Frustrated with weight training - considering cutting back
JoAnna4731
Posts: 115 Member
I started my weight loss effort last Christmas, weighing in at my non-pregnant high of 170, which was a lot on my 5'3" frame. Since then, I have lost weight super slowly, especially in the last couple of months, but I am down roughly 23-24 lbs. I am 4 lbs away from getting out of the overweight BMI zone, which I really want to do.
Most of my weight was lost via a modest calorie deficit (.5 lb loss per week) and doing varied cardio for 30 minutes a day. Over the summer, I decided to start some weight training just so I could retain some muscle and build a little strength. My goals at the time were really modest - I have no desire to be "ripped" or lift super heavy. I just don't want to be a pile of jello once I have the last ten lbs off.
Over the past two months, my weight loss has completely stalled. I attribute part of that to my logging, which had been less than stellar for a while. The other part of it has been due to me being ravenous, especially in the last month since I increased my weights. My logging has been back on point, but I CANNOT stop eating - I have been going over my calorie goals almost every day by 100-200 calories, which is kind of a big deal when you're in a small deficit to begin with. I crave fat and sweets (which is my achilles heel). And I have stopped looking forward to my workouts, which was not a problem two months ago. I do not naturally love weight training (I am a cardio junkie), but I also feel like it is getting me nowhere.
The last several days, I have thrown my workout schedule out the window and have gone back to just cardio (aerobics videos at home), and I am feeling a bit better. I am one week away from finishing my current weight training rotation, but I just can't bring myself to finish it. I don't want to ditch weight training all together, but I am really unhappy with how I am feeling, and I don't see any other way. Not sure what I am asking for here, but maybe some perspective or other ideas, or just some commiseration? Thanks.
Most of my weight was lost via a modest calorie deficit (.5 lb loss per week) and doing varied cardio for 30 minutes a day. Over the summer, I decided to start some weight training just so I could retain some muscle and build a little strength. My goals at the time were really modest - I have no desire to be "ripped" or lift super heavy. I just don't want to be a pile of jello once I have the last ten lbs off.
Over the past two months, my weight loss has completely stalled. I attribute part of that to my logging, which had been less than stellar for a while. The other part of it has been due to me being ravenous, especially in the last month since I increased my weights. My logging has been back on point, but I CANNOT stop eating - I have been going over my calorie goals almost every day by 100-200 calories, which is kind of a big deal when you're in a small deficit to begin with. I crave fat and sweets (which is my achilles heel). And I have stopped looking forward to my workouts, which was not a problem two months ago. I do not naturally love weight training (I am a cardio junkie), but I also feel like it is getting me nowhere.
The last several days, I have thrown my workout schedule out the window and have gone back to just cardio (aerobics videos at home), and I am feeling a bit better. I am one week away from finishing my current weight training rotation, but I just can't bring myself to finish it. I don't want to ditch weight training all together, but I am really unhappy with how I am feeling, and I don't see any other way. Not sure what I am asking for here, but maybe some perspective or other ideas, or just some commiseration? Thanks.
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Replies
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First, it's normal to have a bit of a lull in weight loss when you initial start lifting. When I switched from bodyweight to true lifting weights, I had a month where I gained 3 pounds, followed by a month where I lost 3 pounds, and then the scale continued downward. During that initial 2 months, my body composition was changing and my measurements were decreasing.
Second, weight training made me much hungrier than did cardio too so I totally get you there. I found that experimenting with the timing of what I ate made a huge difference. Eating a bit more on some days than others could help. Eating more carbs on certain days rather than others can help. Being sure to eat plenty of protein helps me a lot. You really need to experiment with that. I will say that the common practice of eating more on lifting days and less on non-lifting days does not work for me. What works for me is eating more on the days before my heavy lifting days. So like I said, experiment.
Third, what kind of lifting program are you following? If you don't like it, maybe there's something else that appeals to you more. If you're doing something heavy like SL5x5, maybe something with fewer sets like Starting Strength or more mid-weight like AllPro's or Strong Curves would be your style. There are a lot of good lifting programs and while they'll have much in common (be centered around compound lifts) they can vary quite a bit in sets/reps and that can make a world of difference, especially while losing weight.10 -
First, take a minute to congratulate yourself! You’re down under 150 which is awesome and hard work! Don’t give up the weights. Can you try to mix it up a bit? Do you belong to a gym? I really like the group strength training classes. I get really bored if I don’t do different things. Can you swing a few sessions with a trainer? Weight training has been a real game changer for me especially as I get older (I’m 55) so don’t quit! You’ve got this!!!4
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I go through eat-all-the-food every Autumn.
