Just joined, couldn't think of a witty title

[winterbymorning]

Hey guys!

So here's my kind of sad weight loss story. I started consulting with a nutritionist in August 2010 after seeing vacation photos of myself and being totally horrified. I was about 183 pounds then. She put me on a 1400-calorie-a-day diet and I got down to 167, but that just wasn't sustainable for me and I gained most of it back. Also I couldn't see a huge improvement in my shape. The weight loss was visible, but I just looked like a smaller version of a flabby girl. I stopped seeing the nutritionist in April 2011 when I moved to another city, got married in June, and when I got back from my honeymoon in July I was at 178 pounds.

I joined My Fitness Pal to track my calories (which I actually enjoy doing for some reason!) and started eating around 1550 a day, watching my macronutrients, and going to the gym and on long brisk walks for cardio. At the end of October I was all the way down to... 174 pounds. By this point I was really annoyed, started doing more research, and decided to start strength-training. In November I increased my calories to 1800 and started doing the New Rules of Lifting for Women and I'll be done with stage 1 in early January (had to take a week off due to exams and will be out of town for another week for Christmas). It turns out that I actually enjoy lifting weights! I can't explain it very eloquently but it's just really fun to make my body move and work the way it was designed to. I've seen regular increases in the weights I can lift, although I still can't do a proper push-up. When I finish stage 1 I'll take my measurements and weigh in and try not to freak out if I've gained. I'm not doing a whole lot of cardio right now, but from January to March I'll be doing a swimming class and in the spring I intend to start Couch to 5K as well.

My overall goal has changed from losing weight to building muscle, reducing body fat and losing inches. I know I need to work on my form for some moves, like the deadlift - my heels tend to rise off the ground when I'm squatting to lift the barbell and if I force them to stay flat, my back hurts by the end of the set - and I'm thinking I'll need to increase my calories because my TDEE is around 2200. I'm really wary to after all these months of restricting, though. I also know I need to reduce my refined carbs and increase my protein. (I'm not doing Paleo because I'm not 100% sold on it.)

Anyway... that's my TL;DR story so far. Glad to be here and I hope I'll have some progress to report before too long.

[Hermione Gainser]

Welcome! I did the first two phases of NROLFW. I loved stage one. I thought it was so fun. And I definitely saw progress. I wasn't a fan of stage 2 but a bunch of other factors came into play and I decided to switch programs. I know another gal on here who is about to finish it or has finished it.. either way-she reports favorably.

I know how you feel re: calories. It's a little scary to add more on. How are you feeling with the lifting? Listen to your body over any number out there. If you're hungry-eat. If your energy is good, you're not hungry and your lifts are going well then don't worry about adding on more calories. If you want to add muscle mass then you'll need to eat over your maintenance. That's the trickier part but there are lots of people here who have great advice from their experience doing the same.

If you're trying to lose fat (not really weight) then definitely start cutting out refined carbs or starchier carbs and increase protein, like you said. Don't feel like you have to go paleo to see success. Plenty of people on here haven't. It has some great main themes (eat more protein and veggies-less crap) which everyone can benefit from but there are many, many ways.

Feel free to tape yourself doing your deadlifts. You can post it to the forum and get some advice. There's definitely something not right about what's happening during that lift. You shouldn't come up or feel pain. Let's fix it!

Okay.. so tl;dr: Welcome!

[ebm1224]

welcome to the community! congrats on sticking with it despite not seeing as much progress as you would like. i got discouraged recently after that happened to me...kinda wishing i had pushed through as you did...that's an achievement in and of itself.

[ETFnerd]

Welcome to nerdville...

[AngelaTheGeek]

Welcome! Please do tape your lifts and post for advice... A lot of people on here are very, very helpful.

Good luck on your journey!

[winterbymorning]

If I'm completely honest with myself, I have to say I prioritize losing fat/inches over gaining muscle. I figure I'll look a bit more "toned" with the muscles I already have, once they're no longer covered by all this blubber. It's possible to just lose fat while lifting on a deficit, right? I know that "How I burns fat?" probably gets asked all the time and all the seasoned fitness nerds here roll their eyes when they see it, but there's so much contradictory information and downright bunk on the topic that I get very confused. :<

[Hermione Gainser]

If I'm completely honest with myself, I have to say I prioritize losing fat/inches over gaining muscle. I figure I'll look a bit more "toned" with the muscles I already have, once they're no longer covered by all this blubber. It's possible to just lose fat while lifting on a deficit, right? I know that "How I burns fat?" probably gets asked all the time and all the seasoned fitness nerds here roll their eyes when they see it, but there's so much contradictory information and downright bunk on the topic that I get very confused. :<

Not at all! That's why these boards exist.. so we can all 1. give as much good info as possible and 2. confuse you further

Lifting while eating less will definitely help you burn fat. That is the easy answer. I would say lift and do either: circuits one day a week, HIIT a couple times a week (short periods of time--currently, add a couple sprints or jogs to your walk working up in intensity) or some regular steady state cardio (least favorite option as it's least effective for fat burning).

[winterbymorning]

I've tried HIIT a few times - the C25k workouts - and I typically have to stop after 3-4 "cycles" of 1 minute jogging, 90 seconds brisk walking because I start to feel like I'm going to fall over. I'll definitely try HIIT on the cardio machines; they're part of the next few stages of New Rules of Lifting, which is the program I'm following right now. Thank you for the advice!

[ninetyfivem38]

I personally have never cared for HIIT. I've always been told that diet is so incredibly important and yet, even though I knew that I never put any stock into it. Just ran miles and miles, ate like crap, lost weight, still had my fat; worked out hard and intense hours a day on weights, ate like crap, slightly better but nothing great, still had fat. Only when I changed my diet completely and to be honest, I don't think I'm on any sort of new program (sort of just off 4 hour body--but that was a lot of testing and seeing what worked for me) maybe a cross between 4hb and paleo. The notion of bacon being good for me doesn't sit right after all the anti-bacon campaigns I grew up through. During this time, I was doing very little cardio, but still losing weight; so I have to contribute the majority of successes made to my dietary habits...

At any rate, I wish you luck in your journey. I know you will be successful--we are all in the right place for that! hang in and keep the faith!

David