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?

3lbs is great, well done. If you feel 10lbs lighter, that 7lbs that didn't show up on the scale is the health benefits of what you are doing.

Don't forget weight doesn't build up overnight so the best way for most people is to lose it slowly too. Good luck with the rest of your journey.

Jealousy? I don’t care what you believe, please stop talking to me and attacking me.

I trained (dancing) with a woman who in my eyes was absolute stunner. Had this sex appeal of innocence and awesome curves in the right places.
She wasn’t confident at all but when I trained with her I admired all the above and it came out in her moves.

She was bottom heavy. Boobs, thin waist pretty flat belly and wide hips thick thighs. I shared about my weight issues and she shared she had PCOS and has started monjaro recently.

I was shocked as I thought she was gorgeous and I wanted her body lol

I stopped dancing, but I saw online she had advanced her training a lot. She had dropped 3 stone or more and is still absolutely stunning but her shape is gone.

We crossed paths briefly shortly after and she told me that while she is happy with the weight loss she is actually struggling a lot with losing her shape and is now too skinny….

You have a reason to mar your choice - stick to it and don’t let others dishearten you. Doesn’t make your frustration less valid though

These jabs are not healthy without an accompanying resistance training and nutrition programme. Try and take measurements of arms and legs (upper thighs) and midriff. Take three measurements and divide to get the median.

as PP said you are doing very well, try not to focus on the scales. Many of my clients don’t lose weight immediately but they start to firm up and put on muscle, resulting in no actually weightloss as such but rather in feeling their clothes fit better.

Coming back to the GLP1 jabs: they do have a place for those who hi qualify but should be accompanied by a dedicated strengthening programme and support with nutrition. If they are just taken on their own you’ll see a loss of lean muscle as well as fat, each cycle making you weaker (muscle atrophy/sarcopenia) and once you stop taking them you’ll pile the weight back on and so a vicious cycle starts.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40289060/

Honestly though. With gym work ypu do need to stop focusing on the weight number on the scale and start measuring other things. I am sure you look healthier and you sound like you're in a great place ! Bravo OP !

I am not sure you will qualify for the jabs with only 2 stones to loose. What is your BMI?

It would also have to be a very expensive gym to be comparable cost wise to the jabs. I have been on Mounjaro for 15 months and am on the highest does. Even with an offer it costs £230 per month! I had 6 stone to loose though. With 2 stone to loose, I wouldn't have used them.

3lb in 3 and a bit weeks is still good, especially if you are relatively new to exercising or exercising more than usual. There can be muscle gain, water retention or inflamation which affects what shows on the scales and should settle over time. Cutting alcohol definitely helps.

Exercise alone won't make up for a bad diet though. Maybe track your calories. Skipping breakfast/intermittent fasting is just a way of eating less so it doesn't matter whether you do it that way, or spread your calories throughout the day.

Presumably if your husband is on WLIs then he isn't over eating and that might help you also stick to a calorie defecit. Google TDEE calculator to work out what you should be having to loose 1lb a week and then do that. The weight you want to loose will be gone by the summer.

You’re not dangerously overweight so I’d stick at it. Join the low carb bootcamp threads on here, you will get fast results! Also whilst the WLIs are great for people who have tried and failed to lose weight other ways, and are risking their health through obesity, a downside that I’ve seen is that losing weight really fast does leave people with a lot of saggy skin and stretch marks. I have a friend who used them
and now has a fantastic figure but it’s really not done her skin any favours at all, she has aged a lot. I’d stick it out longer, it’s only been a month!

Keep it up OP!
4 weeks is no time at all really. Plus the training and protein will be increasing muscle mass (muscle weights significantly more than fat)

I know it is not a popular opinion on here, but I really believe that losing weight with will power and a change of lifestyle is going to be much better for me, long term, compared to using the jabs.

I have been doing calorie deficiti, upping protein and doing strength training. I've only "lost" 2lbs but my body has completely changed shape and my scales say I've lost a stone of fat and gained nearly a stone of muscle. Gone from 34% body fat to 22%. If it was based on weight only I would be disappointed with 2 lbs!

