Help - drop 3 dress sizes lifting weights

[Mumsanetta]

I’m 200 pounds and finally ready to get shot of the extra 50 pounds I have been carrying since Covid. I don’t think I can bear another low calorie, overly restrictive diet that requires a lot of cardio so am looking to lift weights instead which I enjoy. Can anyone direct me towards a lifting and eating guide for women that’s designed for weight loss / dropping dress sizes? There seems to be a lot of stuff on Instagram but it’s all on annoying 1 minute reels rather than a proper guide!

The EC method is great. Have a listen to the podcasts by Emma Storey-Gordon

Agree with this. Also Caroline Girvan on YouTube has several free weights courses. I've just finished Fuel and I'm starting Iron next week.

Yes agree with the above, Caroline Girvan has many free programmes on YouTube along with an Epic beginners programme, and the results are great if you eat within a calorie deficit alongside it.

Decided to start the new year as I mean to go on and did my first workout at the gym this morning. I ended up going with Move With Us as it has an easy to use app and went for the Fit program. It was pretty hard and I felt nauseous and light headed at the end so perhaps I pushed myself too much. Good start though.

@Billslills thank you for the recommendation! The meal side of things looks a bit complicated on the app so at the moment I’m going with whole foods with minimal processed stuff and limiting alcohol to twice a week. That said, I’m not giving up the 1tsp of sugar in my coffee or morning porridge as I really enjoy them. I’ll see if this approach works and adjust if it doesn’t.

Amazing! Well done!!! Although sounds like you should go a little easier next time. Especially if you want to commit to this long term! I loved my time with Move With Us and it ignited my passion for weight lifting as well encouraged me to be more creative with my meals.

Once I got stronger I moved onto a in-person PT as wanted to ensure I had the correct form before doing the big compound lifts with a barbell. My first gym session for the year will be tomorrow morning :-)

Sorry, cross post. I do remember the meals side of the app being a little bit complicated to begin with but once you suss it out it is so easy to use and swap out meals/recipes. Their support team is really good so I would recommend emailing them for help with it. It is a really good part of the App if you do want to be hitting your calories and macros. I am glad to hear you aren't cancelling out a few glasses of wine or sugar. You'll still get great results!

Caroline Girvan is amazing. Muscle is calorie hungry. Really up your protein. I don’t do macros etc but I know many people have great success with them.

I prefer to eat more (around 1600 calories) and lift than 1200 calories

So that's 2.5 hours of lifting per day. Seems like a big commitment, and more time lifting than most people would do. Cardio burns more calories per hour.

Ah nuts, so I did that wrong. 180/half hour, or 360/hour, so OP still needs to do ~ >1 hour daily. If she has the time fair enough.

This says expect to only burn about 120 kcal/30 minutes. So back to nearly 2 hours.

At no point should you drop to 1,200 calories a day for weight loss. It isn’t necessary and you’ll seriously struggle to maintain it long enough to get results.

1,600 - 1,700 calories a day, plus gym 3/4 times a week and around 10,000-12,000 steps per day is sufficient for a 12 week cut. You may need to reduce to around 1,550 calories and increase steps to 15,000 for the final push (9 week mark).

@Billslills you’re speaking to the converted - I completely agree with you. I’ve been reading Why We Eat (Too Much) and it’s been a revelation and I will never ever go back to eating 1200 calories for weight loss. It’s fucked with my metabolism and led to a lifetime of yo-yo dieting.

“Cardio burns more calories per hour.”

Weight lifting increases muscle mass which increases bmr so you end up burning more calories when at rest vs cardio. I also hate cardio so there’s that 😂.

I hate cardio too (but used to kid myself I loved it 😂). Getting in daily steps is so much more effective, genuinely enjoyable and great for all aspects of health and well being. Also a lot kinder on the knees too! I will never, ever do the 1,200 calorie a day yo-yo diet lifestyle again. I want to convert more people!

Nail on the head @Mumsanetta!

I burn way more calories lifting that doing anything else because I love it, so I work very hard at it and consistently go. And I have wonderful muscles that need fuelling. I don't make the effort and find ways to avoid cardio as I don't like it. I'll do some now to support my lifting, but finding my love of lifting is the key.

And well done on getting started. Keep showing up, it would take a lot for me to miss a session now.

Following. Have never lifted, have access to a gym and need to work out what to do! This thread is inspiring.

The other thing is that really heavy weightlifting ie with a barbell and doing the big compound lifts, will tone you like nothing else. Squats are brilliant for hardening abs and quads. Deadlifts get your hamstrings visible and working and again work your abs. Better than crunches!

A woman can't increase BMR by more than about 70 kcal by simply gaining muscle. To do that they have to go from a muscle-wasted condition to very buff. I've worked through the numbers to explain that a few times on MN. Can do it again if someone is unconvinced...

@shruggingitoff woohoo! There are quite a few different suggestions on how to approach lifting weights on this thread. The Caroline Girvan videos on YouTube also looked good but I ended up going with Move With Us for simplicity. I think I’ll take some measurements and photos tomorrow morning and then post my progress for accountability to myself. Let me know how you get on and go ahead and do the same if it helps!

@RayKray i think i‘m the same and I’m determined to just do what I love. Have no idea why I have never tried this approach before because it’s not rocket science that it’s easier to be consistent with an exercise regime that you enjoy!

@Billslills you are encouraging me to charge my Fitbit tonight because I have no problem with walking and quite enjoy tracking steps.

@EasterIsland i love big compound movements with heavy weights. I haven’t done it in such a long time so my confidence is low but I can’t wait to work my way back to squatting my body weight. But I also used to like mixing it up and when I used to lift with a trainer (a good 5 years ago now) my favourite was the bear complex!

shruggingitoff welcome aboard! Do you enjoy going to the gym? I used to only do cardio at the gym then one day took the plunge and signed up to an App and never looked back. Lifting weights feels good, especially as you get stronger and stronger. It’s quite empowering picking up the bigger dumbbells etc 😀

I did my first session of the week today / for 2023. It felt good to be back in there. My main goal right now is to fall in love with it again and go 4 times a week like I used to. Life got tough for the last half of 2022 and I was very inconsistent due to energy, motivation etc

For the weight lifting/strength fans there is a support thread that's been going a little while over on health>the weights room called lifting support thread. Maybe see you there

I use an app called Sweat. It’s female led and has lots of different trainers and an active community. I lost lots of weight using the fierce programme. They have a 7 day trial if you wanted to check it out before committing. Good luck!

@RayKray that thread is now very long (and takes ages to load). Maybe it's time for a New Year new thread?