Having just finished Day 1 of our Fitness Challenge Experiment with Lindsey, the Gym Buddies and I all got our body fat percentage tested so we’d have our official results from November and December’s Rachel Cosgrove Experiment. I posted last night about my results from it but these new numbers were so stunning I had to add an update. Seriously, any of you who are still undecided about heavy lifting and minimal endurance cardio, this will be the push you need! Just try it!
Me: Today I got the same trainer to take my body fat as I did a month ago and I’m down 7% according to her measurements. (The other trainer gave me a drop of 5% on Saturday. Yes, I had my body fat tested twice in three days and yes I know that’s nuts.) So I lost 5-7% body fat, either of which is a massive success.
Allison: Down between 5% and 8%, which is impressive alone but considering she started at the very low end of the body fat scale makes it even more remarkable. (But don’t lose any more girl – you need some fat to live!)
Krista: Did the impressive feat of losing both weight (down 8.8 pounds) and fat (down 6%) by combining Rachel Cosgrove with Weight Watchers.
Daria: Lost 5% body fat and 2 pants sizes. In one month. Just amazing.
And for all of you on Team GFE for this month’s Experiment, don’t forget to do your first workout today! Just FYI, since Lindsey made the workouts to be done at home and we work out at the gym (free childcare!), we altered them by adding weights to each move.
Written with love by Charlotte Hilton Andersen for The Great Fitness Experiment (c) 2010. If you enjoyed this, please check out my new book for more of my crazy antics and uncomfortable over-shares!
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Charlotte! Need some help/advice! Have you written extensively on lifting outs and effects on total body weight? I can’t remember reading anything (and I’ve been reading most of your posts for quite a while now). If you haven’t, can you? And here’s my question, written in the most long winded way possible:
I just finished the four week base phase of the Cosgrove book (I loooove the exercises in this, btw. Thanks for the rec! A good amount of variety, and good sequence–keeps my heart rate up), after a lonnng period of not exercising. I definitely like the program a lot, so far, and am committing to doing at least the full 16 weeks. The thing is, I’ve been eating more or less the same as I was before I began working out again (I don’t/can’t measure my food, intuitive eating), but I’ve been tracking my weight for four weeks, and there’s been a general trend upward. Approx +3 lbs in 4 weeks, which isn’t a big increase, but isn’t the decrease I expected from ADDING physical activity. And I haven’t noticed myself looking thinner or fitting into my clothes better. What would you do in this situation? I’m getting kind of close to the “I hate myself” weight, sooooooo…. I’m assuming some of this is due to increases in muscles (I can see them in my legs and arms!) and an increase in water retention from increasing my workout time/intensity/consistency, but how much can I assume? How do you balance losing weight with intuitive eating? (It’s entirely possible that working out has increased my appetite enough that I’m not seeing progress on the scale/clothing size because I’m eating too much, but how do I fix this?)
And yes, I’m perfectly aware that there is more to life than numbers, but these feelings aren’t supposed to be rational!
Thanks! I hope you can give me some input~!
Ooo! I am 10 weeks into the FBB. I started off eating clean, not counting calories, and I lost about 6 pounds in the first month. Then, I started to steadily gain weight. I have been completing the workouts as outlined by the book. Don’t get me wrong–I am enjoying more definition in my shoulders and biceps, greater strength, and a much perkier butt. However, I decided to track my calories a week ago. So far, I’ve lost 2 pounds. I am glad that I am not alone in my frustration. I’m curious to hear/read Charlotte’s input as well.
Kathy – Cosgrove makes a huge point about weight not being a good measure of fitness/progress. Are your clothes fitting any better? Have you been tracking your body fat percentage? I’d be interested to know if that is decreasing. The scale by itself is a notorious liar;)
Like Charlotte said, I barely made any progress on my scale, but my pants!! My pants!!!
Hi R! First I have to say how frustrated I am that all the comments on this post were lost when I migrated my old site to my new one because there was quite the discussion on there about this exact topic. (Actually FIRST first I need to apologize for taking so long to get back to you – my life’s been nuts but I think I’m finally on the other side of the dark tunnel!) So to answer your q’s: Yes, I’ve written a lot about heavy weight lifting. I know that most women do generally gain some weight when they put on muscle. But you should also note that when Cosgrove talks about clothes fitting better, she particularly mentions leaning out through the stomach and hips but adds that you might end up a little broader through the shoulders and quads. While my legs didn’t get noticeably bigger all my shirts did get tight across the shoulders from my new muscles. It also depends a lot from your starting point with fitness I think. If you were pretty fit to begin with, losing the last few “vanity” pounds can be a lot harder than initial weight loss for someone starting out. As for exercising increasing hunger, that is a scientific truth. Compensating for it isn’t as simple though. For me I’ve found it helps to increase the quality of what I eat, especially adding lots (LOTS) of fats like EVOO, coconut oil and even butter. And of course trying to cut down on the sugar. Also, are you getting extra sleep to help with the extra workouts? Even a little missed sleep can add up to increased hunger. And hey, if anyone understands the irrationality of your feelings, it’s me! It’s really tricky finding what works for each body. Keep me posted on how your experiment goes!
Hey Charlotte! Thanks for the reply!
Yeah, my goal is to lose about 5 lb fat with minimal muscle loss, so it’s definitely going to be much harder to see quick progress. I need to highlight this in my brain and keep repeating it to myself, because I keep forgetting! And also, note to myself: slow and steady and consistent is better than fast and dramatic but not-lasting.
Thanks for the advice about adding more fats to help with hunger! I’ll definitely add more of these to my diet–I’ve always eaten on the carb-heavy side, so I actively have to seek out protein and fats.
I think some of the increased eating (without me noticing) was related to the fact that I started a fairly regular fitness program. I’m happy to report that I’m back to my starting point in terms of weight, but my measurements have gone down and my pants are much looser than when I started. I’m in the middle of month 3, and I’m happy because the workout is variable and challenging enough that I actually look forward to my gym sessions! I also bought the NROL for abs (which is actually core heavy), and I’m looking forward to starting it soon. Have you looked at it at all? Alwyn’s program looks similar to Rachel’s, but has slightly different “finisher” type things built in (and different combos of exercises/reps), so might be a good recommendation for anyone who likes FBB.
Hmm, this was supposed to be a reply to your reply to me. Oops.
Hi Charlotte,
I started this week the FBB tks to your post here 🙂 Did you guys follow her diet strictly also? Tks, your site is very informative 🙂
Some of us did the diet, some of us didn’t – all of us had great results! Good luck!
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