Egull1's Journal, 06 May 2021

Snort! I measured my waist a week ago and it's 32". I don't even want to strap the tape around my hips (though they are bigger than my waist -- so it could be worse! 😄). Hooraying your success, though am curious as to what your waist/hip measurements were before you started lifting. 

Oh my, JB - I have go back a few journals. But, I will just to see. Now you got me curious. LOL. I stopped keeping track of what they once were a while ago. hmmm...lemme take a look. Back in a few moments! :-) 

I can't believe I found this, but this is my first entry back on May 14, 2017 for measurements here on FS..(see below) ----------------------------------------------------- FS entry - May 14, 2017 --->It looks like I lost 2 inches in my hips & and 1 inch in my waist for a total of 3 inches! Woohoo! Hips: 52 -->50 Waist: 44.5 --> 43.5 It looks like I show some gains in my arms, thighs, chest, & neck. Though, my torso remained the same. I'm either getting more tone and definition in my upper body and thighs (which is reasonable given the targeted exercises I do on these parts) or more accurate at measuring. It's not that easy to measure. My hips and waist are the easiest to manage and I can readily tell I've lost in those areas. As for BFP (Using the Nutritionists formula and approach by taking the tricep sub-scapular & sub-scapular skin fold), I came out with an average 33.9% body fat, but I'm rounding that baby up, so let's just say current BFP is: 34% = 67.2 lbs of body fat 130.4 lbs = water, lean muscle mass, organs, tissue, etc ---------------------------------------------------------- So, there ya have it! 19.5 inches less in the waist and 21 less inches in the hips for a total of 40.5 inches between those areas. I lost all over, but those were the 2 I was most interested in. I went from a 45 in the chest to a 32. Geeez, I lost 13 inches of boob!!! I went from 34% Bf to 18-19%. Thanks for making me look back, just makes me want to keep going further :-) 

M U S C L E  

HCB, are you sure? 

Yeah, I agree with Les: most of that isn't muscle; it's weight loss. Lose the weight, and the muscle becomes visible. Build muscle but don't lose weight = stuffed sausage. Gotta do both, lift & lose.  

@ LesGirth and JustBanansa: I know this woman for a long time, and know her workout ethic - she is amazingly lean so a gain for her is MUSCLE. 

@HCB: I was referring to Egull's in-depth account of her measurements that she wrote above before your reply yesterday. Losing 40 inches is a work of majorly restricting calories. In addition, I believe she is about 5'2", so her weight is appropriate for her height, whether it is muscle or fat. Egull is of course dedicated to exercise and her lifting regime, and is a role model for maintaining a healthy, muscular body that avoids the "stuffed sausage" look people get when they only focus on strength training rather than fat loss. I understand you are about her height, too; she's very good example to emulate in terms of diet. 

Excellent work! Nicely done.  

This morning's weigh-in was 14.4, which is 1.2 lb drop, which is certainly water weight. With "lean gains", one doesn't increase in lbs. Actually, on average the most women can gain in muscle mass is about 1 lb/month. With lean gains one can rest assured it's an ounce here and and an ounce there. But, a definite rule of thumb in body recomp is if body measurements remain the same, but scale weight increases - the increase in weight is likely muscle mass. The last consistent low I had was 112.0 lbs on April 9. Before this surplus day and after a 2% increase in daily cals, the consistent low increased to 113.0 lbs. And, right before the surplus day on May 1, the low increased to 113.8. All measurements remained the same. Some of this can definitely be attributed to water, waste, and fluctuation. But some of it can safely be attributed to a marginal increase in muscle as well as strength and muscular endurance. With regards to body fat vs. muscle - Statistically speaking, It might be difficult to find that many 113 lb, 5'2 females with a large amount of body fat that have the muscular stamina to do 60 unmodified pushups with a 20 pound weighted vest strapped to their upper bodies. For every push up this body performs, this upper body lifts 64% of its own bodyweight, which is approximately 72.32 lbs. Strap on the 20 lb. vest, and the weight being lifted increases to 92.32 lbs. The full volume of weight in those sets comes to 36,635 lbs. A person with a high percentage of bf would have a difficult time with that kind of volume in endurance alone. On the other hand, there really is no accurate way to calculate bf percentage. Not even a dexa-scan provides a completely accurate number. All one can really do is start with a baseline from the beginning and focus on the losses in percentage taken from the initial number recorded. I have been using calipers since 2017. So, at the very least we can assess this body's bf% has dropped by 14 percentage points, which is significant any way one chooses to see it, but it was by no means in a short period of time. On average I lost 4.6% body fat/year from 2017-2020. It also needs to be noted I did not partake in extreme calorie restriction during this journey. The initial goal weight was 150 lbs. I started in February of 2017 and hit the initial goal on August 6, 2018. That is 60 lbs lost over a period of 19 months with an average loss of 3.15 lbs/month with an average loss of .78 lbs/week. The initial deficit started out in the 1600-1800 cal range in Feb of 2017 and slowly worked it's way down to around 1400 cals by August of 2018. The rest of the weight from August of 2018-->2020 comes to 37 lbs, which is average loss of 1.54 pounds/month. I wasn't restricting calories during this time, but increasing slowly and increasing activity as well. I also couched in 1 maintenance calorie day/week and took week long maintenance breaks every 10 weeks during the first initial 60 lb loss in order to give the metabolism a break and practice "weight maintenance" so I would know what to do when I hit the initial goal weight. To be sure by the time August of 2018 came, I was done being in a deficit. 1400 cals/day is tough even with a maintenance day tucked in there. But, at 5'2 even a 1400 cal would not be considered all that restrictive a deficit, especially considering most folks seem infatuated with the ever popular 600-1200 calorie restriction range. So, I was a "slow road to hoe" kinda gal. Took my own sweet time and mosied to the finish line...and then well, this egull spread her wings and took flight :-) 

