I'm about a pound from my goal depending on the day and I want to start picking up my weight training. I've been weight training since before I started losing weight and it's probably helped me refrain from losing muscle mass throughout this entire process.

Now back when I was 200 pounds and I was weight training, I was maintaining that weight easily for several years. When I began weight training I did not lose any weight but I lost inches and was able to drop about a dress size (going from a 14/16 to a 12/14). Everyone thought I lost about 20 pounds.

I'm wondering if I can repeat this process at 136 pounds. I don't want to lose any more weight (maybe just a pound to get to 135, but it's not that important), nor do I want to gain any. Rather I'd like to eat at maintenance and build muscle and lose fat. I've slowly been adding to the amount I lift each week, but I know I won't be building anything if I keep eating at a deficit.

I generally eat a high protein, low carb diet. I'm not very strict with this overall and I do have several days where I'll have pizza and other high-carb foods but stay within my calorie allotment. 80% of the time though, I'm eating high protein, low carb.

Any thoughts on this? I never tried this deliberately before, but I'm wondering if it can work.

Absolutely! I have similar stats to you (I'm 135 now, not 129) and I have been doing the same thing for several months and slowly seeing a difference (I had a pregnancy in between so who knows how much better it could have been).

"Recomposition" can take a long time - years, even, for a noticable difference. But you will feel better, look better, and have fun. Win win!

Have fun!

Check out this homepage/community, they are big into weight training and nutrition: http://nerdfitness.com

sacha - Thank you for the response! I can wait years, that's not an issue and I'm glad to see that someone else has done what I wish to do! I know I'm not crazy now, haha! Now I just need to figure out my maintenance calories...

I love the feeling better part! I remember when I first started weight training...I loved the energy boost!

josey - Thanks I've actually spent several days running around the nerd fitness site, but a lot of it seems geared toward weight loss or weight gain. I'm also not sure I want to go full out Paleo (it's also just not possible with my current situation), but I do try to follow it whenever I can. I'll keep poking around there and see what I can find.

As a general rule, body weight in lbs x 16 is a decent number to shoot for. There are fancy calculators but really, when it comes to recomping, it's about the mirror. I would aim for around 1800-2000 at your size.

I don't count anymore but I have remained steady at this weight for about 8-10 months so I assume I am mentally keeping within that range and slowly seeing many changes.

sacha- you are an inspiration indeed. I hope I can some day have the success you do.

sontaikle - I think you're my weight loss twin. I was having the same thoughts about nerdfitness after being linked to the story about a female powerlifter.

As far as it goes for me, I am about 4 lbs from goal, but in the vicinity. I eat o.k. I don't limit carbs, but I also don't eat fast food or pizza more than twice a month. I keep reading these awesome stories about female lifters and they all preach paleo. I can't afford paleo and I honestly am torn about going to it anyway as there are lots of things I don't want to give up.

So, here's hoping I can do at least some recomposition. I look forward to seeing your progress at least

I'm also planning to do this when i get to my goal weight. No more than 3 times a week.

Haha sorry everyone! I sorta forgot about this thread... meant to reply ages ago

Thanks I'm trying to get up to that level although when I count I keep ending up at the 1500-1600 range. So I wouldn't be surprised if I drop another pound or two while I get used to eating more, but that's ok as I've set my range at 133-138.

Yeah paleo is really extreme and I still live at home so I can't tell my mom what to buy. If I buy my own food I know that everyone else would just eat it. So for now I try to stick to a Paleo diet as much as I can. I don't know if I'll ever go full Paleo, but I figure that incorporating it most of the time is better than none of the time.

I've actually already noticed some changes and I'm amazed at how fast! I've added in core exercises and my stomach is already flatter. My arms are even better now that I've been lifting heavier. I'm going to keep adding each week.

I honestly didn't think I would see results this fast, but I'm not going to complain!

You can start now so you avoid losing muscle mass while in weight loss mode I lifted throughout my weight loss.

Honestly, weight training is great thing to do regardless maintenance/surplus/deficit.

And even if you eat at maintenance it's very possible to achieve some serious muscular gains/fat loss/body recomposition. Timing a lot of your daily eating the hours after your workout is a simple way to achieve this.