What the eff??!!??
AlbiesWifey2017
Posts: 18 Member
How long do you think it takes of being consistently in the gym to notice some form of visual result?? I’ve been going anywhere from 4-6 days a week from 6-7am since mid January. I always start with cardio and end with strength training. If anything my weight on the scale has gone UP though my body composition has changed (body fat % down and muscle % is up). The problem is I’m not SEEING the changes and I’m getting frustrated with it. I know my body is changing for the better but damnittttt I want to SEE IT already!! How long did it take you to really see the changes you work so hard for?? I’m not even close to giving up but I need some reassurance that this is normal or something. I dunno, I just need some fkng positivity cuz I’m feeling defeated after weighing in today. 
17
Replies
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Are you counting calories and ensuring you're in a deficit? Because going to the gym will do nothing if you aren't eating less than you burn.35
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Don't worry about the "visual result" that much. It's there (if you're doing everything right). It takes some time to see it - you see yourself everyday in the mirror and focusing on that doesn't help much either. Taking pics during the weight loss works though.
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I was not specifically counting until today when a friend of mine suggested this app. However, I have been eating healthy during this time. Healthy smoothies for breakfast (example of this am smoothie 1 medium Banana, strawberries, spinach leaves, chai and flaxseed, water, ice and a splash of agave nectar) Veggies or salad for lunch, and a small portion of whatever I make my husband for dinner.. I’m losing body fat and gaining muscle it just don’t really notice the changes on the outside and it’s super frustrating.27
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I’m definitely trying to lose and NOT gain lolz.2
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Eating healthy doesn't mean eating in deficit. And that is what matters. Get a scale and weight EVERYTHING no matter how healthy or unhealthy it is.36
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You've only been at it a month. It takes time to visually notice it on yourself. You also have to consider the fact that you see yourself every day and you aren't going to notice subtle changes. Do you have a "before" pic to use for visual comparison?11
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How much weight are you trying to lose? If you're trying to lose vanity lbs, it's really slow and you can't really expect a visual difference in a month. And definitely start accurately and consistently logging - weight loss or gain depends on calories, not the healthiness of your diet. Good luck!8
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Keeping your intake under control will make a huge difference..
But, how are you determining that you're losing bf? Losing bf would make a visible difference to your appearance, as your muscles would look more defined...11 -
Where is your protein to fuel your workouts? Trust me l, you won't gain any muscle with that diet, specially when in caloric deficit and definitely not within a month.AlbiesWifey2017 wrote: »Healthy smoothies for breakfast (example of this am smoothie 1 medium Banana, strawberries, spinach leaves, chai and flaxseed, water, ice and a splash of agave nectar) Veggies or salad for lunch...
The body composition numbers change ( providing that this change is consistent, not one day thing) because you're losing fat and fat to muscle mass ratio changes even if you actually lose lean muscle.
Also, keep in mind to track ingredients in those smoothies accurately, because it's very easy to consume much more calories than you think with a smoothie, regardless how "healthy" it seems.
Give it 2-3 months to see actual real change.21 -
Try starting with strength training and ending with cardio. The blood flow to the torn muscle tissue is very important.45
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I do not have a “before” pic. Perhaps I will take one today. I determine my body fat via my fancy scale that does body age, fat, muscle, BMI. The changes it reflects are slow coming as far as body fat loss and muscle gain. I was inconsistently working out since November and consistently since January.
I’m trying to lose a decent amount of weight, 50 pounds or so..
I throw protein powder in my smoothies every once in a while, snack on raw almonds often and usually have a good portion of protein for dinner.4 -
Omnimous69 wrote: »Try starting with strength training and ending with cardio. The blood flow to the torn muscle tissue is very important.
I’ve always thought that doing cardio first helps to loosen you up in preparation for lifting.. I don’t think in all the years that I’ve worked out that I’ve started any other way lolz. I will reverse it tomorrow morning and see how it goes!! Thank you for the suggestion.
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I am in the same boat. When I start a diet, I always lose between 5-8 lbs, immediately. Then my body stalls, and stalls, and stalls. I fasted for two months a couple of years ago, lost 4 pounds immediately, 4 more at end of month two, and maybe a little bit more after that, but then my weight went back up to only reflecting that I lost the initial 5 pounds. And the minute I started re-feeding (what the fasting bandits call it), I put the nominal weight right back on, within a month. I've been fighting the same 5 pounds ever since then. I keep saying that some peeps just CAN'T lose weight. Or that it takes so long that they end up like you and me, just needing some reassurance that it's normal, and some coaching to stay in the game......good for you, for asking...... 17
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"Since mid-January".
