HALP! Heavy Lifting Made Me SUPAH Bulky!!!
Replies
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If I just lift weights and don’t change my diet would I still get good results and loose inches? I’ve started lifting again and it’s going great 😊 I love it and I’m pretty much back to the strength I was before I stoped over lockdown and various illnesses 😀. I already feel a bit less wobbly. I just can’t stick to healthy eating for long because I’m weak in regards to food 😕. I want to loose weight so badly so why can’t I stick to the food side of things 🤷♀️ Which is why I’m asking if I will still loose inches without a clean diet? Any advice would be much appreciated 🙏
Let’s try breaking this down into bite sized pieces, with the caveat, YMMV.
1.) what happens if you don’t make any changes? You’ll continue to gain weight at appx the same rate.
2.) you’ve added weights back in. IMHO, weight training is great for strength and building shape as a result. But doesn’t burn many calories, because it’s so stop, add plates, go, stop, add more etc etc. You’ve added weight fairly slowly, however, so the calorie burned with lifting may be enough to keep you in maintenance if you continue eating “as is”.
(For this reason, I don’t even record or count training as exercise in my own diary. )
3.) you’ve only got seven pounds to lose. A pound is 3500 calories. To lose a pound a week, you need to have a 500 calories per day deficit (7 days x 500 =3500 aka a pound). You are so close you do NOT want to try to lose seven pounds at this rate, and anyway, the closer you are to goal - and you’re very very close- the harder it is to lose those last few pounds.
Why not set a goal of a quarter pound per week? That’s a deficit of 875 calories per week, or 125 calories per day.
That’s super manageable. What can you do to cut back 125 per day? Could you cut out a soda per day, change to a zero calorie salad dressing, change to a lower cal coffee or tea creamer or sweetener, a low cal ketchup or Mayo? (Jordan’s zero cal Skinny Syrups and Walden Farms products have rocked my world. Kraft has a 15cal mayo that’s fantastic.)
Think outside the box.
Or….I wouldn’t normally recommend trying to out-exercise a weight loss, but you are so close we’re talking very small number here. Could you add in a mile walk per day? At a brisk pace that’s less than a twenty minute commitment (or appx one episode of the No Such Thing As a Fish podcast).
Or can you do a combination of cutting back on the food a wee bit and adding in a twenty minute video workout? There’s tons of them on MFP.
“Clean” foods and diets have no meaning at all. I could easily gain weight even eating what I eat now, in quantities I ate before. I do now eat a lot of fresh fruit, a pound of veggies per day, but I also take advantage of zero cal and sugar free products. My health is so vastly improved after losing nearly a hundred pounds, any “risk” or worry about using these products is laughable to me now.
Don’t try to make a bunch of changes at once. Sit down and think this out. Be mindful. Read these boards. Think to yourself “what if I ate this instead of that?”
Give yourself the grace to screw up without self punishing thoughts. Permit yourself to have treats, just limit the quantities.
Get the trigger foods out of the house. Or into the freezer. I’m a lot less likely to have some foods if they’re frozen because it’s just too much hassle to wait for them to thaw when I want them right then. (Looking at you, chocolate covered marzipan. In the cupboard it wouldn’t last five minutes. In the freezer it made it nine months. Nobody wants to break a tooth on frozen marzipan!)
My personal salvation is a sugar free chai latte. It takes a while to make, takes a while to drink, is very satisfying and I can usually stave off thoughts of food while having one.
Snackish? Go did a walk and see if you’re still peckish when you get back.
Sometimes we mistake dehydration as hunger cues. Have a glass of water, maybe add a Nuun tablet, wait ten minutes and see if you’re still hungry.15 -
springlering62 wrote: »If I just lift weights and don’t change my diet would I still get good results and loose inches? I’ve started lifting again and it’s going great 😊 I love it and I’m pretty much back to the strength I was before I stoped over lockdown and various illnesses 😀. I already feel a bit less wobbly. I just can’t stick to healthy eating for long because I’m weak in regards to food 😕. I want to loose weight so badly so why can’t I stick to the food side of things 🤷♀️ Which is why I’m asking if I will still loose inches without a clean diet? Any advice would be much appreciated 🙏
Let’s try breaking this down into bite sized pieces, with the caveat, YMMV.
1.) what happens if you don’t make any changes? You’ll continue to gain weight at appx the same rate.
2.) you’ve added weights back in. IMHO, weight training is great for strength and building shape as a result. But doesn’t burn many calories, because it’s so stop, add plates, go, stop, add more etc etc. You’ve added weight fairly slowly, however, so the calorie burned with lifting may be enough to keep you in maintenance if you continue eating “as is”.
