Hello everyone! This is the first time I have posted here - I admit I am a "lurker" What a great forum this is!!! A little background - I have been lifting weights faithfully for 5 weeks now, 3 times a week, working the total body and doing cardio 4 times a week. I am lifting mostly 8lbs - 10lbs depending on the body part I am working. For lunges, squats and plies I am lifting only 8 lbs (I have VERY bad knees!) My question: Do you actually get bigger before you get smaller? My jeans are actually tighter on me that before I started. I weigh the same, I am eating healthy - what gives???? I am not afraid of bulking up because I know for women that is not going to happen unless you are lifting some pretty serious weights but I am getting very frustrated!!!! Please can someone encourage me to keep going here. Thanks!!!

I'm new here too, but I definitely feel you on the expanding instead of shrinking. I did bfl last year, and I did find that initially i started fitting my clothes more snugly before they got looser. but they did get looser and i lost about 26 lbs. since then i've gained about 3 lbs back, and have just started doing another challenge. your cardio should start kicking that weight off, even if it goes slowly. That was my experience. Good luck!

hi Schwartzie !!

good to have you unlurk with us !!

i think that if you've been eating clean and doing everything that you've been doing that you should start to *feel* results soon. your body is going through some major changes right now and it will react in it's own time.

be patient, remember to keep your meals clean, but get enough nutrition (that includes enough calories and the proper balance of protein/carbs/fat ).

stick with the program and you'll be just fine. i also find that sometimes when my body is preparing to drop some fat that i get a little bloated, then all of a sudden the bloating is gone and so is another pound or two of fat !! couldn't get any better than that!!!!!

take care,

adriana

Adriana!

That's so cool! I thought it was just me!

Cheryl

Schwartzie: yes some people experience the bigger before smaller. Personally I had it on my arms and thighs but my waist responded straight away (that is the last place I put weight on) You won't get big from lifting heavy weights - you get big from steriods. The female body doesn't have enough testosterone to build muscles like guys so I wouldn't be afraid of that.

You may find that you will get little results with small weights. I know that it is popular theory to lift light for women but in essence it doesn't produce lastly results. To build muscle you need to break it first and then they body will repair the tissue to be stronger and more of it to stop you from breaking it again. The only way to get these micro tears in the muscle fibres is to lift heavy beyond what you have done before and push hard. Whether you are doing a split workout, full body (which I don't recommend) or upper and lower separated, you need to lift heavy weights IF your goal is to build muscle - which in my honest opinion should be every newbies goal.

YOU build the muscle and the fat WILL burn off eventually. Sometimes (most times) it is slower than we would hope for but consistence and persistance work in this game.

HTH

JC

schwartzie.....you know what....i've had this same problem too....my pants aren't really fitting any differently.....they look better though somehow i think and the little blobs of fat on my hips that would ploop over the waistband are like gone...and the butt is looking lots perkier!
my body looks better, it feels better.....it looks a LOT better did i mention that? has the scale moved, or have i lost inches....nope but if we keep going it will happen...keep the faith! somethings bound to happen if you work as hard as you can and eat right

Thanks everyone for your thoughts - makes me feel better that I am not the only one experiencing this. I guess I will keep it up and see what happens. I do feel much better though too so that is a bonus