.....You do realize it's now barely mid-February, right? Lol. Calm down and give yourself a fair about of time. You're not doing yourself any favors by holding yourself to unrealistic or drastic expectations.
Put it this way: how long would you realistically expect to see noticeable changes in your body if you suddenly STOPPED going to the gym? Probably a month or more, right? We all know it's way easier to gain weight than to lose it, so it'd be fair to give yourself at least double the time it'd take to lose weight than to put it on.
Also, you talked a lot about working out, but I didn't see any mention of a calorie deficit. You can't out-train a bad diet (i.e.: caloric surplus) so unless you are on top of what's on your plate, those workouts aren't going to result in much weight loss, if any.18 -
You're not necessarily going to see your results right away but that doesn't mean that your exercise and effort is wasted.
You may be well able to train more effectively in terms of your strength component if you perform such before your cardio. The reverse is also true. In either case a warm-up is never a bad idea!
Eating healthy does not mean anything in terms of your caloric balance. Healthy ingredients are not always low calorie.
If you're dealing with vanity pounds any changes will be slow and extremely difficult and frustrating. to see among daily water retention related changes. Using a trending weight application and evaluating your results after 4 to 6 weeks of consistent effort as compared to your logged expectations may help you troubleshoot.
Look you don't have to go all out to make small changes if that's all you want to make. Make changes to your exercise and food that you think you can keep to long-term. Accurate logging (accounting) is something that can help you optimize your efforts and show you which changes offer a better pay off. And it helps you keep your food consumption within parameters if that happens to be a problem for you!
Eta: I see in other responses that you want to lose ~50lbs. Set yourself a 500 Cal deficit and evaluate the foods you measure, log, and eat to see if they're worth the calories to you as compared to alternatives. Evaluate your progress both in terms of accomplishments and your weight trend over time. Have fun and strike a balance between effective results and too much effort.9 -
Omnimous69 wrote: »Try starting with strength training and ending with cardio. The blood flow to the torn muscle tissue is very important.
Blood flow to torn muscle tissue will probably result in a hematoma...she's not doing anything to cause that, and she didn't talk about any other traumas.
Anyways OP, definitely you need to log everything, and give it more time before expecting to actually see results, and remember, just a body composition change is a great change for your health!5 -
Take a before pic. You'll be glad you did later. Take your measurements. Update these monthly or semi monthly.
Get a food scale and weigh everything to the gram.
Also, as I understand it those scales are pretty much useless when it comes to calculating anything more than BMI.10 -
I personally didn't notice anything until about 6 weeks into it. Fortunately I had taken a before pic. And then one day I looked in the mirror and thought wow I look a little thinner. So I took an after pic and put the two side-by-side and it was quite an amazing difference. But I was tracking my food that whole time to make sure I was in a calorie deficit in addition to working out both cardio and using the weight machines at the gym.6
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AllOutof_Bubblegum wrote: »"Since mid-January".
.....You do realize it's now barely mid-February, right? Lol. Calm down and give yourself a fair about of time. You're not doing yourself any favors by holding yourself to unrealistic or drastic expectations.
Put it this way: how long would you realistically expect to see noticeable changes in your body if you suddenly STOPPED going to the gym? Probably a month or more, right? We all know it's way easier to gain weight than to lose it, so it'd be fair to give yourself at least double the time it'd take to lose weight than to put it on.
Also, you talked a lot about working out, but I didn't see any mention of a calorie deficit. You can't out-train a bad diet (i.e.: caloric surplus) so unless you are on top of what's on your plate, those workouts aren't going to result in much weight loss, if any.
Lmao I know it’s only been about 5.5~6ish weeks but I’ve been working really hard and see nothing. N hell no, I’m a professional weight gainer, I could see and feel a difference within two weeks of not going to the gym.11 -
AlbiesWifey2017 wrote: »How long do you think it takes of being consistently in the gym to notice some form of visual result?? I’ve been going anywhere from 4-6 days a week from 6-7am since mid January. I always start with cardio and end with strength training. If anything my weight on the scale has gone UP though my body composition has changed (body fat % down and muscle % is up). The problem is I’m not SEEING the changes and I’m getting frustrated with it. I know my body is changing for the better but damnittttt I want to SEE IT already!! How long did it take you to really see the changes you work so hard for?? I’m not even close to giving up but I need some reassurance that this is normal or something. I dunno, I just need some fkng positivity cuz I’m feeling defeated after weighing in today.
