lifting

today starts the mark of my 9th week being consistant with my workouts but i have not lost anything but i have gained :( ok guys who lifts weights right now i feel that doing the strength machines at the gym is whats holding me back too because it weight more then fat should i focus on cardio for a while to see if the scale moves or continue to lift ?
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Replies

  • JTick
    JTick Posts: 2,131 Member
    Muscle does not weigh more than fat, you are not gaining muscle. You are experiencing water retention.

    Continue to lift.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    today starts the mark of my 9th week being consistant with my workouts but i have not lost anything but i have gained :( ok guys who lifts weights right now i feel that doing the strength machines at the gym is whats holding me back too because it weight more then fat should i focus on cardio for a while to see if the scale moves or continue to lift ?

    Yes, continue to lift.
  • JennyJ2015
    JennyJ2015 Posts: 154 Member
    but i should have lost at least 18 - 20 pound by now i don't get it at 9 weeks i should have seen some loss right how long did it take you guys to see loss like i'm getting a little impatient here :(
  • KristinNicole82
    KristinNicole82 Posts: 164 Member
    I understand your frustration, you need to find what works best for your body.

    Are you carefully logging all of your food and exercise?

    I would do am cardio on an empty stomach then lift in the pm.
  • JTick
    JTick Posts: 2,131 Member
    Do you weigh your food? Your food diary has a lot of generic entries, and a lot of "1 cup, 1 serving, 1 patty", etc. If you're not weighing your food, then you are eating more than you think you are eating. This is a very common problem, and often the cause of a seeming "plateau".
  • bekahlou75
    bekahlou75 Posts: 304 Member
    Do this, take a week and see what exactly you're eating. Take that same hamburger patty and instead of entering 1 patty, enter the grams/ounces. Do this with all the food that would have normally eaten. I think you will see that you have actually been over your calories for weight loss. I did this and it was an eye opener.

    And, 1 pound of muscle weighs the same as 1 pound of fat. It's just shaped differenly.
  • Leadfoot_Lewis
    Leadfoot_Lewis Posts: 1,623 Member
    How many calories are you eating a day? What are your Macros? Do you track EVERYTHING you eat?
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    stopping lift is NEVER the answer.
    EVER.

    EVER EVER EVER.

    Odds are you are still eating to much.
    9 weeks you should have seen some sort of results. Get out your food scale- and use it- religiously. If you must- underestimate your workouts- and over estimate your food. Gives you a better factor of safety.

    If you are feeling saucy- add in cardio (I almost ONLY do cardio when I'm cutting)- means I get to eat more at the end of the day.
  • Warchortle
    Warchortle Posts: 2,197 Member
    Cardio just modifies your energy expenditure meaning your deficit is larger so you lose more weight [fat AND muscle]

    Lifting will at least maintain the muscle you have or you might gain some lean body mass. Would you rather look better and weigh more? Or look worse and weigh less?
  • Strokingdiction
    Strokingdiction Posts: 1,164 Member
    9 weeks and no weight loss? You're not eating at a deficit. Make sure your intake is accurate (weighing everything that goes into your mouth) for a month and if you're still not losing, reassess.
  • JennyJ2015
    JennyJ2015 Posts: 154 Member
    I understand your frustration, you need to find what works best for your body.

    Are you carefully logging all of your food and exercise?

    I would do am cardio on an empty stomach then lift in the pm.

    i would love to work out in the am but it wont fit into my schedule that way
  • madhatter2013
    madhatter2013 Posts: 1,547 Member
    Stop using the machines and use the free weights. Barbells and dumbells with compound heavy lifting.
  • MelissR75
    MelissR75 Posts: 735 Member
    How many calories are you eating a day? What are your Macros? Do you track EVERYTHING you eat?

    The best thing to do is anwser the above questions. I was in the same position as you; I was working my *kitten* off and not losing a pound so I know the frustration! I worked with a trainer who came up with a meal plan for me. We siginificantly dropped my calories, adjusted my Macros and sure enough, I lost 7.5lbs in 4 weeks and Im still losing weekly. What works for others does not work for everyone. The "eat more to weigh less" concept was not working for me.....whole grains do not like me. Try to change things around see what works for you.