(For this reason, I don’t even record or count training as exercise in my own diary. )
3.) you’ve only got seven pounds to lose. A pound is 3500 calories. To lose a pound a week, you need to have a 500 calories per day deficit (7 days x 500 =3500 aka a pound). You are so close you do NOT want to try to lose seven pounds at this rate, and anyway, the closer you are to goal - and you’re very very close- the harder it is to lose those last few pounds.
Why not set a goal of a quarter pound per week? That’s a deficit of 875 calories per week, or 125 calories per day.
That’s super manageable. What can you do to cut back 125 per day? Could you cut out a soda per day, change to a zero calorie salad dressing, change to a lower cal coffee or tea creamer or sweetener, a low cal ketchup or Mayo? (Jordan’s zero cal Skinny Syrups and Walden Farms products have rocked my world. Kraft has a 15cal mayo that’s fantastic.)
Think outside the box.
Or….I wouldn’t normally recommend trying to out-exercise a weight loss, but you are so close we’re talking very small number here. Could you add in a mile walk per day? At a brisk pace that’s less than a twenty minute commitment (or appx one episode of the No Such Thing As a Fish podcast).
Or can you do a combination of cutting back on the food a wee bit and adding in a twenty minute video workout? There’s tons of them on MFP.
“Clean” foods and diets have no meaning at all. I could easily gain weight even eating what I eat now, in quantities I ate before. I do now eat a lot of fresh fruit, a pound of veggies per day, but I also take advantage of zero cal and sugar free products. My health is so vastly improved after losing nearly a hundred pounds, any “risk” or worry about using these products is laughable to me now.
Don’t try to make a bunch of changes at once. Sit down and think this out. Be mindful. Read these boards. Think to yourself “what if I ate this instead of that?”
Give yourself the grace to screw up without self punishing thoughts. Permit yourself to have treats, just limit the quantities.
Get the trigger foods out of the house. Or into the freezer. I’m a lot less likely to have some foods if they’re frozen because it’s just too much hassle to wait for them to thaw when I want them right then. (Looking at you, chocolate covered marzipan. In the cupboard it wouldn’t last five minutes. In the freezer it made it nine months. Nobody wants to break a tooth on frozen marzipan!)
My personal salvation is a sugar free chai latte. It takes a while to make, takes a while to drink, is very satisfying and I can usually stave off thoughts of food while having one.
Snackish? Go did a walk and see if you’re still peckish when you get back.
Sometimes we mistake dehydration as hunger cues. Have a glass of water, maybe add a Nuun tablet, wait ten minutes and see if you’re still hungry.
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond ☺️. This is all fantastic advice 😊. I no I mentioned above that I’ve gained 7lbs I’m that picture but I never got to my goal in the first place 😕 altogether I have 15lbs to loose now. I no it’s not a tremendous about but it’s the most I’ve ever had to loose even after my boys were born I only had 8lbs to loose.
3 years ago I got put on anxiety medication which has unfortunately given me a tremendous appetite 😕. It’s been so hard to loose weight while taking them and in the 3 years of trying to loose weight I have never got to my goal. I no it’s because I’m not trying hard enough with the food side of things. Even though I really want this more than anything so I don’t understand myself which I no probably sounds crazy. I haven’t made loads of changes at once i have been doing it but by bit.
The biggest change ive made recently is cutting out coke I was drinking 4-5 cans a day. I haven’t had one or any soda for a little over a week now but it hasn’t made any difference on the scale 😕.
In regards to exercise I work out 6 days a week. I do weights every other day and in between I do spin, step class, and hiit.
Wow 100lbs?? That’s incredible!! You must be so proud of yourself!3 -
@amioc
You’ve only been doing this for a week. Of course you haven’t seen results yet.
We are so trained by diet culture and media to expect to Lose Ten Pound In One Week!!!!!!
Most of us hurl ourselves into loss, anticipating those ten pounds to be gone by the end of the week.
We blithely eat nothing, make drastic cuts, enthusiastically take up all kinds of new exercise.
Our bodies basically go into WtF is happening here? mode.
In reality it isn’t like that. You may even gain a little the first week or two. Your monthly may intrude. You may eat a low cal soup, not considering how salty it is. More fiber than usual. Ramping up exercise can create muscle soreness which in turn increase water weight. Have you been constipated. My family always tells me I’m full of it. Well breaking news. “it” weighs a lot.
Give yourself at least four, even six weeks to see if you notice a downward trend.
