Richard_Rides

I'm agreeing with you. You're preaching to the choir, it's humanly impossible to gain weight through weightlifting.

pacificaslim

He gained that weight by eating.

If a guy eats 10,000 extra calories and sits on the couch he'll add about 3 lbs.

If a guy eats 10,000 extra calories and lifts weights, he'll add < 3 lbs. pounds.

If a guy eats 10,000 fewer calories than his static then he'll lose about 3 lbs.

If a guy eats 10,000 fewer calories than his static and lifts weights, he'll lose > 3 lbs.

redvespablur

Log the calories - I use Lose It! on my iPhone - its free and very enlightening 50 down since May and 30 to go by June.

otee453

Alot of the advice basically boils down to "eat less, workout more." I agree with that premise, but I noticed one key thing the original poster stated.... PLATEAU.



I have not had to try and lose weight in a long time and am very active in multi sport and strength training. I am one of those lean "clydesdales" that should NOT be classified a clyde. Anyway, you need to break through the plateau. That is VERY difficult. My advice is to get off the stair stepper or whatever cardio machine you are using regularly. Switch to an entirely new form of excercise. Look into cross fit training or something like that. I cannot express how important it is to really make a change. Even going from the stair machine to the elliptical or treadmill wont do it, IMO, based on my experiences.



Your diet needs variety also. I hate low carb diets. Yes they work but are simply not a long term solution. If you want to do low carb, do a cycle of low carb to low GI (glycemic index) diet. Remember, your diet can use variety too. Several months of the exact same caloric intake will create a plateau also.



Ultimately, the advice to reduce caloric intake and increase caloric expenditure is correct. Every person is different. I have experienced many plateau's over the years. They are hard to overcome.

pacificaslim

Perhaps one reason people plateau is that they don't reduce their caloric intake as they go. At 230 lbs., their BMR is about 2,200 calories a day, but at 200 lbs. it is down to 1,950 calories. So you start out with a plan to eat a certain number of calories and exercise a certain amount that will have you losing, say, a pound a week. But as you get lighter, your BMR reduces and you also burn fewer calories for the same amount of working out. So you plateau and won't lose any more weight until you either reduce calories further or work out more.

Totaled108

Pacificaslim, yes we know JUST lifting weights doesn't build muscle. Its HOW you lift, and HOW you eat. If you lift HARD (tons of weight with low reps) you'll be doing alot of micro tearing of the muscles. If you do this then eat too little, you'll over work the muscles and get injured. The muscle tissue will not fully recover because you have not provided enough nutrients to repair the damage. If, on the other hand you stick with light weights and higher reps, you'll still be working out the muscles. But the micro tearing will be at a minimum. You'll still be burning tons of calories through working the muscle, just not damaging it to the same extent, thus don't need to physically repair as much muscle tissue. Yes when you lift hard you are actually damaging muscle tissue, in a good way.

We all agree diet is a MASSIVE factor in weight loss and gain, but knowing HOW to lift to get lean/big, is important as well.

If you are trying to drop fat, do as pacificaslim says, reduce calories, work out more, but do so as if your training all your muscles to be long distance runner. High repetition (12 reps minimum on any given movement), lowish weight mixing up the work out and doing as much free weights as possible. Adding lifting to your cardio program will VASTLY increase fat loss, just do it properly. I see far too many people at the gym that have poor form, form is VERY important in heavy and light lifting.

Arnold was a beast back in the day, rent 'Pumping Iron' some day. That's heavy lifting.

jross

Thanks for all the replies. I got some more questions for those of you that brough up new info. I hope you'll answer if you can.

Yes, I'm sort of plateauing. At best I lose a pound or two, at worst I gain a pound or two.

So some of you are saying that muscle building only happens if I put the calories into it? So, working out will add no weight to my body?

And otee453, Since my main workout has been walking the stairs at school, I should stop that and do something else? Such as riding my bike at home for my primary cardio and do stairs once a week or so. And also change my weight lifting routine as well?

And since I'm 260, 6' should I consider jogging? (I hate running though, and it has not been on my list of exercises to do!)

raydog

I ride weekly.....one day 38 varied miles at 90% effort , two other 19 mile days, also at high effort. The forth day mountain bike 12 miles on single track. If it's a non bike day, I go to the gym and do 8 different upper body stations (bench, curls, military press, tricep, pulldowns, etc. three sets of 12 reps on each). Some days I just relax. I'm 62 years old and have gone from 250 to 228 lbs. I pass people on the road that are 30 years younger than I. I'm not bragging, I'm just making the point that whenever you think you "are maxed out", that's all it is....a thought. Go past your limits, generally after the 1st half hour, your body kicks in to fat burning mode.....go two more hours. Your only limitation is your pre-concieved notion of what hi level exercise is! It's OK to be a killer cyclist AND have big biceps. Raydog

Mr. Beanz

Perfect explanation!......I know what Richard meant when he said add more weigh to the bar and you WILL get bigger". Not exact words so don't strawman me Richard!

Above explanation is what I read back in my days of pumping iron. I did the "5 sets of 10 reps" of every iron exercise possible. My muscles got hard but I was still a 190 lb skinny guy. Knowing that highreps at low weights only tore down the muscles in a small way. I decreased the reps, then added low reps at heavier weights. Then finished off with a burning exercise.

After I experimented a bit with weights, I went from 190 to 220 and I wasn't fat. My muscles were bigger and I weighed more! As soon as I started doing heavier low reps, I went from benching 220 to 330 rather quickly. It was more about knowing and figuring out how to lift than it was about taking in calories. Knowing how to work the large muscles groups heavily without overworking, then work into a finsihing exercise of the small muscle groups is the trick to gaining weight through lifting!


Went from 190 to 220. Gawd I'm getting old!(:...I was 28 in the picture!....I was no Arnold but I think Gina is going to put me on a diet.

otee453

I like to switch from doing my run/bike/swim with weight training, to less of the run/bike/swim (but still do them) and more committment to a difficult circuit training plan that has lighter weights. I can see improvements in my overall conditioning at the completion of each program. It does sound like you have not reached that level of fitness yet, but you can. As I stated, I think changing it up is the key. Running is not neccesary. Look at cross-fit for circuit ideas. Start easy and slow, do an 8 or 12 week program and then go to a more dedicated bike program for 8 or 12 weeks.

When you change things up, you will discover your "old" routine had become nothing more than routine. You thought you were working hard, but find you were just going through the motions for quite awhile. At least that has been my experience. Dont forget the diet, as it is 75% or more of the equation..... keep it tight and clean.

And to answer your question, YES, change now.
Good luck