heavy lifting and weight loss question

tlmcint

It seems most of the pics I've seen from members that lift, they were at or near their goal weight when they started,
so my question is two fold,

1. from those that started lifting with still a lot of weight to lose, did you still see the scale go up as you built up muscle? I still have at least 30lbs to lose and want to know what to expect. I am just starting the 5x5 stronglifts program.

2. What else did you do with the lifting for exercise? Any cardio in between days of lifting etc.

Thank you!

Mia_RagazzaTosta

It seems most of the pics I've seen from members that lift, they were at or near their goal weight when they started,
so my question is two fold,

1. from those that started lifting with still a lot of weight to lose, did you still see the scale go up as you built up muscle? I still have at least 30lbs to lose and want to know what to expect. I am just starting the 5x5 stronglifts program.

2. What else did you do with the lifting for exercise? Any cardio in between days of lifting etc.

Thank you!

As long as you are eating at a deficit the scale will not go up, except for "noob" gains in the beginning. You aren't building muscle; you're preserving existing muscle. A lot of people (I am one) started lifting before getting to goal. Muscle is the best fat burner out there! I don't do much else but lifting, but I'll go on a walk or something on my off days.

erickirb

You may gain in the first week or 2 which would be due to water retention in your muscles. If you are in a deficit, once you get use to the workout you should see the scale start to move downward again.

As long as you are in a caloric deficit no need for cardio to, unless you want to strengthen your heart, increase endurance or are training for an event. For weight loss cardio just allows you to eat more food and lose the same amount of weight you could by diet alone.

Iron_Lotus

Look at my pics. I lost my weight eating at a deficit and lifting only.

ETA: It's slow going mind you but the results are great!

jmadams111

I started lifting within 6 weeks of starting eating at a deficit and cardio to burn fat; higher muscle mass uses more energy (per my Cardiologist). I alternate biking/walking with lifting and have seen both larger muscles and lower weight as well as loss of significant inches. Although, maybe I can now SEE the muscles under what used to be fat!

When I lift, I also do it at a fairly rabid clip, never esting more than a minute in order to keep my heart rate up. All of this was done with a LOT of weight to lose. Now that I am down significantly its harder to do both.

MeadowSong

One thing I noticed is that when I lift regularly, I maintain my cardio fitness without doing "cardio" workouts--ie running. Also, anytime I do anything enough to get sore I show a small gain, I just keep reminding myself that it's not a "weight" gain and keep going.

timbrom

You may gain a pound or two of muscle, but the general consensus is that you generally won't gain much, if any muscle if you're eating at a deficit. Only complete newbie lifters with significant body fat show any muscle gains while lifting.

What will (most likely) happen is that as you lift, you actually cause some damage to your muscles. That damage being repaired (the "recovery" phase) plays a part in making you stronger. Repairing this damage requires water though, and that extra water weight can cause the scale to creep up. It was about five pounds for me, which is pretty typical, and will go away after the first couple of weeks.

I started lifting with about 40-ish lbs to lose.

EDollah

I'll answer since I satisfy your condition in #1, I was lifting in week 2 of an effort to lose over 100 pounds. No the scale did not, and basically can not, go up if you are in a caloric deficit.

2. I do cardio in the morning on the days I lift, then lift in the evening.

wwwdotcr

It seems most of the pics I've seen from members that lift, they were at or near their goal weight when they started,
so my question is two fold,

1. from those that started lifting with still a lot of weight to lose, did you still see the scale go up as you built up muscle? I still have at least 30lbs to lose and want to know what to expect. I am just starting the 5x5 stronglifts program.

2. What else did you do with the lifting for exercise? Any cardio in between days of lifting etc.

Thank you!

Unless you are a complete noob (noob gains) in lifting, you shouldn't expect any sizable muscle mass increase if at all.

2. I do a lot of LISS (at around 4.0 pace for 45 min-55 min) 5-6 days a week, just to bump up my metabolism but I am sure its not necessary to lose weight.

tolygal

I've been lifting for a while now, and I've never seen the scale move (noticeably) due to muscle gain, although my shape certainly has. Plenty of times it moves up because I eat poorly and I gain water or fat, but any muscle I have gained hasn't seemed to have had much impact on the scale.

