Hi everyone, I have been a long time reader here and finally have joined to ask for some advice. I am a curvy young lady at 5'6" with a starting weight of 160. Three weeks ago I really buckled down on my exercise and diet. I cut to 1500 calories a day and a minimum of 60 minutes at the gym 6 days a week. I always start with 30 min of cardio, which is usually the stair master. This alone has me extremely sweaty and exhausted, but I then move on to 30 min of weight training.
While I feel better, I keep gaining weight. Im now up to 167. I am just feeling stuck and a little defeated for the amount of work I'm putting in. I know its only been 3 weeks, but we all know how tough that first month is to stay dedicated.
Hi there, it looks like we're similar in weight/age/height experiences.
I want to congratulate you on an intense three weeks! You've stuck to a real challenge there!
My weight fluctuates 5ish lbs depending on whether I'm retaining water from salty food, or dehydrated, whether I've eaten certain foods, if I've done serious exercise and am sore, if I'm stressed and not resting enough... It's crazy how many factors affect the scale number.
If what you're currently doing is a sustainable routine for you, keep it up. The scale will change eventually as your body adapts.
I'm inclined to say, though, that this weight loss thing is a "marathon and not a sprint", lifestyle change etc. so, make sure you're getting enough rest, workout every *other* day. I'm curious if you'd tone it down a bit for a week, rest-up (but keep calories the same) if you'd see a shift.
(My most intense and successful weight loss came from being as active as you are now, eating 1600-1800 calories. I made it to 140 lbs but didn't sustain. Rose back to 160 lbs during a stressful life period, made it back to 145lbs with... moderation, daily movement and better stress/coping understanding haha. I'd love to lose more and look more toned, though. I really admire your workout ethic!!!)
My story: I exercise and I am not hungry about one hour after I finish. thereafter I am getting hungry like a horse. plus, if I exercise my legs they are not starting to in weight (my legs are my biggest problem) but they start becoming full of muscles and it looks like I have a man's legs...
Hi, Cristyna l-l
There are a lot of things to consider. It's normal to experience some weight gain when you work as hard as you do. Your muscles are repairing themselves and are retaining water to help with that repair. With muscle repair comes muscle building, and as we all know, muscle weighs more than fat.
The good thing is that more muscle means that your metabolism increases and you can burn more calories.
Advice:
- Drink a lot of water. Aim for about 4 liters per day.
- If you're doing six weight training sessions per week, reduce that a bit and replace with interval cardio. Try 3-4 weight sessions.
- Do higher reps in your weight sessions. Example: If you deadlift 200 lbs. for 5 sets of 5... Try reducing to 150 lbs. for 5 sets of 15. TIRE out your muscles rather than taking them to the point of total exhaustion/failure.
Do you take any measurements? Sometimes when the scale seems off, I look at how my clothes fit, because one pound of fat weighs the same as a pound of muscle, but muscle is obviously leaner than fat (even though they weigh the same!)
Keep in mind you may not be getting enough calories. I would talk to a registered dietician, to be honest. You've got a pretty intense workout regimen, which is awesome, but there might be something lacking in your diet. I went to a dietician and found i wasn't getting enough protein. It can be very eye-opening.
The same thing here. The thing is that I have noticed that I am building up muscle mass hence I gain weight... But thanks for the advises Trixie, maybe they would be helpful... somewhat..
Idk if the OP is still around, but I wanted to add that whenever I start an intense strength training routine, I tend to gain a few pounds for 2 - 4 weeks. Then the weight starts to fall off. I believe for me it's water weight, and your body may be working similarly.
Your training program really excellent, not everyone can do this.
But not everything related to practice, you should to monitoring calories in the foods you eat per day ,
And also how much the rate at which you burn.
More importantly, this is to continue to practice
Mix up your routine. Try doing weight training first then cardio. Try doing just weight training or just cardio some days. Don't do the same types of exercise either - you need to keep your body guessing as to how your are going to work it, you will see much better results this way. Read some articles on body building, not that this is the direction you want to go, but look at how they do their exercising.
You need to keep going! It took me 2 months before I saw a huge drop in weight/inches.
Muscle is more dense than fat, but it takes up less space. That means if you gain muscle, your scale weight may go up even as you're slimming down. It's normal for you to lose inches, even if you're not losing weight. ... You can do with a home body fat scale, or by a trainer at your gym.
More exercise = weight gain?
