Hello! I've recently read a very good post that has motivated me to share my progress so far, how it's been, what's worked for me, what hasn't and what I've learnt along the way. I've added some headings in case you want to skip straight to a specific part:
- Background
- 2017 - 2018: weight loss and first steps lifting
- 13-month break
- 2019: back on track, 18 weeks so far
- What's next
- Diet
- Supplementation
- What I've learnt so far
- Some progress pictures
- Advice anyone?
Background
After having been overweight and a massive couch potato my whole life, in 2017 I started CICO and reached my target weight of 55kg (121lbs) during the summer. I didn't do any exercise during this time and only focussed on logging everything in MyFitnessPal, which was an eye opening experience; I couldn't believe the calories in many of my healthy staple foods! Honorary mention to my favourite dinner at the time: a portion of nuts with a big bowl of gazpacho (which is 20% olive oil). When I reached 55kg (121lbs) I was over the moon to be thin for the first time in my life, but I was also a lot weaker so I took the accumulated motivation and decided to get more toned by learning how to lift weights.
2017 - 2018: weight loss and first steps lifting
I started lifting in August 2017. As someone who had been to the gym only a handful of times in all of her life I had NO IDEA how to do anything. I followed Thinner Leaner Stronger by Michael Matthews, which introduced me to a basic and straight forward PPL split with heavy weights (barbells and dumbbells mostly) at low reps (8-10 range). At this time I also started looking at my macros to make sure that I was getting enough protein and not too many carbohydrates. I used this TDEE calculator to get me a rough starting guide. I learned a lot during this time, put on about 1.25kg of muscle and felt like a completely new person. I was making it to the gym 3-4 times every week with no cardio and reached a body fat of 18%.
I was still a massive noob and my technique was lacking massively in most of my sets. I still cringe thinking of how I would pull all my body down and curve my back when pulling the bar in the lat machine.
13-month break
I continued working out until August 2018. Then due to a massive breakdown of my life (end of 7 y/o relationship, serious health issues, many bad decisions and some unlucky events) I stayed away from all exercise for 13 months. I drank and binge ate a lot, lost a lot of muscle and gained weight up to 65kg (143lbs).
2019 - back on track, 18 weeks so far
I made my return to the gym in September 2019 and started from 0. Except that it wasn't completely 0! It was more like starting a New Game +, where you can skip some of the tutorial and take a couple of perks from your previous walkthrough to speed up some of the initial progression. I'm on week 18th of my current "save".
During this time I've been going to the gym an average of 5 times a week, maintaining a strict cut that has allowed me to lose a lot of fat, reach 59kg (130lbs) and put something like 2kg of muscle. Diet has been absolutely crucial to achieve this.
I'm still following my old PPL, having recently tweaked it to PLPL to advance a bit more my lower body, which was lacking a bit behind. Starting last December I've been adding cardio at the end of my workouts to reach my target weight a bit sooners and finish with my current cut. I'm really looking forward to moving on to maintenance.
In 18 weeks I have passed all the PBs that took me many months to achieve in 2018 (remember that New Game +?) and built a better and more balanced body. Here's a comparison between my top form in 2017-2018 and my current form now.
I'm still a beginner by all accounts, but I feel that I've built a decent foundation on which to grow beyond that for years to come. I don't want to take any year-long breaks ever again.
What's next
Short term I want to reach my target weight of 57kg (125lbs). After that I want to move to maintenance and focus on abs and glutes to sculpt things a bit. My current routine doesn't work all the muscles in either area (I need to work those obliques!). Beyond that I'm still not sure; I think I would really like to define the muscle I've built to have a more "lean and athletic" look. I've heard great things about 5x5, so I may give that a try. I wonder whether I'll see myself engaging in a bulk sometime towards the end of the year, I've never done it.
Ultimately I want to make fitness and intrinsic part of my life in the very long haul; I don't want it to be something that it did for a while during my 20s. I would really like to hear from other people who have/are achieving this.
Diet
At the moment I continue to track all my calories, keeping a close eye on my macros so I can keep building muscle without gaining fat.
- On cardio days I aim to eat 1900 calories: protein 45%, carbohydrates 35%, fat 20%.
- On non-cardio days I aim for 1700 calories: protein 50%, carbohydrates 30%, fat 20%.
I eat quite clean and avoid processed foods and alcohol. My main staples are: tons of chicken, lean beef, turkey, brown rice, a lot of pulses, grains and beans, spinach, skyr, kefir, flapjacks, bananas and vegan protein. Huel makes an appearance when I need something quick while achieving my macros for the day.
Supplements
- Daily supplements: I take a multivitamin, vitamin D, omega 3, 1gr of matcha green tea and 3gr of creatine.
- Workout supplements: I take caffeine (GFuel, please don't judge me), 2gr of BCAAs (Reddit is not a fan!) and ginseng. I take creatine after lifting and before cardio and the matcha during my workout instead of in the morning.
What I've learnt so far
- The best routine is the one that you enjoy. I often see other people do some amazing exercises, proper glute/ab work and crossfit-type workouts and I feel very inadequate and lazy in comparison. But my routine has a massive advantage: I really, really enjoy it, which has been crucial to stay consistent 5 times a week, week after week.
- As much as I sometimes wish having a working out buddy, working out alone has also been crucial to my progress. I feel kinda selfish saying this but I can't imagine adapting my timing/frequency, schedule and breaks to fit/coordinate with someone else's rhythm and preferences.
- The best routine is the one that you enjoy. Seriously, I can't stress that enough.
- Taking progress pictures can be super helpful, seriously. Your memory can trick you and tell you "you haven't made much progress, what even is the point to keep going?". Visual evidence of where you were and where you are now can be an incredible boost along the way.
- If you also find cardio boring but enjoy gaming, bringing your Nintendo Switch can be a game-changer, literally. I've gone from no cardio to doing cardio after every workout (with the appropriate caloric intake and supplementation to avoid muscle loss).
What I wish I had known or done sooner
- Creatine; damn it do I wish I had started sooner, I could've benefited from it and made some better gains during the last few months! I was very adamant due to the possible water retention associated with creatine, but it turns out it's not that much and it happens mostly in the muscles. I wish I had gotten over that fear sooner.
- More ab-focussed work, instead of assuming that my compound exercises would take care of them. Lazy bitch.
- Up until fairly recently my deadlifts were little more than squats where you hold the barbell in front. I was bending my knees and lowering my glutes way too much! I wish I had adopted better form sooner.
Some progress pictures
Advice anyone?
One of the reasons why I wanted to post this was to get some outside input an advice; any tweaks you would recommend to my routine or diet? Recommendations of next steps? Or any general advice? I will read every comment so please do let me know if you have something in mind.
Thanks for taking a look at my mini-report, it's been great writing it and I hope some people find it useful. Here is a picture of my puppy with a top hat and a pipe.
Peace!
