If you've lost weight doing STS...

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nclncl

Cathlete
What did your diet look like? Did you eat at a calorie deficit? Did you add calories to build muscle? Did you fall somewhere inbetween calorie deficit and calorie surplus?

It would help to know your height and weight starting as well! Thanks! I am going to start STS hopefully in late September and am making some plans. I am hoping hoping hoping the Power Tower will have arrived by then. :)

I am in a healthy weight range, but at the top of that healthy weight range and would like to drop about 10-15 lbs to be more down in the middle of the weight range!
 
I'm 5'7" and 128 lbs. If I'm not careful with my calories, my weight can jump up to 136 lbs.

I've played with exercise and calories for the past year and have found my magic numbers to be 1400 and 1500 calories (anything higher, and I gain). I eat 1400 on cardio days, 1500 on weight days. This keeps my weight steady, and I have no problem making strength gains.

I haven't tried it yet, but I suspect that cutting to 1300 to 1400 would reduce my body fat even more. I may play with that later down the road, but right now, I'm happy with how I look.

If you do not already, I suggest logging your calories for a week. Don't change how you eat...just record what you're taking in. That'll give you a good idea of what number may be your high-end number in terms of calories.

Then cut 50 to 100 calories a day and see what happens. See if you drop a little weight. If you do, then keep that number, and see where that takes you.

Note that some women have found they aren't eating enough, and when they increase their calories, they actually lose a little weight. You'll have to play with those numbers to find that out though.

It's a constant process of experiment and re-evaluation. :) (Translation = Royal pain in the butt!)
 
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I'm a little over 5'3" and I weigh 129-131. I was shooting for 125 but my body seems "set" at 130 so I'll take it. I'm not going to continue to wage war with my body over a few more pounds at this point :cool: I lost 13 lbs doing STS. I tracked everything I ate at thedailyplate, keeping between 1300-1400 cals per day with a "cheat" day once a week. Some weeks I lost 2.5 lbs, other weeks only half a lb but I always just kept going. Breakfast is always some protein (egg beaters) with some carbs (Van's 97% fat free waffles topped with blueberries) or a couple pieces of whole wheat toast. I usually have some fruit for a morning snack and then a salad with some protein. An afternoon snack is either a lowfat organic yogurt or a bowl of cereal (usually Joe's O's with a 1/2 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond breeze). Dinner is always frozen mixed veggies sauted in Pam with some organic brown rice and a protein of some sort --veggie burger, turkey meat loaf, etc. and a low cal dessert treat like a So Delicious mini vanilla ice cream sandwich or a Hungry Girl Death by Chocolate cupcake. I also found by trial and error that I am not one of those lucky people who can eat back whatever calories I've worked off for the day so I stopped logging my exercise at the dailyplate (because it will tell me "You can eat 400 more calories today" --um, maybe some people can but I can't) and only log it in here on the Workout Manager.

Good luck!
 
I lost about 30 pounds while doing STS. I am 5'2". I started STS weighing about 132, and ended STS weighing about 102 (I don't remember the exact figures). I did the six month rotation.

During the bulk of the six month rotation, I was in calorie deficit because my goal was to lose weight. I ate about 1300 calories a day during the first mesocycle, 1500 calories during the second mesocycle, and during the third mesocycle, ate about 1800 calories. During this latter mesocycle, I was supposed to be maintaining my weight because I had reached my goal (110), but I continued to lose despite continuing to increase my calories.

I changed my diet significantly during the course of the six months. When I started, I didn't eat very clean (I ate alot of processed foods), but in conjunction with doing STS, I tried to educate myself more on proper eating, so when I entered mesocycle 3, I was eating pretty clean. I think that is one of the reasons I continued to lose weight during that cycle despite increasing my calories. Right now, I eat anywhere between 2000-2200 calories a day (mostly clean) and am maintaining my weight rather easily.

Even though I didn't technically build muscle (in other words, I didn't create a calorie surplus that would have allowed me to add weight to my body in the form of muscle), I definitely got stronger, and the changes in my physique are very noticeable. Just this morning, I walked into the cleaners (I know the lady who runs the shop well, but haven't seen her in a little while) and she took one look at me and said something about my muscles.

I can't say enough good things about what STS, combined with a good clean diet, did for my body. Hope you enjoy STS as much as I did. :)
 
CLango said:
I lost about 30 pounds while doing STS. I am 5'2". I started STS weighing about 132, and ended STS weighing about 102 (I don't remember the exact figures). I did the six month rotation.

