8 Weeks of Strength/Cardio no weight loss

[njoette]

Frustrated because I've been paying a personal trainer to assist me with weight loss and overall toning. Been 8 weeks and I've lost 0 pounds. I'm on the treadmill/treadclimber 5X per week at 50+ min at a heart rate of 125-135 and strength training 4X per week at 6 reps 4 sets for various muscle groups such as shoulders and tricepts and core, chest, legs. He has me on a 1650 calorie diet also. I'm drinking whey protein in the AM plus before and after working out on the strength training days with added carbs of 95 after the strength training workout. I've gained 4% muscle but lost no weight and my clothes don't fit any better. What am I doing wrong? Please help I'm frustrated and about to give up.

[njoette]

I forgot to put my stats:

I'm 38
Weight : 170lbs
Medium Frame

Routine: 6 reps 4 sets to muscle exhaustion

Mon & Thurs: Chest Press, Flys, Tricept Raise, Push Ups, Kneeling Tricept Extension, Reverse Dips, Lying Tricept Ext, Squats and Lunges

Tue & Fri: Forward Lat Raise, Lat Raise, Military Press, Bent over reverse flys, Bicept Curls, Upright Rows, Shoulder Shrugs, crunches w/dumbell, jacknife obliques w/leg weights, side bent singles, leg raises, superman's

Also 5 days of cardio walking/treadclimber for 50 minutes at heart rate of 120-135

[swanso5]

- too much low int cardio...i would have you doing sprints 1/week, intervals 2/wek and maybe an easy session such what you're doing now
- wts wise your volume is too low...i'd have ytou doing sets of 10 - 12 using compound exercises in 3 full body workouts a week
- i'd start you on 14 cal's per pound of bodyweight and decrease when needed from there
- i'd have you only drinking shakes after training, 1/day...solid food burns more cal's digesting so increases metabolism
- if you've gained muscle then your body fat % will have dropped and if your wt hasn't changed then you've increased muscle and decreased fat at the same time

[njoette]

So what are sprints and how many for how long and how many days per week.

And what are intervals and how many for how long and how many days per week?

Thirdly - compound exercises are what and how many reps/sets

As for the calories that would bring me up to 2380 per day which seems high. Am I starving myself now with the program I have been on?

I have gone from 32% body fat to 28% body fat in 6 weeks but see no real change in the fit of my clothing at all.

[HOUSTON TEXAN]

Sprints are run 40 yards as fast as you can ten times with 1.5 minute breaks in between.

Intervals are when you stay at a slow steady pace and then go into full speed for a short amount of time and then back to the previous pace. It is kind of the same thing as sprints so I would do them 3x a week on non lift days. On lift days I would do some uphill walking for calf development 10 incline on treadmill and figure out a pace that works well for you and don't hold on to the bars like some old fat lady who thinks she is actually burning all of those calories.

Compound exercises are exercises that work more than one muscle group ex. deadlifts, dips.

Your starving yourself.

What are your goals? Low bf%?

[swanso5]

- for sprints i'd do 5 x 50m with 30secs rest in btw them then increase 1 set each week
- intervals are the ame but a bit longer and usually for time so you might do 1min easy as you can followed by 1min as hard as you can x 10 - 15mins...any longer than 15 - 20mins and you're noyt doing the intervals hard enough
- compound exercisea are thosae that require the use of more than 1 joint so squats, lunges, deadlifts, push ups, bench presses, chin ups, rows and shoulder presses are your best bets here
- for my clients i usually have a lower body, a rwo, a bench press/push up and a core stabiliation exercise and do 3 x 12 in a circuit fashion
- if you're hungrty and feel run down then yes you are atarving yourself...you're also doing 9 sessions a week and what your eating now wouldn;t even be enough to fuel all of them let alone anything else
- a 4% bf loss is great in 4 weeks though si i would think you'd be seeing some changes

[DianaB]

Instead of looking at the scale, look in the mirror, are you noticing any body comp changes with the 4% loss?

Women often lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously, which has been the case for you (going by the numbers anyway). We also lose from the top to the bottom, meaning your arms are going to look better before your hips do. 1650 seems a bit low. You'd need about 1750 (based on a height of 5'5") to lose weight if you were not doing ANY sort of activity.

Look into NROL (New Rules of Lifting) for Women (or just NROL, same thing basically). The focus is on compound movements which are the best thing foe weight loss. Here is a link for more info:
http://www.cassandraforsythe.com/
Cassandra is a really nice person and if you have questions about the book or program, she will respond to you and help you out.

[njoette]

Thanks to all for your responses.

I think the goal for my trainer was to build muscle as fast as possible so that later my body would burn more calories on it's own. I also forgot to mention that he gives us a cheat day 1X per week where we drink probably upwards of 500 calories. He stated slow and steady walking burns fat better than anything else and originally had us walking 4-5 days per week at 110-120 heart rate. But since no weight loss has occurred he upped it to 125-135 5X per week.

