The calories are quite low for workout days at your bodyweight. Your body on its own burns around 2,600 cals just from being sedentary, and another 500 cals per hour of vigorous exercise. That being said, on days that you lift, you are burning around 3,000-3,100 cals, whereas you are only taking in 2,000 cals. That makes a 1K cal deficit on workout days, which can be pretty harsh. 500-700 per day should be the max deficit to encourage gradual fat losses. So I'd increase the calories to 2,300-2,500 on workout days, by increasing the quantity of anything within your existing plan.

The SINGLE best thing you can do is yoga. 1 hour of yoga, 3 days a week (minimum) combined with light stretching 15-20 minutes per day, POST WORKOUT, will absolutely make a monumental difference. Continue to focus on your core strength at the gym, as this will improve everything else (yoga also does this naturally).

What type of macro calculator specifically?? There are several types, ie: total macros based on percentage, diet type, food type, calories, etc. On a side note, here are some of my macro posts:


http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=21269614&f=60&p=337501104
Macro Guide

http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=21269614&f=60&p=463524775
What macros do I need?

http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=21269614&f=60&p=475394532
Macros Discussed

http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=21269614&f=60&p=414355941
How to calculate exact macros based on calories and percentages

what are some yoga poses i should do?

and what are your favourite core exercises?

Hi Ray,

For days when I do upper body: Chest, back, Shoulders, Triceps, Biceps

I understand why shoulders and arms are generally after the larger muscles, but can I do back first then chest (and alternate each day I do this)? Or just do chest first each time? Thanks.

Could you please shed some light how to proceed. So one of my good (girl)friend has several problems. She's been working out a lot and lost over 20kg over the past year and a half. Went from 90kg to below 70.

She goes dancing, plays volleyball, gym and occasionally goes running.

She's been complaining about these things recently a lot:

Knee issues. She says she's had weak knees from the young age but it hasn't stopped her from working out. Now she even wakes up in the middle of the night with knee pain.
Pain in the fingers. I don't know why she thinks it's relevant to mention tonsillectomy. But she said it got better after she had it done but now it's back full-time. In the mornings especially - closing the fist and moving fingers in general is painful. After she does it for a bit - it's okay.
Back muscle. One of her back muscles cramps up very easily. She thinks it's because she wears her purse on that shoulder and that side tenses up and becomes painful. She once ended up in the hospital due to this cramp.
Thigh muscle. Left foot's thigh muscle is painful. She's been stretching both legs for dancing but with the left foot there's no progress. She recently hurt it easily in a casual game after attending a friends marriage.
She's sick a lot recently. Always catching a cold and what not.



My bet would be she should focus on things that don't involve impact and sudden movements. Also - maybe she's been stressing out her body a lot. I know she's been going nuts with her training regimen and doesn't watch her eating habits that much. From what i know, she's too much in deficit (eating only twice on some days). These things can answer maybe for the muscle tighenings and knee issues - but pain in the fingers? What do you suggest as a course of action to start ruling things out.

This post was edited by SnoopieIX on Aug 23 2016 09:36am

That's a difficult question to answer because ALL the poses are good/beneficial. Furthermore, you have to work up to some more advanced poses by starting with the basic ones. If you have a gym membership, go to some of the yoga classes offered. If not, go on youtube and take some beginner courses on yoga to learn the basic poses before you move on. Yoga is best instructed in person and more difficult to teach yourself, as you can't see your form properly (which an instructor is able to critique and assist you with).


For ab exercises away from yoga:

http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=21269614&f=60&p=330745031
Abs Workout Routine

You can do back first if you prefer. Whatever you are more comfortable with is the best option here.

How old is she?? If she is young, this sounds like inadequate recovery, improper eating/hydration, lack of supplementation, and constant inflammation.


The solutions here are almost all the same. Increase sleep to 8+ hrs per night, drink at least 3/4 - 1 full gallon of water per day (3-4 liters), supplement properly (multivitamin, joint support, omega 3, etc), eat properly (at least 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight), and ice injuries as they occur. She should also eat more frequently throughout the day to avoid overloading on those two meals, which could lead to huge insulin spikes and actually prevent her from losing fat (if that is her goal).

I can't edit op but I'm also curious on how you guys change your workouts. This is the part I struggle with most.

I try to maintain intensity and drop volume. For the life of me I don't know how people gain strength while cutting - particularly people that aren't new and have a decent amount of training under their belt.


Also wondering when you guys drop volume.. Straight away or a few weeks in when you notice recovery seems shitty