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iamthylight
iamthylight Posts: 9 Member
in Motivation and Support
I recently started attending my gym everyday between work and school for 30-45 minutes every day. Usually M,W,F is 30 minutes of cardio where I really try to get my heart rate up consistently and use high intensity bursts. T, Th is usually strength training for 45 minutes. I have had people tell me they can tell a difference, and I myself can tell a difference! But the scale says I've gained 3 lbs! I've had people tell me its muscle, but shouldn't I have lost something by now? I've been eating right with only a few exceptions for special occasions. I'm so disappointed. Anyone have any idea's, tips on how to get past this lapse in weight loss???

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  • BelleVegan77
    BelleVegan77 Posts: 70 Member
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    When you work out you build muscle and muscle weighs more then fat so ignore the scales awhile. I KNOW it is hard. They call to me in the night Beeeeellllllleeee come stand on me let me lower your self esteem Beeeelllle *sigh
    Ignore them! If people see a difference there is a difference! you are toning and losing and I bet feel amazing! YOU CAN DO THIS! Keep up the good work!

    Remember to hydrate and that a snack after your work out is important.

    Also and I say this a lot but healthy fats burn body weight! have some flax seed or some avacado! It makes a huge difference for me!
  • BelleVegan77
    BelleVegan77 Posts: 70 Member
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    By the way you totally inspired me to go to the gym tomorrow :) tx for that
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Well exercise isn't everything. You have to look at your diet too. Your diary is closed though so we can't really help with that.
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
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    How many calories are you doing?? If you doing low calories that might be the problem.
  • skylark94
    skylark94 Posts: 2,036 Member
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    Can you open your diary so we can see exactly what and how much you are eating? A proper caloric intake is very important for healthy fat loss.

    You are unlikely to have gained muscle with what you are doing and you certainly didn't gain 3 pounds of muscle in such a short time, but it sounds like you are on the right track.

    Put away the scale and take body measurements instead. They are a much better way to get feedback on your progress.

    Keep up with the great effort. Fat loss is not something that happens quickly, but once you find what works for you, you will start seeing lasting results.
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
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    When you work out you build muscle and muscle weighs more then fat so ignore the scales awhile. I KNOW it is hard. They call to me in the night Beeeeellllllleeee come stand on me let me lower your self esteem Beeeelllle *sigh
    Ignore them! If people see a difference there is a difference! you are toning and losing and I bet feel amazing! YOU CAN DO THIS! Keep up the good work!

    Remember to hydrate and that a snack after your work out is important.

    Also and I say this a lot but healthy fats burn body weight! have some flax seed or some avacado! It makes a huge difference for me!

    You can't build muscles on a deficit.
  • tonynguyen75
    tonynguyen75 Posts: 418 Member
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    How recent did you make this change? The first while (I think around 1-2 weeks) of doing exercise, your body isn't used to doing all this work. It will retain water and cause weight gain. Fear not, as long as you're in a deficit you will be losing tissue.
  • born2drum
    born2drum Posts: 731 Member
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    What do you mean by eating right? Are you accurately tracking? Weighing? MEasuring? Drinking enough water? Too much sodium? Carb intake? All of these things cuz water retention.
    First of all, its really hard to build muscle on a caloric deficit. Unless, you're completely new. If you eat at maintenance and strength train then you will gain some weight (muscle) slightly.

    Find out what your TDEE is and subtract 20-25% from that and eat at that deficit for as long as you want.
  • Needachange84
    Needachange84 Posts: 310 Member
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    When you work out you build muscle and muscle weighs more then fat so ignore the scales awhile.

    Muscle does not weigh more than fat. A pound is a pound no matter what it is. Its possible that you may be eating foods high in sodium which can be causing you to retain more water weight.
  • sarahrbraun
    sarahrbraun Posts: 2,261 Member
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    It's actually a lot more likely to be retained water and glycogen to repair muscles than actual gain in muscle (which is much more difficult to do). You mention that you are "eating right" but have given no indication of your calorie intake or the magnitude of the exceptions. Also, while you say "recently", it's hard to say how long it's been other than that. Change doesn't happen overnight or even over the course of a week or two.


    THIS^^^ I actually "gain" about 5 lbs over the course of the week...and after a few days of rest, it is gone again. The last time I took an unexpected day off from the gym, I lost like 2lbs in 2 days!
  • Showcase_Brodown
    Showcase_Brodown Posts: 919 Member
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    Are you in a calorie deficit? It doesn't matter how hard you are working out. If you are not eating fewer calories than you are burning each day, you will not lose any weight.

