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nonsumdignus
New member
Hello, I'm pretty new to real weight lifting and hope to learn here.
5'4", 39yo
I was a cardiohead in college & all my 20s, typically weight around 130lb, but ate a Food Pyramid compliant diet (heavy whole grains, low fat, low protein as a result) and destroyed my health. Spent my 30s mired in chronic fatigue, spent the last 5 years digging out of it after I finally realized I wasn't just lazy. Lost a bunch of baby weight (I have 5 children) and was 132lb, but utterly horrible mental health attacked me that same year. Then I took DHEA on a trusted MD's recommendation and gained 40lb in 6 months that has not budged ever since despite no dietary change. Last year I was finally, after ten years, having enough normal human energy to start working out again. I was drawn to Crossfit and tried the senior class for a few months, then was fatigued again for a few months, then was able to jump into the regular classes full steam starting this past February. I've had incredible strength gains, LOVE free weights, LOVE the mixed training and the great coaching (seriously - I've done years of all kinds of exercises with all kinds of coaches and the ones at this gym are top-notch, even though I know that's not true of all XFit gyms).
But I'm SICK AND TIRED of being fat. It's so exhausting to attempt pull-ups, push-ups, mile runs, any bodyweight work at all at this weight. And I want to try to keep building strength while losing weight ... if possible. Or maybe I need to be willing to lose a little strength while losing weight? I don't know how that works.
So I'm 5'4", 175lb, well over 30% body fat (was consistently measured by calipers at 13% in my 20s, but those didn't really measure where I carry my fat, which is thighs & butt).
- Trying to lose weight, build functional strength (lifting couches easily!), no intent to compete in bodybuilding, but maybe in Crossfit or powerlifting. Ideally (wishful thinking, likely), a year from now I'd be 135lb, deadlifting 280lb, back squat 220lb, bench 140lb, overhead press 100lb, and also making great gains on Olympic lifts.
- I Crossfit M/T & Th/F one hour each day. It mixes weights, flexibility, some gymnastics, some running, lots of metcon. I enjoy swimming, canoeing, hiking, & snow/water skiing, as well.
- I eat an ancestral whole food diet of pastured & grassfed meats and produce procured from local farmers raising them organically. I typically have sausage and/or eggs for breakfast, leftovers for lunch, and meat+veggie+salad+veg-starch for dinner. I'm not hungry for snacks ever since quitting the Food Pyramid diet years ago and reducing my carb intake to a naturally possible level (what you could eat if factories didn't exist to process the grains).
- I've battled and largely conquered thyroid & adrenal crises in recent years, am about to 70% of my previous energy levels, and - here's the clincher - I have binge eating disorder. It might be helpful to think of it as sugar/carb addiction, as well. I actually went to a drug/alcohol treatment clinic for it after learning it was tied to the same neurotransmitter deficiencies as those addictions. The clinic made a massive improvement (with a purely physical approach), as has eating at least 4oz protein with every meal and supplementing with amino acids daily as recommended by Julia Ross and also with a custom amino acid blend. These AA's are purely for neurotransmitter production, not strength gains.
- Oddly, I've long been unusually strong. I used to avoid squats to keep my legs from getting "too" big, and managed to keep very strong abs & biceps even during a decade of not exercising (hardly getting off the couch) at all. When I started heavy lifting in February, I've made huge gains fast, going from a 90lb bench to 125lb, from never deadlifting before to 225x4 (today), from never back squatting to 165x2. I don't know why I am so strong, but I LOVE it and want to build on it.
I welcome your input. My #1 struggle, my #1 obstacle to my goals is the binge eating. I will eat ideally for 23.5hrs in a day, then there will be this unwordly takeover of my thought processes where I can think of nothing but sweets or large quantities of potatoes or rice and I will stuff myself till my body says stop, then I'll look around me at the carnage. Since addressing the protein / AA deficiencies, this no longer happens 3x/day (to the tune of many thousands of calories) and is more like very minor binges every other day and a major one only once every few months. But I simply cannot lose weight doing this ... and couldn't even lose weight during the 6 months I was binge-free last year. So I'm all ears for ideas, and also guidance on whether it's possible to lose fat and gain or keep muscle at the same time.
