Question about weights and losing weight

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samanthasola
samanthasola Posts: 12 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm a little confused. So lighter weights were becoming too easy so I upped the weight I'm lifting. Now I'm noticing I'm not doing anything not losing or gaining just staying the same. To slim and tone am I supposed to keep using lighter weights or do you go up in weights to challenge your muscles?

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    how long have you not lost weight for?
  • Muscleflex79
    Muscleflex79 Posts: 1,917 Member
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    could be water weight - what kind of time frame are we talking about?
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    edited June 2018
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    To slim down and tone...
    1 - manage diet/intake
    2 - do progressive training (usually lifting, but can be other activities)
    3 - have reasonable expectations

    You post/question addresses #2 (yes, you should keep increasing weight), but you don't mention either of the other points, which are every bit as important.
  • samanthasola
    samanthasola Posts: 12 Member
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    jjpptt2 wrote: »
    To slim down and tone...
    1 - manage diet/intake
    2 - do progressive training (usually lifting, but can be other activities)
    3 - have reasonable expectations

    You post/question addresses #2 (yes, you should keep increasing weight), but you don't mention either of the other points, which are every bit as important.

    I do manage my diet. I used to live at the drive up window lol but I've changed that and have learned to meal prep and portion control. I eat clean and have upped my protein intake. I would like to think my expectations are reasonable as I've been working with a 5lb and 8lb weight for a while. I recently went from that to 10 and 15 which the 15 may be too much but I'm still figuring it out. I've just switched about a week ago so I don't expect much but someone told me I was doing it wrong so I wanted others opinion as I am far from knowing what I'm doing.
  • samanthasola
    samanthasola Posts: 12 Member
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    I never even thought of the water retention that makes perfect sense. I've only upped the weight about a week ago. I may have to readjust my body is so sore
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    samanthasola wrote: »
    I never even thought of the water retention that makes perfect sense. I've only upped the weight about a week ago. I may have to readjust my body is so sore

    if you're feeling sore then you'll be retaining water which is why the scales haven't moved.

    This.

    Case in point. Saturday was a lifting day, when I added more weight on. Sunday was barre, which usually results in a two pound gain the next day. And then I accidentally doubled my amount of sodium yesterday.

    I was grateful that the scale was only up two pounds this morning, because I was expecting far more.
  • kettiecat
    kettiecat Posts: 159 Member
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    I’m a little confused bc you only listed 2 weights. Are you following a weight lifting program? Every lift I do I have a different weight I use, some times they’ll be over lap but rarely.
  • samanthasola
    samanthasola Posts: 12 Member
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    kettiecat wrote: »
    I’m a little confused bc you only listed 2 weights. Are you following a weight lifting program? Every lift I do I have a different weight I use, some times they’ll be over lap but rarely.

    I have heavy, medium and light. Lol idc what I'm doing but it's worked for me so far. For different exercises I use a different weight
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
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    To slim your body: calorie deficit
    To tone: build muscle, lose fat
    So, you should find a progressive lifting routine and keep up with your calorie deficit until you reach your goal weight. When you reach your goal weight, if you still want more muscle/less fat, you can try a recomp. Eat at maintenance and keep lifting progressively. When you just do whatever you want with some dumbbells, chances are you will not get a balanced routine and will not be as happy with your results. Find a program. I started with Stronglifts 5x5, but there are many other good beginner programs.
  • ecjim
    ecjim Posts: 1,001 Member
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    I would increase the weight you lift - you control your body weight up or down with your calorie intake. The idea is to build some muscle & loose some fat
    -Dancing Moosie suggested a program like Strong Lifts - good idea - Eastcoast Jim
  • ladybug4233
    ladybug4233 Posts: 217 Member
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    DancingMoosie wrote: »
    To slim your body: calorie deficit
    To tone: build muscle, lose fat
    So, you should find a progressive lifting routine and keep up with your calorie deficit until you reach your goal weight. When you reach your goal weight, if you still want more muscle/less fat, you can try a recomp. Eat at maintenance and keep lifting progressively. When you just do whatever you want with some dumbbells, chances are you will not get a balanced routine and will not be as happy with your results. Find a program. I started with Stronglifts 5x5, but there are many other good beginner programs.


