Boot Camp and building muscle

Hi everyone,

I am 11 months post op and last month on January 8th I started a Boot Camp program at my gym.  We meet 3x a week for one hour and we do the types of exercises they do in the military:  push-ups, bends and thrusts, jumping jacks, mountain climbers and line drills to name a few.  It is extremely difficult, even for those who are fit. We got tested the first day and I could only do 11 sit ups and 5 push ups.  After six weeks we got tested again and I was able to do 42 sit ups and 35 push ups.  I also got better on my time in the mile run.  I feel stronger.  But here is my issue:  I am building so much muscle and losing hardly anything on the scale.  I went to see my doctor after 4 weeks on the program and I lost 3% body fat, lost 10 fat pounds and gained 7 pounds of muscle for a net loss of 3 pounds on the scale. Now I do understand that gaining lean muscle is better for my metabolism and better for me all the way around.  However, I still need to reach my surgeon's goal and I still have to lose about 50 pounds.  So, I am wondering...how much lean muscle can one person gain?  And when will it get to the point where the numbers on the scale start dropping?  The doctor was impressed with what I had accomplished in that month, but still reminded me that I needed to try to reach goal. Even though I feel better, I am still obsessed with reaching my goal and feel like the scale will never move again.   Any insight would be appreciated! Thanks everyone!

 

3% body fat in 4 weeks is amazing! 3# scale weight, not bad at all! You may be on a stinkin' plateau. Don't most peple begin to slow down on weight loss after 11 months?  i am a non-op, but have many friends who have had wls and i am a major lurker here. Track your food intake and make sure you are not eating a bit more.  Challenging exercise will cause you to crave more carbs.  My body is very much like yours - won't let go of scale weight very easily and i can work very hard at exercise and not lose a darn pound! For me, it is about food intake, period. I am fit as a fiddle, but still fat! Sucks, doesn't it? Just try to determine if you are taking in a wee bit more calories than you need to drop more weight.

Well, you really lost 10 pounds!!! How bad is that?  I bet you lost a lot of inches, too.  My doctor said that pounds is only one way of measuring weight loss -- inches is just as good.

And also, people who are extremely fit (like you are becoming) DO weigh a lot more than unfit people.  I read on this site one person who said her friend who is extremely fit weighs in the 180s but looks like she weighs 130-140.

I really worked out this past year, and stopped losing weight like you did, even tho I was eating correctly (most of the time).  I couldn't get down past 182 to save my life.  But people said I looked like I weighed in the 160s. 

I think, while it may be nice to lose an additional 50 pounds, your doctor is not being realistic.  Unless you stop working out (not a good idea), you are probably going to have a hard time accomplishing that goal.  But I'm not sure it's a good goal.  My personal opinion is that getting a lean, hard body is much better than just getting to a number on the scale. 

PS:  I just had plastic surgery to get rid of excess skin, and my stomach is rockin!  I know it wouldn't have looked like that if I hadn't of worked out the way I did.  Of course, my PS gets some of the credit!  LOL