Girl who lifts, needs cutting advice!

JamieRK1216

JamieRK1216

New member
Awards
0
Hey there!! Ive been lifting and tracking my macros for a little over a year now. I've lost about 9% body fat but I'm at a plateau!

I initially lost about 20 lbs at the beginning of my fitness journey last year and gained about 15 of it back (I'm assuming mostly in muscle because I went from 29% bf to 20%). Now I just feel like I'm not losing any lbs on the scale and my body fat usually hangs around 19%-21%.

I'm 5'3" and 142 lbs. I weight train 4-5 days a week and do about 15 mins fasted cardio on 2 of my lifting days. I'm currently eating 1500 calories and 131C/150P/42F.

Do I need to lower my calories? More cardio? Less carbs? A combination of all 3?! Lol any advice is greatly appreciated!
 
EasyEJL

EasyEJL

Never enough
Awards
3
  • RockStar
  • Legend!
  • Established
probably a combo of lowering the calories and tuning what the calories come from can help. Lowering and changing the source of the carbs would make a difference
 
JamieRK1216

JamieRK1216

New member
Awards
0
We eat super healthy. Always lean turkey, lean beef, or chicken or salmon, Jasmine rice, egg whites, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, protein pancakes, peanut butter.. those are our main foods we eat like 90% of the time. Anything you would change?
 
EasyEJL

EasyEJL

Never enough
Awards
3
  • RockStar
  • Legend!
  • Established
that sounds pretty good. i'd try at first clipping maybe 30g of carbs, and if that doesn't help do a big massive refeed day then go into carb cycling then.

If your weight training is mostly for strength, i'd try and throw in some that is more explosive power related. Also, if your routine hasn't changed in a while, it may be time to do something different there as well
 
john.patterson

john.patterson

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
I'm 5'3" and 142 lbs. I weight train 4-5 days a week and do about 15 mins fasted cardio on 2 of my lifting days. I'm currently eating 1500 calories and 131C/150P/42F.

Do I need to lower my calories? More cardio? Less carbs? A combination of all 3?! Lol any advice is greatly appreciated!
Welcome to the forum. It sounds like you have a great understanding of cutting, and your macros look great. Congratulations on your progress so far. I think EasyEJL gave great advice - if you're stuck at your current weight you need to change something. Removing 20-30g of carbs would be a step in the right direction.

If you're struggling with hunger and don't want to pull back on carbs just yet, you could always add in cardio. If you're at a plateau, you need to adjust things to create a calorie deficit. Your two variables are A. reduce calorie intake (eat less) or B. increase calories expenditure (do more cardio).

Are you currently refeeding or incorporating a cheat meal or refeed meal?
 
JamieRK1216

JamieRK1216

New member
Awards
0
I dropped to 1400 calories and 109 carbs. Hunger isn't usually a problem at this amount of calories and carbs! The protein helps. Right before I made this post I was at 1650 calories (a deficit for my previous weight at 148) so I dropped to 1400 to be in a deficit at 142. And I'm having a cheat meal once a week. Not usually a whole refeed Day, just a meal. Last year when I initially started lifting I was doing 15-20 mins of cardio after my workout 3 days a week and I lost weight like crazy. So if this calorie and carb cut doesn't do the trick I'll try doing that much cardio again for a while.
 

OHBRUTUSIO

New member
Awards
0
Your body adjusted to your amazing self control. Time to screw with it again. Dont over analyze. Just move some mac's around and itll start shedding again. When I get stuck I go lowwwww carb with a refeed and high fat/protein. Not quite ketosis but close.
 
kjkitzman

kjkitzman

Active member
Awards
1
  • Established
I dropped to 1400 calories and 109 carbs. Hunger isn't usually a problem at this amount of calories and carbs! The protein helps. Right before I made this post I was at 1650 calories (a deficit for my previous weight at 148) so I dropped to 1400 to be in a deficit at 142. And I'm having a cheat meal once a week. Not usually a whole refeed Day, just a meal. Last year when I initially started lifting I was doing 15-20 mins of cardio after my workout 3 days a week and I lost weight like crazy. So if this calorie and carb cut doesn't do the trick I'll try doing that much cardio again for a while.
Congrats on your weight-loss journey! :)

How many calories do you intake on the "cheat" meal? Sometimes having to many calories and not tracking will slower the process and since you have been in a calorie deficit and have a high fat and high carb meal sometimes you body will hold onto those calories and store as fat because it has been in a deficit.

When I do a refeed meal its using higher carb and higher protein, LOW fat if I am going over my cutting calories. I normally cut for 8 weeks then go to maintenance for 2-3 weeks and if I want to lose more body fat I go back to the 8 week cut. During my 8 week cut I don't EVER over my cutting calories. So in essence I don't have a refeed meal or cheat meal unless I can fit it into my calorie #.

Are you weighing food, tracking accurate?
 
JamieRK1216

JamieRK1216

New member
Awards
0
I was just saying this to my fiancé!!! I was thinking, what if when we have a cheat meal we don't go over our maintenance calories for the day. That way we don't actually backtrack. So we're gonna start doing that! And what would be an example of a cheat meal that's high carb and protein but low fat??

And yes, we weigh and measure and track everything we eat :)
 
kjkitzman

kjkitzman

Active member
Awards
1
  • Established
I was just saying this to my fiancé!!! I was thinking, what if when we have a cheat meal we don't go over our maintenance calories for the day. That way we don't actually backtrack. So we're gonna start doing that! And what would be an example of a cheat meal that's high carb and protein but low fat??