If you're in the northern hemisphere, welcome to lower body fat and cooler weather. The body wants that fat layer going into winter. It's pretty hard to fight tens of thousands of years of biology, so buckle down for a rough ride until Spring. At least that's my experience over the last decade.
I wouldn't blame the weight lifting. And more cardio does help, it boosts the brain chemicals that are fighting to maintain during the shorter days. I find taking Vitamin D really helps through the winters.4 -
What weight lifting program do you follow? How many days a week?0
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Thanks very much for all of your responses. Some answers:
jemhh - I am less concerned about the stalled weight loss than I am about the waning of my motivation. I do think I need to at least make sure that I am getting enough protein. I gravitate toward a carb-heavy diet (many veggies!), and I just may not be fueling myself properly. It is really hard for me to be observant of meal timing - I'm lucky I have enough time to log what I am eating - but I do have time to make sure I'm getting an extra egg or serving of cottage cheese in there!
aportz - Thank you for the kind words - it is hard to keep in mind the progress I have made. I don't join gyms, so I work out exclusively at home. I don't think that boredom is the issue here - I just feel tired all the time lately and it's sucking all of the motivation out of me.
cmriverside I had not considered the seasonal change, but it makes a lot of sense. Ever since the weather got cooler (and yes, I'm in the northeast!), I want to eat everything. The little bit of extra cardio has at least elevated my mood, so I know I am not spiraling into depression eating. It may just be nature
lorrpb I am doing a program by Jessica Smith, which is basically four days a week - lower body, upper body, total body and a day of light weight intervals, interspersed with cardio days. This is the third program of hers that I have done, but programs past have been more cardio-based (maybe two days lifting, and one day weight intervals, the rest cardio and stretching). I LOVED the last two programs I did, and really felt my best with the one right before this one.1 -
I used to be a cardio queen 90 mins to 2 hours that's how much I loved it. My Bootcamp instructor introduced me to weight lifting. At first it sucked because my weight increased (water retention) or I stayed in a plateau for a couple of months. But after a while my body was more toned and my clothes fit better and I looked better because everything was tighter. Now I just do 30 mins of cardio and I am in the weight room with the men cuz I enjoy the lifting challenge and how I look from being more toned. So in saying all of that stick with the lifting. Gained muscles boosts the metabolism which helps to burn the fat more efficiently.3
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As your in in the north consider supplementing with vitamin D and/or getting a sunlight as well as getting outside at least 30 min a day.
My lamp and vit D's come out and are used the day the clocks change. This helps keep my energy levels up, and I have avoided my 5lbs winter gain for years now.
(We started the vitD and lamp because my SO was having problems with motivation in the winter, I thought I was ok and just went along for the ride, but it really did make a difference. I didn't realise just how much I too went into hibernate mode.)
As far as finishing the last week of your programme, I get the not liking leaving something until done, but would you be happier going back to the previous programme, or moving on to something completely different than JS?
If so move on, lots of variety free on the net, no regrets.
I am not an exercise enthusiast, so will change things up if mentally I am no longer into it, otherwise I may just give up exercise altogether.
I used to do 10kms, last year I didn't enjoy it, this year I hated. Next year I will be a spectathlete. No more racing for me, not worth the angst. I will 10km on my own, just not race.
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I get ravenous when I lift weights too. This was my cycle, Start dieting lose 15 pounds with diet. Add in cardio lose more weight. Start lifting, gain a few pounds in a couple weeks with no change to the diet at this point, then the increased hunger begins and I turn ravenous. I fall off the diet, get discouraged and stop working out. it happened a few times to me. What I did was stop the long cardio and get a Max trainer and do the HIIT cardio work out on that in between full body work out weight days. I noticed the HIIT workouts curb my appetite for up to 24 hours, sometimes longer, and I still get in 2 full body weight days a week. I've been following it for three weeks and although, like always I gained a couple pounds for some reason, I at least control my hunger and don't fall off diet because diet is key!2
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I get ravenous when I lift weights too. This was my cycle, Start dieting lose 15 pounds with diet. Add in cardio lose more weight. Start lifting, gain a few pounds in a couple weeks with no change to the diet at this point, then the increased hunger begins and I turn ravenous. I fall off the diet, get discouraged and stop working out. it happened a few times to me. What I did was stop the long cardio and get a Max trainer and do the HIIT cardio work out on that in between full body work out weight days. I noticed the HIIT workouts curb my appetite for up to 24 hours, sometimes longer, and I still get in 2 full body weight days a week. I've been following it for three weeks and although, like always I gained a couple pounds for some reason, I at least control my hunger and don't fall off diet because diet is key!
