Looking for advice

[Kiwi-in-Aussie]

Hi everyone,

I'm only new to bb (training for about 8 months for now). I just have a few questions and would really appreciate any advice I can get.

Is it possible to continue to lose weight in a calorie deficit and still build muscle or at least eat at maintenance calories and gain muscle? I'm not looking to build huge muscles (not that I have a problem with woman who do). I just want to get firm and fit. I workout 5 days a week which includes weights, circuit training & cardio. I do have some form of definition on me so far (nothing major). I was suggested to start a bulk on another site, however the fear of gaining weight pretty much freaks me out. I was also told to drop the cardio and focus hard on the weights, which I'm ok with doing.

What do you think would be the best option here? Would really appreciate anyones advice.

[devil_911]

you dont have to worry abot becoming too muscular because its not that easy especialy for women(not naturaly atleast)

why would anyone suggest to you to bulk up when your goal is

I just want to get firm and fit

specialy if you are new to bodybuilding?

you would probably do it wrong and end up geting fat

i would suggest a mix of weight trainig and cardio along with around 4 healthy meals a day depending what your needs are.

[Kiwi-in-Aussie]

you dont have to worry abot becoming too muscular because its not that easy especialy for women(not naturaly atleast)

why would anyone suggest to you to bulk up when your goal is

I just want to get firm and fit

specialy if you are new to bodybuilding?

you would probably do it wrong and end up geting fat

i would suggest a mix of weight trainig and cardio along with around 4 healthy meals a day depending what your needs are.

Hi devil_911,

She suggested bulking after me posting some pics for her to see. She's pretty experienced from what I gather. I'm doing all the weight training and cardio, plus eating around 4-5 meals a day. Am eating at a deficit but was suggested to slowly increase calories. I guess my main fear is just regain. It's mainly psychological I guess, but still pretty much real to me. I wonder if I just ate to maintenance calories would I still gain some lean mass since I've been eating at such a deficit or is it really necessary to eat above maintenance in order to do this?

[devil_911]

are under weight or something?for some one to suggest to bulk up for your goals you could be realy light weight but then i havent seen your pics.

maintenance calories are whats need for someone to live without any exercise.when you exercise you need to eat more or otherwise you still are in calorie deficit.you certainly have to eat more then bare minimum to live a active life and have good body.on deficit diet you will end up burning up your mucles as fuel so yeah listen to that lady and eat bit more.i just got the wrong idea when you mentioned bulking up.

if you are doing cardio and weight trainig,eating 4-5 meals a day i dont see any problem.just make sure you eating enogh calorie and all.

[devil_911]

if you want to build muscle and not burn them up as fuel you will have to eat more then your maintenance calories.dont worry about getting too big because you wont naturaly.i hope that answers your question

[Kiwi-in-Aussie]

if you want to build muscle and not burn them up as fuel you will have to eat more then your maintenance calories.dont worry about getting too big because you wont naturaly.i hope that answers your question

Yeah it does. Thanks. Probably wasn't what I wanted to hear (lol). I guess I was just wondering if I could carry on doing what I was doing and build somehow since I've built a little muscle already. Obviously not. Don't think I'm underweight. I'm between 59-60 kilo & 172 cm tall. I don't think I look at all underweight since I've got fat in the normal places woman have, plus I've had a few children, so think I'm all normal (lol). I've been eating under maintenance for the last many many months (anywhere between 1000-1400 cal a day) to drop weight that I gained, so just assumed if I ate to maintenance it would shock my body and make it seem like I was taking in surplus calories even though I wasn't. Obviously not. Damn..... .... slow increase of calories it is then.

Thanks again for your help

[teamfatboy]

That's really quite a big deficit for someone your height/ weight/ gender who works out four times a week.

According to one calculator here that I use, you'd have a basal (not maintenance) metabolic rate of around 1350-1400 cals, that's BEFORE you do the multiplication based on your activity level. Modest activity levels (explained here ) would suggest that Maintenance calories for someone moderately active is over 2000 cals.

I've found that site a good tool, and if the figures are close, they would suggest you're running a deficit of in excess of 600 calories, or well above normal recommended practice.

What that would mean is that while you'd lose body mass, there'd be excessive lean muscle loss as a component. You could end up smaller, but no leaner, comparatively speaking.

