[Raelynn]

Hi everyone.

I have been working out for about a year, and a few weeks ago, I got a gym membership, and I have been going religiously 6 days/week. I alternate days of upper body, lower body and cardio, and I have upped my protein intake and I eat small meals several times per day. When I am lifting, I usually lift for around 50 min. I usually do 4 sets per machine, leaving 1 min in between sets and increasing the weight each set (with the exeption of the last set I decrease the weight by half).

I have gotten to the point where I dont want to worry about the scale anymore, but it's hard. My friend and I both started at the gym at the same time. He's lost 8 lbs. I've gained like 5. How long does it take to gain muscle? I have a very hard time believing that I could have gained 5lbs of muscle in 3 weeks. I am really frustrated and I don't know what to do. I'm really hoping that you can help me. I want to lose inches and fat mass, I really don't mind bulking up with muscle at all.

My typical week looks like this exercise-wise:
Monday - 30 min on crosstrainer, 50 min upperbody weights
Tuesday - 30 min on the crosstrainer, 50 min lowerbody weights
Wednesday - 30 min on the crosstrainer, 15 min on rowing machine, 30 min on bike
Thursday - 30 min on crosstrainer, 50 min upperbody weights
Friday - 30 min on the crosstrainer, 50 min lowerbody weights
Saturday - 60-90 min cardio (crosstrainer, treadmill, bike, rowing machine etc)
Sundays - off

My meals usually look like this:
6am - 2 eggs, 2 pieces of whole grain toast
10am - turkey sandwich with lettuce
2pm - salad with tuna or salmon in it (low fat dressing)
4pm - yogurt, raw veggies
6:30pm - chicken, rice or potatoes, salad

To give you an idea of how I am built, I'm 5'9" with a large frame. I wear a size 16-18 and weigh 235-240. So I know by my weight that I must have a lot of muscle, because when I was 265lbs, I was wearing a size 24. Please help!

[Ilene]

Raelynn ~~ Welcome!! and as you may or may not know we LUVS NEWBIES here at LWL

At a glance IMHO, I think your overtraining... Each body part needs a good 3-4 days rest.... and PLENTY of it...

Questions:

Are you reaching your 10's in each workout?
Have you switched your workout around a bit every 4-6 weeks?

Instead of long cardios try shorter periods only 20 minutes with very very intense periods... ex: warm up 5 mins, run all out 20 secs then moderate for 40 secs, reapeat for 10-15 minutes, then cool down....

6am - 2 eggs, 2 pieces of whole grain toast
--- have 3-4 egg whites with your 2 eggs and oatmeal instead of the toast, eventhough it is whole grain it's processed...

10am - turkey sandwich with lettuce
--- do you have at least 4-5 oz of turkey in your sandwich, and again the bread, have rice, yam or a potatoe with a large salad instead...

2pm - salad with tuna or salmon in it (low fat dressing)
--- this is good but make sure your have 4-5oz of protein....add some "clean" carbs again....

4pm - yogurt, raw veggies
--- yogurt is good but not filling, there is no protein or unprocessed carb in this meal...

6:30pm - chicken, rice or potatoes, salad
--- this is excellent as long as your protein size is adequate...

Lastly, be patient... what can I say, it's a lifestyle and eventually the clean food and exercise will prevail!!

This is my .02 cents girls, hop in anytime with comments/suggestions, 'cause I just know you have some...

Later!!

[Raelynn]

Thank you for your response!

Are you reaching your 10's in each workout? When I am lifting, I feel I am hitting 9's or 10's every time

Have you switched your workout around a bit every 4-6 weeks? I have only been lifting really seriously for 3 weeks, so I haven't yet

--- have 3-4 egg whites with your 2 eggs and oatmeal instead of the toast, eventhough it is whole grain it's processed... Is there any alternative to having 6 eggs at a time? I am on a fairly tight budget (single mom), and eggs are about $2/dozen and it adds up really fast. Also, could you suggest any other inexpensive ideas for meals?

What I want the most is to lose area (I want to occupy less space lol). I'll gladly stay at 235lbs if it means fitting into my ultimate goal of a size 10. My friend suggested adding more cardio and doing less weights if I want to lose fat, but everyone seems to have a different opinion and I am getting a bit confused.

[Meg]

Hi Raelynn and welcome!

A couple more thoughts to add to what Ilene said ---

Do you track what you eat in something like Fitday? If so, how many calories are you averaging per day? Sometimes we can eat all the right foods at the right times, but just be eating too large of portions.

Do you take a Free Day or Free Meal or Cheat Day in a week? In my experience, that can undo most or all of my week's progress so it doesn't work for me.

Otherwise, what you are doing sounds good to me. I also did a lot of cardio when I was losing (hour per day) and thought it helped me lose the fat. Like Ilene suggested, intervals are a good way to enhance the cardio.

In the end, like Ilene said, it may all come down to patience. If you're doing all the right things, you know that they'll pay off in the end.

Meg

[Thunder_Bunny]

Hi Darling!

Don't become discouraged. As Lanaii mentioned, I believe you are overtraining. In response, your body is holding onto everything it has!

I would recommend doing cardio 3x a week, and not on the same days you do weight training. 60-90 minutes are cardio sounds a bit much to me as well. You would probably benefit from shorter, more intense cardio sessions.

Fitday is a great place to really track what you're eating. I would limit bread to 2 slices a day. Avoid processed foods, and try to get a good ratio of protein, fat and carbs into each meal.

You'll be relieved to know that you don't need to take that much time from your day to make progress.

[Tideypoo]

I totally agree on the overtraining! Take a breather Tho its great that you're dedicated!

If you LIKE cardio, then add an extra moderate session (ie fast walking) after your 20MAS (the cardio a few of us do here which is explained in the BFL book)

Im not sure what your grocery stores are like over there (Im in Sweden at the moment Canadian tho!) but here you can get chicken "inner breast fillets" (the little dangly bit on the inside) for quite a bit less than the regular breasts they taste just as good and are equal in protien value. Also, check around to see what stores have sales (if you dont already). A bit of dedicated bargin hunting could save you a lot of money.

Brown rice is a great carb choice, and its fairly cheap too! Just be sure to cook it in chicken/Veggie stock so that it tastes good I add a couple chopped almonds to mine and cook it with leeks for a "rice a roni" type taste. Way cheaper than the origonal!

Welcome to 3FC btw

Tidey

[Raelynn]

Thanks for the responses. A friend of mine who lifts wrote me a program that I started on Monday. Each day focuses on a specific body part (ie. shoulders, arms, chest, back and legs), he outlined which exercises to do and the reps and sets for each. There is one day in between the 5 lifting days that is just cardio only, and a 7th day that is a rest day. I really like it so far, although I got sick with strep throat on Wednesday and have had to take a couple of days off to recouperate.

Tidey - I will definitely check that out in the grocery store. I live in Canada too, so we have lots of stores to choose from.