YES. This is very much what has happened to me. I think I need a break to recalibrate. My hunger has subsided in the last week since I have switched back to cardio. I’m feeling more energized and am having more fun with my workouts. I’m just going to take it easy through Thanksgiving and then adjust my strategy. I’m thinking I was much happier with two full body, weight sessions per week and the rest cardio and yoga. I will probably go back to that for a while and work on increasing protein in my diet so that if I decide to increase my focus on weights, at least my diet will be on point. Thanks everyone for sharing your input and experiences.5 -
Perhaps a different lifting routine/program would be a good step before no lifting program? Maybe fewer times per week and/or fewer overall exercises?1
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why did you last have a diet break?0
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TavistockToad wrote: »why did you last have a diet break?
I have not done an official diet break, but I did ease up on my logging for about a month in August/September. I was still losing weight but I was not hyper focused on it.
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I don't see that anyone has asked about your food logging habits.
Do you log food with dedication every day, every meal?
Do you use a scale to weigh solid foods and measuring cups/spoons for liquids?
I find the Nutrition charts that MFP generates to be extremely useful in analyzing my past behavior for ideas about what might be contributing to my today results, and, what maybe could be altered to more effectively achieve my goals.
- don't forget muscle weighs more than fat; how do your clothes fit? I find that to be a useful gauge sometimes, more so than the scale.
Good luck to you.0 -
I don't see that anyone has asked about your food logging habits.
Do you log food with dedication every day, every meal?
Do you use a scale to weigh solid foods and measuring cups/spoons for liquids?
I find the Nutrition charts that MFP generates to be extremely useful in analyzing my past behavior for ideas about what might be contributing to my today results, and, what maybe could be altered to more effectively achieve my goals.
- don't forget muscle weighs more than fat; how do your clothes fit? I find that to be a useful gauge sometimes, more so than the scale.
Good luck to you.
Logging was relaxed for a period over the summer, but I have tightened it up again. I weigh everything, and even when my logging was relaxed, I still weighed almost everything, and logged every single meal. I’m not concerned about my logging now - I’ve got that.
My clothes fit great - I still have some work to do though. I really need to think about my goals, what I’m hoping to achieve and what I actually have the bandwidth to achieve. I don’t have a lot of time to focus on my physique and after years of body shaming myself, I’m finally totally ok with my body shape as is. I’m super proud of how far I’ve come this year and how my six year old boy says “mommy you’re beautiful and you got so skinny!” (Hahaha no I’m not “skinny” son, but thank you!). I think I got into something that really doesn’t forward me in my goals - get to a normal BMI/don’t look like jello. I just need to take a step back because I just think I’m burning out.
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By the way, this thread has been really therapeutic for me - my frustration is subsiding. Thank you all.3
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JoAnna4731 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »why did you last have a diet break?
I have not done an official diet break, but I did ease up on my logging for about a month in August/September. I was still losing weight but I was not hyper focused on it.
a diet break is eating at maintenance, not not logging.2 -
TavistockToad wrote: »JoAnna4731 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »why did you last have a diet break?
I have not done an official diet break, but I did ease up on my logging for about a month in August/September. I was still losing weight but I was not hyper focused on it.
a diet break is eating at maintenance, not not logging.
No, I have not consciously taken a diet break then. I didn’t stop logging - I did stop weighing/measuring with precision accuracy, so I may have been eating at or close to maintenance, but not on purpose.
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JoAnna4731 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »JoAnna4731 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »why did you last have a diet break?
I have not done an official diet break, but I did ease up on my logging for about a month in August/September. I was still losing weight but I was not hyper focused on it.
a diet break is eating at maintenance, not not logging.
No, I have not consciously taken a diet break then. I didn’t stop logging - I did stop weighing/measuring with precision accuracy, so I may have been eating at or close to maintenance, but not on purpose.
if you were still losing weight then you were still in a deficit.
anyway, you may want to consider it along with looking at your lifting programme etc and maybe refresh your goals for the new year?3 -
Yes, I agree.0
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If you really enjoyed the previous weight lifting / cardio routine, I'd suggest going back to that. Of course it's nice to change things up, but if you really liked the previous routine and you really don't like this one, then it's not so nice lol.3
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JoAnna4731 wrote: »I get ravenous when I lift weights too. This was my cycle, Start dieting lose 15 pounds with diet. Add in cardio lose more weight. Start lifting, gain a few pounds in a couple weeks with no change to the diet at this point, then the increased hunger begins and I turn ravenous. I fall off the diet, get discouraged and stop working out. it happened a few times to me. What I did was stop the long cardio and get a Max trainer and do the HIIT cardio work out on that in between full body work out weight days. I noticed the HIIT workouts curb my appetite for up to 24 hours, sometimes longer, and I still get in 2 full body weight days a week. I've been following it for three weeks and although, like always I gained a couple pounds for some reason, I at least control my hunger and don't fall off diet because diet is key!
