My cardio days: 3 sessions between Friday to Thursday, then Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So 6 to date in the last 1.5 weeks.

I've heard that many people lose a lot of weight their beginning weeks, especially that first week of water weight. So I stepped on the scale (Friday) a week after my first weighing + 3 cardio sessions, and it was up - OK, I had just actually eaten something not too long before, so I figured it would probably go down once the food was digested. Then I got on the scale the next morning (after going to the bathroom, very effectively might I add ) and thought, well maybe I'll see something! But again, no change, just back to what it was when I first started. Sunday I got on the scale and I'm half a pound above what I was when I first started.

I'm trying to take it easy, and I'm doing all right mentally because I know I ate an all right number of calories that week (based on the types/amounts of foods I ate, not calorie counting) - not too great but not a huge amount, so I don't think I could have gained somehow, if that makes any sense (I'm exhausted, sorry if it's a bit confusing). I haven't done any weights, but when I've done cardio I've felt my muscles having a real work-out just to enable me to keep moving on the machine. Could I have somehow gained a little bit of muscle during that short time and have that kept the scale constant? Or did the exercise just not add up to enough to make me lose even a pound?

I didn't read the whole thing, but are you losing inches? If yes, then you are probably gaining muscle

Hi! You might want to check out this sticky at the top of the Exercise forum: Working Out - And Gaining Weight?

Unfortunately, I don't think you've gained any muscle from your week and a half of cardio. You need to strength train (lift weights) to build muscle. Cardio is awesome for burning calories and it can strengthen the muscle you have, but it won't add any muscle (or weight) to you.

I'm not clear from your post whether you're counting calories or not, but that's where I'd look if you're not losing weight. It's almost impossible to do enough exercise to lose weight without cutting back on calories at the same time. A lot of 3FC members use Fitday to track their calories - you might want to keep track for a few days and see exactly where you are, calorie-wise?

But keep up the cardio, for sure! for such a great start to your weight loss program!

okay, now I read it, If you are not losing inches, then I would suggest doing more than cardio, do some strength training.
What do you do for cardio? how long?

It's hard to lose weight by exercise alone. I exercised for several months without dieting because I really didn't want to have to change my eating habits. I'm sad to report that, though I did slim down maybe just a little bit, I didn't lose a single pound until I gave up on this idea, starting counting every calorie I ate, AND began limiting the number of calories I ate to ensure that I was eating less per day than I was burning.

Also, you've got to give it a little longer than a week. Even after I started counting calories, it was several weeks before I saw a difference on the scale. I never had that magical first week where you lose a 5-6 pounds of water weight. The most I ever managed to lose in a week is 2 pounds (and it sure didn't happen the first week I started exercising).

But you are definitely off to a great start and heading in the right direction with the cardio.

- Barbara