Muscle Gain and Fat Loss

I had my three month postop checkup last week. I was a bit upset over the amount of weight I had lost, but after using the body analyzer scale and comparing my numbers to the TWO month checkup numbers, she told me I had lost 17 lbs of fat but gained 8.5 pounds of muscle, resulting in only an 8.5 lbs loss.

I kind of find that hard to swallow. Am I wrong? Doesn't it take a pretty good amount of calories and protein to build muscle, at all, even a pound? I am working out but not like you guys do. I am taking in between 80-100 grams of protein daily and about 800-1000 calories. I would guess I am losing muscle as rapidly as fat right now.

I am not the expert but from everything I have seen and heard it is a lot easier for an untrained person with a low amount of muscle to add muscle weight in the beginning. And even though you are not "eating" a lot of calories when you are in the losing stage you still have "stored" calories that your body can use. And while you are in the beginning stage you can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. It sounds to me like you had a GREAT month. Remember this is not as much about the "weight" you lose but the "fat" you lose. Count every pound of muscle you add as a huge advantage you will have later to fight regain. Slowing your weight loss on the scale to keep or add some muscle is not a bad thing. I bet pictures from a month ago would show you a huge difference even if the scale doesn't.

I would much rather lose slower and gain muscle, truly. I just didn't think it was possible to gain that much muscle in a short period of time. Its good to hear that. I have seen a huge difference in clothes and inches and sizes....from a 20 to a 12 and LOTS of inches, ten on my waist and hips alone.

I've read a lot about glycogen and how your body stores it, etc, and it seems to explain the stalls I've had, if anything at all explains it.

Just going to keep doing what I am doing. Adding weight to the machines, half cardio, different workout group of muscles everyday with a break on the weekends.

I agree, gaining muscle is very important to fight regain at the end but also you will look better with toned muscle.  You will fit into smaller clothes faster too.  I take monthly measurments of myself every month.  I have noticed that although my weight loss the last two months has slowed, my inches lost has remained the same.  If I wasn't taking measurments and only going by the scale I know I would be upset about the slow weight loss.  But I know I am still progressing well inspite of the scale. 

I would say what you are doing is working well and keep it up.  Too many people on OH seem to rely too hevily on reducing calories in order to lose weight and never really try to workout.  Most of those people will complain about regain after a few years.  You on the other hand will still be thin and lean!!!! 

I sure hope so. My biggest fear is not reaching goal or regaining. I actually prefer weights to cardio but make myself do 20-30 minutes of cardio to try and build up endurance for running and such daily.

I have already taken some flak at the main board for upping my calories and carbs on my own, but my weight loss numbers are really good for three months, I think. I can't exercise an hour and sometimes two a day on 800 calories and no carbs. It wasn't working.

I am 5'10 so I am leaning towards 160-165 as a goal weight and that is only thirty pounds away now. If it takes longer, so be it.

Thanks!

from what I've seen, people who build up their muscle, improve their metabolism and do better in the long run. I wish I'd done more strength training the first year post-op instead of pure cardio. I think you are doing great!

Thank you. I am going to continue along on this trek because it seems to be working. I still have the stalls and I've only dropped 14 lbs in the last five weeks, but I fit into a pair of capris today I couldn't even zip up three weeks ago, so that has to count for something.