Losing Weight While Lifting Weights

I'm confused and am hoping someone more experienced can shed some light on this subject.

I've been tracking calories for the past 43 days and am down 10 pounds so far. I am also 10 weeks postpartum and exclusively breastfeeding. I just began lifting weights a week ago. Here's my confusion: I am following the New Rules of Lifting for Women program, and it specifically says to not try to cut calories while trying to build muscle. My current daily calorie goal is 2000. This past week, since I've been lifting, I have not lost. I am currently 165 pounds, 5'6", and female. My goal weight is 130.

What should my daily calorie goal be while trying to gain muscle but lose weight? I am aiming for a healthy weight loss of 1-2 pounds per week.

Generally, you can't build muscle and lose weight at the same time. The purpose for lifting while in a deficit is to retain the muscle you do have so that you lose more fat than muscle.

As for why you haven't lost, you are retaining water to repair the muscles since you are new to lifting. This is to be expected and should subside in a few weeks.

im a man on a 1200 calorie a day diet with MFP
ive lost 20 pounds so far
I lost 2 pounds per week as MFP promised
then I started lifting weights
in my profile there is a few pound upward spike
thats where I started lifting weights
I am gaining muscle on 1200 calories a day
I am a man but im also 42 years old
This is my experience I can't speak for anyone else or what the science says.
I can see my muscles grow and my weighmtloss has halted (but not fat loss) since lifting weights
I do 30-60 min of cardo every day and about 25 minutes of dumbell weight lifting. Nothing very heavy.
oh ya and i eat all my exercise calories back 100% i think thats important.

im a man on a 1200 calorie a day diet with MFP
ive lost 20 pounds so far
I lost 2 pounds per week as MFP promised
then I started lifting weights
in my profile there is a few pound upward spike
thats where I started lifting weights
I am gaining muscle on 1200 calories a day
I am a man but im also 42 years old
This is my experience I can't speak for anyone else or what the science says.
I can see my muscles grow and my weighmtloss has halted (but not fat loss) since lifting weights
I do 30-60 min of cardo every day and about 25 minutes of dumbell weight lifting. Nothing very heavy.

1. Noobs to lifting or former fit people who get back into lifting after a long break can have some minimal gains in the beginning but they are short lived.

2. Fat loss causes muscle to show through more which results in people "thinking" they gained mass. Also existing muscles get harder/firmer.

3. As a man, you are not going to gain muscle mass on 1200 per day.

1. Noobs to lifting or former fit people who get back into lifting after a long break can have some minimal gains in the beginning but they are short lived.

2. Fat loss causes muscle to show through more which results in people "thinking" they gained mass. Also existing muscles get harder/firmer.

3. As a man, you are not going to gain muscle mass on 1200 per day.
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fat loss does not make arms bigger in diameter.
my weight has gone up since incorporating weights. on the same number of calories.

1. Noobs to lifting or former fit people who get back into lifting after a long break can have some minimal gains in the beginning but they are short lived.

2. Fat loss causes muscle to show through more which results in people "thinking" they gained mass. Also existing muscles get harder/firmer.

3. As a man, you are not going to gain muscle mass on 1200 per day.

fat loss does not make arms bigger in diameter.
my weight has gone up since incorporating weights. on the same number of calories.
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You should lay off the juice then.

If I'm already overweight and gaining muscle, wouldn't I lose weight because of the resting caloric burn of the muscle? I understand not losing weight while gaining muscle if I'm at/close to where I need to be weight-wise, but I'm still 30-35 pounds from that point.

Why would weight lifting cause water retention? I acknowledge this is most likely the case, but what's the science behind it?

It seems silly to say I can't lift and lose weight. Everything I've read is that weight lifting will get me to my goal weight much more quickly/healthily than just cardio and calorie cutting, and that it ensures that the weight I'm losing is not from lean muscle mass.

Still confused.

Your body retains water for a number of reasons due to different stresses that occur in life. When you lift weights, your muscles are being torn and repaired which causes them to get stronger. I don't know much on the topic so maybe someone with more knowledge would be able to explain in greater detail. During this process, water is retained to help "heal" your muscles. This does go away once your body is used to the new stress you put on it. You will stop retaining water and you may stop getting sore. You are likely to still be losing fat during this time but the extra water your body is storing for the next few weeks can hide that on the scale. You should see a decrease on the scale in a few weeks once the water is not retained. I suggest taking measurements since they can show progress even when the scale does not.

The reason programs like New Rules suggest that you don't lose weight while lifting is that once your newbie gains are exhausted its extremely hard to continue to progress without eating at maintenance or at a surplus. You can lift while losing weight but at one point you may not see strength gains as often as you were in the beginning. It's still important to lift while losing weight but you may not see as much progress as one might like. Programs like that are meant to build muscle/strength so they suggest you eat to support that but that isn't necessary to follow if your goal isn't to gain muscle at this time.

I was lifting at a deficit for 1.5 months before I stalled on my lifts. I decided I rather increase my lifts than lose weight so I switched to maintenance for about 1.5 months. At that time I decided I still had some fat to lose and went back to eating at a deficit. I've noticed its hard to increase my strength gains now that I'm eating less calories but my muscles are still getting stronger.. just slowly.

The health benefits of weight lifting go much farther than gaining muscle. You will gain lean mass and lose fat while in a deficit. Lean mass is everything in the body besides fat. Your bones will strengthen (important for breastfeeding moms), your neuromuscular adaptations will improve everyday life, etc. etc.

And yes, after about 8 weeks of lifting (you get primarily neuromuscular adaptation during the first 8 weeks, when you gain the most strength as a percentage of overall strength gain), you will have some muscle growth if you are on a progressive-loading program that is relatively high in volume/time under tension. It just won't be extreme growth, and a lot of it will be intramuscular growth as you burn intramuscular fat (your overall dimensions won't change, but the muscle fibers themselves will be harder, denser, and stronger).

Here's a quick synopsis of some of the benefits beyond hypertrophy.

http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article folder/resistben.html

You say my muscles are hanging on to glycogen, others say water. Which is it? Any sources behind the physiology?

glycogen stores water, this is why when cutting carbs you see a large weight loss at first. Depleted glycogen stores, so you retain less water and the scale says good job, when most of the loss was just water.

Think of when you bang your head and a bump forms, that is water which helps protect the injury and aid in recovery, your muscles do the same when they are pushed, they get "hurt" retain water to protect them which makes it easier for your body to repair.

So some is water due to damaging your muscles (which is a good thing), but chances are you also increased glycogen in the muscles, unless you are on low carb, them much less likely.

1. Noobs to lifting or former fit people who get back into lifting after a long break can have some minimal gains in the beginning but they are short lived.

2. Fat loss causes muscle to show through more which results in people "thinking" they gained mass. Also existing muscles get harder/firmer.

3. As a man, you are not going to gain muscle mass on 1200 per day.

fat loss does not make arms bigger in diameter.
my weight has gone up since incorporating weights. on the same number of calories.

The only way your weight has "gone up" while on 1,200 calories a day like you say, could be related to you eating more than you think you are. You cannot gain muscle mass in a deficit, and certainly not on 1,200 calories for a male.
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Or a combo of eating more than he thinks and water retention, which can increase diameter as water takes up space.

We don't know your stats and your diary's private.

I'm 5'6, cutting at the moment on 1470 - that's for a 1lb a week loss, if that helps.

ETA: when I first started, I lifted at 1200 net for around 6 months before my lifts stalled out (I didn't gain any appreciable muscle, just strength).