# Why am i putting on muscle but not loosing the fat?



## Raspberry (Oct 21, 2014)

Hi, I'm new here and looking for some advice please on a problem that i just can't solve. I'm female, 38 years old, 5' 9" and weigh almost 13 stone. I wear a UK size 12 and don't look particularly fat (probably because of my height) but i do have wobbly bits mainly my stomach, thighs and bum.

I've been going to my local gym for the past three years, twice a week if not three times. I've had a personal trainer, gone to different "fat busting" classes, dieted, tried starving myself at one point but i just cannot loose weight. I'm very active during the day with my job.

In the past year i've really pushed myself at the gym and have been doing lots of weights. This has created a problem as i look huge these days, and i've actually put on weight. It looks like i've put on muscle over the fat. My arms are muscly but i still have fat (bingo wings) that wobbles. I tried a jacket on for the first time since i wore it last year and my arms won't fit into it now. I feel "big", like my shoulders and legs are wider now than ever before.

I'm doing weights as i thought muscle burned off fat? My personal trainer has left and gone to another job and i don't know if i should get another trainer as to be honest, i didn't loose a single pound when i was with him and it's quite expensive.

I eat healthily - been a vegetarian for 25 years and don't eat fast food junk. My husband is a good cook and loves cooking healthy things. He thinks i'm not eating enough. Here's a typical day's food for me:

Breakfast: Porridge with blueberries and almond milk

Snack: Rice cakes or nuts or banana

Lunch: Baked potato and beans or soup and rice cakes or an omlette

Snack: Seeds/nuts or marmite rice cakes or Fage Greek yoghurt

Dinner: Homemade chickpea or green lentil curry with salad or soup and rice cakes or salad and tofu

I don't have sugar in my tea or drink sugary fizzy juice. I do like a couple of glasses of wine once a week, but it is only once a week and i'll maybe have three glasses or Rose wine. I've kept a food diary and my personal trainer said it was good, if not lacking in a little protein which i think i've sorted out by having omlettes and tofu. He really didn't know why i couldn't loose weight.

I got my thyroid checked last month and it's fine. The doctor suggested i join "weight-watchers" but to be honest i'd rather do this by going to the gym and eating healthily and not being in a room with fat middle-aged women all weighing themselves and eating some of that chemical powdered soup that one of my friends had. That's putting it bluntly and it's just a personal preference.

I'm really stuck as to what to do. I'd like to be lean and muscly (not too much, but nice and toned) but at the moment i look like i've just put on muscle over the fat resulting in me looking huge, which was the opposite of what i'd set out to do. Oh, and i've put on weight steadily too.

Sorry this is so long but any advice would be great thanks. Three years feeling like this is enough!

Thank you X


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## gearchange (Mar 19, 2010)

First of all welcome aboard.Sorry to hear your plight,seems your pt was a total fool to me.There is a logic that cannot be ignored here and that is if you eat under maintenance you will lose weight.So something is not adding up here.For you to have got bigger and gained muscle mass you have to of been eating above maintenance levels.

There are a good few girls here that will advise you on diet and put you on the right path with training.


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## Raspberry (Oct 21, 2014)

gearchange said:


> First of all welcome aboard.Sorry to hear your plight,seems your pt was a total fool to me.There is a logic that cannot be ignored here and that is if you eat under maintenance you will lose weight.So something is not adding up here.For you to have got bigger and gained muscle mass you have to of been eating above maintenance levels.
> 
> There are a good few girls here that will advise you on diet and put you on the right path with training.


Thanks for your reply. Hopefully by joining this forum i'll maybe start to see the light at the end of the tunnel :thumb:


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## saxondale (Nov 11, 2012)

Raspberry said:


> Hi, I'm new here and looking for some advice please on a problem that i just can't solve. I'm female, 38 years old, 5' 9" and weigh almost 13 stone. I wear a UK size 12 and don't look particularly fat (probably because of my height) but i do have wobbly bits mainly my stomach, thighs and bum.
> 
> I've been going to my local gym for the past three years, twice a week if not three times. I've had a personal trainer, gone to different "fat busting" classes, dieted, tried starving myself at one point but i just cannot loose weight. I'm very active during the day with my job.
> 
> ...


actually joining weight watchers so you can learn the basics of putting a diet together isnt a bad idea, I`m sure the fat middle aged women will be in awe of your muscles.


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## Pinky (Sep 3, 2014)

Tbf my mom lost 4stone on weight watchers  it works for some and it doesn't for others. Its trail and error with finding out what works for you. We on here can give you the basics but only you can mould it to fit you perfectly .


