Weight loss has been inconsistent.

Bruggush

So I've had some big losses and big gains with hardly any change in routine. I'm very curious as to what the reason would be, maybe someone can see something that I'm not.

So some basic information about me:

I'm 24, I'm on Testosterone Replacement Therapy. I have been for 9+ months. My levels were 180 before starting, my current levels are 430 now.

When I started dieting and exercising in mid-December of last year, I weighed 420 pounds.

I now weigh 375 pounds.

I started going to the gym January 24th, and since going my schedule and routine has been the same. I go 1 day, skip a day. So each week I'm either going 3 or 4 times. Even when I've been sore, (And I've been extremely sore), I still haven't missed any days and have continued my day on - day off routine.

Each time I visit the gym, I stay for 2 hours. It usually takes me 45 minutes to do my full-body weights. I work my arms, legs, abs, and try to achieve full body workouts with weights using machines. (I was advised by the owner of the gym not to touch the free-weights because of some injuries I've had in the past) The gym is an anytime fitness.

I spend 1 hour doing cardio each time I go. At first I used the treadmill and exercise bike, but now I only use the elliptical as it feels best and most comfortable for me and gives me a much better workout.

I do High-Interval Training on the elliptical where I do a 10 minute warmup where I go about 4.5 mph on level 1. Then for 30 seconds, I bump it up to level 20. After 30 seconds at level 20, I reduce it back down to level 1 for 90 seconds. I rinse and repeat this process until I have 10 minutes left, at which point I do my cooldown. When I see 10 minutes on the elliptical, I have it at level 10. When it hits 9 minutes, I bump it down to level 9, when it hits 8 minutes, I bump it down to level 8, so on so forth. When I've got 60 seconds left, I bump it all the way up to level 25 and push as hard as I can to finish my daily workout.

At the end of the workout, the machine normally says I've burned around 1000 calories (I don't know how accurate the machine is, the weight calculator only goes to 350 and I weigh 375 now).

As far as the weight machines go, I use 9 different machines, doing 3 sets of 8 reps trying to lift heavy. If I can go past 8 on my last set, I increase the weight my next time in the gym. The first week at the gym I didn't have any gains, I was quite sore, but after that, I have had a consistent gain on each machine every day that I work out.

I started lifting on some machines at 50 pounds and now lift 100. On Pectoral Fly I started at 135 and now am able to pump out 260 3 sets of 8 without a struggle, and on leg press I'm able to do 400 pounds (Max Stack), 8, 8, and 16. I've been adjusting the machines to make it harder on myself for the machines that I've maxed out.

I thought that maybe it was the testosterone that was allowing me to lift as much weight and make significant gains and recover faster. I'm not sure.

Doctors have always told me that I had a lot of muscle under all of my fat, because my body was forced to carry around all this weight for my entire life. But I was only able to do 85 pounds before TRT and now I'm able to do 260 on the same machine 9+ months later, with only a month of working at it. So I'd say the TRT has helped a lot. I have shoulder bulges that I've never had before and it's very noticeable that I'm gaining a large amount of muscle.

On the flip side, my weight losses and gains are inconsistent.

Some weeks I've lost 7-9 pounds in 7 days, and some weeks I haven't lost any.

This week I lost 6 pounds, but last week I gained 4 pounds and I was concerned.

My diet hasn't changed at all, I stick to 2000 calories each day, I don't eat packaged food or fast food anymore, I make ALL of my meals at home. I don't use butter, I use peanut or olive oil. I eat fruit, vegetables, complex carbs and lean proteins, I take creatine monohydrate, isoflex whey protein, multivitamin and vitamin d tablets, and drink at least 1 gallon of water every day. I've also cut my sodium / salt intake down a lot. I get my daily value, but not eating packaged foods has really cut the excess sodium down.

I know I've been making some huge strength gains, but does that mean I've actually been gaining a lot of muscle, or is it more that I've had the muscle all along but since it's been inactive due to lack of exercise that it just lost a lot of function?

Carrying around over 400 pounds of weight for years, there's got to be muscle in all this flab.

I'm just wondering why my weight loss is inconsistent. I'm definitely happy with my results, I'm feeling great, but it's just weird to see a loss and then a gain and flipflopping numbers on the scale each week.

My bathroom routine is also the same every 7 days before I weigh.

I'm really as consistent as I can be, which I would assume would lead to consistent weight loss, not occasional gains.

Anyone have any insight on this? Thank you.

mschicagocubs

You are going to get asked to make your diary public so we can see what you are eating

Bruggush

You are going to get asked to make your diary public so we can see what you are eating

I actually don't have anything written in my diary, though I do have a physical one so I can count my calories. I could start loading the information in though. I generally eat most of the same things each day, just trying to balance it out.

Like for breakfast I either eat 2 eggs, 2 pieces of wheat bread, (No butter / oil for eggs or bread) and black coffee.

Or

Yogurt, almonds, cashews, and blueberries.

The yogurt is higher calories and sugars so I typically eat that on gym days.