YES. This is very much what has happened to me. I think I need a break to recalibrate. My hunger has subsided in the last week since I have switched back to cardio. I’m feeling more energized and am having more fun with my workouts. I’m just going to take it easy through Thanksgiving and then adjust my strategy. I’m thinking I was much happier with two full body, weight sessions per week and the rest cardio and yoga. I will probably go back to that for a while and work on increasing protein in my diet so that if I decide to increase my focus on weights, at least my diet will be on point. Thanks everyone for sharing your input and experiences.
Doing a split made me ravenous too. I am much happier doing a 2-3x weekly full body program + cardio.
And more protein most definitely helps with the hungries!4 -
It's getting winter, which seems to put the body into "let's get fat for hibernation" mode...at least for me. Also, weight loss, cardio, and strength are not linear....which sucks, but is just a fact of life. Maybe you could switch to different strength program (body weight exercises perhaps). The other option is like you said, just take a break. I naturally push myself too hard, but have learned when I'm not feeling it, it's better for me if I don't do it (either cardio or strength). I have come to realize reaching a healthy life and body is a marathon, not a sprint, and my mental health and motivation has to be there to get the physical in order; willing to stick to the overall goal is more important that pushing myself too hard for one day, getting burnt out, and completely stopping for days or weeks at a time. Finally, quite beating yourself up...you have obviously made some amazing improvements and should be proud about that fact!1
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Have been doing strength training consistently for about 3 months now and am ravenous too. I did some research on diet during strength training and discovered I was highly underestimating how much protein I should be eating daily. There is a lot of info out there, but here is one website's take on it: https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calpro.htm
That being said, so far I have not been able to shed my excess weight, but I have done a body analysis at GoodLife Fitness and it shows my muscle mass has gone up, so my lean muscle mass to fat ratio has improved, even though my scale shows the same number. That is an improvement, but still, I would love to lose my belly fat. I can feel the muscle underneath. There's a sexy body under there somewhere. Lol.
If you decide to continue with the weights, you could try getting some protein powder. They make great shakes and can be added to some foods. It's the easiest way to boost protein intake if you're not fond of eating loads of meat every day.
Good luck!3 -
I'd imagine your stalling had much to do with your easing up on the logging, rather than your weight lifting routine. But with exercise, it is certainly important to do things you enjoy. It shouldn't feel like a chore that you have to suffer through. So if your new routine is making things more fun and making you happier, than absolutely stick with it. It is good that you are planning to still incorporate some weight training, but a mixed routine sounds like it's best for you.
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It seems like you've got a lot of great input already, but I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet so I'm just throwing this out there as a possible factor....how well are you staying hydrated? I've noticed that a lot of days your diary shows you are consuming an additional 1,000-2,000 mg of sodium a day. If you're eating excessive amounts of sodium and not drinking enough fluids, perhaps your lack of energy for weight training had been due to dehydration. Sometimes people get confused between hunger and thirst, so maybe a lot of those days you felt the desire to eat more and didn't have it in you to do lifting, what you really needed was to drink more water?1
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Thanks every for the additional ideas and comments! Really appreciate it. I don’t log my water intake, but I probably do need to be more conscious of it. Last winter, I drank five or six 18 oz mugs of herbal tea a day, and I did find it curbed my appetite quite a bit and helped me fight of the need for sweets. I probably need to get back into that habit.
Thanks for the link, queenb113 - very interesting.1 -
Glad it's not just me who has turned ravenous with strength training! I went from 200cals less a day target and doing cardio to maintaining weight target and eating extra 200cals a day and since then I'm always thinking of food! When does it subside?! My body looks great but think I was happier before when I wasn't thinking of food all the time! Maybe it's easier to track cardio calories than strength training cals and I'm not eating enough to make up for the calories lost during training 🤔1
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cazzybear1740 wrote: »Maybe it's easier to track cardio calories than strength training cals and I'm not eating enough to make up for the calories lost during training 🤔
I actually hadn’t thought of that possibility. I just worry about overestimating the number of calories weight training burns so I’ve been taking whatever my FitBit gives me ( which is basically nothing). Is that wrong? Should I be adding in weight training into my logging?0 -
I'm very similar and would prefer to underestimate than over estimate, but long term that won't do our bodies any favours! We should be logging something because even if cardio does not burn as much as weight training, we know it still burns something! And to recover properly and have enough energy for the next session we need fuel. But yes I'm in the same boat and don't want to overestimate either! I've added 100cals a day to my calorie intake and then I'm going to see how I feel at the end of the week or two. I'm ignoring the scales as I feel it only shows one piece of the puzzle 😊0
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