However, I don't mind if/when the scale goes up because of muscle or water... I only hate it when it moves due to fat gain ...

I still have a strong 30# of fat to lose (I think, we'll see), but I still I love how the muscle changes my shape. I can't wait to get the fat off so I can see it better. I do elliptical intervals for 20-30 mins after most lifting sessions. I've recently started running on my rest days, but before the past week, my rest days were totally rest.

jacklis

I started lifting right off- I did not focus on a deficit at all for the first year and half and still lost- albeit slowly.
6 months in I started doing cardio on the off days (running, stairs, rowing).
At 15 months I had lost 20 pounds -then began to focus on my diet and keeping a deficit and within 3 months I had dropped another 30 pounds.

257_Lag

I have 30 left to goal (and 30 down) and I can tell you from very recent experience that I changed nothing in my diet and only dropped a little cardio from my routine when I started lifting in late June. My loss did indeed stop and I crept up about 3 pounds. Most likely holding water for muscle repair. The "stall" lasted for about 2 1/2 weeks and then went right back to my normal loss pattern.

Tonight will be my 10th Stronglifts session.

I am a daily weigher so I can SHOW you what it looked like. Please note that this chart is not current as of this week so you will not see the return to normal that occurred a few days later but for reference I was 230 for the last three days. Not today, but that's another story and entirely my fault.

Isakizza

I had this same question when I started lifting a few months ago.

My weight didn't really go up, just stalled. I had a couple inches lost in that time but really not a big difference. My BF% is moving down though, slowly but very happy about that :happy: .

I now do more cardio along with my lifting have had better results that way (scale/inches/BF). Cardio is almost everyday, even on my lifting days 30-60 mins. I try to keep it high intensity and intervals (run hills/sprint).

I don't expect to progress too much on lifting since I'm also pushing a lot of cardio and eating at a deficit. I will change up my routine as I lose more weight & BF.

I eat anywhere between 1800-2100, and try to keep my protein enough in hopes not to lose too much lean mass. I still have about 50+ lbs to lose, I will stick with this until I need to change it up again.

Hope you find what works best for you.



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tlmcint

I appreciate the replies all! Some of it leaves me with a lot more questions however. lol I really need to go do more reading on the subject!.

So.. as far as I can tell, trying to figure out how many calories you are burning when lifting is difficult at best, so how do you really know if you are eating at a deficit? Everything I read says "eat more!". Or at least, "eat more than you have been" in my case. So of course I'm nervous that if I start taking in more calories, I'll gain back... but I guess I just need to trust, and try it.

And yes I am a complete noob, so I guess I'll see those noob gains. But you all have given me what I needed to hear,

thank you!

timbrom

I appreciate the replies all! Some of it leaves me with a lot more questions however. lol I really need to go do more reading on the subject!.

So.. as far as I can tell, trying to figure out how many calories you are burning when lifting is difficult at best, so how do you really know if you are eating at a deficit? Everything I read says "eat more!". Or at least, "eat more than you have been" in my case. So of course I'm nervous that if I start taking in more calories, I'll gain back... but I guess I just need to trust, and try it.

And yes I am a complete noob, so I guess I'll see those noob gains. But you all have given me what I needed to hear,

thank you!

For strength training, read these:
1. Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training by Mark Rippetoe
2. Practical Programming for Strength Training, by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore

For nutrition while strength training, read this:
1. http://thefitcoach.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/584/

It is going to seem like a ludicrous amount of food to be eating. Eat it anyhow. Trust me, it works.

jfenner141

Hi - I started a strength training "class" about a year ago (dr's orders). My trainers always recommend some cardio either before or after each workout. For me (now) it's 10 minutes on the elliptical before each session. Gets my up to cardiospeed, and I generally maintain that during my workout.

Never really noticed a gain, though a standstill for a couple of weeks, yes. Being over 60, it's a bit tougher to rev up my metabolism. The trainers work with class members individually and help me change up my routine from time to time to make it more interesting. I use machines and free weights.

I don't eat up the calaories I'veburned. I just leave most of it as more deficit, though I generally do have some type of protein when I get home (often greek yogurt).

hungryhobbit1

I put on most of my muscle mass the last time I lost weight, 10 years ago. I did actually gain significant lean muscle mass, but 1) they were first timer gains 2) Not sure how diligent I was about my caloric deficit, it was a long time ago and 3) I am genetically gifted in the muscle dept. (And happy to be.)

