gaining muscle

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muffintopteri
muffintopteri Posts: 83
in Fitness and Exercise
I've been doing Body for Life for 4 weeks now, watching my diet and yet I am not losing any weight. I have only take one set of measurements last week so I can't tell if I'm losing inches but my clothes also feel no different. I am wondering how quickly you actually begin building muscle and if that would interfere with the scale reading and when I could expect to see results.

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  • crystal_sapphire
    crystal_sapphire Posts: 1,205 Member
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    are you doing strength training? it takes plenty of protein + strength training+ usually a calorie surplus to gain muscle. Also it takes a while to build muscle. Body builders spend months doing so

    You mentioned your clothing doesn't feel different. have you been drinking plenty of water and urinating and having regular bowel movements?Perhaps your muscles may be holding onto water since you have recently begun exercising.
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
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    Give it some time. Make sure you are eating enough. At least 1200 plus any calories you burn during exercise. Water is very, very important. At least 64oz and even more to make up for sweating. You should at least be losing some water weight. I lost and gained the same 3 pounds for 2 months and then all of a sudden the pounds started melting off. And what you eat is important with strength training. You want to eat as clean as possible. How's your sodium? That can also keep your body from flushing water.
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
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    Have you been logging with MFP for those 4 weeks? If you stick to his 6 meals a day plan religiously, without really measuring, it's easy to go over on calories, I found. Every since joining MFP, I end up with 5 meals most of the time. If there's a 6th, it's usually a very small one. Also, it's easy to go way overboard on the free day and cancel out your deficit from the week. Consider giving yourself 1 or 2 free "meals" a week rather than free day. And consider adding an extra cardio session on the free day.

    I've done BFL before and have had great success with it. I'm still following it pretty closely. It has really taught me how to eat and how to exercise.

    I'm going to send you a friend request. Let's take a good look at what you've been doing and see if we can diagnose what might be going wrong.
  • muffintopteri
    muffintopteri Posts: 83
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    Thanx for the advice. I am drinking lots. Strength training and aerobics. I do eat clean, almost no dairy, very low fat, nothing fried. Fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean meats (mostly poultry). I'm not sure what's going on except that I've become hopeful that suddenly the weight will begin to drop. I also do not think I'm skimping on calories although I'm not going over either. {shrug}
  • dave4d
    dave4d Posts: 1,155 Member
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    I also did body for life with great success. According to so of the body for life boards, they mention something about a magic week 8 for women. Sometimes it takes a while to show, but if you stick with it, you should see great results. I do recommend. Counting calories, and checking your numbers, over the guesswork of palm fist. And make sure you do HIIT for cardio. It helps.
  • muffintopteri
    muffintopteri Posts: 83
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    I also did body for life with great success. According to so of the body for life boards, they mention something about a magic week 8 for women. Sometimes it takes a while to show, but if you stick with it, you should see great results. I do recommend. Counting calories, and checking your numbers, over the guesswork of palm fist. And make sure you do HIIT for cardio. It helps.

    I weigh in weekly and I've just begun to take measurements. I am logging my food here on MFP but what is HIIT?
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
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    I weigh in weekly and I've just begun to take measurements. I am logging my food here on MFP but what is HIIT?

    HIIT stands for High Intensity interval training. The BFL way of doing the cardio with the 4 ramp-ups is essentially a form of HIIT. It really works wonders on your metabolism and endurance. So if you're doing that, keep doing it, and if not, you should start :wink:
  • muffintopteri
    muffintopteri Posts: 83
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    I weigh in weekly and I've just begun to take measurements. I am logging my food here on MFP but what is HIIT?

    HIIT stands for High Intensity interval training. The BFL way of doing the cardio with the 4 ramp-ups is essentially a form of HIIT. It really works wonders on your metabolism and endurance. So if you're doing that, keep doing it, and if not, you should start :wink:

    Yes I am doing the BFL HIIT! love it. I guess I just need to keep at it. Thanx
  • lkm111
    lkm111 Posts: 629 Member
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    Do you have the "Eating For Life" cookbook? I don't follow BFL anymore, but I still use many of the recipes in the book. They are really good!

    Glad that you are making good changes. When I did BFL I lost about thirty pounds. Then I ruptured a disc in my back (not exercise related). It has taken me six years to get back to where I was. I'm doing Zumba and KettleWorx and counting calories, but I have debated with myself about going back to BFL. Good luck to you on your progress!
  • dave4d
    dave4d Posts: 1,155 Member
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    Do you have the "Eating For Life" cookbook? I don't follow BFL anymore, but I still use many of the recipes in the book. They are really good!

    Glad that you are making good changes. When I did BFL I lost about thirty pounds. Then I ruptured a disc in my back (not exercise related). It has taken me six years to get back to where I was. I'm doing Zumba and KettleWorx and counting calories, but I have debated with myself about going back to BFL. Good luck to you on your progress!

    Eating for life has some really good recipes. I try to follow the eating as good as I can, but now counting calories too.

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