If weighing in is an issue for you, check out a trend “smoothing” app like (I think these are the names) Happy scale or Libra.
If you only gained less than twenty pounds drinking four cokes a day, wows a, that may be enough right there.
Have expectations but also have a plan, and don’t buy into “but it’s not a straight line weight drop wah wah wah “ that drives so many away.
This is my own trend did the last thirty days. A five pound variance, and I’m in maintenance! I expect this, and it doesn’t bother me at all.
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Looking so forward to starting to lift once COVID eases and I get past the breast reduction. I can tell from just the yoga I'm doing that the wings on my arms will shrink up, no problem, and I hope that the skin on my legs will too. (I had three large babies and am short waisted; pretty sure that's a abdominoplasty.)4
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If I just lift weights and don’t change my diet would I still get good results and loose inches? I’ve started lifting again and it’s going great 😊 I love it and I’m pretty much back to the strength I was before I stoped over lockdown and various illnesses 😀. I already feel a bit less wobbly. I just can’t stick to healthy eating for long because I’m weak in regards to food 😕. I want to loose weight so badly so why can’t I stick to the food side of things 🤷♀️ Which is why I’m asking if I will still loose inches without a clean diet? Any advice would be much appreciated 🙏
I've been working on my 15-20 lbs gained when I got my masters degree online at night after working & being a mom all day. Only changes I've made is to consciously up my protein, especially at breakfast, strength train 1-2x per week, and dance class 1x per week. I've lost 2.5" from my waist & 2" from my love handles since January. I don't count calories or even count my macros. I just ask myself where my protein is in every meal. I mostly do meat & 1 protein drink a day.
And while strength training does not burn many calories during the workout, having more muscle on your body takes more calories to maintain, so you'll be burning more calories throughout they day. There are a lot of epicaloric factors that affect what your body does with the food you put in your mouth that the MFP "community" doesn't discuss much. I have really enjoyed reading the book Eat Smarter by Shawn Stevenson.
Good luck!3 -
Great Job...love lifting weights!1
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If I just lift weights and don’t change my diet would I still get good results and loose inches? I’ve started lifting again and it’s going great 😊 I love it and I’m pretty much back to the strength I was before I stoped over lockdown and various illnesses 😀. I already feel a bit less wobbly. I just can’t stick to healthy eating for long because I’m weak in regards to food 😕. I want to loose weight so badly so why can’t I stick to the food side of things 🤷♀️ Which is why I’m asking if I will still loose inches without a clean diet? Any advice would be much appreciated 🙏
For me, just lifting and eating at maintenance (based on neither gaining or losing weight over time) plus ensuring adequate protein intake definitely resulted in getting smaller and leaner. But it was a very slow process. It was probably about a year or so before I finally realized that most of my pants were really too big for me.
My diet isn't anything near "clean", I eat way too much sugar and refined carbs. I am pescetarian, however, and eat sort of Mediterranean-ish in that I aim for large portions of fruit, veg and legumes.
I'm in much the same boat as I had to give up lifting and most deliberate exercise for about 5 months earlier this year due to illness and surgery, plus weight loss due to these. I can see the changes in my body composition even in such a short period. But I built muscle once already, I'm sure I can get back there again.5 -
My personal salvation is a sugar free chai latte. It takes a while to make, takes a while to drink, is very satisfying and I can usually stave off thoughts of food while having one.
@ Springlering62 - Please share your recipe. Thanks!
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anonuser369 wrote: »My personal salvation is a sugar free chai latte. It takes a while to make, takes a while to drink, is very satisfying and I can usually stave off thoughts of food while having one.
@ Springlering62 - Please share your recipe. Thanks!
I use a two-cup mug:
*Boiling water
*2tbsp fat free half and half
*15-30gr (to taste) Jordan’s zero cal Salted Caramel syrup
*3gr Blue Lotus instant Masala Chai
Mix well with spoon
1/8c skim milk frothed in a Ninja hand pump frother and microwaved 25-30 seconds (microwaving “sets” the froth so it will last a long time)
Pour on top, sprinkle with cinnamon (Frontier Coop Vietnamese cinnamon is THE best, tastes lavishly sugary without the sugar)
Smells like heaven, takes a while to drink, satisfies the sweet tooth. The only thing with calories is the milk and half and half.
If I’m in a rush, I skip all the dairy and froth and use half a cup Silk plain cashew milk (13 cal).
Trader Joe’s has a decent chai tea bag, but Blue Lotus is head and shoulders above, even though it’s an instant. Its real spices, but super finely ground. Amazon has the small tins. I buy it by the pound now.
