For those who lift

byoung8433

1st and foremost please add me as a friend I need a large lifting community on my friends list.

Now on to the question. So I've been beginner lifting for about two weeks *got my workout from bodybuilders.com* and eating at my 1600 calorie deficit and while I see GREAT change in my lower back and arms. I see ZERO movement on the scale. My question is should I wait a bit longer to see change or should I increase my deficit to 1400. Which is 1.5lbs a week or increase reps.

Totally newbie question but I really do enjoy lifting. If anyone is willing to mentor me forsure add me.


Thanks in advance for the response.

Pocket__Cthulhu

I wouldn't recommend lowering your calories.

I'm no nutritionist or personal trainer, but if you're adding a new exercise routine to your life, then you should probably eat more or at least stay the course to fuel the new exercise routine you're doing. I ended up upping my calorie goal because I started feeling chronically lethargic. My scale hasn't budged in months, but I still have gone down 2 pant sizes and a shirt size since starting to lift.

I recommend looking at the thread "HALP lifting made me SUPAH Bulky." for some inspiration. If you read through it, you'll find that a lot of those ladies look absolutely awesome, and are "heavy" for what they look like. There's also a lot of good advice in there.

Pocket__Cthulhu

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/977538/halp-heavy-lifting-made-me-supah-bulky/p1

richln

It is very common to experience water retention when starting a new weight training program. If your weight doesn't start trending down after a couple more weeks, then re-evaluate your calorie goal if you want to lose weight. However, as a beginner, you should be able to make some relatively rapid progress (both in building muscle and losing fat) just by maintaining your current weight and training hard. Lowering your calorie intake will impede your ability to make progress in your training to some extent, so it depends on what goals are most important to you.

Bodybuilding.com is a pretty mixed bag, and there is a lot of nonsense floating around there. I don't know what program you chose from there, but here is a list of tried and proven programs if you find your program lacking:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

Sumiblue

2 weeks isn't long enough to judge if lifting is working for you. Lifting is about changing your body composition not dropping lbs quickly. If you entered your goal data accurately give it time. Dropping your calories now will probably backfire in that you will be hungry and possibly binge.

Misssynth

I lift, and have a fair amount of weight to lose. I have a scale which tracks both weight and body fat percentage and I find that when I have a particually good/hard gym session a couple of days later my weigh goes up a pound or two but my body fat percentage goes down. For me, my weight loss is quite slow (about 1lb a week, sometimes a little more) but my fat percentage is shooting down as I build muscle. Remember that muscle has weight, as you lift you gain more, so you could be losing a similar amount of fat weight as you are gaining in muscle. If you're lifting, you need proper nutrition so please don't cut your calories down much more! I eat around 1800 a day for a good steady loss.

jemhh

Never drop calories due to 2 weeks of no scale movement. Men shouldn't drop until 3 weeks have passed and for women it is even longer (ideally compare weights at the same point in your menstrual cycle.) That's without having added a new fitness program like lifting weights. With that added, it can take longer for the scale to move but your measurements will change.

sammyliftsandeats

Keep calm, keep lifting, and the water weight will drop.

If you are keeping at a deficit and accurately weighing/logging your food, the fat will go away. As @sumiblue mentioned, lifting is about changing your body composition.

I think as time goes on and you get more into it, you will care less about the scale and go by other measurements. Take progress pictures and measurements. Sometimes they can tell you more than a scale.

TR0berts

You've gotten some good info here. I don't really have anything to add, so I'll just say, "yes to the above."

cathipa

Don't rely only on the scale. Take pictures and measurements. Agree with 2 weeks is too soon to change. Not sure what your current weight is, how far you are to goal or what your workout routine consists of, but I would stick with 1600 for now. Make sure you are weighing your food and using correct entries (i.e. no homemade or generic).

cqbkaju

Measure your waist at the belly button and track it.
A simple cloth or vinyl measuring tape for tailoring clothes will do fine.

Measure first thing in the morning on a regular schedule, after using the bathroom.
As long as your waist measurement isn't always going up and you are getting stronger then you are probably losing fat.
It takes several weeks to notice any real changes anyway.

2-month trends are more accurate than 2-week ones.

cqbkaju

Obligatory:

grob49

There is a lot of good advice here and I'double down on it. I'll tell you what I am finding out on my diet and logging. I've found that my calorie intake according to what and the way I have logged it needs to be between 1200 and 1500 calories. Now I'm not saying that 1200 calories is what I am really getting. I think it is more of the way I log it and what is in the database for calories. I played around with my diet tweaking it till I found what worked for me. Not saying this is the right way to do it. Just saying this is what works for me. I am by no means an expert on the subject. As for your workout can't say a lot about it without seeing it. Bodybuilding.com as some good stuff on it. Bodybuilding is like everything else everyone has an opinion. For a beginner I would stick with a 3 day total body workout. I've heard some good things about the 5X5 routine. You should include some cardio though. An HIIT is the best. One more thing check out YouTube to see how to do the lifts properly. I see a lot if people sacrificing form for weight. that doesn't do you any good.

peaceout_aly

Sumiblue wrote: »

2 weeks isn't long enough to judge if lifting is working for you. Lifting is about changing your body composition not dropping lbs quickly. If you entered your goal data accurately give it time. Dropping your calories now will probably backfire in that you will be hungry and possibly binge.

^^ THIS!

byoung8433

Thank you all so much!! I will keep at this. I am excited for the future!!!

serapel

I have gained 4 pounds and my waist is the same. I measure my waist above the belly button because I am high waisted. It's a very good indicator of fat loss and muscle gain.

curlsintherack

I'm not a woman and I know that adds complexity but I have noticed after a particularly long dificult run or weight lifting session my weight can track upward for a few days then drop. I would also suggest staying away from the bb plans at first as generally they are much more complex than you require. starting strength or stronglifts is a good base line and has absolutely nothing to do with calculating max training loads or pyramid training.

sllm1

Be patient.