really confused as to what I should do!!!! REALLY NEED HELP!

shug458

I started the JM 30 day shred and was going strong for 15 days in a row - was feeling very proud of myself but was serious feeling awful at the same time - I was gaining weight and although I know muscle weighs more then fat I didn't feel right! I felt thicker, my clothes were fitter more snug and it was NOT a good feeling. I told myself give it the full 30 days - well sadly to admit I have taken a 2 day break and to my surprise Im down 2 lbs already! hmmmmmm - I'm wondering if I should lose the weight I want to FIRST (10 lbs) and then do the shred to get lean? any thoughts?
Not that I won't do anything BUT i think maybe JUST walking and cardio rather then strength and jillian michaels, at least until i get down to my goal weight.
I was doing Taebo for a while which helped me lose lbs also and I was still exercising. Like tonight - it was beautiful, so I went out and took my dog for a great 30 minute walk and burned 77 calories

any thoughts?

kgs0201

Were your muscles sore? I'm pretty sure (def. not an expert so feel free to correct me) that when you do strength training you are stretching your muscles and when you do this they retain more water. So the gain you were seeing was water retention. And you may not have been drinking enough water on top of your working out (yes drinking more water actually reduces your water retention).

I'd say continue with JM but maybe not everyday... do it every other day. I've never finished the 30 day shred. I just can't do the same workout that many days in a row. I like to switch it up which is why I own 6 of her DVD's... lots of variety :-)

SaraTonin

You can gain up to 4 pounds of water weight from muscle recovery during a new routine. No joke!

It's better to exercise with cardio AND strength training (like Jillian) though. Why?

It boosts your metabolism so that you burn more calories in a day. This means that you'll have a more sustainable weight loss and keep the pounds off that you lose. You'll be healthier, gain motivation and confidence, not to mention lower your blood pressure and best of all - get to eat more calories in the day!

Any activity is great really, just keep at it!

JulieSmiles1

I may not be much help here. I was talking to my Jazzercise instructor about how I lose weight on the days I take off from working out, but I don't lose when I work out daily. She said that our muscles will hold excess water to be able to repair themselves when we are working out everyday. Maybe what you should do is take a day off here and there to give your body time to repair itself. Hope this helps!

sarawalker14

Hey! Your pants may have gotten a little snug because we have a lot of water weight. We go through a lot of hormone changes through out the month. Even if you don't get periods, you body will act like it will. So for a few days out of the month things will feel tight and make you think you gained weight. As females we may be loosing weight but it doesn't show on the scale. It takes us a lot more time to drop weight than males, darn males! Doing cardio is good as well as strenght and trimming. It is worth to do both. Maybe try cardio for 3 days and maybe strength and body building for 2? It is fine to do both at the same time because as your body changes, you are getting loose skin (weird i know) but doing the strength (lean) training will help tighten the skin.. Good luck! I wish I had motivation like you to keep working out!

xcountrymom2

Well first of all, I am really proud of you for your hard work already. Just know that anything that says "shred" in it will mean usually high protein, low fat and no carbs. This is an extremely hard diet to follow, and if it includes a lot of weights, then it could make you feel bulky. What I love about myfitnesspal is that you can custom change your needs for weight loss. For instance, I went in and lowered my carbs that i want t consume for the day and raised my protein a little. Then make sure you get some cardio for the day, at least by walking 50-80 minutes moderate to brisk or as much as doing a spin class in which you will burn over 800 calories. The only think I don't like about fitnesspal is that it doesn't give you any calories burned credit on lifting weights, only cardio and I think lifting weights is super good for long term fitness. But the nice thing is if you plan your meals ahead on my fitness pal, you can adjust your meals throughout the day if you have to, to maintain the weight loss that you want. I also like the fact that it tells you when your calorie intake is too low and you could go into starvation mode. This is true and I know that I think I have actually been not eating enough, then I would go into starvation mode, then I would eat a big meal and my body would say...."food, grab onto it!". I planned on taking a spin class today but my plans changed and I ended up only doing 50 minute of walking the dogs. Therefore I had to adjust my dinner to compensate for the extra calories I could have burned but did not. So, what I am saying, is just keep using your my fitness pal food and exercise plans and you will have no problems. Keep up the good work!

quetzalcoatl

I did Artistic Gymnastics for five years (don't worry, this is kinda on topic!) and if you ever want to look at different "muscle training" results all you have to do is look at an Artistic Gymnast and a Rhythmic Gymnast. Anyone here who's done gymnastics will know what I'm talking about.

Artistic is the beam/bars/vault etc... high impact stuff, extreme muscular strength. Rhythmic is the ribbon, batons, hoop etc. High flexibility, lower impact but extreme balance. Closer to dance in some ways. These two body types are very distinct - I think the primary difference is that rhythmic muscle comes from holding the body and moving the body in tight and rapid movements. Still develops the muscles, but its very different from an exercise involving chin-ups, push-ups, holding handstands and crunches, etc. I noticed from my side of the gym that the rhythmics' strength regime looked more like pilates. Holding their legs in a pointed arabesque, leg kicks, that sort of thing.

Alas, the legacy of my training was that I was short and stocky. Muscular. Depends what sort of look you are going for. There were some naturally slender people in my training group, and they ended up looking hot as hot - skinny and lightly toned. Really hard to get the precise look you want, sometimes you just don't have the body to do it. I had a little round tummy, completely smooth. One day I got an abdominal ultrasound, and the technician exclaimed at how developed my six pack was. God, did that piss me off. All this time I had a six pack and thought I was weaker than the other girls, or somehow not as fit.

Moral of the story: working your *kitten* off gives you fitness, but does it give you an aesthetically pleasing exterior? Depends. Just want you to make sure your expectations are realistic. Since stopping training I've worked out that I WAS skinny then. Packed on flab after that. Hard to be pleased with what you have.