    I don't mean to hijack this thread but I just looked up this program and it sounds good. I am right at my goal weight and trying to decide if I want to loose 2-3 more pounds or start lifting more and toning. Does this workout incorporate ab work? Thanks for the help.
  • Tedebearduff
    Tedebearduff Posts: 1,155 Member
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    ladybug4233 wrote: »
    DancingMoosie wrote: »
    To slim your body: calorie deficit
    To tone: build muscle, lose fat
    So, you should find a progressive lifting routine and keep up with your calorie deficit until you reach your goal weight. When you reach your goal weight, if you still want more muscle/less fat, you can try a recomp. Eat at maintenance and keep lifting progressively. When you just do whatever you want with some dumbbells, chances are you will not get a balanced routine and will not be as happy with your results. Find a program. I started with Stronglifts 5x5, but there are many other good beginner programs.


    I don't mean to hijack this thread but I just looked up this program and it sounds good. I am right at my goal weight and trying to decide if I want to loose 2-3 more pounds or start lifting more and toning. Does this workout incorporate ab work? Thanks for the help.

    Best ab workouts are squats and deadlifts. Do them, 2 or 3 more lbs isn't much at all... like you won't even see a psychical difference in your physique unless you're like 4% BF going for some more vascualrity or something.

    OP - something I didn't see you say is how long have you been lifting for? sometimes you plateau for 3-4 weeks then lose like 4lbs on a Monday for no reason.

    If your menstrual cycle is approaching you retain water and can gain upwards of 10lbs ... allot more has to be taken into consideration for females. This isn't an actual gain of fat it's just your body preparing to "do it's thing"

    Keep upping the weights IMO and ensure you're squatting and dead-lifting once or twice a week if you can.
  • ladybug4233
    ladybug4233 Posts: 217 Member
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    Tedebearduff wrote: »
    ladybug4233 wrote: »
    DancingMoosie wrote: »
    To slim your body: calorie deficit
    To tone: build muscle, lose fat
    So, you should find a progressive lifting routine and keep up with your calorie deficit until you reach your goal weight. When you reach your goal weight, if you still want more muscle/less fat, you can try a recomp. Eat at maintenance and keep lifting progressively. When you just do whatever you want with some dumbbells, chances are you will not get a balanced routine and will not be as happy with your results. Find a program. I started with Stronglifts 5x5, but there are many other good beginner programs.


    I don't mean to hijack this thread but I just looked up this program and it sounds good. I am right at my goal weight and trying to decide if I want to loose 2-3 more pounds or start lifting more and toning. Does this workout incorporate ab work? Thanks for the help.

    Best ab workouts are squats and deadlifts. Do them, 2 or 3 more lbs isn't much at all... like you won't even see a psychical difference in your physique unless you're like 4% BF going for some more vascualrity or something.

    OP - something I didn't see you say is how long have you been lifting for? sometimes you plateau for 3-4 weeks then lose like 4lbs on a Monday for no reason.

    If your menstrual cycle is approaching you retain water and can gain upwards of 10lbs ... allot more has to be taken into consideration for females. This isn't an actual gain of fat it's just your body preparing to "do it's thing"

    Keep upping the weights IMO and ensure you're squatting and dead-lifting once or twice a week if you can.


    Thank you for taking the time to respond.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,867 Member
    edited June 2018
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    samanthasola wrote: »
    jjpptt2 wrote: »
    To slim down and tone...
    1 - manage diet/intake
    2 - do progressive training (usually lifting, but can be other activities)
    3 - have reasonable expectations

    You post/question addresses #2 (yes, you should keep increasing weight), but you don't mention either of the other points, which are every bit as important.

    I do manage my diet. I used to live at the drive up window lol but I've changed that and have learned to meal prep and portion control. I eat clean and have upped my protein intake. I would like to think my expectations are reasonable as I've been working with a 5lb and 8lb weight for a while. I recently went from that to 10 and 15 which the 15 may be too much but I'm still figuring it out. I've just switched about a week ago so I don't expect much but someone told me I was doing it wrong so I wanted others opinion as I am far from knowing what I'm doing.

    Speaking gently: while your response starts by acknowledging @jjpptt2 's points... starting from your second sentence and looking at your complete post it doesn't sound as if you've internalized what she's saying.

    Your weight loss is going to be determined by your caloric deficit.

    Your caloric deficit. Not your protein intake. Not the cleanliness of your food or your utensils. NOT your choice of 5lb, 8lb or 15lb weights for exercise.

    Reasonable expectations are your expectations for the size of deficit you should create and the amount of weight you should be dropping each week.

    Given normal daily weight fluctuations many dieters who engage in a reasonable weight loss program will see very little weight movement on a day to day basis even when they are correctly following their program.

    Often it takes diligent tracking of weight variation over a 4 to 6 week period before you realize that yes, indeed, your weight trend is showing you as losing the 0.5lbs a week you had planned for!

    If you look carefully you will notice that I haven't once mentioned what size weights you've chosen to use to exercise with :wink:

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