Have you got an idea of what proportion of your daily intake is protein/ carbs/ fat ? Chances are you're light on protein, and some attention to that could pay dividends.

[Kiwi-in-Aussie]

That's really quite a big deficit for someone your height/ weight/ gender who works out four times a week.

According to one calculator here that I use, you'd have a basal (not maintenance) metabolic rate of around 1350-1400 cals, that's BEFORE you do the multiplication based on your activity level. Modest activity levels (explained here ) would suggest that Maintenance calories for someone moderately active is over 2000 cals.

I've found that site a good tool, and if the figures are close, they would suggest you're running a deficit of in excess of 600 calories, or well above normal recommended practice.

What that would mean is that while you'd lose body mass, there'd be excessive lean muscle loss as a component. You could end up smaller, but no leaner, comparatively speaking.

Have you got an idea of what proportion of your daily intake is protein/ carbs/ fat ? Chances are you're light on protein, and some attention to that could pay dividends.

Thanks for the info Teamfatboy. I actually workout 5 days a week (sometimes 6 if my weekend isn't too busy). 3 days of 1 1/2 - 2 hour full body weight training (lifting and training as hard as I can), followed by cardio. 2 days per week of circuit training, followed by cardio. Cardio usually is a mix of jogging and running (30-45 minutes). Funnily enough my protein intake is the highest of all 3 macro's (anywhere between 60-65% of my daily calorie intake, followed by fat and then carbs). I figured if I was eating at such a deficit, the higher protein content would help me retain what little muscle mass I have or am attempting to build. It seemed to be working somewhat (although you can only see some type of definition when my muscles are flexed). I was kind of trying to go for the look of having muscle definition without having to flex (lol). So keep thinking that maybe if I just keep losing more bodyfat and training hard, that would happen. Sounds like from the advice from yourself and devil-911, that's not going to work and what little muscle I do have, I'll probably lose.

Honestly I think it's just a mental hurdle I probably need to overcome and stop fearing food. I guess most people who work so hard to lose weight have the same fear too. Your right though, I checked out the site and have been eating below to close to my bmr. Thanks for links. Probably I do need to start slowly increasing calories. Far out!.... (lol). Here's me hoping I could just eat a little bit more than I do now (maybe 1600-1700 cal's and it would some how magically build muscle or allow me to retain what I have without gaining any weight (lol). Pretty new to this, so yeah still learning. What originally started out as someone who wanted to lose weight ended up turning into someone who wanted to become fit, healthy and strong. Body recomp is weird and hard for a beginner (lol).

Thanks again.

[teamfatboy]

It does sound like you're getting good advice and have already mastered some of the hard stuff (like a 65% protein/ more fat/less carbs diet) already.... so you're well on the road. Rest assured, it won't happen overnight, but it will happen :nod:

You've got the weights/cardio in the right order (weights first/ cardio second), which is also great for your goals.

Advice from a woman who used to be active on here a lot (Rose) was that a modest deficit (more like 300-500 cals below maintenance, not basal metabolic rate) was effective with goals like yours.

What rep-range are you working out in ? 12-15 reps per set is generally what folks recommend for muscle growth - below that (6-8 reps and below) is for strength development, and over 15's more like cardio than hypertrophy :grin:

Check out some of the journals - there are some awesome fit and strong women on here, like Bar-belle, Nessie, Morattigirl and Chillicat, and their journals might help too.

And finally, welcome to the journey... regardless of what prompted you to start, you've got some great motivation already :clap:

[Kiwi-in-Aussie]

It does sound like you're getting good advice and have already mastered some of the hard stuff (like a 65% protein/ more fat/less carbs diet) already.... so you're well on the road. Rest assured, it won't happen overnight, but it will happen :nod:

You've got the weights/cardio in the right order (weights first/ cardio second), which is also great for your goals.

Advice from a woman who used to be active on here a lot (Rose) was that a modest deficit (more like 300-500 cals below maintenance, not basal metabolic rate) was effective with goals like yours.

What rep-range are you working out in ? 12-15 reps per set is generally what folks recommend for muscle growth - below that (6-8 reps and below) is for strength development, and over 15's more like cardio than hypertrophy :grin:

Check out some of the journals - there are some awesome fit and strong women on here, like Bar-belle, Nessie, Morattigirl and Chillicat, and their journals might help too.

