5’0” pear shaped thick thighed F for context (probably around 26%bf). Thought I’d share some observations of my body changes since ramping up my gym going for those who are struggling to see differences.
-I first retained a lot of water and thought I was gaining weight despite my workouts
-Next at the 4 week mark a friend mentioned I’d lost some weight visibly to her (I did not notice nor did the scale change)
-At 6 weeks my inner thighs were a little less jiggly and I noticed an indent of muscle when I’d twist my leg a certain way
At 8 weeks I saw that my biceps looked more muscular and my calves more sculpted
At 10 weeks I felt my back didn’t bulge as much when I’d twist my stomach went from feeling firm to being more soft (as if I lost upper rib cage weight but not yet lower belly fat)
At 12 weeks I noticed I gained weight on the scale. My waist is 2” wider and so is my butt the caveat is that I look muscular and have more ab indentation, back muscles have grown, legs firmer
Anyhow the point being it has been helpful for me to consider overall areas of fat loss and muscle development progressively, maybe it will help someone in their thinking too. Strong believer in using a scale with caution. Having my belly go soft first was discouraging at first but now I see for me it’s been slow fat loss and muscle development in it’s place.
@music1 Right. Friends and family are the first to notice your weight change. They are not looking in the mirror everyday. Water weight might be due to muscles getting used to working out. Is it the lactic acid? Honest I forget what it is called
@sneebuck Exactly. I read it’s something like you pull in water when your muscles have micro-tears to grow the muscle and your body can take a bit to adjust, it’s not always a linear progress as you are figuring out your nutrition/recovery/progress
@megnic7 For me it started off where I was basically skinny fat, my stomach held fat high and seemingly firmer (visceral fat?) so when I started working out more it never seemed like my stomach was changing because in my measurements my back was getting stronger too. It’s like I built muscle on top of the fat first and now it’s chipping away at it. So I would say it then went to loss of fat at the upper rib cage and the fat seemed more noticeable and squishy to me around and below the belly button. Today I think the lower belly has shrunk a bit based on some clothes I put on. I can very slowly see the differences looking at my body as a whole!
@godisgood2011 ~60g of protein seems to work for me atm, keeping in mind I’m no expert and slowly trying to reach my goals as a lifestyle change vs a boot camp style deal. I adjust based on how I feel and my performance the next workout. I sometimes take glutamine too. Incorporating more chickpeas, black beans and yogurt based sauces/dip have been great for protein.
I do at least 2 full body lifting sessions (intensive) per week. Sometimes a third simpler workout of like elliptical, rowing and weights. I also try to go for an hour walk on the weekend or some sort of winter cardio with friends like skating during the week.
