So you can do the full six months and then perhaps go into a cutting phase?
I do have a question about recomposition though. I hear this term used all the time, and how your not losing weight, your restructuring(sp...) your body.
But since muscle can't turn into fat, and fat can't turn into muscle, how does that work? Do you just add muscle under the fat and hope that the added caloric burn from the muscle helps?
I'm pretty pumped to do this program and develop an awesome figure under all this flub, only to reveal my sexy bikini next summer.
PS- can someone tell me to snap out of my intimidation of the weight room?
I was comfortable going to it at my old gym, but my new gym freaks me out!
I think you'll find that phase 7 (the last one) is more geared towards cutting. But once you've done that, if you want to lose more, of course you can.
As far as burning fat, building muscle and doing it all on a deficit at the same time, here are a couple of ways to look at that sort of thing. Some might disagree but it is the way I think of it.
If you are eating at a deficit relative to your activity level, you're going to burn fat to make up the difference. If you are training hard and otherwise stimulating muscle growth, if you have sufficient protein/amino acids available you'll add muscle, especially if you are a new lifter. (though much of strength gains are more CNS related than new muscle related for very new lifters).
So - if you are eating sufficient protein, working out and eating at an overall deficit, you can have body recomposition that is fat loss and muscle gain. You can also have an effect of preserving muscle and losing fat so that you just reveal what was underneath.
Anyway - that's one school of thought.
I'm pretty sure I'd be considered a new lifter. I've been in the gym for a while, but the most I've 'lifted' is twenty lb dumbells.
I mean, I cleared it with my husband and he's fine if I intially get bigger haha, provided i don't just gain a little and then stop in defeat. (which i admit, I have a tendency to do.)
I appreciate the input. While I would prefer to add some muscle, it wouldn't be the end of the world if I end up maintaining what I have and then do a (I'm hesitant to use the term bulking) muscle gain phase...ha
Sorry if this isn't really a reply to what you wrote, LisaS. My eyeballs are crossing on me, and I really need some sleep! I'm going to reread your answer again in the morning!
If you find you'd like a little more progress in the fatloss department while on the program you can simply eat less. The idea of the small deficit is that you're trying to have the energy to do the workouts, have fun, not be miserable, and you should see some changes if you are truly in some kind of a deficit… just that at so small a deficit you won't even lose a pound a week and if you happen to be adding a bit of muscle you just won't see the fatloss on the scale.
The small deficit is because some people just won't enjoy themselves and stick with the program if their total calories are too low. Some people can get away with a higher deficit and therefore see more scale weight loss and feel just fine.
So you can manipulate your calories more than they suggest, and find out of you respond ok or if you don't. The idea is to be able to live your life and do stuff outside of the gym, so if you find the workout burns up all your energy for the rest of the day and you end up on the couch all the time, the reduced calories aren't helping you, and you might as well eat closer to maintenance and wait to go into a big deficit for fatloss.
Snap out of it. There's nothing in the weight room that's gonna get ya. Besides, most chicks feel all cool and stuff once they're in there doing stuff a lot of guys can't.
Ok, that's good to know. I'm just going to go on how I'm feeling I think.
I'm probably starting the program tomorrow, and I'll probably know pretty quick if I'm eating to much or to little, judging from that.
Ha, I think my big fear is I'm going in not knowing where anything is. I usually stay in the upstairs weight section, and I have to go down to get to the heavy duty stuff.
but you're right! Forget them, I've given birth! I can use a damn weight room, haha.
Go on in and have a look around, familiarize yourself with where things are, what weights are where and how much they get up to, etc… without needing to do a workout. You're just there to get your bearings and plot out how you'll move to get your workouts done. Then there's no notebook in hand and you're not trying to do anything but pay attention to the space. Then you'll be prepared when you are heading in for a workout.
I acutally did that this morning! I did my first workout on the program and then after that, trolled downstairs to see what was where. So, I'm going to go down there on Weds.
Ok, just so I know I've got this clear.
Linear Mode
