Now that I've stopped going to the gym I've started losing weight

[thirdistheonewiththehairychest]

A brief history:

April 2022 - career change from teaching into a desk job, resulting in surprisingly quick weight gain.

Sept 2022 - joined the gym and weight has been steady since then. Mostly doing light weights to tackle flabby areas and cardio stuff (rowing machine, cross trainer etc). Slight frustration that my weight is not returning to my ideal.

Nov 2023 - Big asthma flare-up so stopped going to the gym while I recovered.

This morning - weighed myself and I've lost a couple of pounds. No change to diet etc.

I'm not really sure where to go from here! I think I probably need to start running more but my asthma probably won't tolerate that at the moment...

Any advice? I'm kinda new to this whole thing.

Are you maybe eatljng less because you aren't coming home from the gym famished / don't need as much energy?

I guess depending on how big you are, a couple of pounds of loss could be negligible. I can 'lose' and 'gain' more than that in different stages of my menstrual cycle.

If you're small enough that you're confident it's a genuine 'loss', then could it be that you've lost muscle mass since stopping training?

Depends what you're wanting to achieve. If I stopped going to the gym and ate the same I'd lose weight as I'd lose muscle. If I wanted to lose fat I'd eat less. I go to the gym to be strong and build muscle. What you want to do depends on what you want to achieve.

Muscle weighs more than fat. Stop looking at the scale and go by how your clothes and fitness feels.

Muscle doesn’t weigh more than fat, a lb of anything weighs a lb! Muscle is more dense so a lb of muscle is smaller than a lb of fat.
if you’re only lifting small weights and doing cardio you’re not going to be building huge amounts of muscle.
i also loose best when I don’t exercise! 🤷🏻‍♀️

Exercise can make you really hungry, your appetite has probably decreased since you stopped

I can fluctuate by a couple of pounds from day to day, so you are being over optimistic thinking a single change in your weight is down to any change in behaviour.

Any exercise is beneficial but you can’t out-train a bad diet, (unless you are training for a triathlon or something !) so you should mainly look at your diet if you want to lose weight.

You know exactly what they mean when they say this. Why is there always someone waiting in a dark corner to give lectures on a lb being a lb?

@ManchesterLu because it’s wrong and so people believe they’re gaining weight because they’re lifting a couple of kg twice a week rather than the fact that they’re simply eating too much!!

That’s not possible. A kilo of muscle and a kilo of fat weigh exactly the same.

What you mean is that muscle has less volume than fat.

It’s stress related. If you’re stressing your body too much with exercise it hangs onto fat stores because you’re in fight/flight. It’s a well known phenomenon.

Had every eating disorder going and now I’m 55 and happy with my body 65% of the time…had to stop running 8 years ago because of too much wear and tear on my knees. Got myself a pedometer 3 years ago and do my 10,000 steps every day (I allow myself a ‘shorter’ 8,000 steps once a week) get outside for a walk, dance in your lounge to your favourite tunes, get the steps in anyway you like but anyone with asthma can walk or step from side to side and boost their metabolism. Try it-especially the dancing- you will find it easier than you think and what’s more- you’ll smile! X

When people say muscle weighs more than fat they mean by volume, muscle will weigh more than fat. A cubic cm of muscle weighs more than a cubic cm of fat.

Which is what density means 🙄
ironic really!

Lights weights/high reps help build muscular endurance and can be good cardio conditioning but if you want to change body shape you need to lift heavier weights (or harder bodyweight exercises) for fewer reps https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/the-correct-number-of-reps-per-set-in-the-gym/. You can't spot reduce fat.

I think both your timescales are too short to judge anything tbh, and that is not a big variation.

Exercise is good for you regardless of weight loss (tho a good exercise programme should help you lose weight without having to measure everything/restrict unduly IMO and IME). I (upper 50s) strength train quite seriously now and do eg boxing and other high intensity stuff too, but I lost most weight just by walking and skipping breakfast (aka IF) when I was about 50. I couldn't do that now because I have to eat to train. I don't find extra cardio makes much of a difference really to my weight - tho it is good for my health. I can eat a lot and maintain my weight (so I weigh more than friends whose clothes fit me) these days because I have more muscle built through 6 years of strength training.

So I would find what works for you asthma wise - but maybe swap out the light weights for a good Pilates or proper strength programme if you can and do whatever cardio you can for CV fitness etc (https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/exercise-guidelines/physical-activity-guidelines-for-adults-aged-19-to-64/)

But are you slimmer and fitter?

I lost several pounds when I had Covid - loss of appetite but also mainly water loss as I sweated buckets for three nights in a row. I woke up and felt my body was thinner just from sweating, checked the scales and was several pounds lighter than i had been the previous week.

What you mean is that muscle has less volume than fat.
If you're going to be a pedant about it, you can't have it both ways. A litre of muscle has exactly the same volume as a litre of fat.
In the context of weight loss, and wanting to be slimmer, it makes perfect sense to say muscle weighs more than fat.