A bit confused...

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Aequitas503
Aequitas503 Posts: 62
in Health and Weight Loss
I started my diet about 3 weeks ago and since the start upped the amount of exercise I was doing plus started lifting. While I lost a cm or two from a couple of places, the scales weren't budging at all, just fluctuating up/down 1kg. It was getting a rather frustrating to have changed things up with my exercise/diet but not seem to be getting anywhere.

Last week I strained my back a little during a PT session so didn't do any lifting for the week, only cardio. At the end of the week the scales have finally started to move down for the first time since I started this diet/lifestyle change.

My question is, is the movement likely to be related to me stopping lifting for a while and doing more cardio? Should I stick with cardio for a while to get things moving and then reintroduce lifting? I'm afraid that if I go back to the lifting/cardio mixture I was doing earlier, the scale movement will stop and I'll be back to the frustrating fluctuations. On the other hand, I'm wondering if this drop would've happened even if I had been lifting last week and starting lifting again won't impact it.

Any thoughts?

Replies

  • mccbabe1
    mccbabe1 Posts: 737 Member
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    hmmmmm.. wow.. ya i'd be frustrated too!! :/ I'm not sure.. do you think you were eating a lot more or more when you were lifting/exercises before.. and now w/more minimal exercising your eating less?.. im not sure... when i set this personalized MFP up.. i put it fo r2pnds a week.. and my one week is this Friday.. i would be super bummed if it didnt budge at all..
    also do you have a heart rate monitor/calorie counter or are you just using the pull down option? on the exercise chart...
    also.. be sure your eating ENOUGH too.. because if your way to under your calories per day then your body will be starving.. and when it thinks its starving you store fat..
  • droogievesch
    droogievesch Posts: 202
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    When you introduce any new workout, especially weights, your muscles retain water as a way to cushion them during repair. I would bet money on you just losing water weight. Long term though, build up those muscles since muscles use more calories to maintain themselves than fat does.
  • Aequitas503
    Aequitas503 Posts: 62
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    I wondered if it might be that, but when the scale doesn't move for 2+ weeks, I started to wonder if that was just my mind making up reasons to make me feel better.

    I think I'm going to do another week of concentrating on cardio and see if I can keep the movement going and then reintroduce lifting. Seeing no movement on the scale was absolutely killing my motivation, so maybe if I can start things shifting I can build up my motivation again and then I won't get too disappointed when I restart lifting if the scales stall again.
  • AnnFord87
    AnnFord87 Posts: 7
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    If you started lifting and exercising you were gaining muscle and burning fat...which is why u were losing cm but not lbs...muscle weighs more than fat so even though you are losing the inches you may not lose the lbs... :-) keep up the good work...the first few months seem the hardest...I am new to this site but Ive been dieting and exercising now for several months and have lost 25 lbs in the past two months (this along with quitting smoking at the same time) but I also have a good diet partner at home to exercise with and diet with...we will compare who ate or drank what and usually the exercise we do together its quite motivating
  • imwithgizmo
    imwithgizmo Posts: 146 Member
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    The number on the scale isn't the only measure of success. You most likely did not gain muscle that fast, but the muscles probably held onto the water, as that is how the process works. Cardio is a great way to burn fat, but remember that you can't out-exercise a bad diet (not saying your diet is bad, but I like to remember this)

    And muscle does not weigh more than fat! I hate that saying. A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat. Now there is more fat per volume than muscle, and that is more accurate.
  • Aequitas503
    Aequitas503 Posts: 62
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    The number on the scale isn't the only measure of success.

    Yes, I realise it isn't :) But when you cut calories and change your diet a lot and want to fit into more of your clothes, it does feel kind of important and frustrating when it isn't moving :) I know this is a lifestyle change and not a diet, but still
  • Prahasaurus
    Prahasaurus Posts: 1,381 Member
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    Everyone needs to find a program that works for him/her. However, weight lifting is a fantastic way to lose weight, and sculpt your body in the process.

    You are drawing too many conclusions from too few data points. Your body does not work in a linear fashion. Weight fluctuates. Scales have their own variance. Your body needs time. Etc., etc.

    Farmer plants seeds and waters every other day. Weeks and nothing is happening. Goes on vacation for 10 days and comes back to sprouting corn. His conclusion would not be to stop all watering, since that is what finally made his crops grow...

    --P
  • angel823
    angel823 Posts: 190 Member
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    If you started lifting and exercising you were gaining muscle and burning fat...which is why u were losing cm but not lbs...muscle weighs more than fat so even though you are losing the inches you may not lose the lbs... :-) keep up the good work...the first few months seem the hardest...I am new to this site but Ive been dieting and exercising now for several months and have lost 25 lbs in the past two months (this along with quitting smoking at the same time) but I also have a good diet partner at home to exercise with and diet with...we will compare who ate or drank what and usually the exercise we do together its quite motivating


    ^This
  • zmarzouka
    zmarzouka Posts: 9
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    You didn't say what you are eating! how many calories per day? this is what matters most, exercise is only 20% of the weigh loss equation. Count the calories and eat at a 500 calorie deficit from your maintenance, that's the only way to lose weight. Lifting is very important as it help keeping your muscle mass, cardio is optional, you can either do cardio and eat more or don't do cardio and eat less, it's your choice
  • Prahasaurus
    Prahasaurus Posts: 1,381 Member
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    Two weeks is not a plateau. This question comes up daily here. If it's over a month, OK, time to dig deeper into what is going on. Two weeks? No. And you're now losing, so great!

    Weight is 80 - 90% of what you are feeding yourself. Start there first. You can't outrun your fork, as they say. And as I noted in my last post, there is an inevitable time lag that confuses people. Causality is always tricky with a complex, human body.

    Bottom line: weight training, when done properly, is a great way to burn calories. Period. There are so many success stories here of people losing weight with weight training as part of their program. I'm one of those people (45 pounds in 5 months or so). Why wouldn't it work for you, too?

    But again, key is to find a program that you enjoy, that makes sense for you, and hence you will continue to do long term. That would be what I'd ask myself: do I enjoy weight lifting? If the answer is no, then find something else. Again, it's 80% diet, anyway.

    Good luck.

    --P
  • Lozze
    Lozze Posts: 1,917 Member
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    Well as someone facing the challenges you did I'm really well placed to answer. I lost about 25kg between July last year and Feb this year. Since then I've lost another 10kg. Feb is when I started weight lifting. Yes I've lost inches but I know exactly how you feel for scale weight. I stopped in June and he scale has started moving again. I'm not sure when I'll start lifting again but currently focussing on cardio. My current plan is to start again when I move from obese to overweight (85kg) then it will be less urgent to get scale weight down.
  • Aequitas503
    Aequitas503 Posts: 62
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    Hi all,

    Thanks very much for your replies.

    My current plan is to do another week of primarily cardio to keep the movement going for a bit then reintroduce lifting. I enjoy lifting and I'm keen to build up my muscle tone, but 3 weeks of no movement when just starting was really not helping my motivation, seeing some movement has definitely helped. I'm going to concentrate on cardio for another week, hopefully get the scale moving, then reintroduce lifting.

    I agree I was probably drawing too many conclusions about a possible link between them, but I think I'll definitely do another week of mostly cardio and hopefully keep the scale moving a bit further simply because I was getting very unmotivated seeing no movement, so it's worth it for my motivation levels. Then I'll add in lifting again, because I was definitely enjoying it.

    For those who asked, according to MFP my TDEE in 1790 and I'm currently aiming to net 1290 (it did originally set me at 1200 but that seemed too low, the extra 90 is definitely worth it).

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