Do the jabs and the gym. That's what I did. I have kept my weight off and I'm stronger.

It's not the easy way at all, you still have to put the work in (they don't melt fat) and even if it is, so what? Why do people want to martyr themselves thinking, I'll do it the natural and most difficult way. I have trained hard, eaten well and the jabs helped. I'm keeping the weight off by continuing as I did on the jabs.

Read my next post. It is easier mentally as it stops the food noise and you can focus on the training and the lifestyle change. I repeatedly did say that If I had the option I would have had them myself.

so may I ask why are you attacking me and making personal remarks??? You do not know me. I have supported OP choice and expressed shared frustration.

This is a great post and representative of the value of decent workouts and nutrition. And of the fact its only fat loss, not total body weight, that's really important.

In the longer term, muscle really makes your metabolism faster and more likely to use calories to feed muscle, not store extra fat, while leptin levels are really managed a lot better if you exercise regularly meaning you're more likely to keep appetite and snacking under control. Your blood sugar and insulin response is also more effective under these conditions. Its all part of how good diet plus exercise equals more likelihood of losing weight permanently.

Jabs make you lose weight faster but thats also because it does way less of all the sophisticated other benefits that exercise plus good diet does (thats why the second is slower but overall more likely to benefit you).

No judgement from me of what people choose for their individual situation and choice, though.

I'm not attacking you, I'm responding to a comment. This is how these forums work.

Is this why the gladiators all eat like 5000 calories per day? I don’t really understand this

Yes basically, but also they work out a huge amount so need it to fuel themselves.

This is utter nonsense. The medication doesn’t make you lose weight faster, how can you be wading in and so ill informed; your rate of weight loss is fully dependent on how many cals you consume. And a good diet and exercise is not mutually exclusive to the injections, in fact for many of us they go hand in hand.

please take some time to at least spend some cursory mins googling and learning the basics on the meds.

The simplest easiest way I've lost weight and relatively quickly nearly a stone in a month. Intermittent fasting 16/18 hours and last 2 weeks ive added a keto diet but even that is super simple not strict or calorie counting.

That's without really adding in exercising I do walk daily and cycle but nothing major. Its all about eating less and what I am eating is high in fat and protein so I'm fuller for longer. Its been such a game changer and something I can see myself keeping up even when I add in treats. Mentally it's so simple to say to myself I eat between 10am and then stop at 6pm. Many days I'm not even hungry till 1pm. And I really do love my food so quite the change for me.

You could do both, I do.

I stopped drinking on New Year’s Day, started going to the gym 2 weeks ago.
Ive also got 2 stone to lose, I’m only 5”1 so am only a few pounds off being obese.
Ive lost 4lb so far, I’m aiming for a 1lb a week, slow and steady wins the race.
it’s taken me years to put all this fat on so it’s not reasonable to expect it to drop off fast with a relatively small amount to lose and a low calorie allowance, I’m looking forward to being slim again but I also want to be healthy.
Keep going op, as others have said also take your measurements and some photos.

I'm quite a few stones overweight and have decided this is the year that will change. I have looked in to weight loss jabs and have been reading in to it and contemplating over the last 18 months. What I've read has made me come to the conclusion that losing the weight without medication sounds much more sustainable. The biggest thing for me is the concern that you need to stay on them for life or you risk piling it back on and that just isn't for me or my bank balance. So I've started eating better and doing more exercise. It may be slower but in my opinion the risks with the jabs just dont add up for me.

GLP affects insulin so it does make you lose weight faster. It curbs hunger reducing calories but it also how these are broken down and metabolism. You are misinformed.

Additionally for people who are new to weight training, muscle gain DOES happen in caloric deficit. It is called recomposition where your muscles draw what they need from the stored fat. Hence muscle gain and fat loss occur simultaneously and is VERY common in the first year of training. It gets harder down the line due to how muscles expand.

you need to inform yourself on how biology works

You’ll have to eat better and exercise forever to maintain your weightloss either way. Good luck to you! 🙌

No. Extremely had for women to build muscle.

Op - what you see on the scales is just your mass.
As long as you are tracking calories than you will be fine

Dexa scan will show minimal muscle