Beginner to Weight Training - Could use advice!

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Nire28
Nire28 Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all, I'm going to try to keep this short, but descriptive because I could really use some advice! I was pretty overweight about 4 years ago (170 lbs, 4' 11"). I started eating healthy (and tracking cals, staying around 1200 cals) and then got really into running. I was at about 105-108 lbs, size 0 dress pants for the past few years, but I couldn't get my stomach to look "normal"/tight. Being a huge fan of BeachBody workouts I decided to do the 21 day fix extreme and start incorporating weight lifting into my routine. After one round, I felt good, but found my pants were tighter. Loving the weights and wanting to lift a bit heavier, I started Chaleane Extreme. I'm now 2 months into lifting weights during my exercise routine (I use no more than 25 lbs in each hand, depending on the exercise), BUT I can't fit into my dress pants - I had to go up to a size 2 and my blazers/jackets are snug. I know that's not huge, but i just want to know why this is happening/if I'm doing something wrong... I still am eating 1200-1500 cals, all healthy). Any advice? Feeling lost!

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  • xcalygrl
    xcalygrl Posts: 1,897 Member
    edited May 2015
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    Have you gained weight? You don't say anything about what the scale has done since your pants/blazers got tight.

    ETA: And what about measurements? Increasing measurements (gaining inches) would cause your clothes to be tighter.
  • wkwebby
    wkwebby Posts: 807 Member
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    You're eating at maintenance and "bulking". If you want to come back down, you need to decrease your calories a bit. Have you opted out of your cardio all together? If you've substituted your cardio for the weight lifting, your calories are too high. The cardio allows you more exercise calories than the weight training does. Depending on how high your consumption is at, will depend on if you are at maintenance or at a calorie surplus.
  • JakeBrownVB
    JakeBrownVB Posts: 399 Member
    edited May 2015
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    you need to get your goals in check. What do you want? If you want to get toned as you describe then you need to build muscle (toned=muscle). To build muscle you need to get on those weights seriously which high rep low intensity workouts like you describe are categorically not I'm afraid. Men and woman build muscle in completely the exact same way as each other, we are no different. Also you are going to need to recomp or bulk, so yes you will need to gain weight. You can't build muscle in a deficit, sucks but it's true. Hope that helps :smile:
  • Nire28
    Nire28 Posts: 2 Member
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    Hi all, thanks for the input. Right now, eating at around 1200 calories, I don't think I'd want to decrease my calorie intake. My weight is at about 114 lbs. Since my pants are tight around the waist (0 to 2) I can assume a measurement increase there, but haven't measured to be honest (I will be starting to, though). @JakeBrownVB I'm trying to lift as heavy as possible (that's what the Chaleane Extreme phase I'm on recommends)... do you think that I just need to continue to lift as heavy as possible?
  • JakeBrownVB
    JakeBrownVB Posts: 399 Member
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    Nire28 wrote: »
    Hi all, thanks for the input. Right now, eating at around 1200 calories, I don't think I'd want to decrease my calorie intake. My weight is at about 114 lbs. Since my pants are tight around the waist (0 to 2) I can assume a measurement increase there, but haven't measured to be honest (I will be starting to, though). @JakeBrownVB I'm trying to lift as heavy as possible (that's what the Chaleane Extreme phase I'm on recommends)... do you think that I just need to continue to lift as heavy as possible?

    Basically the pretty much time tested truth is, the higher you go on the rep scheme (abover 12 or 15 for example) the greater the stimulus curves off and the less effective your workout becomes. Remember the purpose of weight training is to break down and tear muscle fibers and doing very high reps or not lifting heavy enough or close enough to your max, is not enough intensity to achieve this. You max feel pumped, you may feel DOMS, you may feel like its working but in general its not and will only work for the first few weeks/months when you are very under trained. The other golden rule of building muscle is progressive overload. You should constantly be aiming to lift heavier. Now every week is ambitious but achievable when you first start out but every couple of weeks will be more than doable. Just make sure you hop on a decent weight training program and none of these nonsense ones that pander to women and the false image they have of what "toning up" really means.
  • xcalygrl
    xcalygrl Posts: 1,897 Member
    edited May 2015
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    Nire28 wrote: »
    Hi all, thanks for the input. Right now, eating at around 1200 calories, I don't think I'd want to decrease my calorie intake. My weight is at about 114 lbs. Since my pants are tight around the waist (0 to 2) I can assume a measurement increase there, but haven't measured to be honest (I will be starting to, though). @JakeBrownVB I'm trying to lift as heavy as possible (that's what the Chaleane Extreme phase I'm on recommends)... do you think that I just need to continue to lift as heavy as possible?

    Are you weighing everything you eat on a food scale? There is no way you could gain weight on 1200 a day. Since you've said you've put on 6-9 pounds, you're eating above maintenance. You also wouldn't have added any muscle mass on 1200 a day, even if progressively lifting heavier. You have to have extra calories to add muscle mass.

    Also, like a PP said, if you've stopped your cardio and just started lifting you've gotten rid of some exercise calories. If you've still been eating like you're running, that could cause you to gain weight on the same calories that you used to lose or maintain on.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    xcalygrl wrote: »
    Nire28 wrote: »
    Hi all, thanks for the input. Right now, eating at around 1200 calories, I don't think I'd want to decrease my calorie intake. My weight is at about 114 lbs. Since my pants are tight around the waist (0 to 2) I can assume a measurement increase there, but haven't measured to be honest (I will be starting to, though). @JakeBrownVB I'm trying to lift as heavy as possible (that's what the Chaleane Extreme phase I'm on recommends)... do you think that I just need to continue to lift as heavy as possible?

    Are you weighing everything you eat on a food scale? There is no way you could gain weight on 1200 a day. Since you've said you've put on 6-9 pounds, you're eating above maintenance. You also wouldn't have added any muscle mass on 1200 a day, even if progressively lifting heavier. You have to have extra calories to add muscle mass.

    Also, like a PP said, if you've stopped your cardio and just started lifting you've gotten rid of some exercise calories. If you've still been eating like you're running, that could cause you to gain weight on the same calories that you used to lose or maintain on.

    all of this.
  • dmt4641
    dmt4641 Posts: 409 Member
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    To the OP, so it sounds like you have gained 5-10 lbs recently and can't fit into your clothes. The workout programs you mentioned would not cause you to gain 10 lbs of muscle, especially if you are truly eating 1200 cal. You would be lucky to gain 10 lbs of muscle in a year eating at a surplus and lifting very heavy. You could be retaining some water in you muscles from starting the new program, but my bet is that you are eating more than you think. First make sure to weigh and measure you food.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    Heavy weight, low reps 3x per week and 20 minutes HIIT training. Active recovery days in between where you walk or do light cardio. And as others have mentioned, fix your calorie intake accordingly.

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