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p_s_a
p_s_a Posts: 45
in Fitness and Exercise
About 4 weeks ago I severely changed up my workout routine to try to bust through a plateau. I went from doing elliptical for about 30 mins / 5 days a week to running hard and lifting heavy 6 days a week. The intensity of my workouts has at least doubled, probably tripled.

I have still not lost any weight.

My question would be, could I really be building muscle that fast? Am I still not losing because I am gaining weight from muscle? If that is the case.. when do you start losing? I'm weighing in at 199 and I could definitely stand to lose at least 20lbs. 6ft tall, 32 years old. Been on a plateau for the last two months.

Any info is greatly appreciated.
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  • p_s_a
    p_s_a Posts: 45
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    Seriously.. anything?

    Help!
  • paulaborgas
    paulaborgas Posts: 2
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    it can depend on your diet as well sometimes! after a good loss our bodies tend to do a plateau... it learns new defenses...
    Check the amount of protein u eating is enough ... :
    i'm not an expert... :)
  • Tilran
    Tilran Posts: 626 Member
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    About 4 weeks ago I severely changed up my workout routine to try to bust through a plateau. I went from doing elliptical for about 30 mins / 5 days a week to running hard and lifting heavy 6 days a week. The intensity of my workouts has at least doubled, probably tripled.

    I have still not lost any weight.

    My question would be, could I really be building muscle that fast? Am I still not losing because I am gaining weight from muscle? If that is the case.. when do you start losing? I'm weighing in at 199 and I could definitely stand to lose at least 20lbs. 6ft tall, 32 years old. Been on a plateau for the last two months.

    Any info is greatly appreciated.

    Are you still in a deficit? Have you recalculated your TDEE now that you lost weight?

    If you are in a deficit, you are not building muscle....you are making the muscles you already have stronger, but the gain is minimal at best if you are new to lifting, and 0 if you are an experienced lifter.

    2 Months of plateau is quite a while. What is your calorie goal at right now and are you hitting it day in day out?
  • nursenikki829
    nursenikki829 Posts: 432 Member
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    If you unlocked your diary, it would be much easier to give accurate advice. :smile:
  • AZKristi
    AZKristi Posts: 1,801 Member
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    You probably shouldn't lift 6 days a week... this doesn't really give your muscles an opportunity to recover between workouts.
  • Colonel_Brandon
    Colonel_Brandon Posts: 256 Member
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    Do you know what your true body fat percentage is? Maybe that's something to track. That way if your weight stays the same, but your BF% goes down, you know what's going on.
  • Colonel_Brandon
    Colonel_Brandon Posts: 256 Member
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    You probably shouldn't lift 6 days a week... this doesn't really give your muscles an opportunity to recover between workouts.

    That depends on his lifting "rotation".

    As long as he's giving each major muscle group at least 48 hours to recover (and even 12 hours in others, like biceps), he's fine.

    Example:
    Day 1: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
    Day 2: Back, Biceps, Core
    Day 3: Legs
  • 18guyhornet
    18guyhornet Posts: 195 Member
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    Scales lie. Take your measurements and occasionally weigh on a scale to see the true indicator of your hard work. That was the most difficult thing for me to learn. I made my wife hide the scale because I was obsessed.
  • p_s_a
    p_s_a Posts: 45
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    You probably shouldn't lift 6 days a week... this doesn't really give your muscles an opportunity to recover between workouts.

    I lift 3 days a week and do cardio the other 3 days.
  • p_s_a
    p_s_a Posts: 45
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    Do you know what your true body fat percentage is? Maybe that's something to track. That way if your weight stays the same, but your BF% goes down, you know what's going on.

    I don't.. this would be extremely helpful because like I said.. I see a change in the mirror, just not on the scale. Do you calculate this yourself? Can my doctor check something like this for me? I don't want to pay 24 Hour Fitness hundreds of dollars for a trainer..
  • Jacwhite22
    Jacwhite22 Posts: 7,012 Member
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    My question would be, could I really be building muscle that fast? Am I still not losing because I am gaining weight from muscle?

    Any info is greatly appreciated.

    No. No. You don't gain muscle on a deficit. How long has it been? Odds are you are eating too much.......way too little.......or retaining water.
  • p_s_a
    p_s_a Posts: 45
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    [/quote]

    Are you still in a deficit? Have you recalculated your TDEE now that you lost weight?

    If you are in a deficit, you are not building muscle....you are making the muscles you already have stronger, but the gain is minimal at best if you are new to lifting, and 0 if you are an experienced lifter.

