ArvinSloane Member

Yep, as long as you eat in a calorie deficit, you will still lose weight.

Just to chime in, as another small female, the main thing for me is height. There aren't a lot of other lifters in my gym who are 5'3", so it's not only unloading the bar, it's also adjusting the rack height for squat or bench. Which isn't intimidating, but it is a pain in the *kitten*. Honestly, if a guy is only going to…

I make myself a sweet overnight oats recipe as my bedtime snack. I generally flavor it with a yummy protein powder (current one is pumpkin spice :) ) and add frozen raspberries. Feels like dessert, clocks in around 260 calories.

I'm just over here trying to figure out how to get LITERALLY ALL CHEMICALS out of my home. :#

It sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders, OP! I'd just like to throw in another vote for powerlifting as an eventual goal. The sport has brought me so much more confidence, and made me proud of and inspired by what my body is capable of. It's much more objectively goal-oriented than physique competitions…

Because women in general have less testosterone, less muscle mass even at max genetic potential, and thus cannot achieve the same numbers as men at comparable body weights. This is all on average, of course--it doesn't mean that any given man is automatically stronger than any given woman at the same bodyweight. (For…

Check out @thisisfemalepowerlifting or the hashtags #thisisfemalepowerlifting and #tifpl--they repost a lot of awesome female lifters. The powerlifting community on IG is great, not a lot of dishonest/advertising content. Just really inspiring, and supportive no matter what level you're at.

To be blunt: this isn't very balanced, doesn't include a progression scheme, the exercises aren't in any kind of logical order, and it would take you forever. I'd recommend looking at a progressive program designed by a professional, as it will already have taken these things into account. I promise there already exists…

I'm running a high frequency powerlifting program, and I'm generally in the gym for 1.5-2 hours, five days a week. That includes warmups and two main compound movements (squat/bench/DL and variations) plus three or four accessories each day. I take 3-5 minute rests on the compounds, 1-2 minutes on the accessories.

I'm an Animorph. ;) In all seriousness, the concept of somatotypes was never based in sound science and has been debunked.

Yes, it's a book and it's absolutely worth the investment (or picking up at the library). The program is perfect for your goals, plus the text really gives a lot of info that will help you know WHY you're doing what you're doing. This knowledge becomes super-valuable as you move beyond the beginner stage and want to make…

Wait, why not?

So glad this isn't just me! :D

Can you take the free barbell and use it in the cage of the Jones machine? I've done this before when visiting gyms that aren't fully equipped. If you move the attached bar out if the way (all the way up, maybe?), maybe you could use the hooks and safeties as sort of a makeshift power cage.

I just take a 200mg caffeine pill. Gets the job done without any pesky coffee or spending $$.

This sounds like a power cage, where the barbell is free (like you could walk away with it if you pulled it out)...yeah? If I'm right about what you're describing, the safety bars are adjustable. The gym staff should be able to show you how to adjust the height.

Would this be for lifting? If so, you need the exact opposite of a running shoe--you want a solid, flat, stable base. No squish. Many people use Converse/Chucks; I myself am a fan of Vans classic slip-ons.

I think Sonya makes a really good point, and there's got to be a way to do that with some boundaries. Often with people that you know are like this, it helps to set a boundary at the very top of the conversation, like, "Oh hi, how are you today? I'm on a limited schedule today/need to focus/whatever so I only have a couple…

I would recommend the app Happy Scale (for iOs) or Libra (for Android). Weigh yourself each morning, after bathroom and without clothes, for the most consistent conditions. Enter the weight each day, and the app will smooth out the overall trend to show what's really going on.

Yeah, I would guess male just based on the fact that the OP is benching 135 for reps after a month.

I think this is a great plan. Remember, the time is going to pass anyway. You might as well spend that time working toward your goal. In a year, you will look back and be amazed at how far you've come. You've got this!

The word "fattening" applied to any specific food. No, ice cream is not "fattening." Overconsumption of calories is.

Yup, totally absolutely normal. The combination of many more carbs than normal plus new weight training is most definitely the culprit.

For what it's worth, I completely agree with this. Context is very important. I know it's frustrating for a lot of longtime members to get the same question over and over, and to run into the same roadblocks when trying to root out what the issue might be. But it's important to remember that the OP's on threads like these…

Yup, 100% agree. Glad to hear you have started to recover!

Really good points, all. Once we get really proficient at something like calorie counting, I think we tend to forget what our "unknown unknowns" were when we first started. I haven't used MFP for net calories in so long, I had completely forgotten that many people use it this way. And you're right, that's another variable…

Awesome! Yeah, when I got a food scale it was actually really liberating. Like, to know FOR SURE that I had room for that single serving of ice cream and that it fit perfectly into my goals? Was a really big deal and made life much less stressful.

I don't rely on motivation. Motivation is fickle, but discipline is always there. I go whether I "feel like it" or not. It's something I have to do, like getting groceries or going to work or brushing my teeth. I just make it...not optional, I guess. And like you said, OP, I never regret it once I'm there.

If you wanna get really technical about it, you can batch cook it and make a recipe in MFP. Weigh it before as raw weight and enter that as one ingredient (in grams), enter water as the other ingredient. Then weigh it again when you're done, and enter the cooked weight as the number of servings. Then whenever you eat from…

Don't do it. I worked in an office in a normal (non-gym) building and a personal trainer started renting the unit above our office to train his private clients there. Every time someone so much as set down a dumbbell, it was a dull boom through the office. Forget heavy deadlifts--our walls and windows would literally…