3 weeks in and not one gram lost??

[BikeSwimLaugh]

No, Stop.....read

Why hasn't anyone pointed him in my direction/expereince....have I not posted this enough?...I guess it's been a while.

There is probably NOTHING wrong....

When I first started out, I was mountain biking until sweat poured from my helmet. I swam, did weights, played racquetball and felt my diet was super-low as well. I was probably doing about 10 hours of exercise per week and running about 1,500 calories per day...I was in "super-aggressive-turbo mode"....

After 6 weeks I felt thinner, looked leaner and went in to my nutritionist expecting the classic windfall big-loss on the scale....as soon as I walked into his office he looked me over and said I appeared a good deal leaner (he does a visual guesstimation as part of his ritual).

I got on the scale: I GAINED 2.25 POUNDS!

"Depressed, annoyed, upset, infuriated, condemned, cursed"....these were some of the thoughts going through my mind.....I was truly ready to walk out of his office and find an all-u-can-eat buffet and bury myself until the manager screamed at me: too much, you go now! :sad3:

Just before I could walk out a beaten sloth, my religion served me: I'm Jewish and I'd bought 10 sessions with this guy...and they were, gasp NON REFUNDABLE!!! So I stuck around while Mr.Expert realized that my trainer wasn't kidding when I was referred to him as a "problem case" in losing weight.

So....my Nutritionist pulls-out the digital fat-calipers...that "thing" he pinched me all up with when we first met. Great, it's bad enough I gained weight, now some device has to pinch my fat to further humilliate me. He went to work pinching the same areas and repeated the process twice more for accuracy....with a big smile tainted by disbelief and being impressed, he announced that I had lost 2.7% Body-Fat!! Cancel the buffet! :action11:

My journey has been marked by several visits to the office where I've seen a few gains and even some break-even's...and here and there some loss. In the beginning we had very little loss ON THE SCALE, but each visit was always celebrated with big drops on the body-fat calipers.

So all I've done here is illustrated Tribal's point: there's weight-loss and there's fat-loss. The scale is a very nasty device created by the Devil and Sarah Jessica Parker to mess with your head! It doesn't tell you the composition of your body, only what everything weighs!

If you're like me, you were designed to replace the field Ox when it passes-out from exhaustion in the field. All your exercise has had an effect on your body: it's building, adding, toning and spinning-up muscle fiber to cope with the recent and intense demands you've placed upon it. Even to this date I don't have impressive scale-loss numbers, but I've blown through several wardrobe's of clothing. My waist was at 42 and now I've got some 36's that are getting too loose on me.

Even in calorie deficit you CAN add muscle while also losing fat...it's absolutely not a "one mode OR the other" program. If you are truly doing the exercise and eating right, I'm sure you're losing weight. I know what you are thinking.....has my reduction in intake/calories caused my body to become uber-conservative and it's holding onto the fat? Am I in some "starvation mode" where I'm not losing fat? Hell no! Ridiculous!

It has been clinically proven....if you go super-uber-low on calories your body can cope with it by slowing-down your metabolism, BUT the reduction in metabolism can NOT cover the spead. In numbers, that means your body might slow-down the metabolism to the tune of needing 350-500 less calories per day, but this will only happen when you're almost starving yourself....so even if your metabolism drops 500 calories from regular mode, you still can't cover the huge calorie deficit AND YOU WILL LOSE FAT. You're body can't just decide to hold onto the fat and not burn it. Nonsense; that is ENTIRELY why we have fat to begin with....to cope with periods of famine and help the supplement industry sell gimmick drugs through deceptive marketing!

Also, like myself, you're probably eating a bit more then you realize. Unless you militantly weigh everything and get stupid-anal about it, most people take-in about 20-25% more then they realize....but that's okay, you're doing a lot of exercise and building muscle. Just keep the balance right: less calories in then out.

For me, it took months before I started seeing even small losses on the scale! Get your head off that scale!! Get yourself a measuring tape and if possible a means to determine your body-fat%. Take pictures of yourself and have promiscuous sex with strange woman. Don't question my authoriti! :violent:

I know what it feels like, I know what you are expereincing...I feel your pain and have lived it. The only problem you have is in your head....your success is based on the perception generated by the numbers on a scale. The lack of perceived success is utterly frustrating, debilitating and infuriating! Don't go there!!

And don't expect bigger muscles either...muscles often just get more dense before they start to get larger! In your heart you know you've been doing the work, putting-in the exercise and eating right...stay the course AND even find a way to celebrate your progress! Successfully getting where you want is largely dependent on pyschologically being motivated and feeling successful about your progress. You've probably lost a lot of fat, gained muscle and improved your bloodwork more then you even realize! F'in-A, find your happy place and celebrate!

FWIW, I'm only 5' 8" and probably looming around 11.75%-12.75% body-fat....you'd expect me to weigh about 168? maybe 175? perhaps 182???

Here I am (a month ago) at 230 pounds!:

Muscle weighs more then fat, deal with it!

Click on the picture to enlarge. Normally I'd be worried about the gays checking-out my picture, but luckily the COL has that realm covered! ROCK ON!