    2 Months of plateau is quite a while. What is your calorie goal at right now and are you hitting it day in day out?
    [/quote]

    I am at a deficit.. but my main goal is weight loss/fat loss because I know I have at least 20lbs to go. I have tried many different configurations over the last two months. Anywhere from eating 2300 cals and not logging exercise calories, to eating 1400 cals and eating back some exercise cals. That is my current calorie goal and yes, I have been hitting that every day for the last week.
  • p_s_a
    p_s_a Posts: 45
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    [/quote]

    No. No. You don't gain muscle on a deficit. How long has it been? Odds are you are eating too much.......way too little.......or retaining water.
    [/quote]

    So should I only be doing cardio then? I have tried to eat high cal and lift and I only gained weight. Tried for about two weeks. I definitely could be retaining water because I'm always over my goal on sodium.
  • Colonel_Brandon
    Colonel_Brandon Posts: 256 Member
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    Do you know what your true body fat percentage is? Maybe that's something to track. That way if your weight stays the same, but your BF% goes down, you know what's going on.

    I don't.. this would be extremely helpful because like I said.. I see a change in the mirror, just not on the scale. Do you calculate this yourself? Can my doctor check something like this for me? I don't want to pay 24 Hour Fitness hundreds of dollars for a trainer..

    I went and bought calipers from GNC. I think it's called Accumeasure - and it's been virtually the same as when I've gotten dunked in the past.
  • Colonel_Brandon
    Colonel_Brandon Posts: 256 Member
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    No. No. You don't gain muscle on a deficit. How long has it been? Odds are you are eating too much.......way too little.......or retaining water.

    So should I only be doing cardio then? I have tried to eat high cal and lift and I only gained weight. Tried for about two weeks. I definitely could be retaining water because I'm always over my goal on sodium.

    While it IS possible to gain SMALL amounts of muscle while in deficit if A) you're a guy, and B) you're severely mesomorphic, it's highly unlikely.

    Rule of thumb is that you're either putting weight on, or taking it off. You may be changing your body comp (based on weight staying the same) but maybe not.

    I think you really need to figure out your Lean Muscle Mass (LMM) (which is 100% - your BF%, incidentally), and use that to get a more accurate figure on your TDEE. Then you can figure out a manageable deficit and go from there.
  • Angie_1991
    Angie_1991 Posts: 447 Member
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    open your diary.........
  • Jacwhite22
    Jacwhite22 Posts: 7,012 Member
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    No. No. You don't gain muscle on a deficit. How long has it been? Odds are you are eating too much.......way too little.......or retaining water.

    So should I only be doing cardio then? I have tried to eat high cal and lift and I only gained weight. Tried for about two weeks. I definitely could be retaining water because I'm always over my goal on sodium.


    Set your calories......really stick by it for 30 days.....weigh yourself again. If your weight hasn't changed reduce it by 250 and repeat..........I never said anything about cardio or weight lifting. IMHO lift.....full body 3x / week. do cardio 3x / week. rest or do cardio the 7th.
  • p_s_a
    p_s_a Posts: 45
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    No. No. You don't gain muscle on a deficit. How long has it been? Odds are you are eating too much.......way too little.......or retaining water.

    So should I only be doing cardio then? I have tried to eat high cal and lift and I only gained weight. Tried for about two weeks. I definitely could be retaining water because I'm always over my goal on sodium.


    Set your calories......really stick by it for 30 days.....weigh yourself again. If your weight hasn't changed reduce it by 250 and repeat..........I never said anything about cardio or weight lifting. IMHO lift.....full body 3x / week. do cardio 3x / week. rest or do cardio the 7th.

    You're on Mr. Jacwhite22. I'll stick with 1500 calories per day.. while eating back exercise calories. That will bring me to about 1900 per day. I'm going to not change this for a month and I'll see what happens.
  • Colonel_Brandon
    Colonel_Brandon Posts: 256 Member
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    You're on Mr. Jacwhite22. I'll stick with 1500 calories per day.. while eating back exercise calories. That will bring me to about 1900 per day. I'm going to not change this for a month and I'll see what happens.

    Good God, man. 1500??? That seems pretty damn low. How tall are you? How much do you weigh now?
  • p_s_a
    p_s_a Posts: 45
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    You're on Mr. Jacwhite22. I'll stick with 1500 calories per day.. while eating back exercise calories. That will bring me to about 1900 per day. I'm going to not change this for a month and I'll see what happens.

    Good God, man. 1500??? That seems pretty damn low. How tall are you? How much do you weigh now?

    I'm 6ft, 199 current weight, 32 years old. Technically I will be eating around 1900-2000 because i'm going to eat my exercise calories every day as well.

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