Is strength training the reason the scales arent moving?

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empenTen
empenTen Posts: 29
in Health and Weight Loss
Since the beginning of December I have been strength training at the gym 5 days a week. I generally start with a bit of cardio followed by Jamie Easons 30 day workout plan. Its pretty tough and I have muscle soreness most of the time :)
I took my measurements at the beginning of Jan and have been tracking my weight each week.
I have been eating around 1500 - 1600 calories a day

So I checked in today and I have lost 1lb and only lost half an inch of my waist. All other measurements are the same.

I am either doing it wrong, being inpatient or underneath this thick layer of fat there is a lot of muscle hiding that weighs a lot

What do you think?

Anyone got any similar experience - but with a happy ending.

Replies

  • cingle87
    cingle87 Posts: 717 Member
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    Its very unlikely that you are building muslce such even with slight noob gains that will ofset the fat loss. Its very hard to pack on muscle eating at a calorie surplus nevermind a calorie deficit, plus its even harder for females to pack it on. What it will most likely be water retention from your muscle repairing themselves. I always advocate weighing yourself after a full rest day, 24hrs of no lifting even longer if you still have muscle soreness.
  • mlima14
    mlima14 Posts: 112 Member
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    I'v lost 8 lb. so far and physically you can see that I've lost weight but normally 8 lb. wouldn't actually be so noticeable, but since I'm doing a lot of training I've been able to get into a smaller pair of jeans :D, even if the scale hasn't moved much. So in answer to your question yes most probably, but just make sure you actually take into account all of your food intake and measure and weigh everything so you're not underestimating the calorie consumption. Good luck to you!
  • empenTen
    empenTen Posts: 29
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    Thanks for the reply.

    I am constantly sore!

    So......surely at some point the scales will start to go down - even if I am consistently carry an extra 3/4lbs of water to deal with the DOMS.

    I am just trying to understand what my body is doing so I can understand if I am doing the right things
  • Springfield1970
    Springfield1970 Posts: 1,945 Member
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    That happened to me when I intensified my training, and even though I was on a deficit I stalled for 3 weeks. I was very confused and annoyed. Then came rest and recovery week and I dropped 2/3 pounds so I'd actually been dropping TOO FAST, and the water from the repair had been masking it. I actually lost LBM during that period.

    Women can gain a maximum of a quarter of a pound of muscle a week. That's at a surpluss of 2/300 cals per day AND heavy lifting. So it's probably water gain, have a rest week and weigh yourself after a couple of days (not around ovulation or TOM).

    You then may need to redo your figures if you didn't get the weight loss you expected.

    I recommend weighing every day and averaging out for females, for our sanity!
  • Violet_Cupcake
    Violet_Cupcake Posts: 2
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    yes i expect so. dont eat less calories than you are or your body will go into starvation mode. if you have muscle soreness (DOMS) "most of the time" you need to take it slower as this soreness is from tiny tears in your muscles and you should give them chance to heal. never use scales! look at body fat percentage and inch loss! i recently went down from a size ten to an eight but put on 2kg!!
  • AnexRavensong
    AnexRavensong Posts: 262 Member
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    Body fat scales are awesome for this. Also taking measurements and pictures is always a good idea. :)

    Academy sells some from 30 dollars and up, it is where I got mine this summer when I was in the US and brought it back with me to France because here those same scales are like 60 EUR (81 USD)
  • sowich25
    sowich25 Posts: 70 Member
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    Yes very common. I am having same issue. Having a surplus of calories left over but not droping the weight. I have notice that I am slimming down while hitting cardio and weight training. just relax the weight will come off
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    Give it a few more weeks. Water weight from exercise can mask 'real' weight loss. However, it you have not lost anymore by that time, you should reassess your intake (especially if your measurements do not change). Your waist has gone down so that would indicate a loss, but measurements can vary depending on how much 'bloat' (not muscle glycogen/water) retention - plus inaccurate measuring.
  • empenTen
    empenTen Posts: 29
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    Thank you all so much for your input.

    I do feel like I am doing the right thing so will carry on for another few weeks and see if the scales or measurements change. I took some photos last week too so I will use those to compare with later.

    You have all managed to make me feel a bit better about it.

    I have some body fat scales and some fat calipers so I will take those measurements too and compare them in a few weeks.

    I do plan to have some rest days but cause I can only go to the gym at certain times it has just meant that lately I was going whenever I could in case I wasnt able to go the next day. It should settle down into a routine that incorporates 2 rest days a week so that might help too.

    Thanks again everyone x

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