I have been on phentermine & dieting (1200-1500 calories/day) since January, and had gone from 201 lb to 182 in 2 months. Then in March, my weight loss stopped and I got stuck at 182 lb for the whole month. So this month (April) I started doing hot yoga (6 times a week x 3 weeks now) and stopped weighing myself weekly. I honestly feel much better than last month, energized, and my clothes fit waaaaay better now, in general I feel slimmer. However, today at the doctor's appointment today they made me get on the scale.... and to my surprise it marked 186.5 lb!!!!!! What is happening????
You're loosing fat and building lean muscle! At least that is what it sounds like... Muscle weighs more but takes up less space. Dont get sdiscouraged by this, this is what you really want to do! Cha ge your bosy composition!
Another small contributing factor could just be minor fluctuation between scales. My home scale and work scale has like a three pound difference. I go by the home one cause it is newer and I believe more accurate compared to the work one which is older and worn.
Thanks for your response S&S, that was my initial thought... but I thought it would take more time to actually build the muscle. So this is great news!!!!
I have been weighing myself at the doctor's, same time of day but different clothing, so that might have influenced as well.
Thanks again!!!
This happened to me. I dropped from 281 down to 160-ish then started to maintain and steadily put on weight again until I hit about 185. I work out a lot, lots of strength training and running.
Based on that experience, you are probably gaining muscle but not losing much fat and probably maintaining (or even gaining a little) fat. My suggestion would be to cut your calories when you are ready if this continues for the next few months.
I have maintained at the 170-185 mark for about a year now. I am now on my "final approach" targeting 160-165. And I am doing that by cutting back on my portions to cut my body fat.
At 1200 to 1500 calories i would not cut anymore. What are you eating? There's a big difference between 1400 calories of diet food crap and chicken, fish and vegetables. But What matters most is you feel better. Forget the scale. Give it time, it took a long time to get that weight on, it's a slow steady process to drop it.
This might be obvious and something you already considered/discounted, but *most* dieters tend to weigh themselves naked, first thing in the morning after using the toilet. But when we're weighed at the doctors, it's usually not first thing in the morning, usually not naked, etc… these things can all add a couple pounds onto you. It's also a different scale than you normally use, right? Scales can differ several pounds between. Since it's not a huge jump, I would try weighing yourself in the morning naked etc on the scale you normally use to verify the gain.
Also, muscle does not weigh less than fat. A pound of fat and a pound of muscle weigh the same. Muscle is denser and thus takes up less space than a pound of fat. It also takes quite a lot to build up muscle for women and some conscious effort, so I'm always skeptical of the "it's muscle!" claim. However, hot yoga 6x a week for 3 weeks could indeed build some muscle if it's intense hot yoga, so that *may* be true of ryou.
Sorry to be a downer, but I think women vastly overestimate how much muscle they can build and how much it offsets their weight loss. Hot yoga is hard, but it is unlikely to build the a whole lot of muscle, enough to tip the scales in the other direction.
I hate to say "Google it and see..." because there is so much misinformation on the internet, but if you google how much muscle weight can a woman gain you will consistently read that women following a strict weight-lifting regimen, which includes not eating in a deficit can gain about 1/2-1 lb/month. Let me repeat -- regular, heavy weight-lifting, and not being in deficit.
On the flip side, I've always found that hard exercise makes me retain a couple lbs of water.
At 1200 to 1500 calories i would not cut anymore. What are you eating? There's a big difference between 1400 calories of diet food crap and chicken, fish and vegetables. But What matters most is you feel better. Forget the scale. Give it time, it took a long time to get that weight on, it's a slow steady process to drop it.
I am avoiding junk food, trying to eat whole grains, lots of fruits, lean protein, veggies... although on the weekend I might have the little spoiling meal. I feel that I should stay at this calorie range, since the hot yoga *only* burns around 200-300 calories a session, it is not a huge amount of cals lost.
I will be checking my weight probably in 1 more month... for now I am happy to just feel better Sometimes it's hard to realize how long this process will be.
Sorry to be a downer, but I think women vastly overestimate how much muscle they can build and how much it offsets their weight loss. Hot yoga is hard, but it is unlikely to build the a whole lot of muscle, enough to tip the scales in the other direction.
I hate to say "Google it and see..." because there is so much misinformation on the internet, but if you google how much muscle weight can a woman gain you will consistently read that women following a strict weight-lifting regimen, which includes not eating in a deficit can gain about 1/2-1 lb/month. Let me repeat -- regular, heavy weight-lifting, and not being in deficit.
On the flip side, I've always found that hard exercise makes me retain a couple lbs of water.
I agree, those 4 lbs were unlikely to come from pure lean muscle in just 3 weeks. My body might also be adjusting to the new regimen, since I had not been exercising for a LONG time before this. I will be taking a look at the scale again in like a month and report back. Thanks!
PS. Will watch my sodium intake to regulate water retaining!!
Confusing weight gain