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## liam0810 (Jan 6, 2011)

@Raspberry

My missus used weight watchers as a teenager and lost 4 stone and she swears by it. It does work and actually helps you learn the basics of a diet. Also compared to all these diets such as jucieplus and Herbalife it isn't a crash diet and you drop weight slowly and steadily

You have put what you eat but not weights of food. Even though what you eat seems healthy you might be eating too much of it. Also it's mostly carbs so you need to look at getting a more balanced diet with good sources if protein carbs and fats.

Doing a quick calculation your bmr is about 1600 cals before taking into account exercise. As you train twice a week I'd consider you lightly active therefore your cals should be 2000cals per day to maintain your weight. To start id drop your cals to 1600 a day. You can track your cals by getting the myfitnesspal app. It's great app which you can put all your food into for the day and helps work out how much you're getting.

Also how much water are you drinking? If you say "loads, at least 2 litres per day" then you're not drinking enough. I'd up that to 4 litres to start.


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## Raspberry (Oct 21, 2014)

Misspinky1983 said:


> Tbf my mom lost 4stone on weight watchers  it works for some and it doesn't for others. Its trail and error with finding out what works for you. We on here can give you the basics but only you can mould it to fit you perfectly .


Hi Misspinky1983, thanks for replying. My main aim is to loose two stone and tone my wobbly bits up. Being able to run for a longer time would be good as well. I'll maybe try weight watchers and see if it helps. To loose four stone is pretty impressive.


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## Raspberry (Oct 21, 2014)

liam0810 said:


> @Raspberry
> 
> My missus used weight watchers as a teenager and lost 4 stone and she swears by it. It does work and actually helps you learn the basics of a diet. Also compared to all these diets such as jucieplus and Herbalife it isn't a crash diet and you drop weight slowly and steadily
> 
> ...


Hi liam0810,

Thanks for the advice. Two things you said have made me think..... I don't drink anywhere near even 2 litres of water a day so i'll start drinking more. Also, i think my portion sizes are probably too big. I'll reduce them.

Should i stop the protein shakes? I have one before i go to the gym, so have two or three a week mixed with Alpro almond milk.


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## Pinky (Sep 3, 2014)

No don't stop the protein shakes. I have one first thing in a morning. They are good if you struggle to get your daily allowance of protein in food, you can have a shake to top it up.

I cant do your own so I wont be able to help you with one, but you need to work your daily macronutrients, this is how much carbs, protein, fat and cals you need a day to lose weight.

4 litres of water is way to much, you don't want to drown yourself inside out lol I have 8 pints a day which is approx. 2 litres. It doesn't have to be water either, it can be sugar free squash etc. I cant stand water, its vile. Don't force it down your neck though as it will become hard and you wont want to do it. Drink it throughout the day. I started off by filling a 2litre bottle and drink that as the day goes by, you'll be surprised how quick you will get thru it.

Im 13st 11lbs and my cal are 1500 for HIIT days where I do High Intensity Interval training and 1300 cals on none HIIT days, I have my cals spread over 6 meals a day spaced between 2 and 3 hours. Its best to weight everything, annoying as it is, you can calculate cals better that way as packets usually give you nutritional information for 100grams etc.


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## tommyc2k7 (Jun 7, 2013)

Misspinky1983 said:


> 4 litres of water is way to much, you don't want to drown yourself inside out lol I have 8 pints a day which is approx. 2 litres.


I don't mean to be a d!ck but 8 pints is more than 4 litres


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## AlexB18 (Dec 10, 2013)

Misspinky1983 said:


> 4 litres of water is way to much, you don't want to drown yourself inside out lol


Whats wrong with drinking lots of water lol? I drink anywhere between 6-10 litres a day mainly so my stomach thinks its full and stops telling me to eat some food :lol:

Anyway back on topic hope you find the advice your looking for OP some really good advice to be found on here so make the most of it


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## Beats (Jun 9, 2011)

Misspinky1983 said:


> Dont be one then
> 
> Ooooo aint you cleaver lol
> 
> Then i put 2 litres didn't that indicate it's probably a typo! If you want to be pedantic 8 pints is 4.546 litres


Clever*


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## Pinky (Sep 3, 2014)

Dizzee! said:


> Clever*


Scraping the barrel is see?? New phone plus predictive text:tt2:


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## Pinky (Sep 3, 2014)

AlexB18 said:


