Ok so maybe someone can help me figure this out..a lot of what I was reading confused me..
I am on Atkins..been following pretty regularly.. ok..I was down to 155 lbs..I started curves 3 weeks ago and I lift girlie weights(as someone said) at home and i do sit ups and lleg lifts etc..everynight..I have notice muscle building when I flex my arms..ok so my problem is...I've gone to 160lbs..feel bloated, have been drinking water..Am I gaining weight due to muscle and when should i expect to see my waist getting smaller..I don't care about the scale as much as long as I';m losing inches..Did I explain this right..Hope you can help, because I am going off Atkins if I continue to gain and go to weight watchers..

Thanks michelle

Here's the thing for a lot of people who go on Atkins for the first time - they start eating PROTEIN. Nutrient partitioning *alone* will often cause the body to add muscle even with no exercise or with light cardio. This is covered nicely in the BodyRX book. It's kind of like, if you put eggs ground beef and a few bread crumbs in the oven, you get meatloaf. If you but eggs, butter, flour and chocolate chips, you get cookies. The product (muscle) is often determined more by the ingredients than the activity. So, given that many here are going on the the diet for the first time (or they wouldn't be asking the standard week three question) AND they are exercising for the first time (so they are getitng the newbie bonus), that significantly changes the equation in favor of slightly unusual muscle gains.

As for this particular genetic freak, after putting on 12 lbs of lean in my first BFL Challenge, I'll keep you posted as to how the next one goes.

Cheers,

Friday

How frustrating! I TOTALLY understand how irritating this can be.

Now, to clear something up: you CANNOT have gained 5 pounds of muscle in 3 weeks from doing mostly cardio with some light lifting.
Actually, as a woman, you CANNOT have gained 5 pounds of muscle in 3 weeks, PERIOD.
I'm not sure a MAN could gain 5 pounds of muscle in 3 weeks. Maybe on juice.

You are holding water. This should pass soon.

And you might consider upping the weights you lift - it'll help burn off more fat.

Thank you Built...gives me hope...so should I go to about 5 to 10 lb weights..? Thanks for your input.

michelle

Hi 3xmommy - I'm going to your journal.

GOSH..I haven't posted in there for quite a while...You'll notice that when I first started I drank a ton of diet cokes..I still have about 3 at the most, but now it's mostly water.. Today I ate 3 eggs and a piece of homemade celery sausage and a glass of water for lunch salad w/ blue cheese and 2 hamburgers.. I did 20 sit ups and did 3 sets of 10 with the cans that I have..different variations of lifts and then I put my hands on the table and did backwards sit ups..that's my routine usually and 3x weekly for curves..
My menu is usually the same..dinner wil be Alfredo sauce with chicken and brocolli..
thanks for all your help..