I'm not sure what category this falls under, sorry. I am confused now, I'm wondering if you can lose weight and gain muscle at the same time??? I am also upset that my weight has now stalled at like 140, when before I was doing the shred and still losing weight. (Currently doing No More Trouble Zones, and Banish Fat Boost Metabolism for a week now) I wanted to get down to 130 but it seems like if I gain muscle, will I not lose weight also? It's really disheartening that I will only go up in weight if I get muscle. I was thinking of getting down to 130, and then start toning. I want to get rid of the scale for a while but If I stop weighing myself I feel for sure that I will give up. The scale changes faster then losing a pants size. While doing cardio only, the weight came off so fast and got to 135 pretty quickly, I haven't seen that number since starting the shred about a month ago. I know that loss may have been muscle loss but that doesn't seem to bother me at all. So I guess my question is it ok to wait to do weight training last? I have to see 130 or lower, or I feel like quitting all together! This is SO overwhelming. UGH!!! (sorry for being ramble-y)

I'm pretty sure you're not going to get significant muscle gains to hinder your weight loss progress, since you're female. It's hard for us to gain even 5 pounds of muscle in a whole year of heavy lifting! The worst that will happen is that you may have a bit of a gain initially from your muscles retaining water when you start weight training. This is TEMPORARY and normal. All in all though, you are going to get to your goal faster with weight training. Yes, it's ok to wait and do it last but I promise you won't regret if you start now!

Don't always rely on the scale, the scale is a good measure most of the time but not all of the time ...

Here's my experience just recently:

In November I weighed 4 lbs less than I did when I measured just last week but this time I lost .5 to 1 inch all over... my jeans are looser everything fits better. The scale was higher, but my body is shrinking... Yay for weight training I say, because that's the only thing that I am doing more of, along with cardio and eating clean...

Thanks for the replies, I am just so discouraged lately. It feels easier to give up sometimes. I have done the shred for a month and lost no inches except 1 inch on my arms. LoL in the place I could care about LEAST. On top of gaining 4 pounds and I wasn't eating bad. When I see the scale move I think success. But as it's been said, muscle burns the fat even while sitting still. I guess I will give it another month since I started new DVD's. Thanks

Be patient, if you're doing everything right, you'll start losing weight...

Do you write everything down? Sometimes we don't realise how much we eat, a nibble here, a nibble there add up over time...

Yeah I use livestrong and eat 1300 calories roughly every day. Sometimes a little less but no more then 1300. I am using 1200 as my last few pounds so that I don't have to cut anymore cause I have heard you shouldn't go below 1200. With past experiences my weight came off fastest when I did no exercise at all and just watched calories. Pretty backwards.

Maybe, but what is the point of the scale moving if you don't look better or get healthier?

When I started lifting heavy and not just "toning", I lost 2 pants sizes and my scale weight stayed the same. The difference is that I lost FAT and gained muscle. Looks much better !

I have been doing it a month so yeah too soon for me to tell but I am also worried I am doing the exercises wrong. After the 30 day shred with 5 lb. weights I only lost an inch in my arms. My calves, thighs, stomach didn't go down at all. That'll be the reason I quit because nothing changed and that makes me think it won't happen ya know? Funny thing is I feel the muscles now but my sizes didn't change...? About how long was it for you to start losing sizes or even noticing a difference???

Jenn, if after a month of using 5 lbs weights it's time to move up to at least 8lbs... You need to increase your weights gradually over time...

I know that Mel, who lifts heavey, is very petite... don't be shy to increase the weights you will not get bulky women just don't have the hormones to do that...

For the shred they said only 3 lbs. for that month so I chose 5 because I wanted to make sure I wasn't slacking. Now for the No More Trouble Zones she says to only use 3, I tried 5 and it almost killed me! So I guess I will stick to 3, and it actually burns. I doubt I could ever do actual lifting lol because I have no sense of direction, no idea where to start. I just chose the dvd's because it does the thinking part for me. I was sore after doing the workout so hopefully I am doing something right. I was so much more focused when I saw the pounds just falling off, instant gratification. Guess I'll give it another month, lose the scale for a while, and just be the strictest I have ever been in my life. This is by far the hardest it's been for me, yet I am so close. It's quite maddening.

Make no mistake you NEED to do weight training to keep the weight off, and ideally you will be weight training all along while losing. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so you want to maintain the muscle you have and gain more. That being said the gains of muscle while trying to lose weight is not very significant. To really gain muscle you have to cut down the cardio and start eating more and create a caloric overage rather than a deficit. Being female there isn't a risk of bulking up, we put on muscle pretty slow.

My guess is you aren't eating enough and that is why the scale isn't moving. The closer you get to you goal weight the more you will need to eat because you have pretty much exhausted all the fat storage your body had. Just kind of play around with eating about 10% more a week, and you should hit the right number and see the scale start going down again.

I think 1400 calories is just fine for your current size and weight. You don't need to be eating excess calories at this point to build muscle- you still have fat stores to draw upon.

My main suggestion is get heavier weights- a lot heavier. 5 pounds may be fine for working your triceps and shoulders for now, but totally useless for squats, lunges, and deadlifts. The burn you feel is a buildup of lactic acid in your muscles. It has nothing to do with whether you are building muscle or not.

As for not knowing where to start, I'd suggest looking at Krista's Stumptuous site, the book New Rules of Lifting for Women.

Mel

Ah, well that explains why only my arms lost inches. I'll check out that book maybe that will take me where I need to be. My legs, butt, and thighs are the things I hate the most, so hopefully the lifting will help. Thanks for all the advice everyone.

i would also suggest doing exercises outside of the shred. if you go on youtube or search online you'll find a bunch. legs are the biggest muscles and will burn you the most calories while training and after you build more muscle they will burn the fat. whenever i train my legs, i find my waist shrinks while my pants get TIGHT because my muscles are swollen with water but i'm smaller..it takes a few days to a week to regulate but it is so worth it. leg days kill but if you do it right and find it hard to sit on the toilet the next few days, you know you did work.

hamstring curl machines are great, as are medicine ball wall squats, wall sits, standing and walking lunges. reverse lunges, medicine ball bridges, etc. look these up on line for instructions and do reps until you simply cannot do another. you WILL see results. what you put into it +what you are eating (are you getting enough protein?) will be what you get out of it. upping my protein and cutting carbs when training proves highly effective...try getting most of your carbs in during the morning such as fruit, whole grain cereal or oatmeal. lunchtime try a protein shake or meat and veggies. dinner try the same. if you can manage this for a few days, you might break the plateau as it throws your body off what it is used to. Also, many ladies on here have had much success with calorie cycling..alternating the number of calories taken in daily to rev the metabolism.