    Edited to add that you should NOT give up lifting. I didn't change my workout routine at all. I lift 5 days a week with minimal cardio (20 minutes 3x a week). Good luck :flowerforyou:
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    If you believe you should have lost up to 20 lbs. and you haven't then that has more to do with your diet.... Are you weighing and measuring your food?, What is your caloric intake set at? What are your measurements... How much weight have you gained?? These are all questions that need answered first to determine why your not losing....
  • JennyJ2015
    JennyJ2015 Posts: 154 Member
    i have a little bit of change my profile pic the one in the grey was last week the one n the black shirt was me when i started i didn't see a difference till i put the pic next to each other i have people all the time telling me i look like i've lost weight and id rather look better :)
  • JennyJ2015
    JennyJ2015 Posts: 154 Member
    If you believe you should have lost up to 20 lbs. and you haven't then that has more to do with your diet.... Are you weighing and measuring your food?, What is your caloric intake set at? What are your measurements... How much weight have you gained?? These are all questions that need answered first to determine why your not losing....

    i have a food scale at home but im working or not home most of the time
  • JennyJ2015
    JennyJ2015 Posts: 154 Member
    How many calories are you eating a day? What are your Macros? Do you track EVERYTHING you eat?

    The best thing to do is anwser the above questions. I was in the same position as you; I was working my *kitten* off and not losing a pound so I know the frustration! I worked with a trainer who came up with a meal plan for me. We siginificantly dropped my calories, adjusted my Macros and sure enough, I lost 7.5lbs in 4 weeks and Im still losing weekly. What works for others does not work for everyone. The "eat more to weigh less" concept was not working for me.....whole grains do not like me. Try to change things around see what works for you.

    Edited to add that you should NOT give up lifting. I didn't change my workout routine at all. I lift 5 days a week with minimal cardio (20 minutes 3x a week). Good luck :flowerforyou:


    i go to the gym 4-5 days a week and do at least a hr of cardio and lift 3 times a week
  • JennyJ2015
    JennyJ2015 Posts: 154 Member
    Stop using the machines and use the free weights. Barbells and dumbells with compound heavy lifting.

    im nervous that i might not be able to do it right
  • JennyJ2015
    JennyJ2015 Posts: 154 Member
    Cardio just modifies your energy expenditure meaning your deficit is larger so you lose more weight [fat AND muscle]

    Lifting will at least maintain the muscle you have or you might gain some lean body mass. Would you rather look better and weigh more? Or look worse and weigh less?

    i have a little bit of change my profile pic the one in the grey was last week the one n the black shirt was me when i started i didn't see a difference till i put the pic next to each other i have people all the time telling me i look like i've lost weight and id rather look better :)
  • cuinboston2014
    cuinboston2014 Posts: 848 Member
    If you believe you should have lost up to 20 lbs. and you haven't then that has more to do with your diet.... Are you weighing and measuring your food?, What is your caloric intake set at? What are your measurements... How much weight have you gained?? These are all questions that need answered first to determine why your not losing....

    i have a food scale at home but im working or not home most of the time

    So weigh the food you take to work with you. I'm not home much, either. Every night before I go to bed I weigh and measure everything I'm going to eat from the time I leave until the time I get home that evening. Before dinner, I do the same thing when I sit down to eat. Today, I have to eat dinner on my way home from work. Made a sandwich last night, logged it, and I will eat it.
  • JennyJ2015
    JennyJ2015 Posts: 154 Member
    If you believe you should have lost up to 20 lbs. and you haven't then that has more to do with your diet.... Are you weighing and measuring your food?, What is your caloric intake set at? What are your measurements... How much weight have you gained?? These are all questions that need answered first to determine why your not losing....

    i have a food scale at home but im working or not home most of the time

    So weigh the food you take to work with you. I'm not home much, either. Every night before I go to bed I weigh and measure everything I'm going to eat from the time I leave until the time I get home that evening. Before dinner, I do the same thing when I sit down to eat. Today, I have to eat dinner on my way home from work. Made a sandwich last night, logged it, and I will eat it.

    im going to do that i try to cut processed food out but money is always tight so sometimes i feel i have no choice :(
  • cuinboston2014
    cuinboston2014 Posts: 848 Member
    How many calories are you eating a day? What are your Macros? Do you track EVERYTHING you eat?

