Weight Lifting Info Needed

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JimieLou
JimieLou Posts: 273 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Ok so a little backstory before I get to my question. I'm not a newbie to weight loss I've previously lost and then regained about 80 pounds from cardio only. When I started getting serious again in November I started StrongLifts. I loved it!
I had a doctors appt in January and my doctor gave me some advice for weight loss. She wants me to walk for 45-60 min every day. She also said I could lift and that she encourages it but to walk every day no matter what. So the whole month of February I walked....ok so I got bored with just walking and did some jogging intervals too...then started C25K. I've lost 8 pounds since Feb 1st. I still weigh a whopping 291. However, even my doctor says I am I good health and my fitness level are good....for a fat person. I eat fairly healthy and stay within my calorie range.
Now, here's my big question. I WANT to start lifting again. I loved the feeling I got doing StrongLifts. And in the two month I followed the program I lost inches. I know that I need to walk for 45-60 mins every day still on top of my lifting. I also know that the first weeks of a lifting program shock your muscles and you retain water. I also know to measure rather than weigh. What I'm wanting to know is if I am I going to see a HUGE scale jump even though I'm doing cardio, weights and healthy diet. Or will the scale continue to go down as well as losing the inches. I know the scale is just a number but 290 is a big number. I want to be able to for into all the clothes I have from when I was 220 and hopefully smaller.
Also I'm assuming that once I start lifting again I should lift before I do my cardio so my legs don't fatigue.

ETA. I also know that muscle is denser than fat so it takes up less room in my body. But even if I'm increasing my muscle mass will I still see a scale drop?

Any advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    In my experience, your rate of loss on the scale appears to slow because when you're doing a progressive lifting program you're always pushing the limits of what your muscles can do so they're always being in a state of repair which causes fluid retention...this fluid retention can mask scale losses.

    As long as you're in a deficit you will continue to see the scale go down as well...it's just likely to look slower.
  • JimieLou
    JimieLou Posts: 273 Member
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    Thanks!
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,239 Member
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    If you follow Stronglifts as written starting with the empty bar, it is unlikely that to start you will have a lot of muscle soreness or water retention. It is possible, but would not likely last that long. It is really difficult to say. I would suggest that the loss of fat more that corrects for any potential temporary weight gain. Get lifting.
  • JimieLou
    JimieLou Posts: 273 Member
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    I'm thinking that I'm going to decrease the weights I ended with by 50% to start with rather than go all the way back down to the empty bar. My form is good so it seems kinda pointless to go all the way back to zero.
  • JimieLou
    JimieLou Posts: 273 Member
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    Ok. Looking for a bit more input. I had set tomorrow as my first day back lifting but now I'm getting nervous. Am I gonna see the scale skyrocket? Or if I'm lifting 2-3 days a week and doing cardio 6-7 days a week should the scale still go down?
    I know that on my lifting days that the cardio should come after the lifting and probably not be as intense as my cardio only days.
    I want to lift but I don't want to see my hard work vanish before my eyes.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,239 Member
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    Any weight gain will be water weight. Since it seems that you are rather concerned about weight, I would suggest for the next 3 weeks put the scale away, take measurements, and then see. Three weeks should be enough time for your muscles to adjust and let go of the extra water they take in to deal with the new exercise you are doing, although it may take a little longer. Frankly, scale weight is really not that helpful of a measure of progress as too many things than have nothing to do with fat loss will change it. Measuring with a tailors tape measure will give a much better picture of progress. BTW, other than burning extra calories so you can eat more, cardio does no more to aid fat loss than weight lifting does.

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