Atkins, weight lifting, and weight loss?

[burtonator]

OK. I'm doing two things at once which is a bit difficult to determine if atkins is really working well for me.

1. I'm going to the gym every morning and pursuing and aggressive weight lifting routine. For about 1 month now I've been going 5-6 days a week. Its great!

2. I'm doing atkins.

I started at 207 and I'm now at 197 (w00t!) but I seem to have slowed down my weight loss.

I think its because protein is heavier than fat so as I'm loosing fat I'm putting on muscle which means its harder to determine how much fat I'm loosing. I *do* feel slimmer and am at least not gaining pounds.

Does anyone have any experience here?

I seem to be loosing about 1/2 pound a week.

My current plans are to step up my aerobics so that I can burn more calories earlier in the morning to raise my resting metabolic rate so that I can burn faster.

Thoughts?

Kevin

[Iapetus999]

Re: Atkins, weight lifting, and weight loss?

10 pounds a month is plenty of weight loss.

This isn't a race you know.
Everyone's weight loss slows down after a couple weeks.
You should only lose a pound or two a week.
Without knowing your age/height/goals it's hard to answer these questions.
Also ask someone at your gym to measure your body fat %.

[burtonator]

Re: Atkins, weight lifting, and weight loss?

Well I lost the first 10 early on. It happened fast. Now for the last 3-4 weeks I seem to have been stalled a bit. Only loosing about .5 lbs per week.

It might not be a race but having this move forward efficiently would be a good thing

[FightingTheFight]

Re: Atkins, weight lifting, and weight loss?

You should only lose a pound or two a week.

Thats not really set in stone...If you are a bigger person, like I 3-4lbs a weeks is totally fine. Its losing more than 1lb a day that should raise flags.

[Finelly]

Re: Atkins, weight lifting, and weight loss?

Couple of thoughts:

Yes, you are gaining muscle and thus the scale may not be moving as quickly right now, but the payoff later is worth it.

I don't know exactly where you are on the woe, but it's quite normal to slow down somewhere between weeks 4 and 7. It picks up again, usually. Just wait it out.

Are you measuring? If not, start immediately and do it every 2 weeks. You're probably dropping inches much faster than pounds.

Goodluck!

[FightingTheFight]

Re: Atkins, weight lifting, and weight loss?

thats the problem with exercise. We do it to help us be healthier and lose weight quicker. Well here is where the scale comes in as the big liar. The muscle gains makes the scale show no loss at all....for weeks sometimes...I've had the scale show a 10lb gain, then the next day, drop back down to regular minus a few more lbs.

Its tricky stuff.

[Elizellen]

Re: Atkins, weight lifting, and weight loss?

And if you are replacing your fat with muscle just think how many more calories those muscles are burning all day

Are you measuring as well as weighing?

[xdream73]

Re: Atkins, weight lifting, and weight loss?

thats the problem with exercise. We do it to help us be healthier and lose weight quicker. Well here is where the scale comes in as the big liar. The muscle gains makes the scale show no loss at all....for weeks sometimes...I've had the scale show a 10lb gain, then the next day, drop back down to regular minus a few more lbs.

Its tricky stuff.

Good point. I've always wondered what the ratio was. For instance, 1 pound of muscle is worth 1.5 pounds of fat...or something. It would be nice to be able to reason some of it out in your head. Although in the end, I suppose it only matters how you look and feel.

[Iapetus999]

Re: Atkins, weight lifting, and weight loss?

Um one pound of muscle weighs the same as one pound of fat.
The pound of fat can be a lot bigger than the pound of muscle tho.

[burtonator]

Re: Atkins, weight lifting, and weight loss?

Which is more heavy? A pound of feathers or a pound of gold?

Answer: they're the same. They're both 1lb.

We're talking about volume here. Density..

Kevin

[xdream73]

Re: Atkins, weight lifting, and weight loss?

Well...yeah...the way I said that was stupid. I guess what I was wondering is more like this....

Everyone always says muscle weighs more than fat...something that I stupidly never stopped to think through all the way. But, there is some truth to the MEANING if not the actual words, right? So, I've lost 30 pounds. If I had done that with no weight training, it would probably show I had lost 35 pounds? Or 40 pounds? But since I added muscle ON...it doesn't say that.

Or am I just really that stupid and confused??

[cajunthunder]

Re: Atkins, weight lifting, and weight loss?

Well...yeah...the way I said that was stupid. I guess what I was wondering is more like this....
Everyone always says muscle weighs more than fat...something that I stupidly never stopped to think through all the way. But, there is some truth to the MEANING if not the actual words, right? So, I've lost 30 pounds. If I had done that with no weight training, it would probably show I had lost 35 pounds? Or 40 pounds? But since I added muscle ON...it doesn't say that.
Or am I just really that stupid and confused??

I think you may want to look at it like this - take a 5 inch square cube of muscle and a 5 inch square cube of fat - same size, but the cube of muscle is more dense and weighs more than the cube of fat, even though they are the same size.

Take 5 lbs of muscle and compare it to 5 lbs of fat, and they weigh the same, but the fat takes up more room than the muscle because it's fluffier (for lack of a better word) than the same amount of muscle.

I am an excellent example of fat vs. muscle - I currently weigh 198, but most people think I weigh in the 150s. Since starting Atkins, I've been doing a lot of cardio and working out with a trainer doing weights, resistance, stretching, etc... So here I am at 198, and I'm wearing sizes that I used to wear years ago when I weighed around 160-170. My current 198 lbs has more toned muscle mass than my old 160-170 lbs fat/flabby body, so I'm physically around the same size, only I weigh more..... and I look better.

Did that make sense? LOL!

[xdream73]

Re: Atkins, weight lifting, and weight loss?

Makes total sense....

Honest, I'm not a stupid person. I just play one on TV!

LOL.

I can tell you this much about muscle...MINE ARE KILLING ME!!! I did a workout tape day before yesterday and I'm still sore. Since I skipped one mandatory day, is it ok to start again? Or should I wait for all the soreness to be gone?