Did weight lifting help you lose weight?

weight lifting is exercise and you stopped that exercise...you have less of a deficit now hence the slow down in the weight loss.

I have been lifting for just over 10 months and it has never stopped me from losing weight.

I consistently lost 3/4lb a week over the first 9 months and 10 inches easy.

If people are lifting and not seeing a loss in the scale they are probably not in a deficit (maitenance) or a very low deficit thereby losing weight slowly enough they didn't really notice 1/4lb here, 1/8lb there...

I also lose weight much faster when I do strength training. I've read that it increases your resting metabolic rate over the 24-48 hours after doing training, meaning you can burn a higher amount of calories over that time. Increased muscle mass in general is meant to have a similar effect on your metabolism. I read a little bit about it a while ago where they found in a study that the metabolism boost didn't burn many extra calories at all, so the calories burned during that 24-48 hour period after strength training are hardly relevant. A lot of people think it burns very little, and a lot less than cardio. But I've given it up in the past and substituted it for a higher amount of cardio, and my weight loss slowed dramatically. It quickened up and stayed a lot faster when I brought in more strength training. I also don't lift that heavy, although I would if I could! I tend to eat a lot after a strength training session, and I think I generally eat back the calories I burn doing it, though it's hard to estimate. I don't have huge amounts of muscle; I want to build more eventually, but I'm still in a deficit and my protein intake is currently really poor. So I generally put the elevated calorie burn down to the 24-48 hour afterburn effect. When people don't see a difference on the scale they're usually building muscle mass (and if they're just beginning strength training, possibly holding extra water weight), whereas for me and maybe for you, being in a calorie deficit and losing fat, we're probably closer to maintaining it.

For me, if I do lots of cardio (used to), my body seems to get used to it... so maybe your body doesn't react to all the cardio as it has become efficient and doesn't burn as many calories... adding lifting is keeping the muscle and that burns fat so in essence the reduction and build...

just me thinking out loud :bigsmile:

Are you weighing your food at all? You could be eating more than you think.

Ahhh....that 'body getting used to it thing' - yep. Might be on to something there. I always challenge myself with weight lifting, wanting to lift more (my ego likes it) - so it never really stays the same. Maybe that could be it. I need to be lifting over the next 3 months anyway for a music video I have in September. So, it will interesting to see if this busts the plateau or not.

Thanks for the responses - it's definitely making more sense now.

By the way Clambert, loving your profile picture!

LOL thanks - it is me lol I rarely do cardio.. and usually if I do it is quick 20 min just loosen muscles.

Lifting in my opinion has made me LOOK like I have lost more weight than I have. There is a 40 pound difference between the first and second picture, and I have lifted for over two years.

lifting didn't help me lose any scale weight; if any I weigh more than before. But size wise I look the same, or maybe a little leaner.

Just like any other exercise, lifting weight is benefical for our overall health; but it doesn't necessarily promotes weight (scale weight) loss.