    How long have you been at this? It's much more reliable to compare back to a month or two back from now to get any picture of progress. You will drive yourself crazy on the day to day and week to week comparisons. Your body weight will swing back and forth because of stupid stuff like water every day.

    Given the same volume, muscle certainly does weigh more than fat, but that's probably not at play here. If you are in a deficit, you can't really build muscle.
  • Showcase_Brodown
    Showcase_Brodown Posts: 919 Member
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    When you work out you build muscle and muscle weighs more then fat so ignore the scales awhile.

    Muscle does not weigh more than fat. A pound is a pound no matter what it is. Its possible that you may be eating foods high in sodium which can be causing you to retain more water weight.

    With the same logic, iron does not weigh more than Styrofoam. Just sayin'.
  • getabsbysummer
    getabsbysummer Posts: 19 Member
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    I feel your pain! when I started weight lifting back in January, I put on 4 and half pounds over the course of a week, and was very discouraged! and I thought I looked bigger (I was heavy lifting in squats). It was a good week and a half to two weeks before I even saw the scale start to depart from that number, and I was still lifting regularly and heavy. if you look in my pics for my leg comparison picture, the difference is LESS THAN TEN POUNDS NET but it looks amazing!!! The best thing you can do is stay within your calories, and keep going. The scale will start to go the other way once the building/burning stage starts to teeter toward the burning more...
  • notnikkisixx
    notnikkisixx Posts: 375 Member
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    How long have you been doing this for?

    Are you tracking your calories?

    Have you taken before pictures and measurements?


    There are so many variables here.
  • bugtaylor
    bugtaylor Posts: 77 Member
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    What would you tell your best friend if she wanted to give up?
  • gmallan
    gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
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    As several others have pointed out your exercise routine has less to do with weightloss than what you put in your mouth does. It's an old tired saying but you can't out-train a bad diet. So number one get your diet sorted.

    Also as a side note: training hard is good but training smart is more important. What program are you following? As a beginner hopefully a full-body routine with mostly compound exercises. Also look at the intensity of your cardio
  • mazmataz
    mazmataz Posts: 331 Member
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    I feel your pain! when I started weight lifting back in January, I put on 4 and half pounds over the course of a week, and was very discouraged! and I thought I looked bigger (I was heavy lifting in squats). It was a good week and a half to two weeks before I even saw the scale start to depart from that number, and I was still lifting regularly and heavy. if you look in my pics for my leg comparison picture, the difference is LESS THAN TEN POUNDS NET but it looks amazing!!! The best thing you can do is stay within your calories, and keep going. The scale will start to go the other way once the building/burning stage starts to teeter toward the burning more...

    I just had a look at your leg comparsion pic, and wow!! I didn't know that was even possible! I was blessed with chunkier legs and thighs than most, and I always thought that no matter how much weight I lost or how much I worked out I that I was predisposed to have heavy legs. Was that result just from lifting?!
  • getabsbysummer
    getabsbysummer Posts: 19 Member
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    :) it was a combination. I was doing running intervals (pretty slow just starting out at 4.5 and worked up to 5.8) on the treadmill for anywhere between 20-30 minutes 3 days a week, and inbetween every other day I would hop on the elliptical for 10 and go hard, then did wide squats and narrow squats. 3 sets, 8-10 reps, and I started out using 2 x 25 lb dumbells over my shoulders. I also deadlifted the same weight, same reps and sets. Sometimes I would add in walking lunges with the same weight. But that was all I did for a leg workout.

    Truly, my legs puffed up and looked huge the first week I started doing it, which my before picture is after doing it for a week, and then the after picture is about 5-6 weeks after. I am also 'blessed' with a big butt/thigh lower body, and never thought weights would do that, but combined with every other day of running-incline walking intervals, it did! Give it a try, knowing that you are working the biggest muscles in your entire body. I just kept at it :)
  • iamthylight
    iamthylight Posts: 9 Member
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    I've been sticking to under 2000 calories. My diary indicates about 1930 a day. I have been doing this specific routine for 2 and 1/2 weeks now but have worked out atleast 3 days a week prior to this for sometime. I had lost 40lbs but wanting more off faster as im trying to get to a certain weight before my husband and I decide to try for another baby in a couple months. I don't log on my diary everyday because I tend to get to busy. I'll see if I can open it. Thanks everyone!

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