Lifting weights, but no real fat loss

WalkingAlong

Water retention doesn't have to do with specific exercises. It's about the work in general. The body adapts and regulates it's ability to repair itself. Untrained muscle receives relatively major damage, hence large amounts of water to cushion and protect while repairing. Trained muscle needs far less water for cushioning, as the damage is on a far smaller scale, as trained muscle is more efficient at doing the work, once the CNS has adapted to utilizing all the available tissue.

But Crossfit specifically cross trains to reach untrained muscles and challenge trained muscles in new ways to minimize adaptation.

stealthq

Well, there's a quick(ish) way to figure out if it's water weight from new exercise with Crossfit. Stop doing Crossfit for a couple of weeks. If a bunch of weight drops off quickly, that's it.

I'm with tigersword, though. I have a hard time believing that after 6 months that is the problem. But I'm no expert on Crossfit, either.

WalkingAlong

Yeah, food mis-estimation is probably more likely. Though I wonder if she's been doing Crossfit non-stop 3x a week since July or stopped over the holidays and just got back to it and is re-experiencing water retention. And if there's been more of a body change than she's really aware of. Sometimes it's hard to tell without before/after pics AND someone objective to look at them.

WalkingAlong

My pants WERE starting to fit better, but not anymore. That's why i believe I'm not losing. I think I have issues with water weight as well, since a lot of it is in my stomach.

I've always had issues with this, though. Even when i was running tons. In 2012 I ran a half marathon and gained 15 lbs - and it wasn't muscle.

You might be one of those who just retains a lot of water from intense exercise. Does Crossfit still feel intense? Do you get muscle soreness? Would you be willing to just walk for two weeks and see what happens? Are you positive about your starting weight or just guessing?

tigersword

Water retention doesn't have to do with specific exercises. It's about the work in general. The body adapts and regulates it's ability to repair itself. Untrained muscle receives relatively major damage, hence large amounts of water to cushion and protect while repairing. Trained muscle needs far less water for cushioning, as the damage is on a far smaller scale, as trained muscle is more efficient at doing the work, once the CNS has adapted to utilizing all the available tissue.

But Crossfit specifically cross trains to reach untrained muscles and challenge trained muscles in new ways to minimize adaptation.

Sigh... That's the old "muscle confusion" myth. And that's all it is, a myth. It's marketing, not biology. The body works on a fairly simple basis. Is the muscle overloaded? Then adaptation is needed. Whether that overload cmes from exercise A, B, or C, is irrelevant to the equation. They constantly change exercises because that's how they maintain business. And if they are intentionally neglecting muscle groups in their routines just to do them in another routine later then that's just (forgive my bluntness) incredibly stupid.