Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:August was 2.5 months ago. Muscle is REALLY hard to build and you are really fat. That is why. Don’t give up now but it is way too soon to expect muscle when your body has a lot of fat to lose first.

+1

at this point if your main goal is to lose fat around your belly you are better off eating in a calorie deficit to focus on losing weight/fat while continuing to lift heavy to maintain the muscle that you have.

OP here - that's my theory too The only thing I thought I had working in my favor is that I was a very elite athlete at one point in my life - so I figured I'd have some muscle memory that would return. I honestly think I need to reduce the calories below 1600.

I don't think you need to reduce below 1600 to lose the fat. but I do think you need to track accurately and be 100 honest with everything you are eating. There is no reason you shouldn't be able to lose fat at 1600 calories. You did lose weight the first few weeks which makes me thing you can lose in that range.

FWIW I weight around 155 and lose just fine at 1500 calories if I track accurately. If I don't track accurately I need to "lower" my calories, because while my tracker says I ate 1300 I probably really average 1600. if you get what I am saying.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:August was 2.5 months ago. Muscle is REALLY hard to build and you are really fat. That is why. Don’t give up now but it is way too soon to expect muscle when your body has a lot of fat to lose first.

+1

at this point if your main goal is to lose fat around your belly you are better off eating in a calorie deficit to focus on losing weight/fat while continuing to lift heavy to maintain the muscle that you have.

OP here - that's my theory too The only thing I thought I had working in my favor is that I was a very elite athlete at one point in my life - so I figured I'd have some muscle memory that would return. I honestly think I need to reduce the calories below 1600.

Anonymous wrote:August was 2.5 months ago. Muscle is REALLY hard to build and you are really fat. That is why. Don’t give up now but it is way too soon to expect muscle when your body has a lot of fat to lose first.

+1

at this point if your main goal is to lose fat around your belly you are better off eating in a calorie deficit to focus on losing weight/fat while continuing to lift heavy to maintain the muscle that you have.

And you said so yourself the DEXA is more accurate than the inbody (it is) AND you’ve had two DEXAs so you at least have a baseline on that assessment and can see that there’s been minimal change. Moving the goal posts doesn’t affect anyone but you- you asked for insight and that’s the insight. Pretending it isnt true won’t magically make you have more muscle or less fat.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:August was 2.5 months ago. Muscle is REALLY hard to build and you are really fat. That is why. Don’t give up now but it is way too soon to expect muscle when your body has a lot of fat to lose first.

OP here - ha well according to the DEXA I am really fat . . .but for the record the InBody says I am 34% fat and the hand held one at the gym says 30%. I have the trimmest legs ever, zero fat on my butt or hips, and my arms have no fat. I only have fat in my middle - but I wear a size 10, so I am not obese

Whatever op. You have 41% body fat and most is in your stomach. Don’t get defensive over a descriptor that is accurate. You don’t have muscle in 2 months because you are sitting at 41% body fat.

Anonymous wrote:August was 2.5 months ago. Muscle is REALLY hard to build and you are really fat. That is why. Don’t give up now but it is way too soon to expect muscle when your body has a lot of fat to lose first.

OP here - ha well according to the DEXA I am really fat . . .but for the record the InBody says I am 34% fat and the hand held one at the gym says 30%. I have the trimmest legs ever, zero fat on my butt or hips, and my arms have no fat. I only have fat in my middle - but I wear a size 10, so I am not obese

August was 2.5 months ago. Muscle is REALLY hard to build and you are really fat. That is why. Don’t give up now but it is way too soon to expect muscle when your body has a lot of fat to lose first.

I would love to know more about what metabolism training program looks like? I'm lifting and trying to eat more protein but very curious to hear what you have learned since you are losing inches!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, folks, but twelve or fourteen weeks 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 years not weeks.

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

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.

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

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.

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. . .

OP here - thanks all for the feedback - so sounds like we all agree that adding more calories is not a great idea and will probably just derail any additional success I have

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, folks, but twelve or fourteen weeks 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 years not weeks.

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

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.

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

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.

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. . .

Which you have accomplished, since you lost 3 inches in your waist! So keep at it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, folks, but twelve or fourteen weeks 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 years not weeks.

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

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.

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

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.

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. . .

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.

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. . .

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.

another poster who agrees to just keep at it. Ignore the dexa scan and keep doing what you are doing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, folks, but twelve or fourteen weeks 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 years not weeks.

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

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.

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

Sorry "folks" but this is absurdly high for what you're trying to do with a BMR of 1800, no matter what some of the regulars here will say. Find a new team, this one doesn't know what they are doing!

Continue doing what you're doing and give it 6 months. I guarantee you're on the right path. Just give it time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, folks, but twelve or fourteen weeks 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 years not weeks.

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

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.

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

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.

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. . .

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.

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. . .