You need to stop paying so much attention to the scale and start looking at your body fat percentage. You could have two women who weigh the same but one is 20% body fat and the other is 25% body fat. They'll look totally different. Muscle weighs more than fat but takes up less space. Translation: you'll weigh more but look a lot smaller. I know it's hard not to pay attention to the scale but how you look in your clothes and what your body fat is more important. Just my .02 cents.

FWIW, I'm 5'6 tall (so not petite) and weigh 124 lbs. Went shopping the other day for a pair of pants and was a size 2. Used to be a size 8 in high school, weighing the same. Weight training was the game changer for me. Also, it has helped me look a little more curvier and less linear too.

Weight or strength training is crucial for successfully losing weight and keeping it off.Strength training aids in weight loss by increasing muscle mass so that the body burns more calories even when at rest.As a matter of fact, weight training is better for long-term weight loss than dieting. Dieters often regain their lost weight, whereas weight trainers seldom do. This is because eating fewer calories lowers the body’s metabolic rate, or the number of calories burned during various activities. As a result, after dieting for a while, it takes fewer calories to gain weight.

And with regards to building muscle, you should understand that this is a very gradual process and one that takes time. Basically, you should start seeing some initial growth in about 2 weeks to a month after the initial strength increase happens. But of course this is not exact and everyone is different so some may take longer and some shorter. It depends on your age, diet, rest levels, and so on.

Thanks all! Know what I did just after sending that message? I took a 3 hour nap! I haven't done that in eons - like for over a year. I was exhausted. When I woke up - no hunger.

That's really interesting as a big reason for my after pregnancy weight gains were pure exhaustion. Neither of my babies slept (like getting up 5-7 times a night, every night for 3 years kind of exhaustion). Then I just craved crap - carbs, sugar. THis time I just craved FOOD.

I'm wondering if my preferences are changing? (That would be a nice change). But I'll watch it more closely.

To answer about my breakdown of nutrients. I've been all over the place, but like 80-90 fats (mostly nut/avocado/olive oil fats), 120-140 carbs (no pasta, rice, sweet potatoes or bread - but I've been having one cookie a day in the morning), 80-90 protein.

I need to lower my carbs as I've had blood sugar issues in the past. Easier said than done. I'm not a big meat lover and I'm not a big dairy fan. Beans are great, and I eat them, I do, but they also count in the carb count, though I don't consider them 'carbs' like rice or bread.

To clarify - only someone new to weight lifting or someone coming from a long layoff can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.

Building muscle (except in beginners) requires a caloric surplus.

Losing fat requires a caloric deficit.

You can build strength slowly at maintinence but not muscle.

If you want to add muscle (you must be male?) and you still have some fat to lose the answer is it depends. To put yourself in an ideal place to gain muscle you should get down to 10-12% body fat first but if you're fairly new to lifting and don't have much muscle than it really is up to you because you're so far from your genetic potential it will be easier to put on muscle.

That said - this really isn't the site for your best answers. I'd suggest you go read a lot on Lyle McDonald's forum along with his articles. Don't get lost in the details though. To put on muscle the most important thing is to work your butt off in the gym but do so intelligently while getting plenty of rest and eating at a surplus but not too big of one.

JohnP Thanks for your answer. I'm actually female, and its not that I want to gain a lot of muscle. Just after almost 2 years of a calorie deficient and the fact I wasn't doing any resistance training for over half of that I'd been hoping to maybe regain some of the muscle that I (as I understand) have most likely lost. I also feel like that is some difference in my limbs relative to about 5 years ago, but that might be my mind playing tricks on me.

This is good to know since I haven't lifted a dumbbell since highschool!!

A female that WANTS to build muscle? Cool!

Here is a blog you'll probably like. They have a Facebook group too but I can't join ... only women can.

http://www.fiercefitfearless.blogspot.com/

It is such a complex topic!!!

I ate at a pretty decent surplus all winter while lifting heavy. (on purpose... I'm crazy and wanted to see how far I could push it without gaining. The number on the scale stayed pretty constant but I have built noticeable muscle on all parts of my body. Measurements overall are down quite a bit, too.

I'm eating at a deficit now, to try and lose this last chunk of fat. I was fine for several weeks but now I'm STARVING. Like I could eat an entire farm hungry. The weight is coming off very slowly, but the scale is moving again. I'm not noticing any big drops in measurements, so this worries me. Like John said, the scale doesn't concern me as much as BF% and measurements do.

Question being... Do I continue to lift heavy? Is it possible to maintain the muscle/strength I've gained while eating at a deficit to lose fat?

Sometimes it feels like such a guessing game!

Yes - the key is to lower your volume but keep the intensity high when you're dieting. Because you're at a deficit it is difficult to recover from a major workout which is why you want to keep the volume low but keeping the intensity (the actual weight you're lifting) high you're in essence letting the body know it needs to keep those muscles. You actually only need to hit a muscle once a week hard to maintain it although every 5 days is probably better.

As for hunger - this is another reason to keep volume low. Higher volume tends to make people more hungry.

Great!! Thank you!! I was kind of leaning that direction, this confirms it . I stepped my weights back to TueThuF and alternate upper/lower body so I'm hitting every muscle group about that often. Light cardio or walking on the off days. This hunger is killing me! I'll try to lesson the reps and up the weight and see if that helps. I'm dizzy low blood sugar hungry... I know how to deal with emotional hunger, but this is pretty new to me!

ValRock-you are actually the first person I think of when I think of female lifters! May I ask-how much have you lost per week or month since you've been trying to lose weight? Thanks!

Sounds like you're doing things right but if you're dizzy you probably need more calories.

This thread has utterly confused me. So, if I can't lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, then I shouldn't be strength training at all if I want to lose fat? But then in another comment it says, gaining muscle helps you burn fat. Which one then is it??

It took me 2 years to lose the first 90 lbs. There were weeks I maintained, weeks I gained, weeks I lost a lot. So I can't really say how it averaged out. It's been a slow process, and I think it works better that way (for me).

I maintained for the whole last year eating at a surplus, for most of it, and weight training.

I'm back (as of Feb 1) to keeping track of calories and trying to cut the last bit of fat . I've lost 6 lbs since I got back on the wagon, so to speak.

Just keep at it, you'll reach your goals!

It's both. What I got from this discussion was that the more fit you are the harder it is to lose what fat you have left plus build more muscle (because you need a calorie excess to build muscle, but a calorie deficit to lose fat). But the more you have to lose/more out of shape you are, the more you are able to build muscle and lose fat. At the very least when you weight train you are maintaining the muscle you currently have while you are losing fat; if one doesn't do weight training and loses weight, one is losing muscle and fat, which of course isn't good (to lose the muscle I mean). Hope that made sense, and hope that was indeed what all of the posts meant.