Stay as simple as you can,…

Last hired, first fired. Women usually lose thighs/butt last; boobs, waists, face, arms, chest first. Guys usually keep gut fat/back fat till last.

Two things: have you tried HIIT for cardio in addition to steady-state? Some people have fantastic results from 15-20 min of intervals and then 20-30 min of steady state. Other possibility: Lyle McDonald's Rapid Fat Loss Diet. It sucks BIG TIME, and your results may be different since you have less to lose overall--but I…

I would be willing to bet that the reason it came back so quickly is that you lost muscle along with fat last time. If you are lifting weights while you lose, you will retain much more muscle, which is always a good thing!

I take Adderall as well. This is a completely normal side effect--both the appetite suppression and the metabolism bump. It does (unfortunately) go away once your body acclimates (can take as long as 2-3 months to totally go away, but the fast losses will probably only last 3 weeks or so.) I theorize that it has something…

This is really good advice for all kinds of situations. :)

And tuna canned in water. (And my favorite indulgence: FF greek yogurt + some vanilla whey powder. I don't usually eat artificial sweeteners, and this is totally not whole and unprocessed, but when you need something sweet that falls in your macros, it's great.)

Lyle McDonald says that exercise is way more important during maintenance than during weight loss. Also, I just read a great book called _Younger Next Year_, and the authors argue that anyone over 40 needs to work out 4 days/week hard cardio for 1 hr/per, and 2 days/week heavy strength training. So 6 days a week. For the…

Learn to sew? That way y'all could take in the awesome thrift finds and expensive blazers and still wear them?

Could you do them on your elbows instead of your wrists, maybe? Would get a lot of the same core workout at least.

Agreeing with this! Try some heavy kettlebells if you must do it at home, or if you can make it to a gym start doing big compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, and bench press in the 8-12 rep range. Don't worry about getting hyoooge--women who WANT to look super-muscular are often not able to get big, so you certainly…

This. Don't go nuts and eat everything you possibly can just because it's there, and definitely try to stay active and keep in your mind that this is a planned break from your diet rather than a screwup--but just be human and enjoy yourself. Lots of weight loss research (read Lyle MacDonald on this) shows that breaks from…

I'd be interested in a support group thing too--I'm doing IF leangains style right now. I've been happy with it, and fasted training hasn't (so far) been a problem for me. Knock on wood. (I'm also on Martin's wait list for online personal training. I can't wait till I bump up to the top!)

I got it last time I was there--they had the Optimum Nutrition vanilla. I'm going to get like 5 bags next time, because they only restock some of their stuff once a year!

This. If you mix it with fat-free greek yogurt, a packet of hidden valley ranch powder, and a bit of lemon juice, you can whiz it in the blender and make high-protein, low-fat ranch-ish salad dressing! I like it plain. The weirdest way I like it is on top of whole wheat toast with natural peanut butter and the cottage…

Put your alarm clock across the room, so you have to get out of bed to turn it off! Then when you're up, you're up and it's easier to stay up. That and having all the clothes ready to go mean I can usually be out the door before I can talk myself out of it. (Not always, but usually!)

Lorna Kleidman's kettlebells for women book is supposed to be amazing--I've had it on my wish list for a couple of months.

You can EASILY gain 7-10 lbs of water weight, especially if you've been eating low-sodium and/or low carb. Don't worry too much about it!