should I expect weight loss to slow down?

I will be starting P90 by Tony Horton (the old one, not P90X). It's alternating 3 days of strength, 3 days of cardio, and 1 day off. My question is should I expect my actual weight loss to slow down once I start this? I have lost 13 pounds in just under 4 weeks through a calorie deficit alone, but I heard that once you add strength training, this can cause your muscles to hold onto fluid so I was wondering if I should expect my weight loss to slow down after today.

Replies

  • shortie_sarah
    shortie_sarah Posts: 177 Member
    bump
  • moondawg14
    moondawg14 Posts: 249 Member
    If you are not already doing strength training, then you should expect a slowdown while your muscles store extra water/glycogen/whatever because of their "new" activity.

    After 2 or 3 weeks, you should see it pick up again. Use your measuring tape or some other way of measuring progress at this time.

    I started Stronglifts 3 weeks ago. Similar to you, I'd lost about 10 pounds in a few weeks due to diet. The scale finally moved again yesterday/today. Don't worry about it. Measure in the meantime and see that your measurements are still going down.

    Good luck! I did P90x a few years ago and loved it. Tony is an excellent motivator.
  • amypomm
    amypomm Posts: 140 Member
    im wondering the same thing. I started weight training 3 weeks ago and my scale went up 2 pounds. Im just going to put the scale away for now.
  • shortie_sarah
    shortie_sarah Posts: 177 Member
    thanks for your input moondawg14. I have already taken my measurements so I will just have to go off of that for my progress I guess.
  • SRB8710
    SRB8710 Posts: 90
    If you are not already doing strength training, then you should expect a slowdown while your muscles store extra water/glycogen/whatever because of their "new" activity.

    After 2 or 3 weeks, you should see it pick up again. Use your measuring tape or some other way of measuring progress at this time.

    I started Stronglifts 3 weeks ago. Similar to you, I'd lost about 10 pounds in a few weeks due to diet. The scale finally moved again yesterday/today. Don't worry about it. Measure in the meantime and see that your measurements are still going down.

    Good luck! I did P90x a few years ago and loved it. Tony is an excellent motivator.


    Yeah I think in general I like to see my measurements change more than the scale. So great idea to measure during this time and not care so much about the scale. And take before/after pics. When I am feeling unmotivated I look at before/after pics and that helps! :)
  • shortie_sarah
    shortie_sarah Posts: 177 Member
    I took my pics and I'm all measured up! I'm good to go :smile: :tongue:
  • metacognition
    metacognition Posts: 626 Member
    Fat loss itself will not slow down if you are following your calorie goals, so if the scale varies by a couple pounds it should not matter because water weight or muscle soreness will likely throw it off at first.

    I plateaued at 105 for two months after I started weight training - it didn't feel like I was overeating but did not see any visible change for a while despite working to exhaustion almost every day. I suspect I was eating close to maintenance and didn't realize it. Adding in more cardio and cutting calories slightly worked wonders.

    In my experience weight training causes some water retention for the first few months, and it also spikes the appetite. You can either choose to eat more and hopefully gain a little muscle mass, which will show beautifully when you return to a deficit - or stick hard to your calories and maintain the lean tissue you have while continuing to drop fat.
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    You should definitely start strength training, and buy a pair of Accumeasure body fat calipers to measure your body fat percentage. It's better than measuring scale weight especially when you're training. The mirror is a good way to watch progress too
  • shortie_sarah
    shortie_sarah Posts: 177 Member
    You should definitely start strength training, and buy a pair of Accumeasure body fat calipers to measure your body fat percentage. It's better than measuring scale weight especially when you're training. The mirror is a good way to watch progress too

    Thanks for the advice on the calipers. I've been going by the average that this site gives me (http://www.gymgoal.com/dtool_fat.html)
  • shortie_sarah
    shortie_sarah Posts: 177 Member
    I'm glad I asked about this before working out because after 2 days the scale moved up a tad... I know now that it isn't actually weight gain. besides.. I haven't eaten enough to gain any weight.. phew.. :happy: