Stronglifts 5x5 for Women

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What am I losing?

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eimaj5575
eimaj5575 Posts: 278 Member
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Since starting to cut my cardio and do SL 5x5 I have been losing weight. Yes I have posted before about how many calories I should be eating and I have upped my calories from the 1200/day I was on for years. Now I have upped to 1400-1500/day and am still at a deficit bc this is a process for me. To up my calories to a surplus its going to take a gradual change. I understand I wont build muscle doing this but the past week since starting SL 5x5 I have lost about 3 pounds. I am shocked first that the scale is going down at these calories and less cardio. Just wondering if I am doing something bad to my body if I am eating a deficit and heavy lifting. What am I losing? Fat? Muscle? Water?

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  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
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    Lifting while in a deficit is what prevents muscle loss.
  • krokador
    krokador Posts: 1,794 Member
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    1 week? Did you weight yourself at exactly the same time of the day? 3lbs could've just been bloat from period or food/salt water retention.

    Take at least 2 more weeks to see how it fluctuates. If it's still going down then I'd maybe up your cals about 10%. If you're not feeling weak or hungry right now, don't worry too much about it.
  • rlw911
    rlw911 Posts: 475 Member
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    It's probably your body's way of thanking you for upping your calories! :happy: I would say you're losing fat. Like random said, lifting helps prevent muscle loss.
  • jstout365
    jstout365 Posts: 1,686 Member
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    I think you are probably seeing some fluctuations in water weight with some fat loss. If you were eating 1200 calories and doing hours of cardio a week, you may have been putting a lot of stress on your body without knowing it and that can increase water retention quite a bit. Now that you have taken some stress off, it is responding by shedding the water weight. Watch how you feel and how your lifts progress and adjust your calories up a bit like Krok said if you find yourself to be sluggish, not recovering between lifting sessions, or having brain fuzz. You are still in a deficit so there was probably some fat loss in those three pounds. Without a way to easily measure bodyfat % it is hard to say just how much.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
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    Since starting to cut my cardio and do SL 5x5 I have been losing weight. Yes I have posted before about how many calories I should be eating and I have upped my calories from the 1200/day I was on for years. Now I have upped to 1400-1500/day and am still at a deficit bc this is a process for me. To up my calories to a surplus its going to take a gradual change. I understand I wont build muscle doing this but the past week since starting SL 5x5 I have lost about 3 pounds. I am shocked first that the scale is going down at these calories and less cardio. Just wondering if I am doing something bad to my body if I am eating a deficit and heavy lifting. What am I losing? Fat? Muscle? Water?

    On a calorie deficit, you will lose fat, and lbm (muscle, water, etc). But if you lift heavy, your body is going to try and retain lbm, thus the weight you lose will be a higher percentage of fat then it would be without lifting. With that being said make sure you're fueling your body adequately as the poster above mentioned.
  • eimaj5575
    eimaj5575 Posts: 278 Member
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    Thanks for the input. I was just curious. I am weighing at the same time everyday and I have changed my diet some by upping my protein and just eating cleaner. I am not hungry and I am actually less tired. I am just learning all about this and the like input from everyone. Thank you all! :)

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