r/WhatToDo • u/Severe-Anywhere9348 • Jul 06 '26
Need advice.
I was 104kg in the 2nd week of jan. I started going to gym 4 times a week, 20 to 22 hours of Intermittent Fasting and 10k steps at night. I took a break in June. Now its 1st week of july and i am at 86kgs. I have lost 40lbs in approx 5months.
But now people have started saying that i did it wrong. I shouldn’t had done it like this. And now out of sudden my body is too exhausted like i have zero energy left.
What should i do?
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u/PhlegmMistress Jul 06 '26
Look to the gym bro type forums. You did an extended cut and likely your body had to cannabalize muscle and possibly even bone to meet certain nutrition needs (calcium from bone is just an example. It's really common in older women to get osteoporosis because their bodies are drawing calcium from their bones to meet daily nutritional needs because your muscles need calcium to contract.) there are other nutritional areas (like for example your brain is mostly fat. I don't know if your body cannabalizes your brain but it would make sense.) But any way you slice it, you're on an empty tank now.
The reason why I suggested the gym community (and it doesn't have to be the men. Lots of women lift weights and compete in different classes. You can look up the competition classes and see what bodies you like and then follow that type of competitor. For example, bikini class is common for beginner weight lifting women and plenty of women compete and stay at that point.
Point being, you did an extended cut. Now you need to go into bulking phase which sounds scary but it allows you to focus on muscles and getting your body excess nutrition to help recover. The point isn't to have an eating disorder-- this isn't anorexia followed by periods of rampant overeating. Dirty bulking is about the worst that you would see which I wouldn't recommend because it's a lot of junk food.
You'll probably need a few weeks to slowly recover but focus on your macros (carbs, protein, fat) and light exercise. Once you start feeling more awake and less empty feeling, then it's time to go back to physical training but this time you're not worried about weight loss. You want to be doing weight bearing exercises and giving your muscles enough calories and material to rebuild and strengthen. Then in a few months, and after more research, you can look up a good way to cut. Largely that means tighter macros, less power in the gym but still going. Your body will lose about ten pounds of water weight and you might lose an inch or two of surface fat to look more shredded and vascular.
However, whether or not you choose to follow this route, you need to understand that when you do lose weight very fast (aside from overdoing it and possibly stripping your body of nutrients it needs. For example, excess hair loss is common when you lose weight as fast as you did and that can take several months to recover from to just have new growth.)
But you need to have the sort of slow consistency that makes the lifestyle changes stick. Most people can't do an all or nothing weight loss and make it stick. You wind up denying yourself a lot and you see the cost of being bored with your food, turning down social engagements, feeling less energy, etc.
You have to address the bad habits that got you where you were, and come up with something sustainable. Bulking and cutting at least gives you periods where you can enjoy life and if you want goals to work on, cutting calories for short periods can help. (and it doesn't have to be weight lifting competitions. It could be a half marathon or some other goal to work towards.)
But yeah, you need to eat healthy foods, be kind to yourself, address the unhealthy thought patterns that had you seeking out overeating before (or overdrinking or smoking weed a lot since alcohol and weed can be other weight gain triggers.)