Thank you if you made it to the end of this!
5'4", 39yo
I was a cardiohead in college & all my 20s, typically weight around 130lb, but ate a Food Pyramid compliant diet (heavy whole grains, low fat, low protein as a result) and destroyed my health. Spent my 30s mired in chronic fatigue, spent the last 5 years digging out of it after I finally realized I wasn't just lazy. Lost a bunch of baby weight (I have 5 children) and was 132lb, but utterly horrible mental health attacked me that same year. Then I took DHEA on a trusted MD's recommendation and gained 40lb in 6 months that has not budged ever since despite no dietary change. Last year I was finally, after ten years, having enough normal human energy to start working out again. I was drawn to Crossfit and tried the senior class for a few months, then was fatigued again for a few months, then was able to jump into the regular classes full steam starting this past February. I've had incredible strength gains, LOVE free weights, LOVE the mixed training and the great coaching (seriously - I've done years of all kinds of exercises with all kinds of coaches and the ones at this gym are top-notch, even though I know that's not true of all XFit gyms).
But I'm SICK AND TIRED of being fat. It's so exhausting to attempt pull-ups, push-ups, mile runs, any bodyweight work at all at this weight. And I want to try to keep building strength while losing weight ... if possible. Or maybe I need to be willing to lose a little strength while losing weight? I don't know how that works.
So I'm 5'4", 175lb, well over 30% body fat (was consistently measured by calipers at 13% in my 20s, but those didn't really measure where I carry my fat, which is thighs & butt).
- Trying to lose weight, build functional strength (lifting couches easily!), no intent to compete in bodybuilding, but maybe in Crossfit or powerlifting. Ideally (wishful thinking, likely), a year from now I'd be 135lb, deadlifting 280lb, back squat 220lb, bench 140lb, overhead press 100lb, and also making great gains on Olympic lifts.
- I Crossfit M/T & Th/F one hour each day. It mixes weights, flexibility, some gymnastics, some running, lots of metcon. I enjoy swimming, canoeing, hiking, & snow/water skiing, as well.
- I eat an ancestral whole food diet of pastured & grassfed meats and produce procured from local farmers raising them organically. I typically have sausage and/or eggs for breakfast, leftovers for lunch, and meat+veggie+salad+veg-starch for dinner. I'm not hungry for snacks ever since quitting the Food Pyramid diet years ago and reducing my carb intake to a naturally possible level (what you could eat if factories didn't exist to process the grains).
- I've battled and largely conquered thyroid & adrenal crises in recent years, am about to 70% of my previous energy levels, and - here's the clincher - I have binge eating disorder. It might be helpful to think of it as sugar/carb addiction, as well. I actually went to a drug/alcohol treatment clinic for it after learning it was tied to the same neurotransmitter deficiencies as those addictions. The clinic made a massive improvement (with a purely physical approach), as has eating at least 4oz protein with every meal and supplementing with amino acids daily as recommended by Julia Ross and also with a custom amino acid blend. These AA's are purely for neurotransmitter production, not strength gains.
- Oddly, I've long been unusually strong. I used to avoid squats to keep my legs from getting "too" big, and managed to keep very strong abs & biceps even during a decade of not exercising (hardly getting off the couch) at all. When I started heavy lifting in February, I've made huge gains fast, going from a 90lb bench to 125lb, from never deadlifting before to 225x4 (today), from never back squatting to 165x2. I don't know why I am so strong, but I LOVE it and want to build on it.
I welcome your input. My #1 struggle, my #1 obstacle to my goals is the binge eating. I will eat ideally for 23.5hrs in a day, then there will be this unwordly takeover of my thought processes where I can think of nothing but sweets or large quantities of potatoes or rice and I will stuff myself till my body says stop, then I'll look around me at the carnage. Since addressing the protein / AA deficiencies, this no longer happens 3x/day (to the tune of many thousands of calories) and is more like very minor binges every other day and a major one only once every few months. But I simply cannot lose weight doing this ... and couldn't even lose weight during the 6 months I was binge-free last year. So I'm all ears for ideas, and also guidance on whether it's possible to lose fat and gain or keep muscle at the same time.
Thank you if you made it to the end of this!
