heavy lifting and weight loss question

It seems most of the pics I've seen from members that lift, they were at or near their goal weight when they started,
so my question is two fold,

1. from those that started lifting with still a lot of weight to lose, did you still see the scale go up as you built up muscle? I still have at least 30lbs to lose and want to know what to expect. I am just starting the 5x5 stronglifts program.

2. What else did you do with the lifting for exercise? Any cardio in between days of lifting etc.

Thank you!

As long as you are eating at a deficit the scale will not go up, except for "noob" gains in the beginning. You aren't building muscle; you're preserving existing muscle. A lot of people (I am one) started lifting before getting to goal. Muscle is the best fat burner out there! I don't do much else but lifting, but I'll go on a walk or something on my off days.

Look at my pics. I lost my weight eating at a deficit and lifting only.

ETA: It's slow going mind you but the results are great!

One thing I noticed is that when I lift regularly, I maintain my cardio fitness without doing "cardio" workouts--ie running. Also, anytime I do anything enough to get sore I show a small gain, I just keep reminding myself that it's not a "weight" gain and keep going.

I'll answer since I satisfy your condition in #1, I was lifting in week 2 of an effort to lose over 100 pounds. No the scale did not, and basically can not, go up if you are in a caloric deficit.

2. I do cardio in the morning on the days I lift, then lift in the evening.

I've been lifting for a while now, and I've never seen the scale move (noticeably) due to muscle gain, although my shape certainly has. Plenty of times it moves up because I eat poorly and I gain water or fat, but any muscle I have gained hasn't seemed to have had much impact on the scale.

However, I don't mind if/when the scale goes up because of muscle or water... I only hate it when it moves due to fat gain ...

I still have a strong 30# of fat to lose (I think, we'll see), but I still I love how the muscle changes my shape. I can't wait to get the fat off so I can see it better. I do elliptical intervals for 20-30 mins after most lifting sessions. I've recently started running on my rest days, but before the past week, my rest days were totally rest.

I have 30 left to goal (and 30 down) and I can tell you from very recent experience that I changed nothing in my diet and only dropped a little cardio from my routine when I started lifting in late June. My loss did indeed stop and I crept up about 3 pounds. Most likely holding water for muscle repair. The "stall" lasted for about 2 1/2 weeks and then went right back to my normal loss pattern.

Tonight will be my 10th Stronglifts session.

I am a daily weigher so I can SHOW you what it looked like. Please note that this chart is not current as of this week so you will not see the return to normal that occurred a few days later but for reference I was 230 for the last three days. Not today, but that's another story and entirely my fault.

Hi - I started a strength training "class" about a year ago (dr's orders). My trainers always recommend some cardio either before or after each workout. For me (now) it's 10 minutes on the elliptical before each session. Gets my up to cardiospeed, and I generally maintain that during my workout.

Never really noticed a gain, though a standstill for a couple of weeks, yes. Being over 60, it's a bit tougher to rev up my metabolism. The trainers work with class members individually and help me change up my routine from time to time to make it more interesting. I use machines and free weights.

I don't eat up the calaories I'veburned. I just leave most of it as more deficit, though I generally do have some type of protein when I get home (often greek yogurt).

I've been lifting for a while now, and I've never seen the scale move (noticeably) due to muscle gain, although my shape certainly has. Plenty of times it moves up because I eat poorly and I gain water or fat, but any muscle I have gained hasn't seemed to have had much impact on the scale.

However, I don't mind if/when the scale goes up because of muscle or water... I only hate it when it moves due to fat gain ...

I still have a strong 30# of fat to lose (I think, we'll see), but I still I love how the muscle changes my shape. I can't wait to get the fat off so I can see it better. I do elliptical intervals for 20-30 mins after most lifting sessions. I've recently started running on my rest days, but before the past week, my rest days were totally rest.

So what lifting program do you use? If you haven't seen the scale move due to muscle gain, have you been seeing it move due to fat loss? Or has the loss stalled, but your body shape is changing? Right now I would be happy with a bit of body shape change!

Sorry, I just saw this (I wish MFP gave notifications when someone quoted or replied to you....).

I'm not really using any lifting program right at this moment. When I first started, I used NROLFW. Then I just did my own thing for a while and then started NROL for Life. Now I just sort of do my own thing - I have a typical "routine" I alternate every other workout which includes either squats or deads and then a bunch of other stuff. I'm thinking of starting a new program though because I'm feeling bored and un-inspired. Recently, the scale has not been moving at all, but that's due to my diet. I haven't been doing a very good job in that area, and so I'm really just maintaining. I was getting quite lean and defined, but then I had a surgery and had to take several weeks off and then slowly work back into things - then got in a slump and gained back 20#. This was about a year ago...... Since then I've been working at getting it off - but not very consistently. So...I wouldn't say that my weight loss has stalled due to lifting or anything else except that my diet isn't consistently good. It was originally helping a lot.

About my body changing - I wish I had before pictures of this, but as an example, my butt used to be very long (if that makes any sense). It kind of seemed to go half way down my leg. But now, even though I still have plenty of extra fat - everything is lifted up where it belongs and it's nice and round. My legs are also much more shapely. My husband tells me all the time that he can feel how strong I've gotten and totally notices all the muscle (under the fat).

Lots of people claim that the scale goes up due to muscle, but I really don't think it's that measurable weight-wise - at least it hasn't seemed to be for me - even eating at a surplus at times. But honestly, for me, my goal isn't about a weight as much as it is a weight I think I'll need to get to to have the body and health that I want. I don't care if the scale says I weigh 200 if I look the way I want to look. But I watch the scale - I can't help it :-) So understand why people care so much about what it says!! I just keep in mind that it's not what really matters, it's just another way to track some data.

I lift 3x per week and do a small amount of cardio on those days. On non-lifting days, I run. I have a great deal of weight to lose. I have not gained from lifting, and can now feel muscle in my arms etc. I figure once I get to goal weight, I should have some nice looking arms. At least, that's what I'm telling myself.