How long to see big results from exercise?

[losenotloose]

I need some words of encouragement and reassurance to keep me motivated! I started exercising beginning of November 2-3 times a week. Since beginning of this month I've been exercising 4-5 times a week, a combination of body pump, spin and running. On top of this I've also really been watching what I eat. Not a diet as such but MUCH less sugar, smaller portions, minimal snacking.

Despite all of this I've lost about 2 pounds. I'm not technically overweight which I know will make it harder but considering I've gone from walking being my only exercise and eating like a pig I am disappointed with my progress so far. I've never stuck to exercise long term before. When can I expect to see more visible results?

Thanks!

A tape measure and photos are better indicators than scales when muscle gains are involved as it is more dense than fat, and sore, recovering muscles retain water.

Is there any difference in the fit of clothes?

I didn't measure myself before starting which was a mistake!

My clothes are very slightly looser, mainly around the belly area. I've never felt so committed to sticking to an exercise routine but I'd just like to know it'll be worth it, even if it takes a year to see noticeable results.

what changes do you want to be visible?
You can't see less fat around your liver, or less risk of cardiovascular disease in 20 years, or less risk of T2 diabetes or less risk of cancer. But they are there for regular exercisers.

Yeah, I get that YeOlde and I do care about my health but the vain side of me wants to see something on the outside!

For me it normally takes around six weeks to see a change.

I did the same as you - more exercise and just being more aware of what I ate. The results were much slower than my friend who did a crash diet. I went from a size 12-14 to a 6-8. Obviously a 12-14 isn't huge by any stretch of the imagination but I have a tiny frame so on me it was a dangerous amount of fat.

Because it was a change of lifestyle, I've managed to keep the weight off for almost 3 years, even though I've been pregnant and had DD in that time. My friend who did the crash diet, and also became pregnant is now bigger than before she started.

It takes longer with exercise to notice a difference on the scales as you'll be building muscle. You'll be generally so much healthier as well through the exercise. Do they have a bodytrax machine or similar at your gym? I found that a great motivator seeing how much I was changing internally.

Good luck!

What do you want to see on the outside?

Smaller boobs? Smaller waist? Firmer arse (how does one measure arse firmness) ? Looser rings on your fingers?

I don't know what 'toned' means, so explain what you think 'toned' looks like if that's what you're after. Who decides what is 'toned'; your eyes or someone else's?

sorer muscles, better sleep, better mental health, better fitness if you do out exercising in a crowd: are any of those visible enough?

... or is it just numbers on scales that matter? Sorry to post so much. Disorganised thoughts today.

You do need to keep changing up your routine, it sounds like you are - not doing more time, but lifting heavier weights etc

That's encouraging vox. I can see that slow progress is more likely to be long term because new habits are formed.

YeOlde I'd like to see everything! Tighter everything, more toned, drop a dress size. I'm currently a size 12 but don't expect to get really small as I haven't got a small frame. Not so bothered about numbers on scales if I can see the changes.

EvaI've started increasing my weights in body pump

losenotloose I was the same as you and then I started weighing and measuring all the 'healthy' food I was eating and counting the calories. I thought I was eating around 1500 calories a day - I was actually eating an average of 2000 per day over the week. My maintenance calories are 2100 which is why I wasn't losing anything!

I've been working with a PT for over a year now and only just starting to see definition in my muscles as my body fat has decreased even though my bodyweight hasn't changed that much. However I have many days (probably 6 out of 7!) when I can't see any difference and am determined to jack it all in. Thankfully I don't - but I do wish I had taken photos and measurements as my perception of how I look can be very distorted.,

As per Blobby, you have to do a calorie check - exercise will build muscle but overall fat may not reduce if your calorie intake is still equal to or higher than your calorie burn rate.

Get thee to MyFitnessPal and tag all your food and exercise for a few weeks. React appropriately to the results.

I have been looking at the calories of food and making changes but I don't want to become too obsessive! Plus I know I'm eating less and more healthily than before. For example, I would gorge on biscuits/cake when at work at least a couple of times a week, raid the treats after work and my portions were big. That's all stopped. Based on that and doing an hour of intense exercise 4-5 times I would expect to see changes without starving myself but maybe I'm deluded!

