I’m a chubby middle aged woman and I would like to know my plan is sound

[smithk32]

@sofialo09 I started at 32, 160lb.

Negative chin-ups. Biking for 30 min. Barely any strength in my arms.

Just at 6 months now and I'm 33, 140lb and super strong.

I can go down a little on a handstand (training for a full hspu), and am on rings pushups, ring dips, tucks on rings, 10lb weighted chin ups, 6 pull-ups, almost to a full standing ab roll out...

I'm going to run my first half marathon tomorrow too.

So what I'm saying is, you got this.

(I do MWF cardio and Tues, Wed, Sat the routine)

 

[sofialo09]

@smithk32 Wow... what cardio do you do; running? Do you mean the RR when you say “the routine”? Are you female?

 

[smithk32]

@sofialo09 Yes I mean the recommend routine!

I started doing just biking as I was working around a knee injury and in the last 2ish or so months started seriously running as well. I had been doing 1.5hrs of medium intensity biking, 3x a week.

Yes I am female

 

[sofialo09]

@smithk32 Thanks for clarifying (and asking if you were female was because I wanted to connect with your amazing accomplishment a little more personally so I hope that was OK).

Now, I'm not a person to compare people or to take on another person's plan as her own, but you are describing a pretty amazing transformation.

I want to ask you a few more questions, if you have time... (thank you in advance).

Did you start right out with the RR routine?

I did my first RR workout at lunch today and I felt like the 90 minutes of rest between exercises were far too long (so I cut the breaks down to only between sets). I also didn't feel tired or wiggly afterward like I used to with other higher-rep routines (YAYOG). Did you feel similarly when you started?

Were you biking on your non-RR days?

 

[smithk32]

@sofialo09 I had kinda been doing random bike rides here and there, random push ups, situps, and was working on doing like negative pull-ups a month before starting seriously.

Literally at the end of last October I said I'm getting serious and started doing the RR 3x week, and biking 3x a week. I started weighing all my food and tracking my calories. I lost the 20 lb I wanted by mid January. From there I went from cutting to maintaining (1800 cal a day to like 2300). After that I stopped tracking and just rely on how I feel to eat right (and it's working).

I got stronger after that. Since sliding in running I have to eat more to maintain weight (I stay between 138-143). The top part of my abs are visible but not the bottom (I'm pear shaped)

I was doing 90 secs between sets initially but then I prefer to go a bit faster. If you're finding it too easy I would recommend either increasing the difficulty with weight or incline depending on whatever you're doing. If you're interested I've documented a lot of my journey on IG and you can DM for details.

 

[redmackman4ever]

@sofialo09 How is it going?

 

[on_a_mission_]

@sofialo09 Looks pretty good. Just know you can't out-train a bad diet, BUT the good news is that as you start working out and if it catches you, you'll naturally start eating better to help your performance and keep growing once the initial growth stage wears off.

 

[sofialo09]

@on_a_mission_ I'm hoping the rewards inherent to the process (better endurance, better looks, stronger body) become a wheel of self-motivaton. Thank you for your words.

 

[chestaesta]

@sofialo09 I love your honesty. You kick ass girl.

 

[sofialo09]

@chestaesta (^_^)

 

[raina87]

@sofialo09 Nope it's not sound. Spend 3 months getting your diet in check. Then think about exercise.

 

[sofialo09]

@raina87 The only part of my plan I’m not doing is strength training, and I want to keep the muscles I use for running/biking/hiking while I lose weight. My diet is pretty sound, I mainly overeat snacks on weekends. But I do see your point... diet is key to losing weight. I just want that weight to be mostly fat and not muscle.

 

[thulaniscool]

@sofialo09 Pay attention to the weight loss and how it affects your muscles, easy to loose muscle on certain diets. If you want to keep those muscles look into leg exercises, the planks will help but squats or wall sits would help

 

[dawn16]

@sofialo09 An entire tub of protein powder and only do bench press at 40 reps at 350lbs. You’ll know you’re doing it right when the barbell drops on you.