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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Sorry, folks, but [i]twelve or fourteen weeks[/i] is simply not long enough to see any significant changes in your body or to judge whether or not a program is working. People who do weightlifting work hard for [i]years[/i] not weeks.

[quote]The exercise person I saw said you can gain strength without gaining muscle, so that's probably what's happened to me. [/quote]

This is just flat out wrong. Also, how could you possibly have lost "3 in bust and 3 in waist" without losing fat?

My advice is to ignore short-term results (or lack thereof) and focus on long-term process. Eating better and lifting weights will get you where you want to be eventually.[/quote]

OP here - thanks all for your feedback! I just can't figure out how I haven't gained any muscle!

The scale hasn't moved at all - I weigh 1/2 lb more than when I started. I have read that you can gain strength and not gain muscle (a million articles on google confirm this) - basically you recruit more neurons to fire up to add strength but it doesn't mean the muscle is gaining.

I wasn't expecting to be a body builder in 14 weeks, but I expected to see. . . something!  I am still very nervous that adding more calories is going to make me gain weight as opposed to lose weight - but gut says I should be eating 1500 a day, but they've moved me to 1750

[/quote]

Did you read what I (08:43) posted above?

What is your goal? To lose fat or to gain muscle and by gain muscle I assume you want to add pound of muscle vs just lowing a % of your body fat?  Because losing fat and gaining pounds of muscle at the same time it not easy and takes a very long time. Because one requires a calorie surplus and one requires a calories deficit. And in general adding muscle, like pounds of muscle/enough to show up on a scan takes a long time.

I am also going to say that you are not following the 1600 cal diet if you have not lost any weight/fat in the past 14 weeks

Also, why are you so hung up on a number? You have lost inches the last couple of months and gained strength. Stop worrying about all the data.[/quote]

OP here - goal is to lose the fat around my stomach - which i've done before with extensive calorie cutting - but it wasn't realistic and i don't think was long term sustainable.  I am working with this new team to do it via muscle gain and fat loss (basically metabolism training);. . . and i am as confident as one can be in the 1600 a day - i measure everything and i use a kitchen scale to measure things like meat etc. . . [/quote]

First- you can't spot reduce. There is no way to only lose weight from one area/your waist. Sounds like you have lost fat though as your other measurements have gone down.

Second- if over the course of 14 weeks you ate, on average 1600 calories and really stuck to but did not lose weight then you were not eating in a calorie deficit you were eating in maintenance. If you were in a deficit you would have lost weight. [/quote]

OP - yes, I know you can't spot reduce - my end goal is for my stomach fat to go away because stomach fat is so bad for you (versus me carrying it in my thighs or hips).  I'm an apple - but I am trying to decrease overall body fat in the hopes eventually it will leave my stomach (I am oddly toned everywhere else on my body -especially butt and legs).

Over 16 weeks - first 6 weeks I lost 3.7 lbs (Dexa said I lost 2.8 lbs of muscle and .9 lbs of fat). . .next four weeks scale went up 2.2 lbs and Dexa said I gained 2.3 lbs of muscle and lost .1 lbs of fat . .over last six weeks I gained 1.2 lbs which dexa said was 1.3 fat lbs gained and .1 muscle lbs lost. And I've been eating 1600 calories the entire time. . . [/quote]

I am going to guess that the Dexa scan is not all that accurate. If you think about what 2-3 lbs is in terms of the % of your weight it is only 1-2% and I find it hard to believe that it can be accurate to 1-2%.  It is pretty hard to gain 2.3lbs of muscle in 4 weeks. and as I said above gaining muscle or fat requires eating in a calorie surplus. If you are eating in a deficit you can not gain weight (fat or muscle).
How often are you weighting yourself? I find it's better to weight daily and track the trend versus taking measurements sporadically because weight fluctuates all the time so the day to day measurement don't tell you as much as the trend over time.

An above poster claimed you can't lose weight eating 1600 calories, but you did lose weight the first 6 weeks. Not sure what happened the next 6 weeks because if you were still eating the same way you should have lost more weight or at least not gained.

Either way you are getting stronger and you have lose inches. I would continue doing what you are doing stop worrying about all these Dexa scans. I feel like, and maybe I am wrong, but a Dexa scan is something you do once every 6 month or so not 3 times in 3 months. I feel like it would give a more accurate picture over a longer period of time. but I don't know much about it's accuracy. [/quote]

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