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New To Fitness, Confused and Can't Lose Weight

I am new to fitness. I am struggling as to why I cannot lose weight.

ElySan
ElySan g Ely Molina
2 Post(s)
2 Post(s) Gender: Female Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: July 7, 2018
Posted

Hello, My name is Ely. I am 28 and currently weigh 177lbs. I just had a baby a few months ago and was aloud to start working out and moving again about 3-4wks ago. I've been doing a lower body, upper body, lower body, full body workout program that is 4 days a week and I have also been doing cardio 3 times a week. I am also breastfeeding and using the calculator on this site I found 2500 to be my maintenance. I started at 2400 and I initially lost 4-5lbs the first week but than all of a sudden I have not lost anymore weight after that. My body is definitely changing but my weight is staying exactly the same. I thought that while breastfeeding I could eat at my maintenance and still lose weight but I'm not sure what is going on. I don't know if my body is very efficient at producing milk so therefore I don't burn as many calories as I thought I would while nursing but I do want to get down to about 155-160lbs. I'm also 5'9" by the way. I would guess that my body fat is somewhere between 30-40. Like I said my body is changing, my stomach/waist is significantly smaller and my entire body is getting smaller and I'm starting to see muscle in places I haven't before(ie: quads, hams, biceps, etc.) but what I don't want to happen is that my body keeps changing but I don't lose weight. I don't want to stay at 177lbs forever! Should I lower my calories from 2400 to 2100 while watching my milk production and making sure that isn't affected? 

 

Thanks ahead of time for the responses!

Ely

Zeke_BE
Zeke_BE g Brandon Ellsworth
55 Post(s)
55 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: December 12, 2017
Posted

Congrats on the baby. My wife has gone through this 4 times with babies and is the same weight and same height as you are right when the doctor says ok to work out. Good for you and stay at it!!! Wife never really procuce milk very well or babies had a real struggle getting anything. Went through it 4 times and always ended up using bottles 90% of the time so not sure if my wife has any experice with that while working out.

Couple question we need to know. Have you worked out doing weight liftig more then a year? How long since your last been training or lifting weights? If its been less then a year or well over 6 months plus since you worked out, let alone the extra body fat that is needed for growing a baby you are probably in a good body recomp. Focus on the measurments and the mirro then a scale. You probably lost a good amount of water weigth and the body is recomp which is why you look different but keeping the same weight. But go ahead and drop it to 2100 calories and see. That will put you at 400 calories below maint and you should see a little more then a 1/2 pound a week come off. Go to Scotts Macros on Youtube and make sure your macros are in place

ElySan
ElySan g Ely Molina
2 Post(s)
2 Post(s) Gender: Female Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: July 7, 2018
Posted

Thanks for the response. I have never done weights before. I was kind of subconciosly waiting till we were done having kids to finally start. When I was in high school I did do some running and various other activities but for the most part I have never really been to active. I for sure haven't been active within the past 3-5yrs. Scotts macros video and calculator say my maintenance is 2500(not including the breastfeeding). This is why I am slightly confused. I thought I would have wanted to eat above that because of the breastfeeding and the fact that I am having to lower my calories three weeks in to my cut/diet is a bit scary.

 

Thanks,

Ely

Zeke_BE
Zeke_BE g Brandon Ellsworth
55 Post(s)
55 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: December 12, 2017
Posted

I do not have an answer about calories needed to breast feed! Try to google it. But my wife poped in and this is what she said " everyone is different, some women will retain weight while breast feeding and or lose it all once they stop and some lose weight while they breast feed because the body is burning more just to produce milk". If your not sure take it slow. Maybe drop it down another 100 calories , but if your eating right your body should produce what it needs. I say that lightly ha ha because my wifes body never really produce much milk.

 

As for your training, weight is where its at!! Women always wants that secret code name body called TONED!!!! Its been proven over and over you need to gain muscle to lean out for women and lifting weights are best. Cardio works great to lose weight but look at marthon runners vs sprinters. Sprinters are toned from explosive work outs and weight. We are now done with having kids so this is the longest time my wife really hit hard doing weights instead of fitting in work outs inbetween pregancys. Her body fat is low and has added 7-12 pounds of muscle and looks amazing at 140lbs, and mind you she looks small! If she just ran and did carido there would be no toneness no defination of arms or legs and probably 125-130lbs body weight. Weight lifting bring out the best physique in women. And no you wont get bulky or huge unless your on the jucie.

 

Jump on youtube and watch scotts vids about workouts. I watch alot of other peoples vids too but Scotts vids I enjoy the most.

Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: ElySan

Hello, My name is Ely. I am 28 and currently weigh 177lbs. I just had a baby a few months ago and was aloud to start working out and moving again about 3-4wks ago. I've been doing a lower body, upper body, lower body, full body workout program that is 4 days a week and I have also been doing cardio 3 times a week. I am also breastfeeding and using the calculator on this site I found 2500 to be my maintenance. I started at 2400 and I initially lost 4-5lbs the first week but than all of a sudden I have not lost anymore weight after that. My body is definitely changing but my weight is staying exactly the same. I thought that while breastfeeding I could eat at my maintenance and still lose weight but I'm not sure what is going on. I don't know if my body is very efficient at producing milk so therefore I don't burn as many calories as I thought I would while nursing but I do want to get down to about 155-160lbs. I'm also 5'9" by the way. I would guess that my body fat is somewhere between 30-40. Like I said my body is changing, my stomach/waist is significantly smaller and my entire body is getting smaller and I'm starting to see muscle in places I haven't before(ie: quads, hams, biceps, etc.) but what I don't want to happen is that my body keeps changing but I don't lose weight. I don't want to stay at 177lbs forever! Should I lower my calories from 2400 to 2100 while watching my milk production and making sure that isn't affected? 

 

Thanks ahead of time for the responses!

Ely

@elysan Hey Ely. You posted this thread 3 different times.. so I am going to respond to this one, and delete the others.

 

It sounds like you are gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time if you are noticing all these changes, which is really positive! But you don't need to worry, eventually you will get to a point where the muscle you're gaining won't be equal to the fat you're losing, and therefore your weight will start to drop again.

 

However, the other thing is you only started in a 100 calorie deficit, which isn't much, even with the potential extra calories you might be burning breastfeeding.

 

If you did want the weight to start going down again, just take another 100-200 calories away from what you're eating now, OR do another cardio session each week, or something extra to burn a few more calories.

 

Hope that helps!

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