And finally, welcome to the journey... regardless of what prompted you to start, you've got some great motivation already :clap:

Thanks again. Went through some of the ladies journals. They are pretty motivating. I do in 10-12 rep range (3 - 4 sets depending on the weight). I'm pretty much a novice. Everything I am doing is from home. My husband works 2 jobs and we have 6 children as well so getting to the gym is a bit difficult. I figured out my own diet by just reading different bodybuilding sites and trying things out myself. Got an exercise routine pretty much the same way. I have alot of free weights, bench, barbell, dumbells, treadmill and a tonne of motivation. So pretty much my progress over the last 8 months of dropping a large amount of weight and gaining a little bit of muscle is just what I could figure out from what I read and done in our garage which I've turned into some sort of mini-gym. I was only told to do a slow bulk as of yesterday (when I sent her the pics). First time I've actually asked someone for help. Wasn't what I wanted to hear, but your advice from Rose sounds more managable (mentally anyway)-lol. At least I don't have to eat over maintenance (lol)

I've attached a few pics of my current progress. I know it probably doesn't look like much compared to others here, but I'm trying and I'm only new at all of this. Hope I'm on the right track. Really want to be doing this the right way. Can you or anyone let me know if I'm on the right track here and if I really can gain a bit more definition without increasing my calories too much? Sorry some of the pics are a bit blurry. Still can't figure out how to take my own picture from my mobile.

[Bobsta]

Its hard to say but going by your photos, you're gonna need to start eating a bit over maintenance soon if you want to gain more muscle

[devil_911]

I've attached a few pics of my current progress

i dont know what fat you are trying to loose judging buy your pics you in a better shape then most.eating low calories and high amount of cardio is somthing for the ppl who have the main goal of loosing fat.you have done a very good job of loosing fat already:clap:

as bobsta said you will need to eat more then maintenance soon if you want to gain more muscle

[Kiwi-in-Aussie]

Thanks bosta & devil-911,

Yeah I just started to increase my calories today to 1500 by just adding another protein shake with a banana and oats and then will slowly work to maintenance over the next month by adding an extra 100 calories a week until I get to where I should be.

Sorry, probably looks like I'm making a big deal (weight wise) to you guys, however the pics are a by-product of 8 months of hard work (lol). My eldest child died suddenly and I sunk into deep depression. To cope I turned to food and ate my way to over 101 kg. I finally got myself together 8 months ago (mainly for the sake of my husband and other children) and made the decision to do something about it. Now I'm sort of just on the road to developing myself I guess (plus it gives me something to focus on).

So that kind fo explains my "food phobia" so to speak and fear of gaining (or regaining) weight.

Thanks again to everyones advice and suggestions. Honestly I'm taking whatever you guys have suggested on board and will actually apply it to what I'm doing.

Thanks!

[teamfatboy]

Heya - great pics ! like the others, I think you've got a great basis on which to build. In bodybuilding, there're two main classes for women - physique (more muscular) and figure (smoother, less heavily-muscled) and I'm sure i've seen novice figure competitors on stage looking worse.

"Medicating with food" is probably one of modern living's "dirty little secrets" - it's far more common than people admit, because many people "try to diet" without diagnosing the reason for over-eating. By turning that corner eight months ago, and with the work you've done since then to get to where you are now, you've already got a better hold on what it will take to add lean muscle, in terms of mental strength.

Taking a cautious approach will allow you to gauge accurately how your new body responds. That too will be to your advantage in the long run.

[Cardio Queen]

I just wanted to say your pix are great and congrats on the progress you've made so far. Your story is very moving and has motivated me somewhat to step up my game. Hope you acheive everything you have set out to do and more

[OnlyHuman]

I just wanted to say your pix are great and congrats on the progress you've made so far.

+1 :nod: :clap:

[cantygirl]

Hi, you are quite remarkable, you have been through the wringer and now taking back control, many congrats for that. Your photos are impressive, and most girls would be very content to look that way. To add a little more muscle definately requires adding a little more body fat by way of extra calories. Better to do it gradually and feel at peace with yourself. After all if your agenda is to tone up some more then there is no pressure and no time frame. Enjoy the journey.