I am sure you have heard this before but....

CorkGirl76

Please tell me I will start losing weight soon. I had started losing weight before I started SL but I am actually not losing anything at all - for the past 5 weeks. I am sure that its just newbie gains but can someone confirm it?

I am eating net 1650 btw.

jstout365

Are you taking measurements of key areas like chest, waist, hips, and thighs? Lifting often will help you lose inches before pounds. If you are doing Strong Lifts with no additional cardio or circuit training, it will just take some time.

Estimating burns with strength training can be tricky and many people do a TDEE - a certain percent method to calculate calories. Netting 1650 should be okay, but if you are estimating 300 calories of exercise (and eating 1950), you may actually be eating really close to your daily expenditure. This number can be played with a bit to determine what calorie level works for you.

I eat a flat 1600-1700 day in and day out without worrying about exercise calories. My TDEE can go between 1900-2200 so I know that I will have between a 300-600 calorie deficit any given day. I haven't been losing weight very quickly (seem to be going up and down between the same 4 pounds), but I have lost an inch around my belly button measurement since the start of February.

With lifting, measurements and progress pictures are a better guide of how you are doing than just the scale alone.

CorkGirl76

I confess I didn't take any measurements when I started and I really should have as I can see my waist has gotten smaller. I will do that this weekend for the future. I don't add calories for the weight training but I do one straight cardio workout at the gym each week along with a smaller workout on weight days. I also walk a few times a week and so I just count the calories from that. I will carry on for a while as I am but take measurements.

thanks for the reply.

lwoodroff

I'm not very controlled with my eating (understatement!) and have probably put on about half a stone or so.. but I look as though I've lost that amount! the scale is not your friend. While you are lifting, you store extra water around your muscles to help them recover. Try not to weigh within 48 hours of a lifting session to minimise this.. when I stopped for a fortnight (only 1 session a week in those two weeks () I lost about 4lbs. Of course it reappeared as soon as I started lifting again! So don't worry tooooo much about it!

aliciab307

Inches matter more than scale weight! Although I know how discouraging it can be to not see the scale budge. Definitely take measurements and pictures. I did both I just started on Sunday. I plan on taking progress photos on week 6 and week 12. I've already lost a lb but I do Zumba and play basketball as well. I have a fitbit and that has greatly helped me in keeping an appropriate deficit.

Fittreelol

I recently started cutting again (although I've been lifting for about 15 months), and it took me 4 weeks or so before the scale moved a significant amount. Then I sort of had a mini woosh which equaled out to about .75lbs/week which is more or less what I'm going for. I think many women have had the same experience. I'm a lucky lady and I get to do this at around 2200 cals/day. I'm also pretty heavy though which doesn't hurt calorie requirements.

SezxyStef

I eat on average 1700 a day...and yes I lose weight.

I know for me when I started SL's my weight loss slowed down to about 1/2lb a week on average...but it took a couple weeks to see any significant losses.

Then a woosh...2lbs gone.

It will happen. I've gone as long as 5 weeks without a loss while lifting too...

When I got "discouraged" after a small gain after Christmas(1.5lbs) I added in HIIT on my off days...and I lost 3lbs in two weeks...I added this as I didn't weigh myself for about 3 weeks after I got back on track with my food and adding in HIIT because I knew I would have water weight...