42(F), 5’7”, SW:169, CW:164, GW:?
I’m going to start off mentioning that weight is irrelevant, as I have discovered this week. Doing a recomp, I knew that I wouldn’t see the scale change much, but it was still hard to deal with that lack of positive feedback.
I started my recent journey 10/4/21. I had to plan to get strong, get lean, and feel proud of myself. I knew from previous fitness journeys that I wanted to take the long term approach and build muscle instead of just CICO. I bought a home gym so that I can hopefully never have a reason to skip working out again. In the past lack of childcare, husband traveling, time constraints, etc. had derailed a previously entrenched habit.
Over the last two weeks I’ve finally been able to “see” a difference in my body. Before that other people commented positively, but I couldn’t see it. I knew from measurements I had lost over 11”, and could see a difference in how some (not all) clothes fit.
Well, yesterday was the first time I’d set foot in a store in two years, so also the first time I’d shopped since I started working in getting fit. It was also the first time I’d seen myself in a full length mirror (and the backside mirror) in two years, and damn was I amazed! My legs and butt are damn near perfection right now. This was completely obscured to me by not having full length mirrors, and also having a good amount of belly weight that is trimming down, but still very much there. Seeing myself was revelatory—the recomp is successful. It’s working marvelously.
Aside from that, all of the clothes I bought were mediums. I had also gone from a 36DD bra to a 34B and there was no backfat visible with the smaller size. My legs and butt have gone from a 12 to size 6 size, but I’m still a size 8 until I can loose a bit more belly. Still, I’m almost there.
As far as my process: I eat a minimum of 1590 calories a day right now, but started with a lower deficit to ease into it and build muscle easier. I go over this slightly a couple days a week, if needed due to my workouts. At least once a month I try to have a day where I eat closer to 2000 calories to prevent my body from getting to accustomed to a deficit. Sometimes I’ll do a whole week at your bear later maintenance as a reset and rest for my body.
I lift weights for 36-46 minutes 3-5 times a week. I do heavy weights (aim for close to failure or complete failure in 8-12 reps in 3-4 sets). I do light treadmill one day a week typically for 30-48 minutes, and one day of more intense cardio for 25-45 minutes). In the beginning I was so sore that I could only lift 2-maybe 3 days a week. It was not uncommon to need a 5 day break until I started doing upper/lower splits. I also did the cardio very sporadically at first. The stronger I get, the harder it is to not do something fitness-oriented each day.
It took me 4.5 months to lift my first 100k lbs, but it only took two weeks to lift my next 56k lbs. it’s a snowball effect, and that was also when I noticed the biggest changes physically. Once you reach a certain point, things just start changing. Keep at it. Maybe ignore your scale completely.
I know I could have had more dramatic weight loss effects by just doing CICO, but I wanted to build my metabolism and build muscle. I’m also breastfeeding, so wanted to make sure I was eating adequately to maintain high milk quality/quantity.
The other thing I will say is that contrary to every post I see, when I got my food scale, it turned out I’d been eating less calories than I thought. It happens. I bumped my calories up, and viola started losing more and seeing more results.
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