Hi friends, Who wants a doozy of a first post? Checking in here to share my moment of progress and to hopefully encourage a lot of you who are getting back on track right now.
42 (F), 5’7”, SW: 172, CW: 164, GE: 138, breastfeeding, working on recomposition as a goal. Honest starting weight is 192, but I was pregnant, but this is my two year postpartum journey.
I went into this recent health quest after 6 years of trying half-heartedly, giving up, but working towards being ready. Sometimes it takes awhile. I was pregnant 10 times during that time, which made my efforts sporadic. I did have our 3rd baby in Late November 2019.
I had Covid in March-April 2020 and had long Covid for 10 months afterward. I also moved from near sea level to near 9,000ft elevation last November.
I bought a Tonal home gym that arrived in late May of this year two days after I twisted both my ankles falling down a hill in my yard. I live on the side of a mountain. The ground is wonky, and we have groundhogs, ground squirrels, and voles constantly reshaping the landscape.
I tested myself regularly for ankle strength and mobility, and it took a full 5 months to feel stable enough to start using my equipment. In the meantime I did a lot of “homesteading” activities. Moving rocks on the property, gardening. Walks on the neighborhood. I hiked most weekends, between 5-13 miles depending on how engaged and happy the kids were.
Fast forward to early October, the day before my 42nd birthday, when I finally felt like my ankles were healed enough that I could start using the Tonal. I started using it and loved having that new way to engage my muscles. The next week my mom brought my treadmill to my house that I’d meant her 7 years ago while she was recovering from knee replacement.
The tonal kicked my ass so hard with the beginner programs that I didn’t even think about touching the treadmill fit a month. I had DOMS so intense that sometimes it would be 3-5 days between workouts.
Around the 4.5 week mark the DOMS chilled out, and sometimes I could do the Tonal daily, or do the treadmill instead. At this point my weight had just increased and increased. I was starting to freak out mentally, even though I knew better. My stupid smart scale register everything as fat gain or muscle loss, but knowing the way things work, and knowing that those scales aren’t smart, I kept going.
At 6 weeks I upped my calories and protein so I wouldn’t squander my newbie gains, or get my metabolism accustomed to my 500 calorie deficit, and then I took 4 days off of lifting. I lost almost 5 lbs that week. The water aid been holding onto from muscle inflammation.
I went back to lifting, and had the best week of body recomposition you could imagine. I’m now thinking my goal weight is too low because my body is reshaping in a fabulous way. I have lost very little weight, but I’m now wearing my slim 13 year old daughters clothes. Yesterday I woke up and put on my yoga pants and realized I have new thighs and butt entirely. My thighs now just slightly touch at the top, I have no FUPA, and the sides of my thighs look fucking amazing.
I didn’t take photos or initial measurements, but I did start taking measurements during my period of gaining weight without results. I have lost many inches (more than 7) , but I’m too lazy to calculate them for me or you yet. I’m saving my energy and focus for tomorrow’s workout.
In the last almost 8 week I’ve lifted 31.4k lbs, calculated with each rep by tonal. It’s very empowering to see what I’ve done calculated out, but I finally see it in such a huge way too, which is so motivating.
That being said, my scale has not had much change, and I’m now rethinking my goal weight. I have been a size 4 at 117 lbs at 17 after eating poorly and lifting weights daily. I’ve been a size 6 from teaching yoga 2x a week, lifting for 30 minutes after class, and practicing on most of my off days to become a better teacher. I’ve also been a size 4 at 138 lbs from walking 3-6 miles a day and not counting calories. I’ve been a size 6 while counting calories and weightlifting and doing 30-45 mins of cardio 6 days a week.
My conclusion at this point is that body recomposition is amazing, and don’t give up. I didn’t get my whoosh until I gave my body a break by eating more calories and taking a brief break. My results since then have been so much more than so expected so soon.
I understand that not not everyone has a home gym to use, but use what you’ve got. Lift to failure. Work on recomposition, rather than your goal weight. Eat at a deficit for 2-3 weeks at a time, then bump yourself up a couple hundred calories, or to maintenance calories, before dipping back down again 10 days to two weeks later so you don’t plateau at an unsustainable caloric intake.
I have never had such fast results and such a huge impact on my quality of life so quickly. I still have fat to lose, but it is going away gently, I’m feeling well-fed, not deprived, and I already look so different and healthy!
I see so many people on here struggling at unhealthy caloric intakes, battling ED, most dysmorphia, etc. and it breaks my heart. If you do nothing else, please start cycling your calorie intake, at least. Give your body a break, confide it by giving it more calories so that you can not feel deprived all the time and it won’t adapt to thinking you can thrive off of 1200-1600 calories. You can’t long term.
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/r35hj7/doing_it_right_this_time/
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