Fitness

Purplestuff102
Purplestuff102 Posts: 37 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
How do I know if I’m gaining muscle and reducing body fat I’m about 28 % body fat . Weight has stayed the same maybe one or two pounds fluctuate. I walk and lift weights everyday I’m increasing my water intake. I’m assuming I just get more muscular and defined m. Will I start to lose weight eventually . Or just have body recomposition. Diet is pretty healthy but I do have junk food

Answers

  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,336 Member
    Not having much information to go on here, I am going to guess you are retaining water assuming your exercise program is new. Putting on muscle is a slow process, even more so if you are in a calorie deficit, and you didn't mention how long you have been at this weight. If you are talking a few weeks, it is highly unlikely you have put significant muscle on.
  • Purplestuff102
    Purplestuff102 Posts: 37 Member
    I’ve been at this for like a year and a half weight stayed the same I walk about 20 minutes everyday I heard about tdee minus - 15 percent %

    I need to lose about another 80 pounds when I first started everyone said to be sedentary when I went in community. But I kept it on that setting and am not losing weight.

    Im going to play around with activity level active gave me way too many calories

    But lightly active seems about right

    It gets so confusing with the activity level and neat vs tdee

    Im not trying to overthink it

  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,869 Member
    Male or female?

    And how do you know you're at 28% bf?

    If your weight has been constant for a while, then your current calorie intake is your TDEE. You don't need a calculator to estimate what your TDEE is from population averages.

    You may be losing fat and gaining muscle, or you may not. Is your waist size or other fatty areas getting smaller? Are your clothes fitting better? Are you doing progressive overload lifting close to failure, and getting a good amount of protein?

    If you've got 80 pounds to lose your focus should be a sustainable calorie deficit. By all means, lift also, but don't have high expectations for a lot of muscle building while losing so much weight. You should lift though, to at least preserve what you have and for other health benefits.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 12,073 Member
    Activity levels in the site give a baseline of calories per day. The more active, the more calories per day as a starting point. Think of a waitress bussing tables, walking all day, how many more calories he/she likely burns than an accountant who never leaves their desk.

    If you're not losing weight with activity set to sedentary, then moving the activity level higher is a mistake: it's going to add more calories per day, meaning you're even less likely to lose, and quite possibly GAIN weight.

    The advice to stay at sedentary was not meant for YOU to be sedentary; it meant the site gives a minimum baseline of calories instead of a higher starting point, and you then control how much (if any) exercise calories are added to your daily total. You are encouraged to move around, exercise as able, walk as able, to burn calories.

    *****

    Now for the question about how do you know if you're losing fat when the scale doesn't budge: there are more ways to judge fat loss than simply weight. How are your clothes fitting? If they get looser, especially around the waist and other areas you naturally hold more fat (some people the thighs, others the neck, some the rear end, etc), that's a great sign. Is it getting easier to move around and do things? That's partly from increased fitness, and partly from shifting the muscle-to-fat ratio slightly to the muscular side.
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,248 Member
    Keep trak of the measurement of your waist at the navel. If this is going down you're losing fat, if it isn't, you're not. If you hold your fat somewhere else like butt and hips then look at that measurement and keep track on a weekly basis.
  • Lovee_Dove7
    Lovee_Dove7 Posts: 742 Member
    Purplestuff102 wrote: »
    How do I know if I’m gaining muscle and reducing body fat I’m about 28 % body fat . Weight has stayed the same maybe one or two pounds fluctuate. I walk and lift weights everyday I’m increasing my water intake. I’m assuming I just get more muscular and defined m. Will I start to lose weight eventually . Or just have body recomposition. Diet is pretty healthy but I do have junk food

    check your blood sugar when you wake up. If youre in fat burning mode your blood glucose will be below 80. If its higher consider lowering your sugar intake and carbs (increase fat and protein) and increase fiber.
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,248 Member
    Lovee_Dove7 wrote: »
    Purplestuff102 wrote: »
    How do I know if I’m gaining muscle and reducing body fat I’m about 28 % body fat . Weight has stayed the same maybe one or two pounds fluctuate. I walk and lift weights everyday I’m increasing my water intake. I’m assuming I just get more muscular and defined m. Will I start to lose weight eventually . Or just have body recomposition. Diet is pretty healthy but I do have junk food

    check your blood sugar when you wake up. If youre in fat burning mode your blood glucose will be below 80. If it’s higher consider lowering your sugar intake and carbs (increase fat and protein) and increase fiber.
    Hmmmm not sure about that as a gauge of fatloss.

  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,028 Member
    If you aren't losing after the same workout in a year and a half, you're eating at maintenance.


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