I'm so happy that happened, though. They provide a great scaffolding, when the weight comes off my shape is much nicer than it ever was before I put on muscle, plus no knee problems ever again thanks to quads of steel.

tlmcint

For strength training, read these:
1. Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training by Mark Rippetoe
2. Practical Programming for Strength Training, by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore

For nutrition while strength training, read this:
1. http://thefitcoach.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/584/

It is going to seem like a ludicrous amount of food to be eating. Eat it anyhow. Trust me, it works.
[/quote]

Thank you! I will give those a read : )

tlmcint

I've been lifting for a while now, and I've never seen the scale move (noticeably) due to muscle gain, although my shape certainly has. Plenty of times it moves up because I eat poorly and I gain water or fat, but any muscle I have gained hasn't seemed to have had much impact on the scale.

However, I don't mind if/when the scale goes up because of muscle or water... I only hate it when it moves due to fat gain ...

I still have a strong 30# of fat to lose (I think, we'll see), but I still I love how the muscle changes my shape. I can't wait to get the fat off so I can see it better. I do elliptical intervals for 20-30 mins after most lifting sessions. I've recently started running on my rest days, but before the past week, my rest days were totally rest.

So what lifting program do you use? If you haven't seen the scale move due to muscle gain, have you been seeing it move due to fat loss? Or has the loss stalled, but your body shape is changing? Right now I would be happy with a bit of body shape change!

tolygal

I've been lifting for a while now, and I've never seen the scale move (noticeably) due to muscle gain, although my shape certainly has. Plenty of times it moves up because I eat poorly and I gain water or fat, but any muscle I have gained hasn't seemed to have had much impact on the scale.

However, I don't mind if/when the scale goes up because of muscle or water... I only hate it when it moves due to fat gain ...

I still have a strong 30# of fat to lose (I think, we'll see), but I still I love how the muscle changes my shape. I can't wait to get the fat off so I can see it better. I do elliptical intervals for 20-30 mins after most lifting sessions. I've recently started running on my rest days, but before the past week, my rest days were totally rest.

So what lifting program do you use? If you haven't seen the scale move due to muscle gain, have you been seeing it move due to fat loss? Or has the loss stalled, but your body shape is changing? Right now I would be happy with a bit of body shape change!

Sorry, I just saw this (I wish MFP gave notifications when someone quoted or replied to you....).

I'm not really using any lifting program right at this moment. When I first started, I used NROLFW. Then I just did my own thing for a while and then started NROL for Life. Now I just sort of do my own thing - I have a typical "routine" I alternate every other workout which includes either squats or deads and then a bunch of other stuff. I'm thinking of starting a new program though because I'm feeling bored and un-inspired. Recently, the scale has not been moving at all, but that's due to my diet. I haven't been doing a very good job in that area, and so I'm really just maintaining. I was getting quite lean and defined, but then I had a surgery and had to take several weeks off and then slowly work back into things - then got in a slump and gained back 20#. This was about a year ago...... Since then I've been working at getting it off - but not very consistently. So...I wouldn't say that my weight loss has stalled due to lifting or anything else except that my diet isn't consistently good. It was originally helping a lot.

About my body changing - I wish I had before pictures of this, but as an example, my butt used to be very long (if that makes any sense). It kind of seemed to go half way down my leg. But now, even though I still have plenty of extra fat - everything is lifted up where it belongs and it's nice and round. My legs are also much more shapely. My husband tells me all the time that he can feel how strong I've gotten and totally notices all the muscle (under the fat).

Lots of people claim that the scale goes up due to muscle, but I really don't think it's that measurable weight-wise - at least it hasn't seemed to be for me - even eating at a surplus at times. But honestly, for me, my goal isn't about a weight as much as it is a weight I think I'll need to get to to have the body and health that I want. I don't care if the scale says I weigh 200 if I look the way I want to look. But I watch the scale - I can't help it :-) So understand why people care so much about what it says!! I just keep in mind that it's not what really matters, it's just another way to track some data.

coffee4me57

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