Does Stength Training Really Limit Weight Loss?

jarednuzzi
jarednuzzi Posts: 18
in Health and Weight Loss
So I've been working on losing weight for about 3 months. The first 6 weeks or so I only focused on eating less and some light exercised and I dropped a lot of weight. About 17 pounds. The last 6 weeks I've been working out like crazy and still watching my calories. Consistently doing 3-4 days of 20-30 minute strength training combined with 2-3 days of 20-30 minute walking/jogging. I'm a big guy and still have plenty of weight to lose but I've only lost about 3 pounds in the last 6 weeks. I've seen a few post mention that strength training can really slow weightloss but never heard this previously. Can anybody shed some light on this for me? Anybody experienced the same? How long were you stuck in weight limbo? I'm starting to get really frustrated by the whole thing. It's starting to sap my motivation.

Some general information is provided below if helpful.

Male, early 30's, 6'1", currently 257lbs .

Average strength training is as follows:
30 push ups
36 single arm bicep curls (37lbs)
45 tricep extensions (40lbs)
30 lunges (80lbs)
75 crunches/sit-ups
alternate push ups with bench press (200lbs) by days
I also mix in jumping jacks between sets to keep my heart rate up but rest my muscles. I try t do everyting about as quickly as possible while being sure I do things in the proper form.

Average walk/jog:
1-2miles (17+ min pace)

Average nutrition:
Less than 1700 caloreis a day
Typically between 1300 - 1500 a day.

Replies

  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
    Are you tracking everything that goes into your mouth?
    Are you talking net or gross calories?
  • jarednuzzi
    jarednuzzi Posts: 18
    I'm tracking everyting. The numbers above are gross. If you go to net it would be less calories a day. I don't eat back the calories lost from exercise so I don't really use the net function. I even measure everything like dressing, condiments, etc. to be sure its accurate.
  • ateamtrainer
    ateamtrainer Posts: 12
    When you start strength training your muscles start to store more glycogen ( carbohydrate) and each gram of glycogen draws in an additional 3 to 4 g of water, so it's typical to see some weight gain when you first start but since it's not fat there's no need to worry.

    You will probably see the rate of weight loss increase again over the next few weeks.
  • h9dlb
    h9dlb Posts: 243 Member
    1) You're not eating enough
    2) Do some proper strength training - i.e lift heavy weights with compound moves
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
    Very low cal diet then, if you're confident you have your inputs right. I'm not a cheerleader for upping calories, but mentally and physically you'd probably feel better with a higher intake. Especially while working out. I'd look into the TDEE-20% concept since you're not interested in eating back exercise cals. Should be able to eat at least 2k and still lose at a decent rate while feeling better.
  • jarednuzzi
    jarednuzzi Posts: 18
    Can you explain what you mean by complex moves?

    I can't really do more weight with the current exercised I'm doing. I basically max what I can do and then bump it up when I can in reps first then weight. I recently went up on the biceps from 32 to 37.

    I also do military press, butterfly, seated row and lat pull downs but I just listed the previous as an average day.
  • thesupremeforce
    thesupremeforce Posts: 1,206 Member
    I'm 32, 6', and currently weigh 216. It wasn't long ago that I weighed what you do (and more), so I'm confident that you're not eating enough calories. I don't know how much that is impacted your weight loss, but it's not doing you any favors.

    You're not doing enough strength training to "limit weight loss" over the amount of time you're talking about either, so there's something else going on here.
  • noexcuses84
    noexcuses84 Posts: 100 Member
    I agree, u need to increase ur calories, even if it's just 100-200 a day. I eat around 1600 a day. I do a 45 min walk and about 15 min strength training. I have consistently lost weight every week so, for me, I know i'm doing it right. good luck
  • h9dlb
    h9dlb Posts: 243 Member
    Compound moves - using barbell to bench press, deadlift, military press, squats and bent over rows. Google "strong lifts 5x5".

    Forget the isolation exercises such as tricep extensions and bicep curls for the time being.

    Definitely increase your calories, get plenty of protein and good mono fats
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
    Can you explain what you mean by complex moves?

    I can't really do more weight with the current exercised I'm doing. I basically max what I can do and then bump it up when I can in reps first then weight. I recently went up on the biceps from 32 to 37.

    I also do military press, butterfly, seated row and lat pull downs but I just listed the previous as an average day.

    Most of your exercises are not compound ones. In a compound exercise, several joints bend at the same time. Push-ups and bench presses and pull-ups are compound exercises, as are squats and lunges.

    In addition to tracking your calories accurately and setting your deficit to something manageable, you might consider adding full body lifting that involves the legs more. I'm talking about barbell squats and deadlifts. Look into a structured program for lifting, such as:

    http://stronglifts.com/
    or
    http://startingstrength.com/ (and the book of the same title)

    Those will teach you proper form so you get the most out of the exercises and don't hurt yourself.
  • glennstoudt
    glennstoudt Posts: 403 Member
    To answer your question directly, no.
    But as other posters have noted, there are technicalities such as muscle recovery and water retention and so on and so forth.
    First of all congratulations on your quest. You have had early success and it will continue.
    From my own personal experience, you could try increasing protein and decreasing carbs in your diet.
    At a a considerably lower starting weight than yours I was able to strength train and earn the benefits of that while losing weight at the same time over a period of months.
    There were really no plateaus and my calorie input was higher than yours by 300+ calories in the 200-175 lb range and I continued losing weight. This also will be impacted by your overall activity level as opposed to just considering workouts. Some folks have active jobs, others desk jobs and so on.
    I say stay the course and your success will continue. Good luck
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
    Also, you don't need jumping jacks between lifting sets. When I lift, my heart rate goes up. I rest between sets and allow it to go back to almost normal. That's the point of resting between sets, to allow your muscles to recover.
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    You might find this mfp group very helpful for answering your questions.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress

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