    The best thing to do is anwser the above questions. I was in the same position as you; I was working my *kitten* off and not losing a pound so I know the frustration! I worked with a trainer who came up with a meal plan for me. We siginificantly dropped my calories, adjusted my Macros and sure enough, I lost 7.5lbs in 4 weeks and Im still losing weekly. What works for others does not work for everyone. The "eat more to weigh less" concept was not working for me.....whole grains do not like me. Try to change things around see what works for you.

    Edited to add that you should NOT give up lifting. I didn't change my workout routine at all. I lift 5 days a week with minimal cardio (20 minutes 3x a week). Good luck :flowerforyou:


    i go to the gym 4-5 days a week and do at least a hr of cardio and lift 3 times a week

    The point of the post, if I'm not mistaken, is to try to alter your diet. You need to track, weigh, and measure appropriately to really know exactly how much you are eating. I go to the gym 6 days a week. I run 6 days a week and lift three of those days. The days where I do both I split it up so I have time for 45-60 minute lifting and then 3.5-5 mile run at lunch. But, I can eat all those calories back if I'm not careful and I'm not a pettite girl - I'm 180 and 5'10". You can not exercise a bad diet or too many calories.

    Keep going, you will lose weight, but weigh/measure your food and watch your macros. My protein was (and sometimes still is) WAY too low for my activity level and goals. It's really hard for me to lose weight when my protein isn't where it should be!!
  • cuinboston2014
    cuinboston2014 Posts: 848 Member
    If you believe you should have lost up to 20 lbs. and you haven't then that has more to do with your diet.... Are you weighing and measuring your food?, What is your caloric intake set at? What are your measurements... How much weight have you gained?? These are all questions that need answered first to determine why your not losing....

    i have a food scale at home but im working or not home most of the time


    So weigh the food you take to work with you. I'm not home much, either. Every night before I go to bed I weigh and measure everything I'm going to eat from the time I leave until the time I get home that evening. Before dinner, I do the same thing when I sit down to eat. Today, I have to eat dinner on my way home from work. Made a sandwich last night, logged it, and I will eat it.

    im going to do that i try to cut processed food out but money is always tight so sometimes i feel i have no choice :(

    No shame in processed food, IMO. More sodium, but not everyone is sensitive to that. I'm not sure if you are. When I lost 100+ lbs I imagine 80% of my diet was processed foods. If you are eating prepackaged things more then I probably wouldn't weigh it either (though some may disagree - I refuse to open a new package of something that's not fresh fruit, veggies, cheese etc and weigh it like a Lean Cuisine or something). but if you are pulling a chicken breast out of a package, I would weigh it. Weigh what you can!
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    If you believe you should have lost up to 20 lbs. and you haven't then that has more to do with your diet.... Are you weighing and measuring your food?, What is your caloric intake set at? What are your measurements... How much weight have you gained?? These are all questions that need answered first to determine why your not losing....

    i have a food scale at home but im working or not home most of the time

    hmmm I work and manage to use my scale for every meal...either prepacked lunch or lunch at home, same thing with lunch.

    in 9 weeks yes you should have lost some weight. New exercise only has the water retention effect for about 4-6 weeks. Mind you with weight lifting I find I need at least 2 full rest days before I can weigh myself and get an accurate read on the scale.

    But that being said...if you haven't lost you are eating more than you think. I see days that look partial to me...and some of your entries are just so wrong...you need to be careful with those...

    5 chicken wings do not have 53 grams of protien...I friggen wish...and to top it off it's log as homemade...did you make them? was it a full wing? partial ie drumette? each portion of a wing typically has 100 calories and about 6 grams of protien.

