Not noticing enough of a change...how low to set macros/cals?

thatboyaintright · 2012-05-24T16:23:08.655840+00:00

Come back in 3 more months then. One month is not nearly long enough to start changing stuff up because you don't see a change.

thatboyaintright · 2012-05-24T15:36:42.220576+00:00

How long have you been doing this?

Scrivdaddy · 1 day

You are right. Uncooked eggs contained protease inhibitor which decrease absorption of protein in the gut. Cooking will denature the inhibitor, allowing for more absorption.

cloudsora · 2 days

Tickle my cabinet

_Scarecrow · 4 days

I would say that you can definitely lose weight while doing what you're doing. However, your strength will probably not benefit as greatly when you are low carb.

_Scarecrow · 4 days

If you're not eating carbs then you're not doing Leangains.

Fuh_Queue · 5 days

6 months whaaaat

RedditShmedit · 6 days

i have literally never seen anyone else besides me and my brother re-rack the weights.

scadsofemotion · 6 days

So he was very quiet, then?

IHOPnesss · 6 days

When I was first starting out, I felt that powercleans were a very technical exercise. I had no one to really teach me. Many people substitute power cleans for bent over barbell rows, yes. That's basically what stronglifts is, except they add another 2x5.

IHOPnesss · 6 days

EVERYWHERE. ALL OF THEM.

Just wait for the weights to get higher, and make sure you have good form.

SS is designed with compound lifts and will hammer the hell out of your whole body.

I substituted rows rather than powercleans, and that destroyed my arms when the weight got higher.

rakendrachen · 6 days

At 5 9 and 145 lbs, are you sure you should be doing a leangains cut? Wouldn't you look better if you did the standard recomp?

In my opinion, you're pretty skinny, and a cut just seems wrong. Maybe that's not your goal, but it just seems like you'd look better.

PlasmaPistol · 7 days

Fitness connection. However I think the 0$ down was a promotion. A new branch opened near me. Big box gym but still legit free weight area.

NoReallyItsTrue · 7 days

You're just sore. When I first worked out after never lifting, I couldn't extend my arms for a week. You'll be fine and if you keep working out you won't feel sore like this again. Just use ice packs and massage the areas. It's just soreness, you're fine.

MollyCaenwyn · 7 days

You don't need to be a fitness fanatic to do this stuff. Before I got to r/fitness, i was very overweight, never lifted weights in my life, never did cardio, did nothing but read books, and eat bad and smoke. What I learned on /r/fitness is that you don't HAVE to be a "fitness fanatic" to live a balanced and healthy lifestyle. Most people on this subreddit are absolutely super busy with work and family, and that's why gaining knowledge has led to them being able to maximize their efforts.

Anyways, the answer you're looking for is that you want to fix your diet. I know what you're thinking: how does that translate into better looking arms?

Losing some fat, while maintaining the muscle that you have will give you the "toned" look that you are hoping to achieve.

To do that, you're going to need to run a caloric deficit. In the FAQ is a calculator that will tell you how many calories you burn, and you should eat less than that number (about 20 percent lower). With a 500 calorie deficit, you could lose a pound of fat a week.

Now, the problem with just a diet is that you might lose muscle along with the fat. You don't want that because you're going to look skinny-fat, and won't be "toned" at all.

That's where weightlifting comes in. You need to stimulate your muscles, along with a high protein diet, to ensure that the muscles that you DO have don't get metabolized for energy by your body.

You were asking about specifically upper arm workouts. Fine. You can get dumbells and do curls, shoulder flys, dumbell rows, and dumbell overhead presses.

That being said, I don't recommend you do any of that. Someone else in the post said that it would be akin to only maintaining the front of your car, and ignoring the back. Swimming and running does not count as resistance training.

A program like Starting Strength may look intimidating to you. It requires knowledge of compound barbell lifts. Honestly, they aren't very difficult to master (I've taught my older cousin, she just had her first kid a few months ago and wanted to learn to lift weights).

If you're set against doing that, however, I do encourage you to get onto a bodyweight program, such as Convict Conditioning (Also located in the FAQ). In fact, there's a whole subreddit dedicated to body weight fitness, and it's called /r/bodyweightfitness.

Hope that finally answers your question.

