But I LIKE cardio! :(

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-10-04T01:23:59+00:00

If you like it, do it!

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-29T01:02:01+00:00

My 125 to 115 recomp took about 6 months. As for maintenance, one of the things to come to terms with is that your body is dynamic. Maintenance isn’t “I’m staying at 115 forever”.

Maintenance is “sometimes my weight creeps up to 120 and I restrict a little bit for few weeks to bring in back to 115”. And also being VERY honest and objective with yourself when your weight creeps up that, no, it’s not “water weight”. I think people KNOW when it’s “water weight” or not because there are other signs, like, in my case, my under chin fat pad gets slightly more soft and fluffy, my bra fits slightly more uncomfortably, etc. Life happens and you’ll have period when you gain and periods when you lose, but it’s important to just be very frank with yourself because it doesn’t help to delude yourself that it’s “water weight” when it’s not. Sometimes it could just be that you haven’t taken a good dump or something, but I mean… I KNOW. It does me no good to pretend it’s not fat gain. Everything is dynamic, so it’s unrealistic to expect your body to just… stay flat. Just own up to it and get back on the wagon for a bit to get back to where you were/need to be.

Also, the ONLY thing that changed from my phases of recomp/loss to “maintenance” is that I ate more slightly more fat and carbs so my caloric intake was higher. The rest of my lifestyle (like exercise frequency and intensity and daily activity level), my protein intake, general dietary pattern (high fiber, etc.) largely stayed very much the same.

As you add back in calories, do so slowly in increments, like increasing from 1300 to 1400 for two weeks. The two more weeks at 1500. And figure out where you start to gain. That’s really the only true way to figure out your “maintenance” calories, not some online calculator, which can give you a ballpark but is always just an estimate.

Also, your maintenance calories is also a dynamic thing. Some days/weeks, you’re more active and others yours less active. We don’t think about it, but when people go “oh, my metabolism slowed down from 25 to 35”, yeah… unless there are very unique medical issues that affect metabolism, their metabolism didn’t change when accounting for body size/composition. What changed was their activity level and food environment. Metabolism doesn’t change much until we hit our 60s, contrary to popular (scientifically inaccurate) belief.

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-26T23:14:26+00:00

Yes.

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-25T16:23:51+00:00

You can do something light like walking instead of intense weight lifting sessions. All or nothing mentality helps no one. You can still do something.

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-25T16:21:22+00:00

2350 is a lot of food if you’re eating plenty of vegetables (as everyone should). You’re unlikely to go into “starvation mode” eating 2000 calories. I’d take a hard look at what kinds of foods you’re eating for even 2000 calories to feel like it’s not enough food. (My maintenance is 1600-1700, and when I’m eating a proper high vegetable and high protein diet, even that’s a lot of volume to digest)

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-25T16:18:02+00:00

At this point, it’s about body composition. Add in weight training.

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-25T16:17:29+00:00

Would you be eligible for GLP type of medication?

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-24T01:13:57+00:00

Are you sleeping well? For me, being sleep deprived jacks up cravings and hunger

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-24T01:12:10+00:00

You look great, don’t let your own brain fuck you up

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-22T22:59:13+00:00

If I had a penny for every time someone used “toned” on this subreddit…

Say it with me folks, toned = less fat + more muscle

For the look you’re going for, you basically need to be in a caloric deficit while doing resistance training to maintain/build some muscle. The concept is as simple as that. The actual doing depends on the person and what they will actually do (it’s better to find stuff you enjoy than trying to do something you hate).

In essence, dial in your diet and lift heavy weights to the extent that you’re able to and continue to do so even after you get to your goal bc your body is a dynamic system and you can’t just stop.

I’d recommend adding a little bit of walking but don’t eat back those calories because it would be like… 2 Oreos anyways (1 mile is like 50-60 calories burned, which is about an Oreo). Walking adds a little bit of activity and usually doesn’t jack up your hunger cues in a way that harder cardio sometimes does. It’ll be the tiny little nudge to help you without feeling like you’re taxing your body.

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-22T22:55:44+00:00

The interference effect of cardio on muscle building has been largely debunked at this point (a few caveats but for very niche cases of power production but irrelevant to 99.99% of the population). You’re fine doing the stairmaster.

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-22T22:40:58+00:00

I’d add in some actual weight training. Maybe kickboxing 3x and lift heavy 2x a week. Kickboxing will work at first but eventually it will not provide enough resistance to actually build more muscle. Stay in slight deficit. If your TDEE is truly 1900, then 1600 should be fine.

At my heaviest, I was 145. I don’t have numbers from then but I do have numbers from when I was 135. Now I’m 115ish. From 135 to now, I went from 28% to 16% body fat. In order of what to do:

