Losing Weight - Lifting vs. Only Deficit

threnjen
threnjen Posts: 687 Member
edited November 10 in Social Groups
Just want to share an interesting (and unfortunate) lesson I learned this month.

For the month of December I lifted... three times. I check in with my PT at the gym every month for measurements, body fat % and weight.

So in the 4 previous months of checkins, where I lifted 3x weekly, I lost 3-4 pounds each month, and it was always 80% or more fat loss. Woot! That felt amazing.

For the last month, I lost 3 pounds also. But... it was almost ALL lean body mass. I mean like 95% lean body mass, and hardly any fat. Basically, I did nothing but get weaker.

Moral of the story: Lift, lift, and lift some more.

Replies

  • annaskiski
    annaskiski Posts: 1,212 Member
    Wow, good info!
  • That is awesome knowledge and definitely a great motivator! Your loss (recomp) is going very well!!! Kudos to you threnjen!
  • xcalygrl
    xcalygrl Posts: 1,897 Member
    I have a similar experience. It's eye-opening isn't it?!

    I do a BodPod reading every few months. In October, just one month into SL, I got one done. I was at 27.4% body fat with 129 pounds of lean body mass.

    I just got another done last week. I spent about half of November and December sick or injured, so I couldn't lift even if I wanted to. I was down less than a pound, but my BF was at 28.7%. I lost 3 pounds of lean body mass and gained just over 2 in fat. Talk about depressing. Damn you injury, sinus infection, and the flu! You took away all my gainz!
  • symba1130
    symba1130 Posts: 248 Member
    Oh, good to know! When I lost weight the first time around it was all cardio type classes and a few with strength training but nothing like SL.
    I keep thinking I need to go back to cardio to get these "last 10 lbs" off my body, but this reassures me that I am doing the right thing sticking with weights :-)
  • arrrrjt
    arrrrjt Posts: 245 Member
    Hmm interesting. On my Polar watch/hrm, when I do a cardio class (like shred, so hiit) it's about 20% fat loss, but my lifting shows as around 50%. Kind of seems accurate!
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