If you feel you're not getting much results.

portexploit · July 2011

Today was my one month reassessment; I lost 4lbs in one month. I have written previous topics about not expecting too much too soon, let things happen naturally, you can’t control how much weight you lose. Stress = resistance of what is. If you don’t lose the weight you expect, some people are resisting reality with what they expected; this will only lead to frustration and possibly giving up. You can only control your actions, what you eat, and when or what you do for exercise.

When I found out I lost 4lbs… I was like “that’s not much, but it’s better than zero, so my weight is going in a positive direction.” I started a resistance training this month also, I am pretty sure that I gained some muscle mass. I posted my 4lbs loss on my wall and how I felt about it. I am pretty experienced in this field, I also have some friends who are also very experienced, they said “what you’re doing with your diet will preserve a lot of muscle mass.” I then remembered I measured my bodyfat 1 month ago exactly, lucky me. I checked my body fat percentage. The results were truly amazing, 2inches from my stomach gone and my body fat dropped 7lbs. I compared how much muscle I gained to the fat loss, The difference was exactly 4 points. The results are so unbelievable when I told my friend’s about it, they where very skeptical, I am still skeptical, math doesn’t lie. I do see some change in body composition but not much. This means that my fat pretty much got replaced by the muscle mass. Some will probably say “well you didn’t get much results because fat is 4 times the volume of muscle.” Yes, and the difference is the results I see. I won’t share my results here because I know people will say “that’s not possible.” As some of you know people who are starting out in resistance training tend to put on more muscle mass than someone who has been doing it for a long time, same goes for weight loss.

. Like I said I am skeptical of my results but I can’t argue with the numbers. If my results are real, this means that you may not be getting much results in terms of “weight loss” but you might be doing amazing things behind the fat that you can’t see happening. If you feel down by your lack of progress, you actually might be making great progress, it’s best to keep track of multiple indicators of fat loss. Such as weight, bodyfat, and inches

dia77 · July 2011

bump

wonnder1 · July 2011

I agree. 13 pounds in 3 months, it sounds like absolutely nothing. If I had relied only on that-I would have quit. However, the 17 inches that are gone from my body and the 2 sizes down-that's my motivation.

I wish I had realized this the first 500 times I tried to lose "weight."

blessedtobefit · July 2011

Great post...thanks!

rayneface · July 2011

I totally agree with having to track progress in multiple areas. When I first started I'd barely lost weight only a few lbs (less than 5) but I was exercising like mad, weight training cardio etc , I just hadn't quite mastered diet. Discouraged by the scale I took my measurments again. O.M.G
I had lost a total of nearly 22 inches from my thighs hips and stomach arms etc, I was so much smaller but weighed the same. It really helped motivate me to keep going. Now the weight is coming off and I couldn't be happier that I stuck this out.

Jjames1978 · July 2011

I have over the last 10 weeks bounce around the same 5 pounds. It gets discouraging. I can tell a difference in body composition and I know I have gained muscle mass, I can tell myself by the way my clothes fit and the new notch I had to make in my belt. I have on average lost 1.5 to 2 lbs a week. 10 weeks ago I hit my 100lb loss mark. I was extremely excited and at the same time discouraged at my lack of muscle mass. So I went and talked to Arnold Schwarzenegger at GNC and he hooked me up with a pre and post workout supplement and also a protein shake. I love the results it has on my workouts and recovery, I also like how the protein curbs my appetite post workout. I also added CLA to my list of vitamins after reading an article on its weight loss benefits. I also added ZMA at bedtime to help boost my testosterone levels to aid in greater muscle gains. I also ramped up my workouts and have stuck with them vigorously. I have maintain my calorie intake the whole time to. I believe my lack of weight loss has to do with my muscle gains but I have know way to measure this to know for certain. I have a body weight monitor, but I get inconsistent readings from it so I am not certain weather its correct or not. I guess after all that rambling my question is if on min avg I lost even1 lb a week which should be 10lbs would it be possible to gain that much muscle mass in that amount of time? and what would be the best way to measure this?

threeringedgirl · July 2011

i've thought abou this many a times. ive tried to mentally talk myself through why the numbers on the scale arent moving even though i'd get up every morning and do cardio for 20-30 mins. although i can advise others like i'm a trained pro when it comes to taking my own advice it just doesn't work. i hate to fall back on the 'it's hard to be a girl becasue we're expected to be skinny with big boobs blah blah blah" but it's true. in addition to the fact that women genetically hold onto fat for baby making reasons. it sucks no matter your gender not seeing the results you want and are so desperately working for.....

i'm gonna stop or i'll just keep rambling....

thanks you for your post, for keeping things in perspective, and providing a way to see results that are otherwise invisible to the naked eye

CallMeMamaBoo · July 2011

I've been frustrated with my lack of weight loss over the last month... UNTIL! I remembered I took bikini photos around the time I stopped losing. We re-took some new pics and TA DA... hello muscle definition! I also measure bf% monthly and guess what? 26.6% to 24%. I'm quite happy with that (still wish the scale would budge tho!).

portexploit · July 2011

Great comments everyone and thank you.

JJHudgens · July 2011

bump

jldaley09 · July 2011

Thank you for posting this, its just what I wanted to read. I have lost 16 lbs and don't really notice much of a difference. I have not taken measurements and feel like I should have. This week my weight was up and even though I KNOW what caused it (being a female) I am still totally bummed that I could not report a loss. Thank you somedays It seems like this is getting much harder and not easier and I cannot give up now. I have way too much invested.

deb54 · July 2011

Bump

Jaradel · July 2011

I agree. 13 pounds in 3 months, it sounds like absolutely nothing. If I had relied only on that-I would have quit. However, the 17 inches that are gone from my body and the 2 sizes down-that's my motivation.

I wish I had realized this the first 500 times I tried to lose "weight."

The thing about 13 lbs in 3 months is that if you multiply that by four (e.g. 12 months), you're looking at a 52 lb loss in one year. 52 lbs/52 weeks in a year = 1 lb a week, which falls in the recommended guidelines for healthy weight loss.

I wonder how much more motivated people would be if they thought of weight loss in those terms.

All that to say - great work on losing 13 lbs, 17 inches, and 2 sizes in 3 months! That is beyond awesome. And to the OP, congratulations to you too!

portexploit · July 2011

I agree. 13 pounds in 3 months, it sounds like absolutely nothing. If I had relied only on that-I would have quit. However, the 17 inches that are gone from my body and the 2 sizes down-that's my motivation.

I wish I had realized this the first 500 times I tried to lose "weight."

The thing about 13 lbs in 3 months is that if you multiply that by four (e.g. 12 months), you're looking at a 52 lb loss in one year. 52 lbs/52 weeks in a year = 1 lb a week, which falls in the recommended guidelines for healthy weight loss.

I wonder how much more motivated people would be if they thought of weight loss in those terms.

All that to say - great work on losing 13 lbs, 17 inches, and 2 sizes in 3 months! That is beyond awesome. And to the OP, congratulations to you too!

Ha, I was just thinking this right before i came back to the topic. In worst case scenerio, I only lost 4lbs of fat. that's 52lbs in a year. What else am I going to do? keep going or stop. If I stop, i'll never get there. The longest journey starts with a single step.

portexploit · July 2011

ha, made a typo. This sentence ". The results were truly amazing, 2inches from my stomach gone and my body fat dropped 7lbs. I compared how much muscle I gained to the fat loss, The difference was exactly 4 points" should say I dropped 7% bodyfat. and the difference was exactly 4lbs.

If you feel you're not getting much results.

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