I am 5' 5" tall and I"ve seen minor changes in my body mainly in my butt and hips yet my clothing still doesn't fit better especially my pants. I've almost quit since this is week 8 and I haven't seen the scale move. What should I be telling him? He keeps saying weight loss will happen - which is part of what I'm looking for. I want a leaner body and I feel pretty bulky right now. I'll check out that website NROL and see if that helps. But what should I convey to my trainer to tonight regarding calorie intake and no loss of weight?

[swanso5]

- i wouldn't sgree with that walking thing...it may but it's not efficient enough and doesn't cause no where near the metabolic disturbence that sprints do
- building muscle is the best way to go about but you need volume and intensity to do so and i think you're volume is too low
- eat caloreis don;t drink them, ecspecially for fat loss

i suggest printing this out and going through it with him and see's what he says about it or at least bring up some points from this...

i.e. i've heard that soprints are far better for fat loss, what do you think? etc

[Boss Man]

I suspected as much the moment you said you'd lost nothing.

Some muscle gain and Fat loss, will often equal no weight change, but a better bodymass composition, which overall despite a pretty stable weight level, is healthier.

[njoette]

Okay so my trainer came over lastnight and took my body fat and I've gone down almost 6% in fat content. So the lifting to muscle exhaustion with 4-6 reps at 4 sets seems to be building muscle alright. I've also gone done in weight to 168.5 over the past day. So maybe the snowball affect he keeps telling me about is beginning. My husband who has been on this same program with me has lost 5 lbs in the past week. I'm hoping we are over the hump and will now being to see the weight come off.

He asked me to reduce my caloric intake by 100 more calories to see a greater weight loss but still taking the Whey Protein in the AM before treadmill and then before and after our strength training workouts. He also put me on L-Arginine Powder before my workouts. I will keep you posted as to my progress. I know that if I'm doing all of this I should see results in time, right? With the fat loss my body will run more efficient thus burning more calories...

[Boss Man]

I wouldn't be concerned about the weight loss in one day. That could come from a few things.

A: When you weighed compared to previous time, creating a fluctuation in readings.

B: Changes in Water intake.

C: Changes in the weight of your food. Remembering that something with 25g of protein in, like a standard piece of Steak, may weigh more than a few slices of turkey, depnding on weight, so if you've eaten a load of calories but from sources with a lighter weight, that could drop weight when you weigh, if you're not carrying the same weight in you at weigh time.

This would depend on if you weigh last thing at night, during the day, or first thing. Obviously if ytou weigh first thing, undigested food shouldn't have any bearing on a reading, only waste products you haven't expelled, should then be a factor.

D: Other peripheral factors for weight loss, could include weighing when semi-naked as opposed to naked, becasue of clothing weight, or if you have a serious haircut the day before, you may weigh less due to lower weight of Hair.

[swanso5]

- the worse thing you can do is to keep cutting cal's...you've built more muscle so you actually need more cal's to sustain it as you're metabolism will increase...the calorie decrease will not be enough to suistain your new muscle level and therefore you'll lose that muscle that you just gained
- too many shakes, far too many...you'll regret that move i can guarantee...shakes decrease metabolism which is the oppsite of what you want for fat loss
- fat loss doesn't mean that you'll automatically burn more cal's, ecspecially with the cal cutting, shake drinking thing you're on

[njoette]

Boss Man -
- I weight myself in the AM only and today I'm at 169 again. Feeling frustrated although I'm losing fat and building muscle I'd love to see the scale move.
- Do you feel the same as Swanso5 that I'm not eating enough calories? My trainer stated that I would be storing fat and not gaining muscle and losing tons of weight if I was not eating enough calories...
- How long until I see weight loss doing this training method or will I ever see weight loss?

Swanso5
- I continue to build muscle which shows me I'm doing something right - I'd love to be able to eat a bit more but I'm never starving. I've been eating an egg mcmuffin (homeade with egg beaters and salsa) in the AM - 200 calories and then I have a Fiber One Bar for a snack and then for lunch I usually have yogurt w/strawberries and granola, another snack in the afternoon I eat carrots and string cheese, then dinner is whatever I cook -- usually healthy like chicken and white rice or some sort of caserole that is lowfat. All that plus whey protein in the Am and before and after a weight training workout. I also have white bread, 1/2 banana and honey after the weight training workout and sometimes raisins.

- My overall goal is to get lean and lose weight before summer. After 8 weeks of this program I feel I'm seeing the fat loss on the monitor but nowhere else. I see my body looking different but not smaller.

- Instead of shakes what would you recommend? A shake after workout only and then some simple carbs like I'm doing. And maybe a shake in the Am before doing the treadmill?

-

[swanso5]

- the scale will move sooner or later...it's all about body fat % not total wt...if you were 10% body fat but still 169 i bet you'd be pretty happy with yourself
- you may not be losing m,uscle now but you will...as i said, the more muscle you have the more you need to have but you're building muscle and cutting calories...that does not add up in my book
- avoid bars, eat proper food
- you only need fruit for 1st 2 meals of the day...if training in the morning then 1 peice before training is all you'll have...you don;t need fruit after training
- no where enough solid protein from the looks of that
- go to dietsection and read "read before posting..."