[fyreflie24]

I started with my trainer about two weeks ago. Before that, I was losing weight at a pretty steady clip (3-4 lbs a week, which I knew wouldn't last). Ever since I started, I haven't lost anything and have seen unexplained gains of up to two lbs even! I'm trying to be diligent about drinking water etc, but I was curious if anyone else had the same experience.

I'm lifting 2-3 times a week and doing cardio 5-6 times a week.

Also, does anyone see a difference if they're not taking days off? I just noticed that I worked out 7 straight days... just curious

[DietVet]

Yeah, that's not surprising. Muscles usually retain water when you first start to work them hard. It can take a few weeks for your body to figure out how to respond to the new exercise. Keep at it and keep eating your protein. Your body will sort it out and get back to shedding pounds soon.

[runningfromfat]

Another vote for completely normal. When you do heavy lifting you tear your muscles. They then repair over the next 24 hours or so and during that time you retain quite a bit of water. You can often see this effect even and will notices that your biceps might look bigger than normal.

When I started lifting I was losing inches like crazy but had about a 6 week stall and even after that it took awhile (and a visit to a nutritionist) to seed up the weight loss a bit.

Also, you didn't mention what your diet was like in this time? Are you eating enough protein? I know I really need a good amount of protein if I'm lifting a lot. Also make sure you're not compensating for your workouts with food. If I eat too many carbs (especially white ones!) then I can end up extremely hungry without workouts. The more I exercise the more I need to focus on getting in meat/veggies/fruit/whole grains to ensure that I'm not too hungry. Oh, and I'm a big fan of red meat because it fills me up quite a bit.

[fyreflie24]

I'm calorie counting and been staying in the 12-1600 range with food (more like 12-1400, but I was trying to throw some 1600 days in there and there to see if the cycling would help shake things up. My body is very sensitive to water retention, so this all makes sense. I try to get most of my carbs from fruits and veggis, though I will have a whole wheat bun with a veggi burger on occasion. Pasta is very occasional, maybe once a month? Eating 80-100g of protein but I will make sure I'm careful about that. I even had filet earlier this week in hopes it would help shake things up too!

I have a funny feeling that the answer here is copious amounts of water.

Running, might I ask what the nutritionist said? I'm thinking I might need to see one too

[runningfromfat]

Originally Posted by fyreflie24

I'm calorie counting and been staying in the 12-1600 range with food (more like 12-1400, but I was trying to throw some 1600 days in there and there to see if the cycling would help shake things up. My body is very sensitive to water retention, so this all makes sense. I try to get most of my carbs from fruits and veggis, though I will have a whole wheat bun with a veggi burger on occasion. Pasta is very occasional, maybe once a month? Eating 80-100g of protein but I will make sure I'm careful about that. I even had filet earlier this week in hopes it would help shake things up too!

I have a funny feeling that the answer here is copious amounts of water.

Running, might I ask what the nutritionist said? I'm thinking I might need to see one too

At your height/weight you might want to consider even upping the calories to about 1400-1600 at least on the days you are lifting. Obviously, it depends on you but for me there's no way I'd be able to handle 1200 with that much exercise. Another thing too... it's nice to have a buffer when you still have a longer journey to go because then you can always cut back on calories once you get closer to your goal weight. If you eat really low calorie right now you don't have much room to cut back as you lose.

Are you a vegetarian? Just curious because of the veggie burger... if not I'd really recommend going for actual meat vs. the veggie burger because you're going to have higher protein content/lower carb content.

Now if you are a vegetarian that's fine eat lots of beans/nuts/dairy/eggs etc. I normally wouldn't suggest a protein shake (I prefer just eat protein from foods) but if you're a vegetarian I might consider one. Also make sure you're getting in enough fat too from good sources (olive oil, avocados etc).

I definitely recommend seeing a nutritionist! I would suggest asking around first, see if you can find someone that matches your weight loss preferences/history. For instance, I really lucked out because my nutritionist also used to be obese and was a sugar addict so we have a lot in common and she could speak from personal experience too.

My nutritionist has me on about a 1400-1600/day diet (it's an exchange plan so those are just estimates) and once a week I'm allowed to have a bit more (like a small chocolate bar in addition to what I normally eat) so that would bring me up to about 1800 calories/day. She specifically put me on a higher calorie plan because of my workouts. At the moment I'm losing 4lbs/month, which I'm really, really happy with. I'm also closer to my goal weight so I expect that my weight loss would be slower than yours.

ETA: just to be clear I do eat carbs/pasta/bread etc but always, always, always whole grains, the time where you can even see the different grains in it and I check to make sure there is no sugar in them. Also I always eat them with some sort of protein.

[fyreflie24]

Thanks! No I'm not a vegetarian... I just like the burgers and it's something I can prepare quickly. I ate a ton of cow the early part of the week lol! Filet Mignon to be exact Really really appreciate all of your feedback!

[bellastarr]

This is reason 485,632,197 why i hate scales!!!! They mess with your head!!

[fyreflie24]

Oh Bellastarr, if I could only be so strong LOL!

[Tejas]

I was told by a nutritionist to eat 1800 calories, based on 4 days of weights, 3 days of cardio and an all-round active life. Then, I got patellar tendonitis.

I backed off on the weights, and tried to adjust calories. Then, two months ago I went to three family reunions and ate whatever I wanted (carbs!)) I am now about to try the meat/egg, veggie, fruit (quasi-primal) routine and not count calories. I'm so fed up.

I'm not going to get on the scale either for a few weeks. Enough already. I'm strong, especially for a 66 year old female (OH press at 55 pounds; deadlift, 162; dumbell presses at 20-25 pounds, etc).

[InsideMe]

Originally Posted by bellastarr

This is reason 485,632,197 why i hate scales!!!! They mess with your head!!

Yeah that!!! It's so frustrating!

I have lost more inches than weight but my trainer said the scale will catch up as the inches decrease.

Measuring, how my clothes fit and look and taking pics helps me to see the results much more than the scale does!

[jttw18]

It's normal for the body to remain the same or gain a couple pounds after the initial beginning.

This has been happening to me and now I'm relatively the same weight for many weeks.

I would suggest to also watch the calorie intake (if overeating) and just continue with the aerobic exercise. Maybe this is also a signal that your body is in that position where it can't lose weight anymore unless undergoing really hardworking exercises.