Just as an example, today's food has been:

Overnight oats (350 calories)
Homemade tomato soup with a ham roll
A boiled egg and two corn cakes (130 calories)
Dinner will be a small portion of pesto pasta, a sliced chicken breast, broccoli and salad.

And I'll be doing body pump shortly!

All sounds good, but you really should do the weighing and counting, it's really informative.

I would have expected a bit more change by now for three months serious changes, so you've got to get analytic. Do the calorie count for w couple of weeks. Take chest/waist/thigh/upper arm measurements. Check them again in a month.

When I first started exercising more and didn't count calories I found that whilst I was eating healthily for 4 or 5 days a week, at the weekends the snacks and extras built up so much that I was undoing all my good work during the week!! It was the mindset "I've exercised so I've earned this" when in reality, I only burned about 350 calories an hour exercising! And I worked HARD. Even now I'm way more advanced, I need to work really hard to build up a 600 calorie burn for 90 minutes work. I recommend a Heart Rate Monitor of some sort (I use MyZone) which will give an accurate estimate of calorie burn

I understand how you feel about not being obsessive as I'm the same but use MyFitness Pal and MyZone as a guide - I don't freak out if I go under or over my calories on a day and I dont weight to the exact ounce either

I have exercised for about 8 years but got a nasty injury about 3 years ago and was off for 2 years. First time round I was doing the odd boxercise class or two, I lost loads of weight and was the lowest weight I'd been since before kids. I didn't really push it and whilst my weight was low I didn't look massively toned. I then started an outdoor bootcamp, I went 3 or 4 times a week and it was really high intensity.

Fitness wise it took about 2-3 months to really feel a difference in my fitness level and probably half that time to look slim again (I wasn't really overweight but just about 7/8 lbs heavier than a comfortable weight for me). I looked quite toned at that point but I reckon about 12-18 months later I really noticed the biggest difference in my body and fitness. I also then felt settled in what I ate, I didn't change much if I went on holiday for 2 weeks and looked athletic.

After my injury I put on 1.5 stone as I found it really hard to adjust what I was so used to eating but basically my body did not need that much fuel. I started exercising 3 weeks ago and doing 5-6 half hour HIITS/bootcamp/conditioning style classes a week at the gym with the odd 10 min run before or after a session too. I have lost 6lb and already look a lot more toned. I am using the heaviest weights I can manage for all exercises.

I definitely find that the real body conditioning exercises is what tones the most, heaviest weights you can manage every time, keep increasing and I think HIITS style stuff is better as you can really push yourself for a short time rather than I find people pace themselves more when doing 1 hour sessions.

I forgot to measure myself before I started which I am gutted about as I was a bit disappointed re weight loss as thought it would have really dropped off this early one but a steady 2lb a week would be great really. I eat similar to you but probably a bit more protein. I don't really cut carbs out but they are naturally less as I have more protein/veg than my previous portions.

I started in January last year, it was pretty quick that people noticed I'd lost weight, but for me it was the summer when I got all my summer clothes out and they all fell off me because I'd dropped 3 sizes! And now after another 6 months I still notice new things occasionally, like I now have a visible muscle on the side of each thigh, and muscles visible on my back. It's very motivating now because I don't think I will lose much more weight, but my body is continuing to get more toned.

In response to your op, I hardly list anything on the scales at first, which apparently is common when starting a new exercise regime.

6 weeks. You'll find more strength in everyday living, more fitness. Your skin glows, you sleep better, you feel stronger, more confident. I'd be doing more body conditioning classes such as Pilates etc.

Thanks for all the extra replies! I'm hoping that if I stick with it I'll notice it more in summer. I usually dread putting more on show due to all the wobbly bits!

Body pump would be considered conditioning, wouldn't it?

About three months and I never ever weigh myself.

The thing about weighing myself is it fluctuates from one day to the next as well. One morning I was 10st 3, then 10st 5, then 10st 4.

4 weeks for you to notice yourself.