Those who lift heavy

reerazzle

I have a question for those successful weight lifters out there. Did you wait to lose a certain amount of weight before beginning to lift heavy? it seems to me that weight loss declines as you lift because of muscle gain so is it recommend to reach a desirable weight before beginning weight lifting? Would love to hear about peoples' experiences?

Thanks!

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

Always start lifting before losing weight. Obese newbie gains > regular newbie gains.

KarenJanine

Start lifting now to preserve the precious muscle mass you already have and ensure that the majority of the weight you are losing is fat.

erinsueburns

I waited and wish I hadn't. Despite using a very low deficit for weight loss I still lost a significant amount of LBM (as measured by those Tanita scales) and ended up around goal weight still flabby and relatively weak. More aggressive weight loss strategies are very likely to also be more aggressive at stripping you of LBM too. Slower weight loss is better in that respect. Sparing yourself of losing that LBM in the first place is also really good as it seems easier to keep what you have than to build it up again afterwards.

jonnythan

Start lifting now. Right now. Go. Go lift.

Every pound you lose without lifting weight is that much more lean mass you've gotten rid of for no reason at all.

ayanna32

I have a question for those successful weight lifters out there. Did you wait to lose a certain amount of weight before beginning to lift heavy? it seems to me that weight loss declines as you lift because of muscle gain so is it recommend to reach a desirable weight before beginning weight lifting? Would love to hear about peoples' experiences?

Thanks!

You took the words right out of my mouth! I started heavy lifting a few weeks ago and since then the scale didn't budge, but has stayed up about a pound. I do want to lose weight but I feel like I can see changes in my body, it's a little discouraging but I think we need to ditch the scale. I'm going to try to stick with heavy lifting and HIIT and see where I end up by end of April. One thing for sure, I love lifting!

Snow3y

It really depends on your size and weight.. also what are your goals? To look good or to do power lifting?

I was skinny at start, so I only needed to work towards weight gain

barebon

It takes an awful long time to gain weight lifting. You be lucky to gain 2 pounds in a month eating. It takes a lot of hard work and eating super clean with tons of protein and taking more calories in then out. From what I've heard the best route is to get to your goal weight first so you can have a good idea when you are gaining fat verses muscle. But heavier weights all to you it helps maintain your muscles and helps to target fat so you look toned and not skinny when you get to where you want to be.

waldo56

Are you trying to lose weight or fat?

Fat loss doesn't stop when you start strength training, if anything it accelerates.

If your goal is actually weight loss and not fat loss, yeah, skip the stregth training.

flechero

I waited and wish I hadn't. Despite using a very low deficit for weight loss I still lost a significant amount of LBM (as measured by those Tanita scales) and ended up around goal weight still flabby and relatively weak. More aggressive weight loss strategies are very likely to also be more aggressive at stripping you of LBM too. Slower weight loss is better in that respect. Sparing yourself of losing that LBM in the first place is also really good as it seems easier to keep what you have than to build it up again afterwards.

Same here... I'd go through it all over again, threefold, if I could start lifting when I started losing weight. I have spent the last 10 months trying to replace the precious muscle that I stripped away when losing weight. And it will probably take another year to get where I was.

It's 10 times harder to gain lean weight back than it is to lift heavy and preserve while dropping excess weight. Heck, you may even add muscle mass while dropping fat if you have a long way to go.

jacksonpt

If your goal is simply scale weight loss, then don't lift. In fact, probably don't exercise at all.

But if your goals are more aesthetic/body comp related, then the sooner you start lifting the less work you'll have to do when you get down close to your goal weight.

astronomicals

If your goal is simply scale weight loss, then don't lift. In fact, probably don't exercise at all.

But if your goals are more aesthetic/body comp related, then the sooner you start lifting the less work you'll have to do when you get down close to your goal weight.

responses like this are useless.... eevryone wants better aesthetics... dont play mind games with her...


OP

You want to always lift heavy... during weight loss your lifting to maintain mass.. during weigth gain your lifting to build muscle.... most people swicth back and forth from cutting to bulking until they get where they want to stay and then they just maintain it...(well, most people with long term success do)

IronSmasher

You should be lifting already.

Everyone should.

michellekicks

I waited. I wish I hadn't. Even at a small deficit (~300 calories daily) I lost 4.6 lbs of lean mass out of 20 lbs lost.

