Gym vs jabs

[Ontobetterthings]

I started down the gym a week before Christmas. Cut alcohol first of jan and been dieting and upping protein. Been going gym 4 times a week. Started weight training and lifting weights. Was feeling good this morning. Weighed in and ive lost 3lbs. Im a couple of stones overweight.

Im really demoralised. All my mates have lost loads of weight on ghe jabs. Im just wondering if im doing the right thing now. Aibu?

I use gym and jabs together. Feel amazing and highly recommend.

You will end up with a better result if you the gym and replace fat with muscle gradually, if you want faster results there is no reason you can’t use the jabs AND go to the gym.

This message is really refreshing to hear. Good on your for eating healthy and exercising more. Weight loss may be slower initially but I think what your doing is the best way to look after your health. Keep going, mounjaro doesn't protect muscle mass. Your approach is much more sustainable... dont be demotivate.. continue with high protein and fibre, reduce unhealthy starches. I wish I had your gym.motivation, I need to exercise more 😚. Keep going 💪

2 stone overweight would put me in obese category. If you're short its still just as bad to be overweight with a BMI of 30. Its not about how many stones to lose. If you're 5ft and a size 12/14 then you're probably overweight by a fair bit but for some reason people scoff at someone short saying they are a 12-14 and need to lose weight as its 'average'.

I do 20-25 mins of cardio (running on treadmill - I am unfit but I’m trying to follow Couch to 5k and I am finding myself able to run for slightly longer periods) then I do two or three weight machines, focussing on arms as I want to tone them. What else do people do? I don’t really have time to do much more than that?

I wouldn't prioritise cardio over weights. And certainly don't do cardio THEN weights.

Think about it over a week: do your C25K 3 days a week, and do some strength & resistance training 3 times a week on different days. Run outside, then you can be efficient re time.

In the gym, I'd be doing HIIT or metcon, rather than steady state cardio.

And a weights programme over 3 days - you could do the really traditional push; pull; legs

So one day do deadlifts or sled pulls or pull ups (pull); another day do overhead press, bench press, or dumbbell thrusters (push); on another do barbell or dumbbell weighted squats, or leg press, or weighted lunges (legs).

Can you add in more walking? Aim to do at least 10,000 steps a day. It's amazing how that boosts your daily energy expenditure - far more than 20 mins on the treadmill.

Yep! I think it must be some mixture of lots of very tall people and normalisation of being heavier to the extent that people genuinely don't realise. TBH two stone is a lot even for a taller woman, it's nearly 4 BMI points even if you're five ten.

Well done - you are going the right way

exercise alone does not lead to much weight loss because our bodies encourage us to eat back / sabotaging us with a heavy splash of milk or a large dollop of potato

it does make you fitter and healthier so even without the weight loss you are doing something amazing

if you coupled it with careful eating you would be able to make changes that will last a lifetime - and that’s the key / not the slow steady weight loss but still holding it in 2 years time

if you do use the jabs to speed things you should be going to the gym anyway and you should still be thinking how to eat when you come off

The majority of weight is lost through diet, you won't do that through the gym. However, the gym has a lot of other health benefits.

You will lose weight in a calorie deficit whether in the gym, on wli or both. If you can stick to your calories without wli then you don't need them. If you can't and you meet the requirements you can try them.
The gym is a good idea either way when losing weight as it helps to mitigate muscle loss during weight loss.

True but obviously there is a bit more leeway before being obese. There is definitely a lot of normalisation with being overweight. I have lost 2 stone which puts me at fractionally under BMI 25. I have already had comments that I am wasting away and to be careful etc (I dont look gaunt and confident I'm not in denial as my very honest beauty therapist could have sold me all sorts of extra on this visit but commented on how well my face was looking).

My body fat % is still a good 10% over top of healthy range and my waist/ratio is still very top of healthy.

Another one here to say to up your cardio. I used to do a lot of strength training, yoga, Pilates and cardio and the one thing that shifted the weight and made a massive difference to slimming me off was couch to 5k. I plan to restart this soon as I’ve recently had a baby and feel down about my weight gain. It was hard work, but slow and steady wins the race. Also agree with taking measurements and try not to get obsessed with weighing yourself. Keep up the good work. The health benefits will be huge :).

