Weight loss first then lift?

mgorham13

Hey all. So here's the deal started 1/28/13 lost about 75 lbs by August then started stronglifts. I have had massive strength gains compared to where I started, I am losing inches consistently around my chest, waist and legs. I wear a body media armband and track my calories I have fluctuated 8lbs since September but have not lost weight just inches. The concern is I'm still really heavy at 310lbs should I just focus on losing weight or continue lifting and hope I will eventually start dropping weight again.

I always appreciate the advice and suggestions from the Mfp community

Iconx15

Yeah Dude
I'm in the same boat as you
Not sure what to do first

howardheilweil

If you are not losing weight, then you are not in a caloric deficit. You are either over-logging your exercise or under-logging your food.

meshashesha2012

start lifting now. you can do both at the same time, many of us are.

tyrsnbdr

I would lose then gain. Get down to something reasonable (like 15% BF) then bulk up, then cut for down for awesomeness.

You are probably replacing fat mass with muscle mass, which is fine, but isn't the most effective way to do this. But, if you are happy with what your doing... Keep doing it, but don't stop lifting, and re calculate your TDEE.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

Continue lifting. Make sure you are accurately tracking and consistently eating at a deficit.

CyberEd312

I would not stop lifting, but turn your attention to the kitchen. Are you logging accurately and are you measuring and weighing out all your food? The weight loss part of the equation comes down to a calorie deficit. That is where I would look first.... Best of Luck

__freckles__

You can do both - continue lifting but eat at a calorie deficit which will allow you to retain most of your lean body mass.

thegilly6

Keep lifting! Build muscle because muscle burn calories. AND watch the calories you're eating. Don't leave out cardio. That's where the real calorie burner is.

j6o4

Strength training will help keep muscle loss to a minimum, so keep it if your goal is to have a leaner physique.

mgorham13

Ed first of all you are a superhero, been stalking you here and on your blog since I started. The calories are on point, if I'm guilty of anything it's eating less then I should, water is good and I'm not gaining just fluctuating the same few pounds. Body fat % went from 49 to 34 . I feel great and keep shrinking but just feel bewildered that I'm not losing like I was. I started doing the 5:2 fast diet this week tomorrow is my 2nd fast day I'm interested to see how it works

EvgeniZyntx

I would not stop lifting, but turn your attention to the kitchen. Are you logging accurately and are you measuring and weighing out all your food? The weight loss part of the equation comes down to a calorie deficit. That is where I would look first.... Best of Luck

This. Also consider adding a little walking or other physical activity during your day. Increase the move about outside of the gym.

JessieNeutronGirlGenius

Keep lifting! Build muscle because muscle burn calories. AND watch the calories you're eating. Don't leave out cardio. That's where the real calorie burner is.

^This! :happy:

Francl27

I'm with the others, keep lifting, even though it's depressing as hell to do it and not really see any real result, it's really nice not to lose all your muscle in the process.

Iconx15

If you're building and trying to gain muscle mass then you can't do both
You can either cut weight or bulk on muscle
It's not possible to both
You could maintain muscle very slowly and lose weight slowly but it's not worth it
You have to choose 1

heybales

Since lifting burns less than what you may have been doing previously with the time, may be burning less.

I wouldn't even worry about how accurate your logging is at this point. It's obviously not correct.

But you would appear to be eating at maintenance, no matter what your food diary says.

Just find a real 250 calories a day you can cut out of your diet.
Skip something, make a couple meals smaller, ect.

Much easier to drop 250 calories, than find some exercise to increase by 250 calories daily on average.

Do that for a month and see what the loss it.

whhth

Bump. Experiencing same thing

mgorham13

I would not stop lifting, but turn your attention to the kitchen. Are you logging accurately and are you measuring and weighing out all your food? The weight loss part of the equation comes down to a calorie deficit. That is where I would look first.... Best of Luck

This. Also consider adding a little walking or other physical activity during your day. Increase the move about outside of the gym.

I am a golf pro by trade so my days are spent on my feet 12 hours a day five days a week. When I'm not doing that I'm chasing my 4 boys around and coaching.

I am really appreciating all the feedback so far , the general consensus is keep lifting pay extra careful attention the food intake and mix in a little more cardio.

parkscs

For one, some people can lose fat while gaining muscle... overfat newbies are probably the demographic most likely to be able to do this.

As for the OP eating at maintenance, look at what he said:

"Body fat % went from 49 to 34 . I feel great and keep shrinking but just feel bewildered that I'm not losing like I was. I started doing the 5:2 fast diet this week tomorrow is my 2nd fast day I'm interested to see how it works"

Ok, you don't have to be a math expert here to realize that if you dropped 15% body fat and stayed the same weight... you lost fat and you gained muscle. Focus on your body fat percentage and get your mind off the number on the scale. Most people track their weight, but what really matters is body fat percentage.