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springlering62 wrote: »anonuser369 wrote: »My personal salvation is a sugar free chai latte. It takes a while to make, takes a while to drink, is very satisfying and I can usually stave off thoughts of food while having one.
@ Springlering62 - Please share your recipe. Thanks!
I use a two-cup mug:
*Boiling water
*2tbsp fat free half and half
*15-30gr (to taste) Jordan’s zero cal Salted Caramel syrup
*3gr Blue Lotus instant Masala Chai
Mix well with spoon
1/8c skim milk frothed in a Ninja hand pump frother and microwaved 25-30 seconds (microwaving “sets” the froth so it will last a long time)
Pour on top, sprinkle with cinnamon (Frontier Coop Vietnamese cinnamon is THE best, tastes lavishly sugary without the sugar)
Smells like heaven, takes a while to drink, satisfies the sweet tooth. The only thing with calories is the milk and half and half.
If I’m in a rush, I skip all the dairy and froth and use half a cup Silk plain cashew milk (13 cal).
Trader Joe’s has a decent chai tea bag, but Blue Lotus is head and shoulders above, even though it’s an instant. Its real spices, but super finely ground. Amazon has the small tins. I buy it by the pound now.
Thank you!!4 -
Bump0
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Been lifting heavy since June, and this is the longest and most consistent I’ve ever been with going to the gym.
Started cutting calories one month ago and took a before picture. Took a progress picture this morning and I can actually see a difference! I’ve only lost 4 lbs so far… lifting works!
Looking forward to another progress pic in a month… always been a forum lurker but had to contribute to my favorite thread!25 -
celiairenejackson wrote: »Been lifting heavy since June, and this is the longest and most consistent I’ve ever been with going to the gym.
Started cutting calories one month ago and took a before picture. Took a progress picture this morning and I can actually see a difference! I’ve only lost 4 lbs so far… lifting works!
Looking forward to another progress pic in a month… always been a forum lurker but had to contribute to my favorite thread!
Fantastic results 💪1 -
You look amazing! Keep up the great work.1
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Bumpity bump. Ladies who lift! Need new before/after pics. Don’t be shy!2
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@amioc Is that a new profile pic? Share that win, honey!0
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I lift, love lifting, love what it does for my body AND my mind, I feel powerful and strong AF and have more confidence. My legs and bum are taking a long time to transform but I know they are even though the scale isn't moving and my weight fluctuates as much as 7 pounds depending on how much I allow myself to flex with food. It isn't true weight that is going to stick because I know I will be hitting it hard again at the gym and if I adjust back to my regimented eating, it's only a day or two to get back to 130 which is my settling point but I go from 127-134 lately. If you enjoy lifting, trust the process--results WILL come and the scale may go up at first--it definitely did for me. Happy to connect and support anyone who needs it!
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Hi everyone! I'm going to be joining the gym in a few months after a 3 year hiatus. I used to love weight lifting (I was 165lbs at that time) but didn't get much results other than strength (which is great don't get me wrong!). This time around I want to actually get fit.
Anyone have any tips? I'm 5'5 @ 195lbs. Gained a lot over the last few years sadly. I know my main goal is to lose weight but I've always heard I should be weightlifting at the same time and I should still lift heavy. I found it harder last time to stay in a deficit while weight lifting because I was always hungry
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MelissaLu1216 wrote: »Hi everyone! I'm going to be joining the gym in a few months after a 3 year hiatus. I used to love weight lifting (I was 165lbs at that time) but didn't get much results other than strength (which is great don't get me wrong!). This time around I want to actually get fit.
Anyone have any tips? I'm 5'5 @ 195lbs. Gained a lot over the last few years sadly. I know my main goal is to lose weight but I've always heard I should be weightlifting at the same time and I should still lift heavy. I found it harder last time to stay in a deficit while weight lifting because I was always hungry
I'm not the best advertisement for lifting TBH, but here's a thing I learned: A person can have decent muscle mass, and not see it, because of the overlying fat layer. I'm not being judgmental or critical about you here at all, because I have no info about your body composition or anything. I'm speaking from my own experience.
I'm your height, 5'5". I started weight loss at 183. Kind of bizarrely for a class 1 obese woman who was pretty old (59 then), I'd been pretty active for around a dozen years. I'd done a bit of lifting here and there, but mostly a whole big bunch of a strengthier type of what most people would consider cardio, i.e., on-water and machine rowing. Underscoring: Really a lot of rowing, for a dozen years. It's essentially up to 1000 reps/hour of light (not zero) resistance lower body push and upper body pull. For . . . oh, man, hundreds of hours, most years?