And yes, we weigh and measure and track everything we eat :)
PERFECT! yes some people just eat whatever and say they are at 1,500kcal each day and on the cheat meal day its 2,500 or 3,000. so then you are back tracking taking in part that 3,500kcal for 1lb of fat! Plus us women hold fat longer (for me at least) I will diet for 3 weeks and no scale change and then all of a sudden drop like that!

I like to do a turkey burger, fat free cheese with sweet potato fries + pint of halo top :) OR Mcdonalds pancakes with egg white delight OR Chipotle is bomb for perfect macros :147:

Omit things like pizza, cheesecake, high fat ice cream.
 
JamieRK1216

JamieRK1216

New member
Awards
0
Badass. Thanks for the advice! I'm gonna try that. And yes like one day I'll wake up 4 lbs lighter and my abs are showing! I hate being a girl sometimes. But I'm glad you replied because I've been wanting a woman's point of view on this!
 
UnicornDrpns

UnicornDrpns

Member
Awards
0
i'd try at first clipping maybe 30g of carbs, and if that doesn't help do a big massive refeed day then go into carb cycling then.
All of this.
During my 8 week cut I don't EVER over my cutting calories. So in essence I don't have a refeed meal or cheat meal unless I can fit it into my calorie #.
Everyone's body is different. I've found that if I don't go over my maintenance calories at least once a week when I've been cutting for longer than a month, my body starts to adjust to the lower calories. Mentally going over by 500-1000 calories can feel hard because it feels like backtracking but it has helped me to really maintain my metabolism.

I'm currently cutting very slowly bc I want to retain as much muscle as possible and I'm very careful with not messing up my metabolism. I'm currently cutting off of 1700 calories 40 p/40 carbs/30 fat. No cardio.
 
kjkitzman

kjkitzman

Active member
Awards
1
  • Established
Everyone's body is different. I've found that if I don't go over my maintenance calories at least once a week when I've been cutting for longer than a month, my body starts to adjust to the lower calories. Mentally going over by 500-1000 calories can feel hard because it feels like backtracking but it has helped me to really maintain my metabolism.

I'm currently cutting very slowly bc I want to retain as much muscle as possible and I'm very careful with not messing up my metabolism. I'm currently cutting off of 1700 calories 40 p/40 carbs/30 fat. No cardio.
Very helpful info ^ Exactly, if you do a refeed day just track it and don't go OVER board, and do it on a heavy lifting day. It will also boost your body into thinking your not starving it any more and can actually benefit you. If you do want to go over on calories you can also incorporate more cardio like 2 x a week short sessions.

On the other hand I like to cut at a 20% deficit to preserve muscle and also because I want to not be in a deficit longer than I have to because my metabolism is very good but it doesn't slow down when I am cutting because your body is adapting to your weight/calorie intake. I have been in a calorie deficit since January 30th and I weighed in at 134lbs and today I was 129lbs and it was a slow steady drop.
 
JamieRK1216

JamieRK1216

New member
Awards
0
Okay I've been doing a cheat meal once a week since January 1st. I was 148 and now I'm 142. My calories at first were 1800, then 1650, now they're at 1450 and I'll probably keep them there and mess with my macros. I'm at 40% protein and carbs and 20% fats. If we do have a cheat meal it's usually on leg day or a Saturday, then we wake up on Sunday and do fasted cardio ;) I think maybe I just need to be patient! But I will try that refeed day one day this week and see how it helps :)
 
kjkitzman

kjkitzman

Active member
Awards
1
  • Established
Okay I've been doing a cheat meal once a week since January 1st. I was 148 and now I'm 142. My calories at first were 1800, then 1650, now they're at 1450 and I'll probably keep them there and mess with my macros. I'm at 40% protein and carbs and 20% fats. If we do have a cheat meal it's usually on leg day or a Saturday, then we wake up on Sunday and do fasted cardio ;) I think maybe I just need to be patient! But I will try that refeed day one day this week and see how it helps :)
perfect, you can also try changing calories daily, lower on REST days and higher on lifting days. But keep the calorie intake the same for the entire week. Keep us updated. Fat loss is a marathon not a race :)
 
trn450

trn450

Member
Awards
0
Hi, congrats on results so far.

Now, I know you said you're weighing/counting everything. But, does that include your cheat meal/day?

At your weight and body fat percentage, I'm surprised to see you failing to lose weight with your above regimen.
 
JamieRK1216

JamieRK1216

New member
Awards
0
I haven't been tracking my cheat meals, but I'm starting now!
 
trn450

trn450

Member
Awards
0
I haven't been tracking my cheat meals, but I'm starting now!
Great :) I'm sure that will make a big difference. Those cheat meals can be impressive. lol. My wife had a 6,800 kcal day yesterday. Her daily maintenance is around 1,900-2,000 kcal. So, she basically gained 1.4 lbs in one day. lol. The next two weeks will be dedicated to fixing that.
 
JamieRK1216

JamieRK1216

New member
Awards
0
Lol! Yeah I amaze myself sometimes okay I will make an updated post in a few weeks to see if I'm making some more progress!
 
MidwestBeast

MidwestBeast

AnabolicMinds Site Rep
Awards
3
  • RockStar
  • Legend!
  • Established
Sub'd to follow along, Jamie.

Congrats on your progress so far and I have to say, this thread makes me happy -- seeing everyone chime in to help out. Here's to progress!
 
JamieRK1216

JamieRK1216

New member
Awards
0
I agree! I never thought I'd get so much feedback. It's refreshing to see :) and I'm also glad pretty much everyone is suggesting the same thing so I'm not confused lol
 

Similar threads


Top