For me personally, it always takes me about three months before I notice a significant change. I think it's much harder to notice because you see yourself every day...kind of like watching the grass grow
Keep doing what you're doing, and one day soon you will have your "ah ha!" moment.7 -
I ate healthy for years & not lost weight so I really thought I couldn't but when I got a scale & weighed all my healthy foods I was shocked at the high calories, so pls get a scale & weigh everything. I stopped adding flax seed to my smoothies because they were too much calories for me. lost 48lbs14
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TeacupsAndToning wrote: »AlbiesWifey2017 wrote: »I do not have a “before” pic. Perhaps I will take one today. I determine my body fat via my fancy scale that does body age, fat, muscle, BMI. The changes it reflects are slow coming as far as body fat loss and muscle gain. I was inconsistently working out since November and consistently since January.
I’m trying to lose a decent amount of weight, 50 pounds or so..
I throw protein powder in my smoothies every once in a while, snack on raw almonds often and usually have a good portion of protein for dinner.
For me, anyways, the calories in almonds adds up really quickly - that's why I hardly ever snack on them or other nuts.
They do add up quickly. I love nuts and seeds though. I try to only eat a little hand full of almonds, which equals roughly a single serving.
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It's perfectly normal not to notice it yourself.
Since beginning of January I have lost ~ 5kg/10 pounds in about 6 weeks. I also don't really notice it in the mirror since it's ticking slowly, but some of my clothes fit better and my belt buckle is now 1 hole tighter.8 -
Also, the scale can be misleading. I haven't lost in two weeks, but the pants I couldn't fit into 3 or so weeks ago I was able to wear today. Sometimes it helps to have a pair of "skinny" pants that you can test from time to time 6
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StevefromMichigan wrote: »Also, the scale can be misleading. I haven't lost in two weeks, but the pants I couldn't fit into 3 or so weeks ago I was able to wear today. Sometimes it helps to have a pair of "skinny" pants that you can test from time to time
I always have a pair of "goal" pants as well as pair of "starting" pants which now go almost twice around my waist 4 -
forgot to mention that I used to go to aerobic classes 2x/wk, strength training sat mornings & me & a friend played 2 rounds of racquetball 6 days a week & I never lost wt all during that time. I felt great tho. Not until I weighed & logged everything did I start7
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Omnimous69 wrote: »Try starting with strength training and ending with cardio. The blood flow to the torn muscle tissue is very important.
Huh?3 -
AlbiesWifey2017 wrote: »TeacupsAndToning wrote: »AlbiesWifey2017 wrote: »I do not have a “before” pic. Perhaps I will take one today. I determine my body fat via my fancy scale that does body age, fat, muscle, BMI. The changes it reflects are slow coming as far as body fat loss and muscle gain. I was inconsistently working out since November and consistently since January.
I’m trying to lose a decent amount of weight, 50 pounds or so..
I throw protein powder in my smoothies every once in a while, snack on raw almonds often and usually have a good portion of protein for dinner.
For me, anyways, the calories in almonds adds up really quickly - that's why I hardly ever snack on them or other nuts.
They do add up quickly. I love nuts and seeds though. I try to only eat a little hand full of almonds, which equals roughly a single serving.
Nuts are supposed to be really good for you, too, including raising your good cholesterol. I try to eat an ounce a day.0 -
ashliedelgado wrote: »Take a before pic. You'll be glad you did later. Take your measurements. Update these monthly or semi monthly.
Get a food scale and weigh everything to the gram.
Also, as I understand it those scales are pretty much useless when it comes to calculating anything more than BMI.
Yep. Diet is the key to weight loss. If a person sets the right calorie deficit, they can lose weight without exercising at all. The gym is great for creating muscle and burning some extra calories, but weight loss really starts in the kitchen.
Getting a food scale and logging everything is a real eye opener, at least it was for me. A fair amount of people on this site will tell you there were shocked to find out how many calories they were consuming once they really focused in on weighing and recording everything.2
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