I looked like your average blobby older woman, TBH - maybe a little smaller than my bodyweight would've suggested, certainly smaller than I'd been at similar weight before starting to be active. But doughy, blobby, not muscular at all.
Then I started calorie counting, lost weight. Slowly, over the better part of a year, I went down from class 1 obese to a healthy weight, lower 20s BMI (120-125 pounds, at our height). I'm currently around 127, with some holiday extras still in place.
The thing is - though I didn't dramatically change my workout routine - as I got thinner, it turned out that there were some modest li'l ol' lady muscles under the dough. They just hadn't been visible before, even though they were there. (I didn't do a bunch of lifting while losing, though I tried to be a little bit more consistent about it than usual, since I did want to lose minimum muscle while in a calorie deficit. I did some, but lackadaisical, inconsistent not very heavy, etc. - definitely suboptimal.)
What's my point? Yes, lose weight. A smaller calorie deficit (slow loss) will minimize muscle loss, maximize chances of (slow) muscle gain. Good nutrition (especially but not exclusively added protein) is helpful. Definitely lift regularly, with a good progressive program, if you want a more muscular look. (What I did was absolutely sub-optimal, and I don't recommend it to others.)
You may find, if you have a good athletic/lifting history, that as the fat drops off gradually, you have more muscularity even now than you realize, it's just under wraps.
Best wishes!11 -
My first post! Have been stalking for a long time..and love this thread..wanted this to be my first. Its a very old before pic..and a new pic I had to take..as I couldnt beleive I could actually see leg muscles lol. I've always had tree trunk legs..so it's a big nsv for me
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guidebarbie1 wrote: »My first post! Have been stalking for a long time..and love this thread..wanted this to be my first. Its a very old before pic..and a new pic I had to take..as I couldnt beleive I could actually see leg muscles lol. I've always had tree trunk legs..so it's a big nsv for me
Wow! Truly impressive.4 -
Blue Lotus tea is awesome.2
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If I just lift weights and don’t change my diet would I still get good results and loose inches? I’ve started lifting again and it’s going great 😊 I love it and I’m pretty much back to the strength I was before I stoped over lockdown and various illnesses 😀. I already feel a bit less wobbly. I just can’t stick to healthy eating for long because I’m weak in regards to food 😕. I want to loose weight so badly so why can’t I stick to the food side of things 🤷♀️ Which is why I’m asking if I will still loose inches without a clean diet? Any advice would be much appreciated 🙏
Abs are made in the kitchen. You can train like an animal, but the diet has to be clean for the results to show. Sure, you'll look better and feel better in terms of strength, but you can't forget about what's under the skin. Your heart and overall health in-general benefit from a clean diet. You may lose, but it will be minimal. You're concerned with weight after just admitting that you've dealt with various illnesses. Well, a healthy diet will help that tremendously! Why not? That should be the question you're asking.4 -
Whoa! This post took me back in the way way back machine... when MFP was still fun and we just had one general chat...6
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Loveeeeee how lifting makes me feel AND look!!’ I work hard and it feels amazing!! Just do it!14 -
Following!2
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You all are so inspiring! I've been interested in lifting for a long time. With my stiff wrists though don't think there's a lot I can do. I do my Total Gym for now and love it. Keep it going!
*IF* you want to try lifting (it sounds like you do, but if you're happy with what you're doing now, don't let us talk you into changing!), one thing you could try is practicing the moves with a broomstick. It won't be as challenging*, but you can build mobility and practice good form without putting any load on your wrists.
Then if that doesn't bother your wrists, you can try gradually increasing the weight. If you have gym access, they probably have a selection of barbells and weighted fitness bars (training bars?) from 10 to 45 lbs. These are also available on Amazon or Walmart pretty cheaply, assuming you have somewhere to store them. :P
* (That said, a REALLY full-depth bodyweight squat is no joke.)1 -
I have finally read all 135 pages of this thread! Would love to see some more updates or new ladies with progress pictures!7
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This thread has always been a HUGE inspiration to me and I have always wanted to be able to post here. I have started heavy lifting before, but this is the first time I've stuck with it long enough to see significant results. I know my results aren't nearly as dramatic as some, but I'm very happy so far! I am 5'1" and started counting calories, lifting, and walking on 1/1/21. I am following Stronglifts 5x5 and using a home gym that my husband and I built. My starting weight was 213.6 and my current weight is 187. I would like to get down to 130 and then I'll reevaluate, but I'd much rather be strong and healthy than skinny! Here are some progress photos so far:
@valspaeth - how are you doing? Your transformations are SO inspiring!1
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