> Whats wrong with drinking lots of water lol? I drink anywhere between 6-10 litres a day mainly so my stomach thinks its full and stops telling me to eat some food :lol:
> 
> Anyway back on topic hope you find the advice your looking for OP some really good advice to be found on here so make the most of it


Nowt wrong with it, but i think if someone isnt used to drinking alot say a pint a day, telling them to drink 4 litres will scare the hell out of them lol

Start off with 2 litres and if they can drink that easily by say dinner time then yeah so for more, no harm in it in my opinion, well apart from going to the loo 4 times an hour lmao

Agree with the good advice bit, ive been set on the right path since joining this forum


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## AlexB18 (Dec 10, 2013)

Misspinky1983 said:


> Nowt wrong with it, but i think if someone isnt used to drinking alot say a pint a day, telling them to drink 4 litres will scare the hell out of them lol
> 
> Start off with 2 litres and if they can drink that easily by say dinner time then yeah so for more, no harm in it in my opinion, well apart from going to the loo 4 times an hour lmao
> 
> Agree with the good advice bit, ive been set on the right path since joining this forum


I was only joking anyway I knew what you meant


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## BigKid (Apr 4, 2014)

Raspberry said:


> Hi, I'm new here and looking for some advice please on a problem that i just can't solve. I'm female, 38 years old, 5' 9" and weigh almost 13 stone. I wear a UK size 12 and don't look particularly fat (probably because of my height) but i do have wobbly bits mainly my stomach, thighs and bum.
> 
> I've been going to my local gym for the past three years, twice a week if not three times. I've had a personal trainer, gone to different "fat busting" classes, dieted, tried starving myself at one point but i just cannot loose weight. I'm very active during the day with my job.
> 
> ...


Sometimes it's not always about how healthy the foods are, just look at the calories that you're consuming compared to what you're expending and there you'll find your answer


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## Pinky (Sep 3, 2014)

AlexB18 said:


> I was only joking anyway I knew what you meant


I know :wub:


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## naturalun (Mar 21, 2014)

I highly recommend weighing your food and tracking it using myfitnesspal, comes in an easy app on iphone, pretty sure android too.

sounds tedious but it will help, also Liams recommendation of following your BMR/TDEE sounds pretty spot on and I'd aim for about 1600-1700 calories and you should shed the weight love.

Good luck!


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## Beats (Jun 9, 2011)

Misspinky1983 said:


> Scraping the barrel is see?? New phone plus predictive text:tt2:


 :tt2:


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## saxondale (Nov 11, 2012)

Why do people keep saying their dieting then posting diets full of potato and pasta?


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## TELBOR (Feb 20, 2012)

saxondale said:


> Why do people keep saying their dieting then posting diets full of potato and pasta?


Why can't they have potato and pasta?

Irrelevant if the calories are in deficit.


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## liam0810 (Jan 6, 2011)

Raspberry said:


> Hi liam0810,
> 
> Thanks for the advice. Two things you said have made me think..... I don't drink anywhere near even 2 litres of water a day so i'll start drinking more. Also, i think my portion sizes are probably too big. I'll reduce them.
> 
> Should i stop the protein shakes? I have one before i go to the gym, so have two or three a week mixed with Alpro almond milk.


What kind of shakes are they? What's carb content and calories? If you use almond milk use unsweetened


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## Raspberry (Oct 21, 2014)

liam0810 said:


> What kind of shakes are they? What's carb content and calories? If you use almond milk use unsweetened


It's this stuff i'm using (hope the photo works) Whey Protein Vanilla powder.









I bought unsweetened almond milk yesterday for the first time as i'd never seen it before and just always bought the other stuff, which i now see has sugar as it's second ingredient. Thanks, i'll use the unsweetened from now on as it still tastes nice.


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## Raspberry (Oct 21, 2014)

liam0810 said:


> What kind of shakes are they? What's carb content and calories? If you use almond milk use unsweetened


I replied but i think it was deleted because i put a photo of the protein powder up that i am using - oops, new to all this so i'll try again. The protein powder i use is Whey Powder Vanilla flavour, that's really all it says on the big tub. I didn't realise you could get unsweetened almond milk until yesterday when i went to the bigger supermarket so i'll use that from now on as i now notice the normal stuff's second ingredient listed is sugar. Thanks for the advice.


