Weight Loss

Howdy Fellow Metabolic Mathematicians,

This question should be a simple one and will probably prompt a variety of responses, so I suppose I’m merely looking for support / shared experiences.

I’ve recently started weight training. That is, 3 times a week for the past 5 weeks I do a general full body weight routine that works out each major muscle group. It takes about an hour if I’m swift and if there is no contention for a machine at my gym. I can feel the effects already, I can feel more muscle density in my biceps / triceps / shoulders, and I can sit up in bed easily without belly strain and things of that nature. Also, I’ve been upping the resistance pretty consistently to get to 15 reps so I’m working pretty hard. Anyways, since I’ve started this I’ve gained weight. I was loosing approx 1-2 lbs a week, my lowest was 278.1 and I’ve recently been hovering in the 279 – 283 range. (I’m 25, male, 6’1 btw). This is despite upping my cardio regiment; in the past, I was burning 500 cals on an elliptical 3x a week, now I’m playing racquetball 5x a week AND running 5-10 miles a DAY in the hopes of running a marathon this October. (I have been pretty sure to throw back calories to ensure I keep a deficit of about 500 – 700 cals a day.)

Now I know that what is probably going on is that I’m gaining muscle mass and still losing fat, just the muscle mass is appearing faster than I’m loosing the fat. So, I’m here to get your experiences; that is, if anyone has observed similar things as me please tell me about it… Ideally I’d like to know how much you gained and how long it took until the number started to drop again. Additionally, did you *really* reap the benefits of more muscle mass, like a higher resting metabolic rate? Deeper sleep? Chicks throwing themselves at you in some medieval ritualistic fashion?

2 things.

One the calorie count on your activities may not be accurate so use your body as a gauge.

Two, when I was younger I was in karate and had intense interval style workouts for 2 hours about 3 times a week. I gained wieght and went UP a dress size! But had less fat and looked great. I wore size 12, but looked size 8 as evidence by what people brought me to try on in the shops. He He.

My metabolic rate got wacked out during this time, so I'm probably not the best comparison for you and I didn't lose weight until I broke a toe.

For some reason, chicks didn't throw themselves at me...unless they were attacking.