MollyCaenwyn · 7 days

I know it can seem hostile in here. But just realize we get many questions exactly like yours every single day. The FAQ is the best of this subreddit's accumulated knowledge, and it's really not that big. Phrakture has way more patience than I do, and he sits and answers questions like yours all the time. It can wear on a person.

I started off by just reading the FAQ and lurking for a while until I formed my diet and workout. Doing the research really helped me set my mind on my goal and the means with which I was going to achieve it without overwhelming myself. Plus I learned so much that I didn't know.

Anyways, good luck with everything, hope it all works out. The FAQ is awesome, trust me.

Dgdxem · 7 days

I've hit rep and lift PR's while hung over after a night of drinking. It's not fun, but definitely do-able.

That being said, these two links have been really helpful:

http://getdrunknotfat.com/

http://www.leangains.com/2010/07/truth-about-alcohol-fat-loss-and-muscle.html

MollyCaenwyn · 8 days

Good on you dude. You've got way more patience than me.

PlasmaPistol · 8 days

I'm very cautious about it. Things this good are fleeting. Been there for 6 months so far.

PlasmaPistol · 8 days

0$ down, 10$ a month. 4 squat racks, 2 power cages, about 8 benchpresses. I never have trouble finding a rack because everyone else likes to curl in the mirror. Fuck yeah.

I go 4 days a week. It's usually deserted until about 3pm. It's at peak crowding at 8pm. I don't do any classes or anything, but I use the cardio theater thing for a quick 3 minute run after I finish lifting.

Tappwn · 8 days

Wendler says the most balanced strength setup is the Triumvirate format. I would say Big But Boring is his most popular, but it is for guys going for a strength/hypertrophy mix, and full on bulking. I'm on Triumvirate, and I really like it. However, if you're going from SS/SL, I would recommend you go to an intermediate program before you move up to 5/3/1. I feel like tons of people jump the gun to 5/3/1 before they are ready (myself included).

Look into MadCow or TexasMethod like phrakture says. Both of those programs can be found on the StrongLifts website. You can quickly access a 3 month spreadsheet for MadCow. My little brother is on it, and he's pushed far past his strength plateaus.

cobainsdragon · 8 days

If you look at powerlifters lifting with an arched back and good form, you can see how a decline bench press mimics that sort of pushing down movement. Alternatively, if you do dips while leaning forward, I think it also sort of simulates this movement.

Personally, I do incline bench as an accessory to both my bench and my OHP. Lately, I've had problems locking out my OHP, and I've find that a close grip incline bench has helped me immensely.

MollyCaenwyn · 8 days

Dude, where do you get off telling someone to read the FAQ? Next you'll be saying crazy shit like toning isn't a thing...

You got downvoted into the negatives for telling someone to read the FAQ. This place sucks about 80% of the time. Everyone in this post with legitimate advice is getting downvoted.

MollyCaenwyn · 8 days

I wish it was trolling.

MollyCaenwyn · 8 days

You haven't offended us. You did lie to people by saying you've read the faq. People can tell whether you've done your homework or not.

All we want you to do is read the FAQ once over. It looks big and daunting, but much of it may not apply to you, so go through the table of contents and find what you're looking for.

That being said, you CANNOT TONE THE UPPER ARMS. First of all, "toning" doesn't mean anything. What you mean to say is "how do I lose fat in my arms so that my muscles show?". If you read the very beginning of the FAQ, it states that there is no way to 'spot-reduce' fat loss. Meaning, you cannot target a specific part of your body from which to lose fat. You need to eat at a caloric deficit in order to lose fat. Where the fat comes off of is determined by your genetics. As a woman, your hips and thighs will carry the most fat.

Everyone is recommending you lift weights because that is how you grow your muscles. That, mixed with a fat loss diet, will give you your "toned" arms (please stop saying that; it shows a lack of knowledge - I don't mean to offend, but it is a dead giveaway that you haven't read the FAQ).

Anyways, best of luck to you and PLEASE READ THE FAQ. SERIOUSLY, IT CHANGED MY LIFE. I'm 75 lbs down because of it.

RudeDude88

TROPHY CASE

RudeDude88

TROPHY CASE

you'll need to login or register to do that

create a new account

login