Lift now.

tryinghard71

I started out doing all cardio. I owned P90X but looked at it as belonging to my husband and made for men. The more I read on MFP about weight lifting made me decide to start the program. Weight lifting was the best thing ever and I wish I had started it sooner. My whole body starting changing and the weight actually started coming off easier. But I will say that P90X is not just weights. There is a lot of Cardio as well but it is more focused on weights. I would recommend not waiting.

waldo56

If your goal is simply scale weight loss, then don't lift. In fact, probably don't exercise at all.

But if your goals are more aesthetic/body comp related, then the sooner you start lifting the less work you'll have to do when you get down close to your goal weight.

responses like this are useless.... eevryone wants better aesthetics... dont play mind games with her...

Responses like this aren't useless.

There are a lot of people out that that haven't yet made the connection that the scale is a fairly useless measure of body composition, and that their REAL goals are body composition related and not a number on the scale.

Women especially seem to struggle with this, since most seem to be targeting a body composition sweet spot point that is virtually indescribable (not too lean, not too bulky, no pudgy belly, etc...) that they think can be IDed with a number on the scale (the closest they were in their life at some point to this ideal), since there is very little out there to help them describe this ideal point otherwise. Guys OTOH want teh abz, thus shoot for 10% BF, the point where they show well for most guys, which really has very little relationship to the number on the scale, and makes guys generally more attuned to body composition and less to the number on the scale.

Strength training sabotaging weight loss while simultaneously enhancing fat loss when your goals aren't decoupled from an absolute number on the scale is problem spot for people that requires working through.

tryinghard71

If your goal is simply scale weight loss, then don't lift. In fact, probably don't exercise at all.

But if your goals are more aesthetic/body comp related, then the sooner you start lifting the less work you'll have to do when you get down close to your goal weight.

responses like this are useless.... eevryone wants better aesthetics... dont play mind games with her...

Responses like this aren't useless.

There are a lot of people out that that haven't yet made the connection that the scale is a fairly useless measure of body composition, and that their REAL goals are body composition related and not a number on the scale.

Women especially seem to struggle with this, since most seem to be targeting a body composition sweet spot point that is virtually indescribable (not too lean, not too bulky, no pudgy belly, etc...) that they think can be IDed with a number on the scale (the closest they were in their life at some point to this ideal), since there is very little out there to help them describe this ideal point otherwise. Guys OTOH want teh abz, thus shoot for 10% BF, the point where they show well for most guys, which really has very little relationship to the number on the scale, and makes guys generally more attuned to body composition and less to the number on the scale.

Strength training sabotaging weight loss while simultaneously enhancing fat loss when your goals aren't decoupled from an absolute number on the scale is problem spot for people that requires working through.

^^
Agree, I was one of those women. I thought the scale measured my success. It was not until I started measuring weekly and seeing that I was losing a 1/2 in to an inch a week( even though the scale was not moving) that the light bulb came on.

da_bears10089

well, first off, if you want to lose weight, you should just ditch the scale altogether and take measurements to determine progress. You are the only one that really knows the number on the scale, but people can see when you lose inches. This is a fantastic story about Staci, she is pretty much my favorite.


http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

jonnythan

If your goal is simply scale weight loss, then don't lift. In fact, probably don't exercise at all.

But if your goals are more aesthetic/body comp related, then the sooner you start lifting the less work you'll have to do when you get down close to your goal weight.

responses like this are useless.... eevryone wants better aesthetics... dont play mind games with her...

That's exactly the point. Hopefully she will read it and think "well of course I want to look better" and conclude that she should lift weights.

teez52

Are you trying to lose weight or fat?

Fat loss doesn't stop when you start strength training, if anything it accelerates.

If your goal is actually weight loss and not fat loss, yeah, skip the stregth training.

This is the key right here. Do you want to see the scale number go down, or see the mirror look better and better?

If you want the scale to go down, then just don't lift...ever...

If you want to see results in the mirror, get in the gym and start lifting now. If you're not lifting you will be losing a good amount of LBM and fat instead of a small amount of LBM and mostly fat.

teez52

If your goal is simply scale weight loss, then don't lift. In fact, probably don't exercise at all.

But if your goals are more aesthetic/body comp related, then the sooner you start lifting the less work you'll have to do when you get down close to your goal weight.

responses like this are useless.... eevryone wants better aesthetics... dont play mind games with her...


OP

You want to always lift heavy... during weight loss your lifting to maintain mass.. during weigth gain your lifting to build muscle.... most people swicth back and forth from cutting to bulking until they get where they want to stay and then they just maintain it...(well, most people with long term success do)

You just said the exact same thing a different way...If his response was useless then so is yours...