I lost 20 pounds but gained muscle, which is bad

[Poizon Ivy]

I'm only 5 pounds away from my goal weight but I still wear the same clothes

I only walk for half an hour a day

what's wrong

[gunnabfit]

I know...the same thing happened to me too! I am down 20lbs. and I do a lot of working out, but Im not seeing any inches come off! I am still wearing the same clothes as well...and I dont notice any difference

[chinadoll]

I have found that when I lost my first 70, that it would be 20-25 pounds to change sizes but only if I was toning up with weights work too. My first 40 I lost walking and I was still flabby. The next 30 pounds I lost 2.5 sizes because I started strength training with weights that were heavy enough for me to only complete 3 sets of 12 reps before giving out. Cardio alone won't tone you and the toning makes a bigger difference in your body composition and size.

Poison, give us some details. Have you been taking measurements? Do your clothes fit differently on you? What was your starting weight? How close to goal are you?

[Lyssie]

If you only walk for half an hour a day, sorry but you weren't gaining muscle. If you want to change the way your clothes fit, the best way to do it is strength training, you can lose some serious inches without actually losing a pound. I wore size 14s at 160, without working out, and size 14s at 190 with working out. It's a huge difference.

[julirama723]

Do you lift weights? If not, START!

My guess is that you did not gain lots of muscle--muscle is more dense than fat. If you had gained lots of muscle, it's more likely that you'd be at your goal SIZE (rather than goal weight) but still weigh more than you think is possible for that size.

For example, at my smallest, I was a size 8. Do you know how much I weighed? 170 pounds. It was from weight training. Do not be afraid of lifting weights--it will not make you bigger, it will actually make you look SMALLER than you are!

Muscle is lean ACTIVE tissue. It burns calories even at rest. Lifting weights will melt inches off your body, but generally the scale does not like you. So ignore the scale, and focus on the tape measure and how your clothes fit.

[gunnabfit]

Wow....good tip thanks!

[Poizon Ivy]

Originally Posted by chinadoll

I have found that when I lost my first 70, that it would be 20-25 pounds to change sizes but only if I was toning up with weights work too. My first 40 I lost walking and I was still flabby. The next 30 pounds I lost 2.5 sizes because I started strength training with weights that were heavy enough for me to only complete 3 sets of 12 reps before giving out. Cardio alone won't tone you and the toning makes a bigger difference in your body composition and size.

Poison, give us some details. Have you been taking measurements? Do your clothes fit differently on you? What was your starting weight? How close to goal are you?

yes, i lost a couple of inches about 2 but not more
My clothes are a little loose but I can still wear them
I was 154
now I'm 133
i'm 5'8
I'm only 5 pounds away

I feel that I need to lose at least 10 pounds

Originally Posted by Lyssie

If you only walk for half an hour a day, sorry but you weren't gaining muscle. If you want to change the way your clothes fit, the best way to do it is strength training, you can lose some serious inches without actually losing a pound. I wore size 14s at 160, without working out, and size 14s at 190 with working out. It's a huge difference.

I play DDR every now and then for a hour or 2
before at the first 2 months I was jogging for an hour an doing pilates everyday
lost 20 pounds and the only noticeable area was my face, and like I said not more than 2 inches, and I didnt buy new clothes because my old fit perfectly
I'm only 5 pounds away and I'm still wearing size 12!

Originally Posted by julirama723

Do you lift weights? If not, START!

My guess is that you did not gain lots of muscle--muscle is more dense than fat. If you had gained lots of muscle, it's more likely that you'd be at your goal SIZE (rather than goal weight) but still weigh more than you think is possible for that size.

For example, at my smallest, I was a size 8. Do you know how much I weighed? 170 pounds. It was from weight training. Do not be afraid of lifting weights--it will not make you bigger, it will actually make you look SMALLER than you are!

Muscle is lean ACTIVE tissue. It burns calories even at rest. Lifting weights will melt inches off your body, but generally the scale does not like you. So ignore the scale, and focus on the tape measure and how your clothes fit.

the scale works perfect, it just the clothes!

[TheDogAteMyName]

I agree with Julie. Strength training is so important. It takes a lot of work to gain muscle so don't worry about becoming bulky. I would much rather be over my goal weight due to muscle than be at my goal weight and no muscle. How much weight did you lose? Congrats on 5 pounds from goal!

[Poizon Ivy]

20 pounds, but I havnt changed a bit

[ValidRouge]

The only way to truly change your body shape, In my experience, is to weight train.

I've run, walked, done the elliptical, all sorts of things that I love doing. But, to be perfectly honest, the only time I've seen dramatic inches lost and loved the way my body looked, was when I was lifting weights.

No sissy girlie lifting either, lifting as heavy as you can.

If you want to change the SHAPE of your body, weight lifting is the way to do it.