How long before you saw it?

prettypeach790

How long did it take before you noticed inches lost when lifting weights?

I lift about 3-4 days a week (not super heavy, but heavy for me 15 lb dumbbells) for about 30 minutes. I do cardio around 6 days a week for 30 minutes. I upped my calories to be 1500-1900 sometimes go up to 2000ish on my days that I need a little more due to excessive hunger. I started eating more because I have read on here you have to if you start a weight program. I want to stick to 1700-1800 if that is enough.

I have been doing it about 2.5 weeks, and I haven't lost any inches. I feel that I am stronger, and getting better physically, but I have gained some weight, and not losing inches.

When did you see the results? I am more concerned about inches lost and how I look in the mirror rather than the scale.


26 years old, 5'10 tall, 170-172lbs

sammyliftsandeats

prettypeach790 wrote: »

How long did it take before you noticed inches lost when lifting weights?

I lift about 3-4 days a week (not super heavy, but heavy for me 15 lb dumbbells) for about 30 minutes. I do cardio around 6 days a week for 30 minutes. I upped my calories to be 1500-1900 sometimes go up to 2000ish on my days that I need a little more due to excessive hunger. I started eating more because I have read on here you have to if you start a weight program. I want to stick to 1700-1800 if that is enough.

I have been doing it about 2.5 weeks, and I haven't lost any inches. I feel that I am stronger, and getting better physically, but I have gained some weight, and not losing inches.

When did you see the results? I am more concerned about inches lost and how I look in the mirror rather than the scale.


26 years old, 5'10 tall, 170-172lbs

Bolded part is not necessarily true. Some people say that lifting makes them hungrier but lots of people stay in a calorie deficit and lift. You retain your muscle mass that way. By eating extra calories and lifting, you are essentially bulking. But if you don't have a low enough bodyfat %, then you are gaining more fat than anything.


It's only been 2.5 weeks. I didn't see results (inches lost) until about the six week mark for me.

psuLemon

prettypeach790 wrote: »

How long did it take before you noticed inches lost when lifting weights?

I lift about 3-4 days a week (not super heavy, but heavy for me 15 lb dumbbells) for about 30 minutes. I do cardio around 6 days a week for 30 minutes. I upped my calories to be 1500-1900 sometimes go up to 2000ish on my days that I need a little more due to excessive hunger. I started eating more because I have read on here you have to if you start a weight program. I want to stick to 1700-1800 if that is enough.

I have been doing it about 2.5 weeks, and I haven't lost any inches. I feel that I am stronger, and getting better physically, but I have gained some weight, and not losing inches.

When did you see the results? I am more concerned about inches lost and how I look in the mirror rather than the scale.


26 years old, 5'10 tall, 170-172lbs

The results you see are going to depend on many factors; genetics, how good the training stimulus is, how new to lifting, nutrition, etc.. but 2.5 weeks isn't going to make a huge difference. I am fairly lean and saw results in the fist month. But when you aren't as lean, it will take longer.

Also, are you following any kind of structured program or just doing random moves? If it's not a structure program, you should moved to one, like one of these. I would probably also drop cardio on lifting days as you should focus on progressively increasing weight. And I would set calorie levels to where you would lose weight.

BeeerRunner

When I was losing, I needed to stay between 1200 to 1300 calories a day to lose 1 to 2 lbs per week. However, I'm much older than you. During that time, I rarely ate back calories burned. Yes I was HUNGRY 24x7, but I successfully lost 42 lbs and I'm now in the best shape of my life. For exercise, I started with P90X3 so I was doing cardio and body weight exercises, dumb bell exercises, and resistance bands. When I started, I couldn't do 1 push up on my toes and ended up being able to do 200 on my toes by the end. I even was able to do plyo push ups. Since I finished P90X3, I now run 5 to 6 times per week and do strength training at the gym 3 to 4x per week. If you aren't losing any weight or inches with all the exercises you are doing, your calorie intake is probably too high. Yes, you will be hungry...most of us are. I actually gained weight from eating too much my 1st 2 weeks of P90X3, and it was not muscle. I was simply eating too much because I was so hungry from exercising.

However, after 2.5 weeks, you aren't going to see a huge difference. I lost 42 lbs and 10" in my waist altogether, but it took me a little over 4 months to accomplish that.

DopeItUp

A couple years or so, I'd say?

SueInAz

2.5 weeks isn't nearly long enough to see real progress. It's definitely going to take some time and there are far too many variables to predict how long it will be before you do. Just keep at it and keep taking measurements every few weeks. You can record them in MFP or another app so you can see progress.

If you're gaining weight then you are probably eating too much. You don't want to bulk to gain muscle; your goal should be retaining muscle you already have and losing the fat that is covering them. Follow the calorie goal MFP set for you.

I personally lift and do cardio (run) on alternating days. That gives my muscles a chance to rest between the workouts that use them.

GiddyupTim

I am a firm believer in activity as essential to keeping weight off once you lose it.
I am going to guess that if you are lifting with 15-pound dumbbells you are not working hard enough to see any difference. But that's okay. Get started. Establish the habit of exercise. Don't work so hard you start hating it and have some patience with your commitment.
Change will come. But it won't come over night and, if it does, you will likely lose it two years down the road.
Take it easy. Relax. And know that you are on a path. The right path. But one that does not necessarily have an end.

Sued0nim

I'd suggest you follow a structured programme ..15lbs on real lifts will not be heavy for you

Also you don't eat more to workout necessarily

Your inches lost are about your defecit

Your strength gains will be about your ability to progress ..and the best way for a beginner is to follow one of the existing structured programmes ..like strong curves, starting strength, stronglifts etc

prettypeach790

I think I was over thinking it. I will continue my 20% deficit off my TDEE, and workout how I have been to get my fat reduced to see what muscle progress I have made while lifting. Hopefully I can come back here and show my progress

jolive7

In 6 weeks if you are consistent you should start to see changes, give it a good 12 weeks to really see them and for others to start noticing. I could see small changes at this mark. You have to be patient, it took me about 18 months to see abs and I lift heavy

canadianlbs

if you're only lifting because you want specific visual results and you hate the actual lifting, it's going to be a long road. so imo, a good way to make the time pass more easily is to focus on this:

I feel that I am stronger, and getting better physically

it's more subtle for me than just 'x inches off [body zone]', more like an overall shift in the visual harmonics. wanky though that may sound, idk how else to articulate it. the 'lines' of my body look different. they sort of flow more gracefully into one another. idk when i really noticed it though, because it's been such a non-dramatic process.