Progress is slow

[junebug]

I have just started a my life transformation 3 weeks ago. I feal like I have altered my nutritional habits to meet my goal and work out 5 days a week. 3 days I concentrate on building muscle and 2 days on cardio exercise. I am begining to get discouraged becouse I am not noticing any changes in my appearance. I have put on about 6 pounds rather than losing them. Am I expecting changes too soon. Please help

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JuneBug

 

[seyone]

you need to give it more time, don't get discouraged and keep working hard. results won't come over night but will come over time. don't use a scale to gauge your progress, use your mirror and the way your body feels that will be a much better indication.

 

[bludevil]

junebug,
Make sure your diet is in check. Your diet plays a bigger role with body transformation than weights and cardio combined.
Why don't you post your diet so we can take a look at it.

 

[ballast]

People who begin a resistance training program will usually experience a weight gain initially(even if the goal is fat loss)because you are stimulating your muscles in a way they are not accustomed to.Their response is to become bigger and stronger.Seyone gave you some good advice.Three weeks isn't enough time.Give your body atleast three more weeks, stick to your diet and exercise program and be persistant.

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matt toupalik

 

[Arnold]

My guess would be that you're gaining muscle mass, and that's good! Use the mirror as your gauge for fat loss, or have a trainer measure your body fat%.

I would be curious to see a sample of your diet too. Diet is the key! 75% diet, 25% training.



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Just because the majority believes it, does not make it true!

 

[Scotty the Body]

<FONT size="5">Stick with it!!!</FONT s>
It takes time, your weight gain could be just water retention as your body gets use to doing cardio, just stick it out and don't worry about the scale so much.

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Just another day in the gutter

 

[junebug]

I generally eat 5 times daily, I try for 6. My first two meals alternate between raisan bran and a nutritional bar. Lunch can a ham and turkey sandwich, turkey with long grain rice, a chargrilled chicken burrito with guacamole and jack cheese or speghetti with meat sauce (basically a carb and some protien)afternoon is usually a granolla bar (natures way) and dinner basically is alot like lunch but a little bit larger portion.

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JuneBug

 

[TheSupremeBeing]

Yeah, stick with it.

It takes 4-6 weeks for weight training to cause muscle growth. This is because when one first starts a weight training program the nervous system is what causes the gains. The strength gains are purely the nervous system optimizing itself to exercise by altering recruitment patterns, inter and intramuscular coordination, etc.

In the next few weeks you will notice a substantial increase in muscle mass, a consistent increase along with the strength gains you achieve. This means a faster metabolism and a greater potential for fat loss.

The 6lbs of weight you put on is most likely increased intra muscular water retention (the good kind) due to an increased ability to store glucose in the muscles via weight training. It's a good thing, don't let this discourage you.

Stick with it, the best is yet to come.

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Complex problems have simple, easy to understand, wrong answers.

<FONT COLOR="#000002" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">[Edited 1 time by TheSupremeBeing on 06-21-2001 at 11:38 AM]</font>

 

[Scotty the Body]

Your Calorie intake might be a bit high and you gotta watch those granola bar's, they're really high.
You might want to switch to Protein bars instead of them for your snacks.



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Just another day in the gutter

 

[TheSupremeBeing]

Diet could use some help, though.

A very basic, and very effective diet is the simple "portion control" diet, popularized by Bill Phillips.

In each meal make sure to get a portion of protein (meat or protein powder) and a portion of carbs (1/2 cup). The fat will generally take care of itself via the meat in your diet. A sample meal would be: 4oz chicken breast, 1/2 cup oatmeal. Eat every 3 hours you are awake, and drink water throughout the day - aim for a gallon.

Don't worry about supplements yet, besides a goos multivitamin and possibly a protein powder. May want to invest in some extra vit C, E, and calcium. Not a necessesity.

Just have faith in what you are doing, and stick with your plan unless it is just not working. In that case, come back here and ask questions, there are more ways to go about doing things than I can count...you can reach your goals.

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Complex problems have simple, easy to understand, wrong answers.

 

[EarWax]

Hey junebug.. well I went through the same thing when I started to lose weight. Just stick with it. It takes longer than you think. Keep a food diary, it works for me and a lot of other people. That way you can tell what and how much to eat to start losing weight.

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Lift well! But don't forget to put it down afterwards.