It's not muscle

[Squidgit]

Hey fellow noobs! I'm here to lose the 30 pounds that have become part of my life. My weight has gone up steadily over the past year, sticking at 140 for about 6 months before it felt it should be more. I did another workout site and I did kickboxing for a few months. I did intermittent fasting, low carb, calorie deficit... ugh. My boyfriend bought a scale aaannnddd I stepped on it. I almost cried. I have been trying to do cardio everyday for the past few weeks and I work a job where I'm on my feet all the time. I was really inspired by Staci's story. I wouldn't mind being 140 again if I could be fit like her! I hear cardio is king, but then there's the argument for strength training. Which should I do first? I did a lean mass calculation and I'm about 113 lb (at 5ft tall) of lean mass. So, again, cardio or strength training? I'm confused!! As for diet, I'm following the Serotonin Power Diet since I think my weight gain is connected to my medication. I'm getting frustrated and feeling a little more defeated each day I step on the scale and have not dropped below 160. In other words, NOOD DOWN! NOOD DOWN! HOSTILES APPROACHING! MEDIC!!!

[animuse]

*wanders in, sticks a bandaid on your forehead*

 

FWIW, I started with both cardio and weight lifting. Cardio's good for losing calories right now, while weight lifting is good for burning calories over a few days as your body builds the muscle, and the more muscle you have the more calories your body will burn naturally, so it all depends on what kind of schedule you want to do and what you'd like to do (just remember that gradual change is better for lasting change, so start slow and work your way up!). 

 

The hardest part for me what figuring out how many calories I should be eating - that took about 6 months until I started researching how much above my base metabolic rate I should be eating. And as you stated, sometimes meds can make things wonky. Even having more carbs or salt than normal can throw it off o.o

And please don't forget that dropping that weight will take some time! And that the scale is a filthy liar, there are so many things that can throw it off. A good way to get started is to see what your starting point is, but have you also taken measurements/photos to compare against for later? If you do strength training know that the scale will be way slower to change but your measurements will shift quickly since you'll be gaining more dense muscle.