PikaKnight

Hey all. So here's the deal started 1/28/13 lost about 75 lbs by August then started stronglifts. I have had massive strength gains compared to where I started, I am losing inches consistently around my chest, waist and legs. I wear a body media armband and track my calories I have fluctuated 8lbs since September but have not lost weight just inches. The concern is I'm still really heavy at 310lbs should I just focus on losing weight or continue lifting and hope I will eventually start dropping weight again.

I always appreciate the advice and suggestions from the Mfp community

Would you rather stay the same pants size but weigh less? If you are losing inches, don't worry about the scale (which is unreliable and not suggested as a main way to view your progress). I think the real goal (aside from being healthy and fit) is to look good...not be a certain scale #.

Keep lifting and doing what you are doing. Review this link if you want, it's a great read.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Edited for the stupid amount of typos and grammatical errors. arrgghhhhh....

mgorham13

@ parkscs. Thanks man, I like to track the body fat % my goal is 18% it just sucks shelling out to get it done properly but it's worth in IMO

PikaKnight

@ parkscs. Thanks man, I like to track the body fat % my goal is 18% it just sucks shelling out to get it done properly but it's worth in IMO

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/830595-body-fat-estimation-methods


To add - some insurance plans cover some (if not all) the costs to get your body fat % measured (like with a dexa scan).

mgorham13

Joy_Joy_ lots of great stuff there thanks

Sarauk2sf

If you're building and trying to gain muscle mass then you can't do both
You can either cut weight or bulk on muscle
It's not possible to both
You could maintain muscle very slowly and lose weight slowly but it's not worth it
You have to choose 1

No reason why he cannot do both - he is 310lb.

Rage_Phish

I didnt start lifting untill i had lost 60 lbs.

My biggest weight loss regret is that i didn't start lifting from day 1.

emjaycazz

Joy_Joy_ lots of great stuff there thanks

There is lots of great information in the entire group that Joy_Joy_ posted that link to (and the moderators are incredible sources of information).

I have nothing else to add except WOW on your current loss to date.

Sarauk2sf

OP: as you have a fair amount of weight to lose, you may want to consider a slightly less 'heavy lifting' routine to one that is more 'active' and therefore increases your caloric burn. Keep resistance training and keep progressive loading, but you may be better off upping the reps a bit and dropping the weight down for a while. Throw in some complexes and other conditioning work. However, make sure you accurately track your food and keep your diet 'under control'.

gmallan

OP: as you have a fair amount of weight to lose, you may want to consider a slightly less 'heavy lifting' routine to one that is more 'active' and therefore increases your caloric burn. Keep resistance training and keep progressive loading, but you may be better off upping the reps a bit and dropping the weight down for a while. Throw in some complexes and other conditioning work. However, make sure you accurately track your food and keep your diet 'under control'.

Yep this is the approach I'd suggest. Some circuit style training utilising weights but minimising rest to keep the heart rate up and burn more calories. If you enjoy lifting heavy you could probably still incorporate a bit of it into your routine.

As has been pointed out, diet is the key to weight loss.

Also wanted to add that there is absolutely nothing wrong with losing inches, in fact I personally think it's way better than losing weight. No one sees the number on the scale besides you but they will notice your smaller, tighter body. Focus on your diet and the weight will come off too

mgorham13

OP: as you have a fair amount of weight to lose, you may want to consider a slightly less 'heavy lifting' routine to one that is more 'active' and therefore increases your caloric burn. Keep resistance training and keep progressive loading, but you may be better off upping the reps a bit and dropping the weight down for a while. Throw in some complexes and other conditioning work. However, make sure you accurately track your food and keep your diet 'under control'.

Any programs you can think of off the top of your head? I used to enjoy 20-30 of cardio after strong lifts but the weights have gotten real heavy for me I am just shot at the end.

heybales

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/weight-training-for-fat-loss-part-1.html

Part 2 there also, contains this.

Rather than focus on the specific modality or exercise, I just want to take a quick look at some loading parameters. Again, they tend to vary depending on the underlying philosophy of the coach in question but generally speaking anywhere from 2-4 sets of 15-20 repetitions of anywhere from 5-7 exercises done with short rest intervals (60 seconds or less) would be fairly common for this type of training. As you might imagine, this doesn’t make for terribly long workouts (20-40 minutes or so) but they can be exceedingly fatiguing. Which is part of the point.
Frequency for metabolic weight training can vary from perhaps 2-4 workouts per week. Of course, this will always depend on the volume of training being done and what else is being done workout wise. You’ll see this reflected in the sequencing examples below.

angmarie28

well im no expert, and am still figuring it out, but for me, i started workout videos at home, jillian, p90x, then joined a gym, decided to try the "very little cardio" thing, but it made my legs get bigger where i could hardly get my pants up, so i now do 5 min od cardio to warm up, followed by 30-40 minutes of lifting, then 20 minutes of cardio. sometimes more, sometimes less, depending how much time i have, it seems to work well for me, i got almost to my goal that way, but got married and fell off track, so now im doing it that way again, so far so good