    So if they were full wings...it would have been 1000 calories...and maybe then 50grams of protien...but if they were partial wings 500 calories and 25 grams of protien...give or take.
  • parkscs
    parkscs Posts: 1,639 Member
    stopping lift is NEVER the answer.
    EVER.

    EVER EVER EVER.

    Odds are you are still eating to much.
    9 weeks you should have seen some sort of results. Get out your food scale- and use it- religiously. If you must- underestimate your workouts- and over estimate your food. Gives you a better factor of safety.

    If you are feeling saucy- add in cardio (I almost ONLY do cardio when I'm cutting)- means I get to eat more at the end of the day.

    Agreed. Don't stop lifting; fix your diet. After 9 weeks it's unlikely to be merely water retention from starting a lifting program, unless your deficit is very small. Either way, the weights aren't the problem.
    i go to the gym 4-5 days a week and do at least a hr of cardio and lift 3 times a week

    Spend some of that effort on your diet. Focus on using your food scale religiously, at least until you get a good grasp on portion sizes (and even then it's best to use the scale). Weight loss happens in the kitchen; not at the gym. You can grind out cardio machines 4-5 days a week but that won't fix a bad diet, and may just serve to burn you out on the idea of weight loss. It's much easier to just eat less food (I'm not saying don't do cardio though).
  • joshkottemann
    joshkottemann Posts: 1 Member
    I can only agree with everybody else, the devil is in the details, measure your food more carefully. As for exercise, I have always alternated cardio one day, weights the next. As long as I have been disciplined with diet and exercise I have had wonderful success. I certainly wouldn't want you to drop the exercise, that won't help at all. Good Luck!
  • JennyJ2015
    JennyJ2015 Posts: 154 Member
    Do you weigh your food? Your food diary has a lot of generic entries, and a lot of "1 cup, 1 serving, 1 patty", etc. If you're not weighing your food, then you are eating more than you think you are eating. This is a very common problem, and often the cause of a seeming "plateau".

    im going to start using my food scale more regularly :)
  • JennyJ2015
    JennyJ2015 Posts: 154 Member
    I can only agree with everybody else, the devil is in the details, measure your food more carefully. As for exercise, I have always alternated cardio one day, weights the next. As long as I have been disciplined with diet and exercise I have had wonderful success. I certainly wouldn't want you to drop the exercise, that won't help at all. Good Luck!

    the cardio im going to continue on a daily and the lifting im going to cut back a little
  • JennyJ2015
    JennyJ2015 Posts: 154 Member
    stopping lift is NEVER the answer.
    EVER.

    EVER EVER EVER.

    Odds are you are still eating to much.
    9 weeks you should have seen some sort of results. Get out your food scale- and use it- religiously. If you must- underestimate your workouts- and over estimate your food. Gives you a better factor of safety.

    If you are feeling saucy- add in cardio (I almost ONLY do cardio when I'm cutting)- means I get to eat more at the end of the day.

    Agreed. Don't stop lifting; fix your diet. After 9 weeks it's unlikely to be merely water retention from starting a lifting program, unless your deficit is very small. Either way, the weights aren't the problem.
    i go to the gym 4-5 days a week and do at least a hr of cardio and lift 3 times a week

    Spend some of that effort on your diet. Focus on using your food scale religiously, at least until you get a good grasp on portion sizes (and even then it's best to use the scale). Weight loss happens in the kitchen; not at the gym. You can grind out cardio machines 4-5 days a week but that won't fix a bad diet, and may just serve to burn you out on the idea of weight loss. It's much easier to just eat less food (I'm not saying don't do cardio though).

    im not going to stop the cardio my body is used to it now if i dont do it i dont feel like myself
  • JennyJ2015
    JennyJ2015 Posts: 154 Member
    I can only agree with everybody else, the devil is in the details, measure your food more carefully. As for exercise, I have always alternated cardio one day, weights the next. As long as I have been disciplined with diet and exercise I have had wonderful success. I certainly wouldn't want you to drop the exercise, that won't help at all. Good Luck!

    thanks guys im definatley going to take another look at my diet :)