Weight vs muscle

oremus1

hi guys

I've started excersising, my clothes feel looser but I am not losing weight. how do I know if my diet is not working and the loose clothes are just water loss, or if I am building muscle

KristinNicole82

I have never gone by the scale, your weight can fluctuate a lot. If your clothes are looser and you are feeling better it is working. it might take a little to see the scale reflect that. Keep it up.

llkilgore

If you're smaller, but weigh the same, then you've probably lost fat and its weight has been offset by exercise related water retention. That's what happens when you begin a new exercise program: you retain water, you don't lose it. But it's a self limiting process. Keep at it long enough and your scale weight will begin to drop as you lose enough fat to overcome that initial water weight gain you get from using your muscles in a way they aren't used to.

jayladey

youve lost fat and gained muscle- congrats

Koldnomore

If you are eating at a deficit it is very unlikely/impossible you are gaining muscle.
If you have just started a new program it's going to be water weight.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/595473-why-the-scale-goes-up-with-a-new-workout-program-must-read

oremus1

thanks guys, im not sure if I have enough of a deficit. my BMR is 1300 and my intake is about 1000. I have a desk job, very sedentary and do not exercise often. I run 3 miles home, perhaps 3 times a week. is that enough?

HollieDollieeeex

WOW did you just say your intake is 1000?? :noway:

yarwell

if you eat about 1000 it's not easy to get all the right stuff in your food, so plenty of variety is required including essential fats and a decent amount of protein. Your diary isn't visible.

You're probably using 1600 - 1800 calories a day so you have the required calorie deficit, if your logging is accurate. So the "what" you eat may be something worth looking at.

p4ulmiller

hi guys

I've started excersising, my clothes feel looser but I am not losing weight. how do I know if my diet is not working and the loose clothes are just water loss, or if I am building muscle

Do you have a body fat monitor?

Wishusdonna

Hi Oremus,

Congratulations on taking the first steps to a healthier you - good luck!

No matter what you do, you are going to see some dramatic results to begin with, even if they don't show on the scales. I'm guessing if your BMR is around 1300, you probably don't have much to lose, but if you want to keep up steady progress and maintain well when you get where you're going, do watch those numbers. 1000 calorie plans - been there, done that, and they're not sustainable long term, I would advise you to eat a little bit more. You might need to do some fiddling with your account settings as the automatic 'target' is usually 1200, which, as you've noticed is below your BMR. You need 1300 calories to pump blood around you. Once you get out of bed and start moving around, you need a few more. It's not advisable to sustain a diet at a number of calories below your BMR, but get as close to that target as you can and you will lose weight. You're a light exerciser, and probably potter about in the day as well, so you could work out what your average TDEE - Total Daily Energy Expenditure - is, then so long as you hit somewhere between those two numbers you should lose rather than gain. Eat close to TDEE number and you will maintain. Eat over, you gain...

TDEE and BMR calculator at http://thefitgirls.com/tdee-calculator.aspx

Alternatively, eat down to your BMR calorie target most days and allow yourself to eat what you burn when you exercise.

Hope this helps!

geekyjock76

thanks guys, im not sure if I have enough of a deficit. my BMR is 1300 and my intake is about 1000. I have a desk job, very sedentary and do not exercise often. I run 3 miles home, perhaps 3 times a week. is that enough?

Your deficit should be cut from your TDEE, not BMR. If your BMR is 1300, then BMR + Thermic Effect of Food is 1430. You'd then have to consider your exercise activity and non-exercise activity to derive your actual TDEE to maintain weight. With these numbers, your TDEE is likely in the 1700 to 1800 range in calories.

You should be weighing all food and drinks using a digital scale and logging everything. With 39 lbs to lose, you can tolerate a 400 to 500 calorie deficit which means you could eat between 1200 to 1400 calories to lose the first 20 lbs. To lose the final 19 lbs, you're probably looking at eating 1400 to 1550 calories. The reason you increase calories/reduce deficit as you lose weight is because: 1) fat loss slows down as you lose weight and 2) having smaller deficits near goal weight makes the transition to maintenance easier since you'd be increasing calories by smaller amounts.

oremus1

wow thanks guys that is amazing advice, and thanks for all the calculations. my food diary says I will lose about a pound a week at 1000 cals a day so it is healthy. I am short (5 ft 3)

QuilterInVA

Unless you are doing heavy lifting, you haven't gained muscle. Its almost impossible to gain muscle while eating at a calorie deficiet.

Jaulen

wow thanks guys that is amazing advice, and thanks for all the calculations. my food diary says I will lose about a pound a week at 1000 cals a day so it is healthy. I am short (5 ft 3)

Question for you with the whole 'I'm losing at 1000 calories'...well of course you are.....but...to maintain that weight loss, do you want to stay at eating 1000 calories for the rest of your life?

No?

Didnt think so.

Follow what Geekyjock76 said.


And at 1000 calories, you aren't building muscles.....the weight you've lost, other than water weight, is going to be fat AND muscle.

RGv2

youve lost fat and gained muscle- congrats

SLLRunner

thanks guys, im not sure if I have enough of a deficit. my BMR is 1300 and my intake is about 1000. I have a desk job, very sedentary and do not exercise often. I run 3 miles home, perhaps 3 times a week. is that enough?

I think you are misunderstanding the proper way to lose weight. If you BMR is 1300 you should never eat below this. You should eat this AND eat a portion or all of your exercise calorie back, if 1,300 is actually the calorie allowance provided by MFP. When MFP gives you a calorie allowance, your deficit is already built in.

1,000 calories is too low. How did you come by this calorie amount?

SLLRunner

wow thanks guys that is amazing advice, and thanks for all the calculations. my food diary says I will lose about a pound a week at 1000 cals a day so it is healthy. I am short (5 ft 3)

MFP would never give you 1,000 calories a day. It is not healthy no matter what your height is.

Sarauk2sf

When did you start exercising and what do you do?

arcana7609

Also 1000 cal a day too low, I'm on 1200 and that's as low as u can get without being scary for health, alot of ppl will say you shouldn't eat under your bmr

MFP has me on 2650 for 1 lb a week weight loss. I eat under that all the time by about 300 to sometimes 1,000. I am not dieting though just eating like I normally do. Should I be trying to eat the 2650 every day? It seems like a lot, but I am used to being put on 1,200 calorie diets so this concept of eating 2650 seems off to me.

yarwell

Question for you with the whole 'I'm losing at 1000 calories'...well of course you are.....but...to maintain that weight loss, do you want to stay at eating 1000 calories for the rest of your life?

why would you need to - when at target weight you don't need a deficit to maintain it. You eat more to stop losing. Maybe the "eat more to lose weight" BS has overpowered the calorie deficit theory MFP is built on.

Amandainyaface

If you're smaller but at the same weight then congratulations - you're building muscle.

Amandainyaface

Oh and of course you shouldn't eat less than your BMR! BMR is what your body NEEDS just to get you through the day. It's what your body needs on the days where you do nothing but watch movies and listen to christmas songs. If you don't eat at least that amount - well, this should be obvious - then you hurt your body by starving it of nutritions. Maybe it's unintentionally you do it, but still.