Confusion over wieght loss (lack off)

[JohnCaesar]

Hi folks I'm John, I recently started go to the gym, literally just 3 weeks in, week four starts in the morning.

I know this will this is not enough time to be seeing any big amounts of physical change.

I'm going to put down some stats of my body and what my life style is for scope.

Age 31

Wieght 210lbs

Hieght 5, 8"

My life style is pretty simple, I'm a carer for my partner, I (was) living a very sedentary life style. Other than general house hold chores add cooking, I very seldom went out or otherwise active.

Since just after Christmas I have been going to the gym on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. My sessions will consist of purely cardio at the gym, 40min bike, 2-3 mins cool down, 3-4 mins letting my muscles take a breather before doing a 2000m row, max resistance=10 mins. Same recovery time and onto a high paced treadmill inclined walk for 40mins. This workout will burn on average 550-600 calories.

At home I am doing weights on a daily basis, 2x10kg dumbbells, I have a dozen different exercises that I do that work my legs, abs, back, arms and shoulders. Included multiple muscle groups at the same time.

I do 20reps x 3 sets each exercise, this typically takes 1h15mins to complete with 30-60secs rest between each set and exercise.

In my first week I lost about 7lbs, I contributed most if not all to water loss. In week 2 lost 1lbs to 210lbs total. Since then I have maintained 210lbs, dispite my workouts.

I should probably mention that I did change my diet when I started the gym. I have cut out pretty much all processed augers, no pop, no sweet, cake etc. Took control of my portion sizes. And generally just stopped pigging out on rubbish.

My typical diet is nows aimed for moderation but not be obsessed with counting calories etc, I'll take 4x weetabix with 500ml of full fat milk or so = around 500cals, that will see me through till tea on a gym day, I am having more meats with good protein, steak, chicken, turkey, pork, fish etc with fresh veg, or some rice depending on the meal = about 700-800cals or so. With a snack here and there on a banana or apple or otherwise fruity. At the weekend and Tuesday/Thursday at dinner I'll have a sandwich, usually ham on wholemeal bread.

That is pretty much it, I know I am roughly consuming 1200 to 1500 cals.

Acording to the Mifflin-St. Jeor Equation, my body needs to 1,883 cals bare minimum to do all its stuff to keep me living. Multiply that by the 1.2 sedentary live style, it brings it to a total of 2,260. So already I'm on a deficit before working out. On a gym day with a multipier of 1.7 for a very active day (gym/weights at home) I will need a total of 3,300 cals.

So if my rough maths is in the ball park and my body requires around 18,900 (19k) cals per week in my new routine, and I'm eating the higher amount of jist 1500 cals per day= 11,500, a deficit of 7,500cals.

Research has shown 3,500cals is  about equal to 1lbs lost, so how is it that I have maintained my wieght for 3 weeks when I should of lost the equivalent to about 6.5lbs in 3 weeks.

I find it a little counter intuitive and confusing on many levels. Any insight any of you may have would be greatly received and if not I hope you've found it an interesting read.

P.s whilst living in this routine and diet, to date now I have just started to see muscle tone coming through, particularly in my arms and shoulders. Also I am sleeping much better and o erall feeling much better, I am not eating after 7pm and I am for the most part staying full at night anyway.

Pps my goal btw is to loose fat and not so much actual body mass as such, I'm relatively happy at 210 though 195 would be a happy target, whilst build muscle, I don't won't to be a monster but I wouldn't say no to a body similar to Jason Stathem, Transporter days or Death race.

Anywaya again thanks in advance guys ☺

[Dominique]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:

Btw, @Dominique you were quoting @SunsetRunner where it states High Intensity Training, HIT, which as far as I know is weight training related and completely different from HIIT. What is the correct understanding of that quote?

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I can’t speak for @SunsetRunner, but my understanding is his wife’s routine included both weight training and cardio, and "moderate" was the key word. I assume it applied to both types of training. In essence, her success is a case of "slow and steady wins the race". At least it’s how I understand it.

You’re correct that "intensity" has a different meaning in resistance training: it refers to the resistance you’re subjected to (high resistance = high load on the bar).