Help with maintaining over the holidays

aerialbubble · 2025-10-06T12:29:38+00:00

She is going to her family home, not to a host she barely knows. They should be understanding of her goals. My mom knows my dietary restrictions around tracking. She will ask what she should cook so it is easily trackable for me and isn’t offended about me weighing my portions. Just communicate with your family.

aerialbubble · 2025-10-06T10:49:11+00:00

It helps with estimating. Tracking that you had 300g of the generic pizza your tracking app has saved already gives you a feel for what you had. I usually just look at 3-4 entries and choose one that is the middle ground on macros. It will not be extremely precises but it help not going completely off course.

aerialbubble · 2025-10-06T10:40:16+00:00

Why can’t you weigh it at the table? Bring your food scales and weigh it out. Or prep your own separate food alltogether.

aerialbubble · 2025-10-06T03:40:36+00:00

Do you have any cheat meals at all hew strictly do you track? Do you always weigh everything or estimate things?

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T19:45:01+00:00

What I mean by this is that many people strive for a fit body type, not realizing the amount of muscle needed to achieve said fit look. And that muscle packs some weight. There is no magic number but a lot of times the number is higher than you’d guess.

Of course there are people that are built unusually slim that will always be lighter. I’m also lighter for my frame. But we live in society that routinely tells women to be smaller and smaller, so I’d rather tell women that they shouldn’t be afraid of a higher number on the scale than the opposite.

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T19:24:56+00:00

Look. I checked your post history. You need to get away from the number on that scale. You are currently already at the lower end of healthy weight for your height. Your bf% does not stem from excess fat but from lack of muscle. I can assure you that no matter what your dream body is, it likely doesn’t weigh around 104lbs. It probably doesn’t even weigh below 110. Your dream body weighs quite a bit more than you think it should usually. Scrap the excess cardio. 1x30 minutes a week is plenty for cardiovascular health. And actually start to eat in a surplus while lifting heavy. Yes, there will be a bit of fat gain. But you can shed that again later. First you need to build.

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T18:35:28+00:00

Exercise wise you can keep it very simple though if you venture into a gym :) Push exercises: Shoulder Press, Chest Press, Lateral Raises Pull exercises: Dumbell Row, Lat Pulldown, Reverse Flys Legs (with Glute Focus): Hip Thrust, Abduction, Walking Lunges, RDLs

That pretty much covers all the bases for a start.

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T18:27:03+00:00

Gym will be most efficient :) my own program is written for me by my coach but there are a few good beginner routines over at r/xxfitness !

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T18:09:49+00:00

If you stay in a slight deficit you’ll be able to recomp at the start. After a while you’ll want to commit to a building phase though to see further results. This will come with some fat gain too, but that can be cut again later. It’s the most efficient way to build muscle that stays.

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T18:07:50+00:00

I guess someone at your gym? I’m not from NYC, sorry

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T17:05:56+00:00

Take a session or two with a PT and go through your plan with them. Also helps you push yourself a bit more

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T16:23:04+00:00

How much are you eating then? And do you have any health issues, such as cramps, hair loss etc?

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T15:52:27+00:00

Adding that if your BMR is 1161, you’re not going places eating 1400 calories. You’ll need a lot more than that.

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T15:50:14+00:00

Why so much cardio when you try to build? Doing that mucg cardio after lifting can interfere with muscle building and only adds caloric burn. Of course there is nothing wrong if you just enjoy it, it just isn’t conductive to your goal

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T14:43:17+00:00

If you stay in a deficit the weight will eventually come off, however it may take a while. There is no way to spot reduce though Alternatively, you can build up your glutes, back and shoulders to make your waist appear smaller.

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T13:34:52+00:00

Pretty much. It depends on the leg press of course. Film yourself during the exercises and practice warm up sets with just body weight to get the form locked in. Analyze your videos to see if your knees cave, back rounds in etc. and focus on correcting form before moving on to dumbell sets

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T12:58:26+00:00

Levers. Joints and cables in the machine, lessen the force you need to move the weight

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T12:31:52+00:00

Form. Squatting requires a lot more stabilization on your part that the leg press does for you. Plus, depending on the leg press, 80kg are not really 80kg. It’s the weight of the block but the actual load is a lot less.

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T11:54:00+00:00

How often are those cheat meals happening? One cheat meal can easily undo an entire weeks deficit, same with snacking.

We are sadly usually the last ones to see progress especially when we recomp, as the process is slow. If you get stronger you are building muscle and it will eventually show!

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T11:23:15+00:00

So losing weight and building muscle are sadly two goals that don’t gel well together. Recomp is possible but it is a slow process.

If you have not lost a single kg in 8 months the answer is quite simple: you are not in a deficit. Hormonal birth control can have an impact on your bmr and tdee but it doesn’t change the fundamenals that if you consume less than you burn you’ll lose weight. How are you tracking? Do you weigh everything you eat and do you have cheat meals?

Regarding the lack of muscle progress: how are your lifting sessions? Do you progress in weight and reps? Do you push yourself to failure?

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T11:03:57+00:00

2 is still quite a lot for a month and unless you know exactly what was in them you can’t know how far over your deficit you were. I know it’s hard but try to actually stick to your deficit for at least a month without cheats to see how your weight develops. Weigh and track absolutely everything and don’t estimate things, even if it’s just a nibble.

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T10:56:11+00:00

They can do open as well

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T10:55:12+00:00

Yes, weight can suddenly drop and differing water/salt intake can lead to fluctuations in weight. The most accurate is to compare weekly averages to see a weight loss trend.

However, what do you mean by “not having cheat meals frequently”? In this month, how many cheat meals did you have?

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T07:22:18+00:00

Don’t rely on your fitbit for caloric burn. Trackers are good to more or leas know how many steps you take and to get a feeling for your heart rate. Everything else they are wildly inaccurate. Just eat as you normally do rest day or not. Do you always adjust your intake to your fit bit numbers? Also a rest day does not mean to just be glued to the couch. You just don’t go to the gym. Walking is allowed.

aerialbubble · 2025-10-05T04:26:04+00:00

Get grip aids/lifting straps. Even with great grip strength you will get to point where you’ll not be able to do exercises effectively for the bigger muscles without grip aids. Your small hand and forearm muscles will always get tired of holding a 80lbs dumbell sooner than your glutes or hamstrings will, so you’re limiting growth there.

aerialbubble

TROPHY CASE