 

[BikeSwimLaugh]

Drat....I didn't out-type Chillen!!! His post is more then double.:yelrotflmao:

Btw...I've since buzzed the chest-rug. And yes, that outfit is a one-sie!

 

[Chillen]

Something I thought I would throw out there for you (and others to think about it):


Was your calorie consumption the same on non-workout days as compared to workout days or different? (I ask this because caloric requirements are in deed different between these days, because activity is LESS as compared to the other, obviously). And, dependent on what you were doing (in the days I contrasted), it can be a margin of several hundred calories. Again, realizing there are unknowns, this can eat away at your fat loss potential.

Here is something to think about, and generally people miss about calorie approximators:

While Benedict and other reputable calorie counters approximate calories fairly accurately (they are generally very good), they have a common problem (in which I personally didn't like).

They give you a "blanket" calorie approximate. And, generally what people do, is select a multiplier, and use the resulting calorie projection (and run a small deficit) per day off of this approximation; however, its my opinion (in some cases) this is the wrong thing to do.

For example: Obviously, if you are not working (employment), and its an off day from workouts, and you are just rummaging around (so-to-speak), your calorie requirements are going to be substantially lower as compared to when you do workout and do work (employment), no?

So, theoretically speaking if you kept (say a 1.6 multiplier from Benedict) and subtracted (say -300 calories) thinking you are creating a deficit--one could be actually eating over (or creating a surplus), no? This is the PRIMARY reason, my calories are not the same each day: Its simply that my activities likewise vary. To prevent THIS from being a problem, I have to pay attention to it. If one can not see that this is "potentially" a problem, the need their head examined.

Most know how I feel about nutrition and calories, so don't misunderstand me. I am not "bashing" the good calorie projectors. It is a sound base to learn what one needs in calories. I am just "exposing" a problem of "blanketing" a multiplier for the entire week when activity levels fluctuate, and believe using a "sliding" multiplier (within reason) is the superior choice, IMO, to conform to the differences in activity level.

For example: Use a 1.6 multiplier for days you workout and work (employment and/or school) which results in higher calorie projection because of activity, and a 1.2 (as an example) for days you are at home, not working (employment, school, etc), and not working out (a rest day), which results in a lower calorie projection because of activity. Realize the multipliers, I used are JUST EXAMPLES.

I do not see anyone on the forum indicating this sort of behavior on the forum, but I have always followed my activity level for the level of calories consumed, and its pretty damn powerful, IMO.

Now, if you are reading this correctly, it is obvious (at least to me), this ALONE can effect ones fat loss potential: You would be cruising along on a blanket set of calories, (and setting a deficit), thinking you are doing the right things, and all the while you would be "over eating" (on certain days) and not know it, and thus affecting your potential for good tissue loss.



Best regards,

Chillen

 

[mazstar]

I wouldnt have thought I'd gain muscle that quickly?

It might also be fluid retention I seem to drinking a lot of water but not losing much of it - like go for a pee once or twice a day.

Tribal said it best.

Just because you're not losing weight doesn't mean you're not losing fat. Muscle has a greater mass than fat, therefore, you could very well be losing fat and increasing muscle mass without losing 1gm.

Don't look at the scale. Look in the mirror

 

[tribal1]

I wouldnt have thought I'd gain muscle that quickly?

It might also be fluid retention I seem to drinking a lot of water but not losing much of it - like go for a pee once or twice a day.

If you are only peeing twice a day you are not drinking enough water (not soda or tea coffee). If you are too lazy to get your proper BMR and activity level get your weight in pounds say 180 and :-

- starvation territory 180*10 = 1800
- Normal Cal intake 180*15 = 2745

BTW your "gym for 3-4 days a week with cardio for 15-20mins and 30mins weights sessions" is not vigorous in my opinion. I do upto 90 minutes weights and an hour's cardio on alternate days. Your current diet may not give you enough energy to fuel your workouts and lose fat.

 

[Dainon]

I thought this thread was mine, haha. I've been trying to lose fat while saving muscle but my weight didn't drop a gram during the last 3 weeks. Literally.

 

[Chillen]

I thought this thread was mine, haha. I've been trying to lose fat while saving muscle but my weight didn't drop a gram during the last 3 weeks. Literally.

Well........it could be you are experiencing "New to Fitness Training Opposing Tissue Woes?"..........Can this happen?

Oh.....lets check this possibility out:

Maybe you gained .04 pounds of muscle (uh, lets not forget we are weight training, when we are "new to fitness" training and "this too" is a goal)

and........

Maybe you lost .04 pounds of fat (uh, lets not forget we are calorie deficiting, when we are "new to fitness" training and "this too" is a goal).

Thus....no weight change on the scale. (They off-set)

And, revealing how bad scales can be.....

Especially when "new to diet and fitness training".

Being brand new to weight training or out for several years:

Brings a "potential" for heavy bodily adaption toward muscle growth/strength

Brings a "potential" for heavy bodily adaption for tissue loss

at the:

Same time.

And, making one think a plateau exists.

While this doesn't eliminate the possibility that a plateau exists......it is something to think about: Especially being so new, and in it for a couple of weeks or so.


Best wishes


Chillen