Just awesome. Always is. Your amazing.  

Egull, am I correct in understanding that you first dropped the bulk of your fat (60 pounds, going from 210 down to 150) by dieting, and only THEN picked up the weights? I didn't mean to imply that your diet was extreme, but rather that you were diligent in restricting daily calorie intake rather than relying on pumping iron (until 150 lbs.) to reduce your size. There are numerous people on FS who think that they can gorge themselves at night so long as they spend an hour in the gym's free weights section (and then they wonder why the scale is stuck). The body building women that I've read about spend major hours on the treadmill and doing cardio to burn off fat, but fans just seem to focus on the iron pumped and the protein consumed.  

Sorry for delay in response to this, JB. In answer to your question - No, I did not wait until I dropped 60 lbs. to pick up weights. I picked up weights literally the second week after I started back in February 14, 2017. To be sure, I started very light weight high volume which as far as I'm concerned was crucial when dealing with a body that was extremely unconditioned at the time and had never technically held a weight. I then started adding in strength training exercises and eventually resistance bands. But, I didn't actually lift "heavier weights" until I hit goal. However, from all the research I read on doing strength training and cardio while taking off excess weight, it was consistently recommended one never count their exercise cals into their calorie targets. In part, because most folks just starting a weight loss journey tend to over report activity and under report food intake. So, I purposely did the opposite. And, when using calculators to assess how much I needed to eat to lose, I always reported "mild exercise" even if workouts might run up to 2 hours. It was the right thing to do, because the maintenance calorie day I couched into the week and the 7 day maintenance calorie break couched in every 10 weeks balanced it out. Anyhow - the short answer is no - I started lifting from the get go. The women I follow are folks like Tia Claire Toomy, Dana Lynn Bailey, Brooke Ence, Kerigan Pike, Katie Corio, Kristi Eramo, and Kara Saunders. Most of them predominately cross fitters that do a combo of weights, strength, resistance, and cardio. None of them really put one above the other, but attempt to incorporate all of them into their wheelhouse. But, I have to say the lifters I follow like Katie, DLB, and Kerigan don't spend hours doing cardio. If they're training for a physique competition - they tend to make those cuts in the kitchen. In fact the closer they get to stage day, they have to cut back on the cardio because they're usually eating around 600-800 cals/day to achieve leanness and are to weak to do much cardio. In fact, they tend to very mindful about how much cardio they do because they run the risk of losing weight too fast before stage day and thus run the risk of losing muscle in the process, which is in part what they're trying to showcase. I would say in the beginning of their cuts, they do around 40-60 minutes before hitting the weights. I do around 23 minutes, plus my walking circuits. But, on Tuesday I do a balls to the wall 45 minutes on the recumbent at level 18 resistance, because well...why the hell not! LOL :-) 

Okay, that explains things better. Easy weights & resistant exercises at first, then at 150 you pumped some serious iron. I like the fact that you didn't include your workouts in counting calories burned for the day; I agree that dieters really overexaggerate their calories burned and severely underestimate calories consumed (they eat takeout or restaurant food and should probably add 500 calories to their meal total). Once I hit 130 I'll start with the weights; for now it's just my own bodyweight (situps, pushups, and day-to-day things like carrying heavy groceries 1/3 mile back from the grocery store). Thanks for the tips -- I'm getting to the point in my weight loss journey where I'm going to have to start tightening things up and filling up the loose skin with muscle (while avoiding the stuffed sausage look).