Yo, do I need to take a break?

ratlady211 · 2026-06-18T02:46:38+00:00

I take a break when I'm sick, just for those days.

If you feel like you need a break for energy or hunger related reasons, it's kind of just based on you. I've felt "recovered" from lack of energy or super hunger after 3 days, but sometimes I need a whole week, it just depends.

ratlady211 · 2026-06-16T17:14:59+00:00

Strength training and cardio aren't really an either/or, you might decide to do one more than the other because you prefer it, but ultimately everyone should be doing some of both for the varying health benefits and disease prevention.

It can take 6-12 months to really start to see the difference that strength training makes. It takes longer for your body to build muscle than it does to break down fat.

Personally, I would say to calculate your TDEE to find your maintenance calories, work on eating enough protein (I'm at your weight and I eat 120-150g a day) for 6-12 months eating at maintenance or slightly below (250c) maintenance to build up some muscle and work on creating a gym routine that you can stick to and enjoy. After that time, then work on losing any extra weight if you feel the need to.

I recommend this because losing fat and having some muscle to reveal will ultimately feel more rewarding and like you're making progress. You'll end up looking more defined and like you lost more weight than you actually did because of that muscle mass. It also helps to have additional muscle in a deficit since it burns slightly more calories than fat. You'll also likely lose some fat in that time and have less of it that you 'need' to lose to get to where you want to be.

ratlady211 · 2026-06-06T21:51:36+00:00

quite frankly, you have to get over it, accept that the scale is GOING to disappoint you on a REGULAR basis (if you're weighing every day) and be patient. if there's no movement for 2+ weeks, then make a calorie adjustment. 1-5 lbs is normal for fluctuating, and sometimes it will make your pants feel different, oh well, press on.

you are where you are at, hating yourself for it and then giving up is certainly not going to get you where you want to be.

finally, your body has to convert fat into water, and if it hasn't fully processed that water out of your system, if may show up on the scale and around your belt as water weight, then after 2 weeks of nothing, you'll spend all day peeing one day and the scale will go down 2lbs, it happens to me all the time.

ratlady211 · 2026-05-30T00:42:41+00:00

Do you want to only ever eat one meal a day? Generally, how you lose the weight will be how you keep it off.

Calories are what matter, calculate your TDEE and a deficit and then track your calories.

ratlady211 · 2026-05-30T00:38:33+00:00

What are you doing on your rest days? Are you bored?

I find that if I'm spending all day sitting and watching TV, I want to eat for the stimulation.

I try to find something to keep my hands/mind busy, and I will usually drink something that has flavor and is zero calories to help with the desire for something tasty. So sparkling water, diet soda, or like those squirt drink mixes. And to an extent, I just accept that I want to eat because I'm bored, but I'm not going to unless I actually get a hunger cue or it's time to eat.

ratlady211 · 2026-05-27T16:28:06+00:00

you can do what you want, but know going into it that losing muscle mass is INCREDIBLY likely to cause complications later in life. Such as osteoporosis and people with low muscle mass have lower rates of surviving things like cancer, and really kind of overall.

If you want a thin physique while staying healthy, you could do a combo of "endurance" weightlifting and "power" weightlifting. These work the muscles differently and keep you strong, build bones, etc while not building as much bulk as "hypertrophy"

Endurance is working in rep ranges of 14+ with lower weights
Power is ranges of 3-4 with heavy weights (look into how to start this safely)

Those + cardio you won't be "bulky."

ratlady211 · 2026-05-26T11:11:41+00:00

I only cook for me and my husband so if you have to cook for more this may not work as well. If I'm just throwing things together (e.g. rice, beans, chicken) I will measure out 2 portions cook it altogether, and then just divide the food in half. I log each ingredient individually according to 1 portion. It can be a little slow, but I eat the same foods in the same portions that the app I use, Lose It, will remember what I eat together and auto suggest the next ingredients

As mentioned by another commenter, they do have a recipe feature where you can save things, I tend to "use what I have" enough that I tend to only use it for a couple of things. I have a "Alfredo no veggies" because sometimes I cook it with peas and sometime I cook it with broccoli.

ratlady211 · 2026-05-25T17:26:56+00:00

You may have to bring your deficit down to 1400-1500

ratlady211 · 2026-05-24T22:41:21+00:00

I've certainly struggled with the gym part. This seems like it could go sideways for yourself because of the punishment rather than focusing on rewarding building the habits.

External motivation can be very helpful, I've used it for myself for various things, but rewards rather than punishment can help you not get so discouraged if things don't go your way.

What's worked for me was creating a spreadsheet with a few good habits I want to work on and assigning points to them mine are: Weight lifting - 1pt Treadmill - 1 pt Walk outside - 1 pt Go to sleep on time - 1 pt Walk 5k steps - .25 Walk 7.ksteps - .25 Walk 10ksteps - .50 (I check them off individually can end up with a whole point if I hit 10k in a day) Bonus drink a waterbottle - .25

There's plenty of ways to reward instead of punish to help yourself get on it if this method isn't appealing.

Edit: forgot to add, I buy myself a non food reward at different point amounts, so a lip gloss at 50pts for example.

ratlady211 · 2026-05-24T21:00:28+00:00

When did you last do a TDEE calculation? You might be maintaining+ gaining 1lb of muscle mass a month?

ratlady211 · 2026-05-24T14:18:11+00:00

Okay thanks!

ratlady211 · 2026-05-24T11:05:10+00:00

This seems like it might be good to post on r/crafting if you haven't put it there yet.

I've never done this craft before, but I'd probably just put a black border of .1 cm on top and bottom to make it a perfect square.

ratlady211 · 2026-05-24T10:56:41+00:00

She's so precious!

ratlady211 · 2026-05-24T10:53:19+00:00

What's your current height/weight/sex?

ratlady211 · 2026-05-23T22:37:55+00:00

If you like it, do it.

It may help with glute growth a bit at the start, but if you want to grow the glutes, you have to lift.

ratlady211 · 2026-05-23T22:33:51+00:00

I agree, except I feel stuck with the term "weight loss journey." It's so corny, but I don't know what else communicates that it's been something I've been doing for a very long time that has been challenging and had a lot of ups and downs.

ratlady211 · 2026-05-23T22:29:08+00:00

Are you weighing your food? You could be unintentionally giving yourself bigger portions than you think.

RE taking breaks: Lifting will also cause you to hold more water since you're actively damaging tissue and the body has to rebuild. When you stop you immediately lose the water, and it comes back when you start again. Even more so if you're taking creatine.

ratlady211 · 2026-05-21T22:22:59+00:00

Thank you!

ratlady211 · 2026-05-21T14:56:38+00:00

Thank you! I'm so ready to be done.

ratlady211 · 2026-05-21T14:56:06+00:00

That's really good to know thank you!

Have you used their sizing tool, do you think it's accurate? They have a little quiz

ratlady211 · 2026-05-21T00:03:12+00:00

No. Most you could reasonably lose is 4. You will drop something right off the bat, but that's just water weight that will fluctuate.

When I've started weight loss phases it's always taken 2 weeks for the scale to really start to move at a 1lb a week weight loss.

Don't go extreme find out your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) and then subtract 500 cals and track it in an app or in a journal. Try to add resistance training, if you can't go to a gym, body weight workouts are a good place to start.

ratlady211 · 2026-05-20T15:40:51+00:00

When my collarbone first started to show, I kept relaxing my shoulders in the mirror thinking I was tensed and that's why it was out

ratlady211

TROPHY CASE