@flamingoandsparrow Yes I have a Fitbit somewhere, not sure where but I can find it I’m sure. I usually just use MyFitnessPal for keeping track. I know what you mean I was working out with a trainer (for 10 months, not one pound lost!) and kept saying to her I need to stay pretty low too to loose, like below 1200 and she didn’t want me going below 1500 because she thought I wouldn’t be able to gain muscle if I did. After ten months I said I’m done with this and just started doing my own thing that has worked for me in the past.
@flamingoandsparrow I'd really love to know about your typical weights routines, if that's ok? I'm totally new to strength training and you've got the torso and arms I want to achieve!
@chosenbeforetime Thank you! I’m very flattered you say that as my arms/back/core are my self identified “problem areas”.
I just finished Hanna Oberg’s Fit Guide 2.0 - I’ve really loved it as it lays things out very clearly and the app it comes with is super helpful for tracking progress. It’s 3 days lower body and 2 days upper body.
Don’t get me wrong though, I’ve found progress for upper body to be MUCH slower than my progress for lower body. This could be because I’ve played softball since I was young, so I think a lot of my upper body has built muscle around that (my right bicep is huge, and my right shoulder can look pretty ripped on a good day but my left arm and shoulder seriously lack definition). But any progress is good progress and I’ve definitely noticed positive changes.
My best advice to you is lift heavy but comfortably. Don’t go past what you know you are SAFELY able to handle, and small gains are the best gains!!
@flamingoandsparrow You may want to source a certified PT for a couple of sessions to address your assymmetry, unless you feel confident tackling that yourself.
Eat at maintenance and continue to lift and try to increase your lifting numbers/follow a hypertrophy program - with a view towards a slow recomp. Track your progress, checking in with your weight, lifting numbers, measurements, energy levels and general sense of well-being as you do ths to see if this is right for you and you are trending towards the result you want (of course you need to allow for some weeks to see certain progress)
Eat at a slight calorie surplus - (anywhere from 100-200 extra calories per day, or even just 500 extra calories per week, up to 1400 calories extra per week, divided up in meals as you see fit. Up your protein goals at this point) - and continue to lift and try to increase your lifting numbers/follow a hypertrophy program - with a view towards a slow/mini bulk. Track your progress, checking in with your weight, lifting numbers, measurements, energy levels and general sense of well-being as you do ths to see if this is right for you and you are trending towards the result you want (of course you need to allow for some weeks to see certain progress.
Eat at a significant calorie surplus. An extra 400-500 calories per day and continue to lift and try to increase your lifting numbers/follow a hypertrophy program - with a view towards a quicker bulk. Track your progress, checking in with your weight, lifting numbers, measurements, energy levels and general sense of well-being as you do ths to see if this is right for you and you are trending towards the result you want (of course you need to allow for some weeks to see certain progress. This option doesn’t sound like what you want, Someone who has just lost a significant amount of weight can feel uneasy doing a faster bulk. But some people choose to go through quick bulk/cut cycles, often these are geared towards men trying to reslly up their lift numbers and muscle mass.
@flamingoandsparrow Additional to this, you may choose to do a combination of plans, varying your attack from one month to another.
If you decide to eat at surplus you can also vary your surplus day to day. On lifting days eating more, and in rest days eating less, for example.
If I was in your shoes and operating on my own personal tastes, I’d probably start lifting while eating at maintenance and just gauge my progress over 3-4 weeks and just note which way I’m trending, and if happy, continue. If I felt I wasn’t achieving what I wanted and needed more calories to do so, eat an additional 200 cal on lifting days (as an example) and again check in regularly to see if I’m heading in the right direction for my tastes.
@dawn16 For the first 4 months I was eating at 1200 calories per day. Alternated between a deficit and maintenance for several months due to some life events. And have been eating between 1300-1500 for the last 4 months.
Eating at a deficit while lifting more has been alright for me. I don’t feel as though I’ve put on a ton of visible muscle though and I often wonder if this is attributed to my calorie intake
@jenordinario This has honestly been another concern of mine - should I continue to lose body fat until it’s at a point where my muscles show, and then build from there? But I fear that doing that would make me thinner than I want to look
@flamingoandsparrow Muscle isn't going to replace fat once you re past newbie gains. So if you do build muscle on a surplus it will be under your fat and you will look a bit bigger. If you are okay with that then cool. To have muscle in place of fat and be the same relative size you'd need to cut first THEN build muscle on a surplus.
@flamingoandsparrow I just finished "Thinner, Leaner, Stronger," and he says that you need about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight to build muscle, and to eat at a slight surplus.
How much protein do you eat a day? According to the book, protein is the most important thing to track for building muscle.
@johnhenrygroenewald I’ve read on this sub a few times there is a little research that shows more than 0.6 per pound of bodyweight is beneficial, maybe up to 0.7 for athletes. I’m not an expert either, but it seemed to be agreed upon by the community.
@catqueen Thinner Leaner Stronger provides numerous peer reviewed sources that suggests the 1 per pound is optimal, and also that less isn’t sufficient.
