Good news - no access to a gym anymore

OK, so my title of this post sounds crazy right? Well, it's true.

I just recently changed jobs. My last job had a gym in the office, so I used it 4-6 a week during my lunch hour (45 minutes on the elliptical plus weight training and sit ups). I watched what I ate too. With that, I lost only about 3 pounds total in almost 6 months!!!

So now, with a new job, I have no access to a free gym. I had planned on buying a membership at a local gym once I got the permanent position with more money, but in the 30 days I've been here and not working out, I've lost another 7 pounds!!!!

Why would I lose weight while not working out? I'm confused by this, but sooo happy. Everyday that I get on the scale, I am lighter. It's so fun that I thought I'd share :)

You may have been building muscle which weighs more than fat.  Not only does it weigh more than fat, it actually burns fat.  Sometimes it is better to monitor your progress with both a scale and a mirror.  Just b/c you only lost 3 lbs, doesn't mean you aren't in better shape and wear your clothing better.  The mirror doesn't lie.  Just some thoughts.

I don't go to a gym and I lose weight just fine.  :D  It could very well be how much you're eating, it could be muscle mass, it could be your body just plain ol' refusing to lose weight because it doesn't want to.

imk814 - I hear you :). I agree and was taking measurements. I was losing some inches, but not much. Still more now with no gym. I'm certainly not saying that exercising is bad! It made me feel great, in fact. But I was just venting about how strange I thought it was that I did better in my weight loss efforts when I stopped exercising.

cellulitedelight - I think it's the food. I was hungrier when I went to the gym. I was averaging about 1600 calories. Now I eat about 1300-1400 a day.

thanks for the thoughts!!

Perhaps when you were working out each day, you weren't eating enough calories and your body wanted to hold on to the fat instead of losing it, like being in starvation mode?  Maybe your defecit was too big.

Just a thought. 

It is possible that you were eating slightly too much when you exercise.

It's also probable that some of this weight loss is simply water.

Do some research on "glycogen storage effect." When you are active, your muscles store glucose as glycogen in your muscles, for ready use. Water is needed to convert the glycogen back into glucose, so your muscles also store the water along with the glycogen. To the tune of 4 parts water to every one part of glycogen! If you've ever weighed a bottle of water, you know that water has a weight.

So it goes like this... you exercise and deplete the glycogen and water... then you eat... and your body socks up more glycogen and water - a bit more than you had the day before, because it is worried maybe you will suddenly ask it to exercise again... maybe even harder than the last time. It wants to be ready just in case you climb on that elliptical or attempt to lift stronger weights tomorrow!!

If you exercise frequently, you will always have a certain amount of your weight be this. It is part of LEAN mass and is not FAT mass.

If you stop exercising, eventually your body figures out you don't need this glycogen and water anymore, so it dumps it. And the foods you consume (if you stay at the same level of calories) are more likely to convert to fat.

This of course is an oversimplification ... since your muscles will always store *some* glycogen and water... but you get the idea...the more exercise demands you make, the more glycogen and water your muscles are going to store.  

There's also capillarization, which is a slower process ... when you exercise and increase your fitness, the muscles actually grow new capillaries to bring oxygen to them faster. This results in higher blood volume too. And all this has weight, of course. But it's not fat.

P.s this is why they tell you to eat something within an hour after exercise: that's when your body is most receptive to sucking up the glucose and storing it away as glycogen.

Original Post by imk814:

You may have been building muscle which weighs more than fat. 

No, 1 pound of fat = 1 pound of muscle just like 1 pound of apples = 1 pound of oranges

They weigh the same, but have different masses, or sizes.

http://www.freewebs.com/lovinlowcarb/fatvsmus cle.JPG

Carly,

I understand a pound of feathers weighs the same as a pounds of nails.  But does a bucket of feathers weigh the same as a bucket of nails???

Original Post by imk814:

Carly,

I understand a pound of feathers ways the same as a pounds of nails. But does a bucket of feathers way the same as a bucket of nails???

 this cracked me up lol