Hi Everyone!

“The scale isn’t budging but my clothes are fitting looser and looser everyday, what’s going on?!?!?”.  Does this sound familiar?  Let me help makes sense of this so if you are one who can relate with discouraging numbers on the scale but more room in your clothes, you won’t really have to feel discouraged 🙂

It’s actually very simple.  Muscle weighs more than fat, as you can see above. When you start an exercise regimen your body starts to burn fat mass and build muscle mass. You’re trading fat for muscle which means your body composition is changing and this is very good!

There are two things you need to understand:

First, when you burn calories you are always burning some lean muscle mass along with the fat mass.  How do you burn the most amount of fat and lose the least amount of lean muscle mass? By doing a variety of cardio (alternate between steady state cardio and intense cardio intervals. Click the link for more info http://grapevine.mckinley.com/?p=693 ), strength training (so you can maintain your current muscle mass and build a stronger, tighter body) and by consuming enough protein to support your muscle mass.

Second, it usually takes about 2-3 months of strength training 2-4x weekly to gain 1-2lbs of lean muscle mass for females and in males with the same time span, 2-4lbs of lean muscle mass.  However, if you are brand new to exercise, you may experience the muscle gain a little quicker because you are “shocking” your body.  Once your body is familiar with your new exercise routine you will be back on track to gaining lean muscle mass at the rate I explained above.

To lose weight and keep it off, you can expect 1-2lbs weekly with a balanced diet and exercise.  If you are exercising and still don’t see the numbers dropping on the scale, you may need to change some things in your diet. Need some help? Start a food journal, send it to me and I can make some suggestions :).

Have a great evening!!

Yours in Health and Wellness,

Meredith Mitchell