Im speaking for the Wife!  She not into all the online forums stuff like me, but she wants me to ask.

-been working out for sometime (running, bleachers, cross fit, and now lifting for the past 6 months)  

-5ft 7in started to bulk at 135lbs at around 21-20% body fat

-gained 5lbs from lifting (had a personal trainer) to 140lbs

-Cutting has been for 14 weeks and started cut at 1800 calories and kept protein at 1 per pound body weight.  Eat pretty healthy 95% of the time

-Slowly dropped down over 14 weeks to  1550 calories and been doing 3 days a week full body workouts 1 day HITT cardio and another day of low impact carido.  Weight is still at 140 lbs but did lose 3/4" around waist. and for sure at 20% body fat

-currently at 135g protein, 140 grams carbs (wife really craves carbs) and whats left falls into fats.  She uses my fitnesspal to track macros.  Every time she stays away from carbs lets say for a week nothing happens and when she goes back to 140-180g of carb she will lose weight the next day.  But will go back and stay around 140.

She doesn't want to start bulking this fall at 140lbs.  She has a hang up on that stupid scale.  She wants to lose fat and get back to 135lbs before she starts bulking again.  Over all she is very fit and looks great but she wants that extra fat off the stomach.  She also thinks most girls who lift heavy and are fit are usually around 130-135lbs on average.  I think most would probably be around 135-155lb you think?

Anyways any other ideas on how to help loose the weight?  She did have progress on the waist size.  And she probably has been properly lifting for the past 6month so still under that first year in proper lifting.

Hey @Zeke_BE.

I would say the simple answer is to reduce her calories a bit further the help the weight come off a bit more. Either that, or add in some kind of extra training (maybe another training day, or just some more cardio) so that she can burn more calories to help her lose more fat.

That being said, I do agree with you that 140lbs is still a healthy weight for he height, and especially if she is at 20% body fat, that's perfectly normal. However, it is a personal choice for how lean she wants to be, so no harm there either 😊 

Hopefully these tips help her out! I know she loves carbs.. but suggest to her that she tries sticking to 100g daily for a week and see what that does.

One last thing - if she was 20-21% body fat at 135lbs, then started lifting, and she's still at that same body fat %, that 5lbs she gained from lifting is probably muscle.

Ok Ill let her know. Thanks Scott!!

Happy to help @Zeke_BE!

She’ll be happier with her progress when she stops comparing herself with other fit chicks. I used to try and “look” like Jessie Hilgenberg for years 😂 We are both genetically different so that will never happen. (If I were male, I’d say I’d try to look like Scott Herman 😉) Someone once told me, just be a better you. So I work at it in a different mind set now. My body type tightens up when I drop my calories but I keep my protein % up. I’m 5’4” and 125lbs eating around 1700-2000 calories a day. That makes me a bit fluffy in the belly. If I drop to around 1550 calories, I start to look cut, but I lose the muscle size I want and I drop to 115lbs lol. I was a fan of intermittent fasting, lost my extra fat on my outer thighs and lower belly 👌🏻 My body type also gets fluffy when I’m eating sugar, too many carbs and dairy. I never really weigh myself a lot, the scale is a better motivator if you are very overweight IMO. Throw that thing out lol

Great advice @SavvvyD! It's so important to be your own person and be the best you can be, because everyone is different and everyone responds to things differently. That's why I have said in the past that if the same thing worked for everyone.. there would be just one book on fitness that everyone reads and everyone gets the same results from.

But there's not haha. Definitely do research, but also use trial and error and learn your own body for sure! Keep up the great work @SavvvyD!! 🙌 

Thanks for the response Savvy D. My wife read read your response. She can relate with the fluff. Ill keep bugging her about the scale :)

Scott my last write up was wrong. I thought she was at 1550 calories but after I sent send she told me she was at 1300 caloroies (for a couple of weeks at that point). But we went ahead dropped it to 1200 which is really low just to see what would happen. (nothing did) Last week we went to the beach house for the 4th and ate in surplus got to live a bit for the birth of our nation :). I suggested to her now since she ate for the holidays for the week at maintaince and maybe in surplus that we go back to 1600-1700 and work our way back down. Is that a good option or just reverse diet back up to maintainces and then come back down?

💪🏻😁

So is 1600-1700 her general maintenance number? Or is that still a slight deficit technically? If she's already been eating at that number for the past week, then yes stay there for now and work back down. If she can lose weight at that number, it's better to stay there for as long as possible before reducing it further.

Also try suggesting to cut back mainly on the carbs and go down to that 100g daily mark too and see what effect that has in terms of fat loss.

1800-1900 is her maintaince. Yes I forgot she hit her carb at 100 after you said to do that. She only did it for a week and a half until we went on vaction and she was already at 1200 too. Nothing really budge but we didn't give it more then 2 weeks to see. Since she went up on calories (on vaction) and she was already low I was thinking her body is in starvation mode and just hanging on. I thought or think it would be good idea to give her body some fuel while still in deficet and start back down and see if she will start going down. She has watched other women youtubers have had results going back and giving their body more food and then it reacted and started loosing weight. Just didn't know if you have seen that in your career.

Yeah I have definitely seen and heard of it. It's a great tool to use when you get stuck in a plateau, because you're right, she won't want to go too low with her calories because that's not always productive either.

If she can work back up to that 1900 mark while maintaining, that will be ideal. Theoretically from there, going back to 1600-1700 should put her in a deficit. If she can, get to 1g protein per pound of body weight (which I know she was basically at already with 135g, but maybe take it up to that 140g mark if she is still 140lbs). While reverse dieting, still try to keep the carbs moderately low.

As long as the fat sources are good, don't be afraid of substituting fat for carbs too.