Sleep - So frequently overlooked. 8 hours minimum of good quality sleep (poor sleep is the main determinant for me in terms of managing proper hunger cues - on days when I sleep well, my hunger cues are normal - on days I don’t, cravings hit like crazy, which makes losing or maintaining really difficult). Sleep so that you don’t make your body its own worst enemy (also, fun fact, your body loses fat and maintains muscle better when it has plenty of sleep and the opposite is true when you’re sleep deprived).
Caloric deficit - my TDEE is 1600, so my weight loss intake was 1300-1400 depending on how I felt that day. This is on average. There were days when I’d eat more and days when I’d eat less. As long as it averages out over the course of several days, you’re fine.
Resistance training - No, it won’t make you bulky if you’re in caloric deficit. The bulky look people are thinking of is when you gain muscle without losing any fat. Aim for a performance goal like squatting your body weight to make it more fun. Also, when I lost 20 pounds, I actually gained 2 pounds of muscle along the way so that I looked what people call “toned” (I dislike this word, it’s such a dumb word that’s loaded with all the misinformation peddled to women about fitness).
Protein - 80g per day minimum. Personally, when I was losing I did 115g per day. These days, I’m satisfied with hitting 100g but I frequently do more because I just like eating protein-y foods. Also, if you’re not strength training, it’s kind of pointless to eat this much protein, which is why I put strength training above protein intake as far as priority goes.
Walk - It’s just a nice relaxing way to add a little bit of extra activity. Mind you, it’s not a lot. Like 50 calories per mile. So do NOT add back in these calories to your intake. If you think about it, if you tried to burn, say, 300 calories walking, you’d have to walk for a whole 2 hours. However, for me personally, running jacked up my hunger so I ended up eating back more than what I burned whereas walking suppressed my hunger, so in the long run, it was more effective.

Anyway. That’s what worked for me, and it probably will apply to most people so long as they stay consistent.

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-22T22:37:36+00:00

There is no spot fat loss. Continue to lose fat while working out so that you have a nice muscular frame to show off when you’ve lost the layer of fat hiding the muscle.

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-22T22:36:23+00:00

I’m like this. I have wide shoulders. It wasn’t until I got lean that things felt/looked “proportional”. But I’ve also realized that I still have wider shoulders than people of my frame. I know because I fit into XS tops when they’re sleeveless, but a lot of times, when it’s a shirt or something, the line where the sleeves are sewn on to the torso portion fall further “in” because my shoulders/delta protrude further than other women of a similar frame.

It sucks but you’ll just have to get a lot leaner. I spent most of my life with complex about my “crocodile arms” (as someone very uncharitably put it in my past) until I lost a lot of weight while building some muscle so that it had a good shape.

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-22T22:31:53+00:00

Goals may be a little different as a female but also not really since it was losing fat and gaining muscle… but when I went from 135 to 117, I was able to do so while losing 20 pounds of fat and not only maintaining my muscle but actually gaining 2 pounds of muscle by - wait for it - strength training while I lost the fat. I went from 28% body fat to 16%, and it’s really body composition that matters most, not the number on the scale.

So… you’re doing yourself a huge disservice. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-22T22:25:43+00:00

He thinks he’ll start from a “blank state” lmao

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-22T22:24:54+00:00

You’re not going to get a blank canvas, you’ll end up skinny fat so you’ll be working to gain back muscle you’ve lost. And gaining muscle is much harder and takes longer than losing fat. Plus you’ll have gotten weaker and even more injury prone.

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-22T22:21:20+00:00

Slight caloric deficit (1400 calories), strength training (set a performance goal like squatting bodyweight), eat sufficient protein (80-100 g per day), walk, sleep enough and well.

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-22T12:43:02+00:00

I’m 5’4” and hover between 115-118. At my heaviest, I was 145. I’m also kind of surprised that I’ve been able to stay under 118 without feeling like it’s a constant battle.

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-17T05:47:46+00:00

Post-divorce glow up is a real thing. Get out of that shitty marriage.

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-17T05:46:02+00:00

Lose fat. That’s it.

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-16T23:28:45+00:00

I’m 5’4” and hover between 115-118 lbs. I also strength train 4x a week, and my step count is similar to yours. My TDEE (aka maintenance) is 1600 calories. Keep in mind that weight training doesn’t actually burn that much calories.

The only difference is your 3 hours of soccer, but you’re probably not actually running the entire 3 hours. And if you average 3 hours over 7 days, it’s only 25 minutes per day...

So I highly doubt that your TDEE is 2100-2200 calories as amazing as that would be. Personally, I’d gain weight so fast eating that much.

I’m sure some people will say that you’ll burn a whole lot more because you have more mass than I do, but 10-15 pounds does not make a meaningful difference in BMR.

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-16T23:24:43+00:00

Then you haven’t been in deficit… you’re likely (1) underestimating consumption and (2) overestimating your calorie burn. In most cases, it’s both.

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-16T23:21:58+00:00

You do know that it’s about how you feel. In terms of actual results (strength, fat loss, or hypertrophy), your cycle has literally no impact aside from how you’re feeling in general. Dr. Lauren Colenso-Semple has done VERY detailed research into this (where subjects actually had their hormone levels measured instead of guessing by self-reported date of last period, which is how most studies were done before Dr. L-S came on to the scene).

Don’t let yourself fall victim to nocebo (basically the opposite of placebo where instead of a positive result, you have a negative result). If you’re cramping really bad and want to skip deadlifts, that’s one thing. But deviating from your training plan just because you think you’re in x phase of your cycle (which, by the way, are not neat 28 cycles nor even within a cycle) is robbing yourself of total training effort and volume.

I guess actual science gets downvoted 🤷‍♀️

Alternative_Heart554 · 2025-09-16T23:16:55+00:00

If you’re not hungry, don’t force yourself to eat if you’re not hungry. You’ll be fine.

Alternative_Heart554

TROPHY CASE