During the bulk of the six month rotation, I was in calorie deficit because my goal was to lose weight. I ate about 1300 calories a day during the first mesocycle, 1500 calories during the second mesocycle, and during the third mesocycle, ate about 1800 calories. During this latter mesocycle, I was supposed to be maintaining my weight because I had reached my goal (110), but I continued to lose despite continuing to increase my calories.

I changed my diet significantly during the course of the six months. When I started, I didn't eat very clean (I ate alot of processed foods), but in conjunction with doing STS, I tried to educate myself more on proper eating, so when I entered mesocycle 3, I was eating pretty clean. I think that is one of the reasons I continued to lose weight during that cycle despite increasing my calories. Right now, I eat anywhere between 2000-2200 calories a day (mostly clean) and am maintaining my weight rather easily.

Even though I didn't technically build muscle (in other words, I didn't create a calorie surplus that would have allowed me to add weight to my body in the form of muscle), I definitely got stronger, and the changes in my physique are very noticeable. Just this morning, I walked into the cleaners (I know the lady who runs the shop well, but haven't seen her in a little while) and she took one look at me and said something about my muscles.

I can't say enough good things about what STS, combined with a good clean diet, did for my body. Hope you enjoy STS as much as I did. :)
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What kinf of cardio did you do if any, how many days a week and for how long? thanks.
 
pharma_gal said:
What kinf of cardio did you do if any, how many days a week and for how long? thanks.
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During Meso 1, I did cardio three days a week for the first four weeks as recommended by Cathe. I did a mix of Cathe DVDs, from steady state step to intervals to kickboxing. On one of my cardio days, I would try to do something like BodyMax2's Scrambled Eggs that incorporated more legs because I like working out my legs twice a week (of course, I didn't do that back-to-back with an STS leg day).

About halfway through the cycle, I learned that I needed to compete it in a shorter amount of time than I thought because of some work-related travel, so I sped up the rotation and, as a result, started adding some short cardio sessions (30 minutes) to the end of my STS workouts (because I love cardio!) to make up for the days I needed to 'skip' to speed up the rotation.

I actually liked doing that, so continued adding a short cardio session after many of my STS workouts for the remainder of the rotation. During mesocycle 2, though, my fitness level seemed to improve my leaps and bounds. I had been doing all of my stepping on a 6" platform (for years!) and found I needed to increase that to 8". I also started doing some of Cathe's tougher premixes on my cardio-only (like the DrillMax Ultra Cardio Blast). So I did increase the intensity of the cardio throughout the rotation as my body responded to the effects of STS and better nutrition. On STS days, though, I still kept the cardio at a lower intensity (especially on leg days!), always took time off between the strength training and the cardio, and didn't do cardio for longer than about 40 minutes on those days.
 
Thanks guys. That is really helpful. CLango and Janet, I am around your same height (5'3"), so that's really useful information. :) I am currently about 133-135 lbs and I'd like to get that down and I'm dying to do STS (it's just sitting on the shelf!) so wondered if the 2 were compatible (losing weight on this program).

CLango, just wanted to add that your success story is mighting inspiring! :) I've enjoyed reading it...many times. In your after picture, you look triumphant! :)

I'd love to hear how things went for others, so keep 'em coming!
 
I started at 5'5" and 144 pounds in Feb, and am now down to 130 pounds after doing the 5 month rotation. I've tried dieting before but never could lose more than 3 pounds and then I would just stall out for the next 3 months and give up. I think STS is what helped me finally break through and lose the weight. My maintenance cals for 144 pounds were 1750 a day so I cut back to 1450 a day and lost about 3/4 pound a week. Now I am eating 1650 a day and am continuing to lose very slowly. I put some almonds and other healthy fats into my diet and reduced the sugar and starchy carbs. For cardio I did a lot of Cathe's suggestions except after legs day I was too fried to do anything except Leslie, and sometimes not even that! I also found my cardio endurance skyrocketed, and I have no explanation for that but I'm glad for it. I can now work out steady state at HR of 150, whereas before that was anaerobic-unsustainable for more than 30 seconds. And BTW I'm 52 years old, menopausal AND hypothyroid. So this kind of weight loss and fitness gain for me is sort of incredible.
Beth
 
wow totally amazing...i am so excited about your results

we are the same hieght and I would like to hit 130 as well. you are totally inspiring;)
 
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