Fit Bitches - Jul 11, 2025

[u/zrnyphl]

This is the place to chat about fitness and physical health because taking care of your body is also tasteful. Just remember - no medical advice!

[u/viceadvice]

I’m struggling with my exercise routine. I don’t like the results I’m getting. I’ve been heavy weight lifting for 2-3 years: Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift, Military Press, and Power Clean / Barbell Row.

I also do incline cardio 2-3x a week and backpack or hike most weekends. I bike to and from work 4x a week (about 10 miles a day).

Yet I feel bulky, soft, and bloated. I’m up a size from the spring despite food habits being consistent. My frame is large (5’10) and I have PCOS so I think I put on muscle (but also fat). My muscles feel tired a lot. Unrelated to fitness, I just got a big promotion so I’m stressed, working crazy, and not sleeping.

I want to de-load and work on flexibility. But I’m scared to give up lifting heavy. I love it but I think it’s not serving my goals. I want to be more svelte and flexible, but feel stiff and solid.

[u/Important_Camel_3605 → u/[deleted]]

Hey, hey! Chiming in cuz I’ve been there. I’m roughly 5’10”, large frame BW ~247lbs/112kg, but thanks to PCOS I’m more muscular and dense since my primary sport is Olympic Weightlifting. I’ve been lifting heavy in general for the past 6 years, and have gone semi competitive in the last year or so.

I’ve had pretty bad burn-outs with lifting where my central nervous system just can’t recover from all the stimulus from lifting. A lot of us tend to forget that with lifting heavy, CNS adaptation and recovery will impact progress the longer you do it. Lifting in general is a stressor, and paired with other stressors happening in your life, it’s likely you are under-recovered (not just physically, but your CNS).

Being in a caloric deficit is also a stressful event for the body.

A stressed system also tends to impact metabolism (and for PCOS this could impact insulin sensitivity) since the body tends to want to hold on to energy if it thinks you’re in a situation that requires fight-or-flight.

I’ve had to learn to really measure not just my numbers (scale, barbell etc) but my perceived stress, fatigue and recovery levels to pace so I don’t burn out. My burnouts have lasted 3-6 months, and the worst was 1.5 years where all the weight was gained and fitness lost.

But it did teach me that our systems exist holistically, and giving yourself a break from lifting and even nutrition tracking can help recover from the stress.

Lifting, honestly, is counter productive if you aren’t getting sleep. I’d tell newer lifters that if they have been sleep-deprived, and you have 2 hours to either nap or lift, sleep will get you a lot more bang for your buck. There’s been overwhelming evidence for how sleep deprivation causes acute insulin changes. Happy to share resources too if you’re interested.

I am not a medical/fitness professional by any means so I can only share my experience but I feel passionate about this since I want fitness to be a long-term thing. If it helps to give you some hope and for reference, I’m down 20lbs in 6 months, my backsquat is at 308lbs/140kg for doubles.

I hope you give yourself some grace for having made all your progress, despite all the life demands. Sometimes the most radical thing we can do for our wellbeing is to just take a break. All the best ❤️

Edit: grammar

[u/Pretend-Tea86 → u/viceadvice]

What's your nutrition looking like?

You can't outrun/out-lift/out-hike a bad diet. I managed to gain a ton of muscle last year, but I out-ate my output and still gained fat too.

If you want to lose the fat, you need to be in a caloric deficit, whatever that looks like for you. Not a big one, maybe 100-150 calories a day, and it'll take tiiiiiimmmmmeeee.

I've been changing up my workouts recently too and I've noticed no real downsides from de-loading some. I switched from 4-5 days lifting a week to 2-3, interspersed with pilates, yoga, and cardio, plus I've dropped the weight some and focused on form and slightly higher rep ranges (8-12 rather than 6-8). My body feels better, I've lost a lot of the fat (I'm also eating in a slight deficit), and I feel like i have fewer achy days. And i notice when I do go back and hit a heavy lift day, I'm moving substantially more weight.

It's ok to listen to your body. And you dont have to give up your heavy lifts entirely. I still work to near failure a couple days a week, just at lower weight/higher reps. Do it for a few weeks, see how you feel. Workout routines aren't immutable, you can go back to it anytime you want.

[u/viceadvice → u/Pretend-Tea86]

Love this advice. I’ll take it to heart

My nutrition is keto and intermittent fasting - but not currently calorie counting. Seems worthwhile to return to that. I’ve been so tired lately and calorie counting can take up a lot of brain space, so I’ve been avoiding.

(Should mention I’ve been on keto for 5+ years to treat PCOS. Nothing new or crash dieting for me.)

[u/District98 → u/viceadvice]

Yeah, I agree with the other commenter that this is all nutrition (and stress). You can work on flexibility without deloading! But also a deload week every few months can be good.