I started running in August and cut out all the rubbish at the same time. Three meals, but I could eat as much as I needed at meal times. (Meals are mostly healthy stuff and I knew it was the crap that was causing the weight.) This time I said to myself I wasn’t going to weigh and not expect any miracles. I’ve now gone down a dress size - I had my too tight skirt which when fitted was replaced by too tight jeans and now is replaced by another pair of jeans which I measure my progress. I allowed myself back on the chocolate but back off it again as of today. It was getting back to crafting in the evening to distract together with a mug of herbal tea instead of chocolate!
I wasn’t heavy enough for the jabs but running keeps me sane. Everytime I’ve cleaned up my act before, I lost weight fast and then put it back on - this time it’s much more of a lifestyle change and not focus on the scales which has helped. So up to you with the jabs, but slow and steady can work too.

This.

Take measurements of your body alongside looking at the scales. You might find you are losing more inches than you realise.

unless you're doing loads of cardio, you won't lose lots of weight at the gym, but you will build muscle. weight loss is more about diet (hence the jabs working). lots of protein, limited carbs and intermittent fasting.

If obese, both gym and jabs is best. For me, weight training was a non-negotiable condition of using the jabs. I have in the past lost a lot of weight on a shake-based vlcd only doing cardio with no strength training. It absolutely destroyed my metabolism and made maintaining a lower weight impossible because (I now realise) I had lost so much muscle mass.

It means I spend around £500 a month on the medication plus personal trainer, but I am losing weight sustainably and keeping my body healthy, strong and mobile.

If you aren't obese to begin with, stick with the gym and healthy nutrition.

Two different things.

You can lose weight without going to the gym at all, and you can fail to lose weight going to the gym every day. So it depends on your focus and goals.

Whatever you do at the gym, if weight loss is your focus, then food is 80% of the issue regardless. If your aim is mainly to become fitter and stronger, then gym is the place (although I do all my exercise in my home gym so don’t need a membership, but obviously had an initial outlay instead). But weight loss may or may not come as a result, it entirely depends on your diet.

I think both help to balance out each side of the equation, but if you aren't doing WLIs then you do have to be on it with monitoring your food intake if you want to lose weight in a meaningful way, regardless of gym activity.

It was non optional for me too, although I do a mix of weights and cardio, about 60/40, as heart health is also important.

I see a lot of people who don’t exercise on the journey, and then don’t like what they see at the end with loose skin and an untoned body, no definition, flat backsides etc and also then having to maintain on very low amount of cals.

muscle is active, it burns cals even at rest. Fat is inactive. So if you lose muscle your tdee or maintenance cals drop, it becomes utterly miserable to maintain with constant hunger and virtually impossible.

focusing on protecting muscle and losing fat has to be the number one priority and the only way to do this is to consume enough protein and weight train throughout, then when you hit goal immediately move to body recomp and rebuild any muscle you lost whilst dropping any remaining excess body fat and maintaining weight, as we all will lose some during weight loss, but protecting it as much as possible and minimising that is beyond critical.

Lifting weights and scales don't go together OP. Did you take your starter photos?

If you haven't, take your photos, front, side and back. Use tape measures and take some more photos in about 6 weeks to compare.

Your shape will change, you'll gain muscle and lose fat but the scales might not show it that much. The numbers will go down though but don't use them as an accurate measurement of progress

Have you been measuring your waist too? That's a better tool if you're weight lifting because you may be creating a lot of muscle but losing fat.

Also with the calorie deficit, it really does seem to depend on the person, I'm 5"4 and started at 14 stone on Jan 5th, I've been eating around 1400 calories a day and doing pretty much no exercise and I've lost around 9lb. I've had friends who had to restrict themselves to less than 1000 a day to see any noticeable difference

I don’t think it has to be one or the other. Ideally both together. If I had to prioritise based on cost though, the gym wins every time for me. As others have said, think of the benefits beyond weight loss.

How do your pre-gym clothes feel? Agree with PP re gaining muscle. The muscle gain can disguise the weight loss but you could be trimmer overall. 3lbs is great in a month, especially with Xmas in the middle! It’s actually super, IMO. Best of luck, whichever option you go with. Xxx

Gym all the way.

It’s really not muscle gain,it’s virtually impossible to gain muscle when in a calorie deficit.

Weight loss is 90% diet.
However, all your strength training will be great as you’ll be setting your body up for weight loss by developing your muscle

Try the human being diet, Petronella Raven(??). People I know who have done it have had incredible results. Very easy to look into.

You won’t be gaining muscle after one month going to the gym. Building muscle takes longer than that, at least a year to see results. Reducing calories is the best way to lose weight.