Advanced lifter question
 

Former army ranger so I'm not new to a gym. Just blew up like a complete idiot since getting out of the army and living like most people 5 years ago.
I've decided to make the lifestyle change to LC and I've decided to return to the gym to restore my old army glory. However I've noticed I am not really losing any weight, and I'm sure most of you are thinking "your exchanging fat for muscle don't check a scale etc" But I've been the same weight for 3 weeks now +/- 1.5lbs. Normally I would not bitch because I feel great and I do feel leaner and everyone has noticed the bulking up. But I don't think its possible to put on enough muscle to counter the fat loss at this rate. It would be like I'm gaining 5lbs of muscle a week which I doubt. Have any of you had a similar experience? I'm doing my cardio, taking my supplements and I always drink ample water while following the plan to a T. I'm sitting at 239 lbs and I'm 5'9 which means I would be a massive mofo if I exchanged all fat for muscle and stayed at the same weight. Those of you that had a similar experience how long do you think it took your body to adjust and start burning fat again? I dont think im stalled because my work outs would make me get past any simple solutions like that. Thanks for any input you guys give on your experience lifting as a low carber.

I would start by dropping my calories. Without knowing what you're doing in the gym, you'll probably be better off by adding more to your training as well.

About the same as you i am 37 5 feet 10 and around 220 pounds.

Not sure if you can drop fat and replace it all with muscle mass, my medical doctor got me a BF% test and he said that at 22% its normal and i am ok like this. I want to drop the pounds because i am too heavy right now.

I did low carb a few times, first week or so you can easly drop 10 pounds, men lose weight faster then women, that weight is water weight after that initial 10 pounds you will need to adjust calories, weight lifting and cardio and really try to lose no more then 1 pound a week to avoid losing muscles. On low carb its a bit hard because you have no glycogen in the body and you might experience some serious energy loss. At least i do when i reach ketosis but the weight i lose is quit impressive.

yeah, Ive been getting comments but the scale doesnt budge minus a 1.5lb fluctuation. I'm doing everything I think I could possibly do. I'm headed out to buy a tape measurer today so I can just measure myself for inches lost/gained and the hell with my weight.

Definitely take your measurments, it really helps when the scale is pissing you off.

Also, if you aren't in a HUGE rush to lose weight, eat what you've been eating and track it for a week with the My Plan tool they have here.

You're obviously eating maintenance calories right now if you haven't lost anything in three weeks.

You may have gained a LITTLE muscle, but you're surely not displacing fat with muscle at an alarming rate in just three weeks.

Also, when you start lifting, you WILL hold more water because them muscles ain't used to the stress just yet. When they get used to it, you won't retain as much.

Anyway, so try tracking your cals and then chop some off so you know you're in a deficit. You'll definitely see some weightloss then and start to get shredded!

And since you haven't done any exercise/lifting in such a long time, you're going to have the pleasure of some SERIOUS newbie gains in the muscle department even if you ARE in a caloric deficit... which is awesome and very rewarding/inspiring.

Good luck and keep us posted! Start a journal or a gym log here so we can hepp ya out!

Julia

True measure of loss should come from the inches you lose not the scale. It's always nice to see it come off in that form as well but as long as you are losing inches that means you are most definitly losing fat. Unless, you aren't eating enough protein to maintain the muscle which means you could be losing some of that too. Then again, as you mentioned, something should be giving on the scale you would think. Anyhow, be sure to drink plenty of water. That is the magic ingredient to weight loss. 64oz per day plus about 8oz additional for every 25lbs you wish to lose. And, a little extra water if you are particularly active in working out. If you are really sticking to the LC diet as planned and drinking plenty of water, you should no doubt be losing the fat. Hope this helps