I started working out last week on Wednesday and have done either walking or cardio/weight workouts each day except Sunday. Mentally I already feel a difference and I know it takes time to see changes but I swear I already feel "different" in my clothes. Not that they are any looser than before but they just feel different(this could be related to me feeling emotionally better).
I am wondering for those of you who exercise regularly:
How long until you could actually see a difference in your body?
Did your scale show an increase in weight initially?
Did you measure yourself prior to starting an exercise program and then how often did you remeasure?
Is it true that muscle weighs more than fat so even if the scale is higher you may still be getting smaller?
Jill

My sclae did not show an increase in weight initially. I lost steadily and (very) slowly. Even though I was building lean muscle, it was not that much of a build up.
The weeks I gained I remember asking my dietician if it was my muscle weight increasing- sadly, she said that given my 40 minutes 3-4 times per week of exercise, it was not muscle build up, it was fot or water weight.

I think that after 10 pounds I saw a significant differnce in my body. I dropped from a 14 to a 12 too.

Covert Bailey's books Smart Exercise and Fit or Fat have a lot of great stuff on the benefits of exercise. He goes into a lot of depth on the kinds of changes that happen in your body even before you see a weight loss on the scale.

His tips on food are a little extreme, at least to me, but the exercise info is great.

quote:

Originally posted by jillybean:
Is it true that muscle weighs more than fat...
Jill

Yes. This is something I knew long before I met KD. If you want a visual on this ask your butcher to show you a pound of chicken fat (or beef fat) next to a pound of meat.

I can definitely say that exercise made a difference in the way I looked long before the scale gave me any love. When I first started out, I was doing low-intensity cardio and a lot of weight training. I didn't really diet at that time but I started to "watch it" a little. I went from a size 16/18 to a 14 without losing much weight. Once I started an exchange plan and started doing more intense exercise (right around the time I started training for my first tri) I lost about 20 pounds in about as many weeks.

For me, exercise alone seems to produce some toning and tightening, but to actually lose weight, I have to restrict my calories.

I saw in one of my magazines a long time ago that five pounds takes up the space of two grapefruits if it's fat, and three tangerines if it's muscle.

I believe exercise alone has plenty of benefits, and is well worth doing whether you're interested in losing weight or not. But exercise plus a food plan is a potent combo, it seems to be a multiplication rather than an addition effect.

Given the same dimensions, muscle does weigh more than fat, just like a little ball of lead in your hand is heavier than another substance.

I also read that when you've been out of shape and start working out/building muscle, your body hydrates itself and you gain weight from that too. Read this in Bob Greene's book "Get With The Program".

Did you know muscle cells burn calories; fat cells do not. So even at rest, you'll be burning more calories, the more fit you are. How cool is that!!

Grace

quote:

Originally posted by jillybean:
Is it true that muscle weighs more than fat...

Actually, a pound of muscle weighs 1 pound and a pound of fat also weighs 1 lb., so it isn't exactly accurate that muscle weighs more than fat.

I've heard that a pound of muscle takes up the space of about a tangerine and a pound of fat takes up the space of a grapefruit... or something like that...

I don't know exactly how long it takes to grow a pound of muscle...

But exercise is good...

Did your scale show an increase in weight initially?

No, but I didn't do much muscle-building work when I first started losing weight in 2003. I do believe, however, that building muscle HAS been one of several factors in my scale not going down in the past year.

Did you measure yourself prior to starting an exercise program and then how often did you remeasure?

I strongly encourage anyone who is starting an exercise and healthy eating lifestyle to do a starting measurement. I didn't, and I have often regretted it. I think I didn't start measuring myself until 6 months or so into my journey. From that point on (until I stopped losing altogether), I remeasured once a month. It's really interesting to see those numbers because sometimes you can have a loss of inches in one part of your body but not see much of a difference overall.

Is it true that muscle weighs more than fat so even if the scale is higher you may still be getting smaller?

Absolutely. Everything I have read indicates that muscle weighs more than fat. My body consists of much more lean muscle than it did a year ago...not only from lifting weights but from a lot of toning exercise. So, while I actually PUT ON weight in 2005, my thighs are slimmer than they were in 2003, my abs are firmer, my arms are less flabby, etc.

How long until you could actually see a difference in your body?

Most of clients report seeing changes in about 3 weeks (although only if they are working on their diet too). I would say that the same held true for me as well.

Did your scale show an increase in weight initially?

No. Although this depends on how small you are. I have one client who had almost no weight to lose. She lost two dress sizes and never lost a pound.

For myself, I saw a weight loss until I hit about a size 6. After that, my weight stayed stable and I managed to lose more inches and body fat.

Did you measure yourself prior to starting an exercise program and then how often did you remeasure?

Yes! The is a great tool to monitor your progress as is getting a body fat assessment done.

Is it true that muscle weighs more than fat so even if the scale is higher you may still be getting smaller?

Yes, but it does take a lot to build muscle so you should be seeing losses, especially in the beginning.