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## liam0810 (Jan 6, 2011)

Raspberry said:


> I replied but i think it was deleted because i put a photo of the protein powder up that i am using - oops, new to all this so i'll try again. The protein powder i use is Whey Powder Vanilla flavour, that's really all it says on the big tub. I didn't realise you could get unsweetened almond milk until yesterday when i went to the bigger supermarket so i'll use that from now on as i now notice the normal stuff's second ingredient listed is sugar. Thanks for the advice.


you're using the H&B whey protein which if i'm honest and most on here will agree is garbage but i think most will also agree that when we started out we got our first protein from there.

have a look at the protein works whey 80 Whey Protein Powder Shake I know i'm a rep but its bang on and not full of sh1t. i'd use it even if i wasnt a rep and i can say that honestly. plus you're paying about 20quid for less than a KG at Holland & Barrett where 2kg at TPW is £26.99.

yeah unsweetened is better for you and you can't taste the difference between them really


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## Thunder99 (Jul 25, 2013)

Bottom line you are eating too much.

In order to put on muscle you and every single other human being/animal on the planet must be in a calorie surplus.

Theres no point posting your diet up without knowing you total daily expenditure and the cals you are eating.

Completely irrelevent.

You can eat spinach only but if your eating 3000cals worth of spinach it means nothing you will still get fat.

In the same respect you can eat big macs only and lose weight if they total less than your daily calorie expenditure


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## Prophecy (Nov 26, 2011)

When dieting I've found it better to get protein from food and not shakes. If a shake is 200 cals, give yourself the extra pleasure of eating this from lentils/beans/tofu and just make sure the protein content and calories are the same.

As for carbs... Like others have said it's all about the calorie content.

You might want to have a look at leangains or at least intermittent fasting diets; I've been losing weight fairly steadily on IF.

Personally I think the key is always consistency. Get a good diet and make sure it's flawless in terms of calories and balanced.


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## TommyFire (Jul 18, 2010)

Some good and bad advise being dished out here.

You will ALWAYS benefit from drinking more water then you are now. Staying well hydrated has a positive effect on all bodily functions. You do not need to drink waterfalls worth of the stuff, but try to have a glass or 2 with every meal and keep a sports bottle with you to sip on in the day.

I think you need to be totally honest with yourself regarding what you are eating too- bottom line is if you are putting on weight (and don't want to), you are eating too much.

As you have used a PT before I would strongly recommend you get a DECENT one to help you out for a few months or so to at least put you on the right track. The knowledge and experience you will get from a good PT is worth the money if you can find a good one.

Finding a good PT can be a minefield though. A good PT will put you on a decent WEIGHTS routine, possibly some type of cardio and will clean your diet up. Stay away from any PT that has you balancing on some kind of board/ball/contraption, running for miles, or does not include squats (or a suitable alternative) in their initial plan.

Just my two pence worth.


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## Raspberry (Oct 21, 2014)

liam0810 said:


> you're using the H&B whey protein which if i'm honest and most on here will agree is garbage but i think most will also agree that when we started out we got our first protein from there.
> 
> have a look at the protein works whey 80 Whey Protein Powder Shake I know i'm a rep but its bang on and not full of sh1t. i'd use it even if i wasnt a rep and i can say that honestly. plus you're paying about 20quid for less than a KG at Holland & Barrett where 2kg at TPW is £26.99.
> 
> yeah unsweetened is better for you and you can't taste the difference between them really


Thanks, i've saved the link and will get some of that. Yeah it's the Holland & Barrett stuff i'm using at the mo but when it runs out (soon) i'll order some of this stuff.


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## Raspberry (Oct 21, 2014)

Thanks for all the replies so far. There's something i'm completely unclear about though - it's maybe just me not understanding it right but i read the following quote on the Livestrong website: " if you're looking lose body fat, you must regularly be burning more calories than you consume" I used an online calculator that i saw from another post on here, and it calculated that i should be consuming 1600 calories a day in order for me to loose weight. Now if i consume 1600 calories a day, i'll have to burn more than those 1600 calories through exercise every day. This would mean i'd be in the gym for about 5 hours a day surely?? Or have i got this wrong? :wacko:

Edit: I think i burn around 300 calories each gym session according to the counters on the rowing machine/cross trainer/treadmill. I do weights too and not sure how many calories i burn from those.


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## omle (Jul 10, 2014)

You burn calories just by being alive.

If it says 1600 calories and you will lose weight you will lose weight. Not sure which calculation you have used but iifym for example will tell you your bmr and tdee.

BMR is the minimum amout of calories to sustain life in a resting person

Tdee adds in the extra calories for any activities you do.

Eat less than tdee to lose weight.

Adding exercise ups tdee.


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