Muscle vs fat blues

crittergirl222
crittergirl222 Posts: 120 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I have gone from basically sedentary and not paying any attention to what I ate to -500 cal /day and running 15-25 miles per week, and although my clothes are looser the scale is basically stuck.I understand the losing fat/gaining muscle thing, but this just seems a little disproportional.It is also making me want to increase my mileage more than the recommended 10%/week that everyone suggests.

Any input/information/reassurance would be greatly appreciated!!

Replies

  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
    Stats please. How long have you been at this? Have you lost ANY weight at all? Age, weight, height? How many calories are you eating?

    You're not gaining muscle eating at a deficit, running and in a week.
  • crittergirl222
    crittergirl222 Posts: 120 Member
    2 months, 46 y/o. With water fluctuations maybe 5 lb total loss. I'm not sure what your last sentence meant...
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    @strong_curves means that since you've mentioned above that you're eating at a daily calorie deficit of 500, there is no way you are gaining muscle. In order to gain muscle, one must eat at a caloric surplus.
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
    What strength program are you doing or are you just running?
  • crittergirl222
    crittergirl222 Posts: 120 Member
    synacious wrote: »
    @strong_curves means that since you've mentioned above that you're eating at a daily calorie deficit of 500, there is no way you are gaining muscle. In order to gain muscle, one must eat at a caloric surplus.

    So what gives? :(
  • crittergirl222
    crittergirl222 Posts: 120 Member
    singingflutelady wrote: »
    What strength program are you doing or are you just running?


    Cross training 2-3/week (weights, cycling,and--shudder--eliptical). :)
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
    Water retention?
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    How long has the scale been stuck?
  • crittergirl222
    crittergirl222 Posts: 120 Member
    It's been about 2 weeks since I've seen any meaningful loss (that isn't due to water weight). :(
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    crittergirl222 wrote: »
    It's been about 2 weeks since I've seen any meaningful loss (that isn't due to water weight). :(

    Give it some more time. Take a look at your diary and see if you've been leaving anything out or if there's any foods you haven't been weighing on a food scale. Weight loss is not always linear.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    Two weeks isn't much. The chapter on "Signal and Noise" in John Walker, The Hacker's Diet (free at http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/), explains why. If you have been losing up until a couple of weeks ago, just keep doing what you're doing and wait for the scale to catch up. If it's still stuck in a couple weeks, ask yourself whether there have been any changes in your life that you haven't accounted for—less active at work, the new barista is making your lattes with whole milk instead of skim, that 4-ounce pour of wine has drifted up to 7 ounces, etc. And if you can't find any, then come back for advice. Good luck!
  • crittergirl222
    crittergirl222 Posts: 120 Member
    Great advice. Thank you!!!! <3
This discussion has been closed.

Categories