Gym question.

[boognish76]

My boyfriend joined a gym recently but is disappointed that, despite going every day for the last 4 weeks, he hasn't lost a lb. I've told him that muscle weighs more than fat but surely at some point he should start to lose weight?

[darth vader]

a popular misconception - there's little or no difference in weight between the two. check his diet. check his water intake (this should increase drastically to compensate the dieting - assuming he's also dieting? if not then there is another reason for your list). check his salt intake. (not wishing to sound cynical but you could also check he actually goes to the gym?). My advice would be to encourage him to join weight watchers or slimmersworld etc. for professional advice on dieting and exercise, but he'll have to overcome the stigma of being in a minority of ladies who go there of course.....

[boognish76]

darth - I know he's def. going to the gym because I have to wash his sweaty gym stuff! lol. He's not dieting as such because we eat reasonably healthily anyway - just trying to cut down on some of the fattier foods. He feels better and I suspect he may have lost an inch or two off his not inconsiderable gut but he wants to see some difference on the bathroom scales. The fact that I joined a gym at the same time and have lost 7lb is not helping!

[thekraut]

does your friend do any other sport except the gym stuff? becauise its quite normal that you don't lose weight right away if didn't do any sports before. your body is adapting to the new activity by building up muscles, even if you're only trying to burn fat (small weights, many repetitions), which is probably happening as well. once this muscle build up is done you will lose weight, if you train for more then 1 hour (approx.) because during the first hour (or so) energy is drawn from other resources (e.g. carbohydrates from the liver). when i started doing sport again (after a 3 year break) I didn't lose a gram at first. it started after about 6 weeks.

[quattro]

If he sticks to aerobic exercise rather than weight building exercise he will loose weight more easilly.I have been using a gym for nearly twenty years and have kept more or less the same weight but since I started long distance running on a regular basis I have lost half a stone in two months

[bluedolphin]

Perhaps he is happy eating and slips out for a snack etc..just cos he is not eating in front of u doesn't mean he isnt eating !!!! Perhaps the gym stuff makes him peckish and he snarflles on the way home!!!

[boognish76]

There's no reason why my boyfriend wouldn't be honest with me about when he goes to the gym or what he eats. I've not told him to loose weight, he's doing it for himself - I love him the way he is! Thekraut - he did little to no exercise before joining the gym so I will tell him to stick with it. Thanks for all your replies.

[rinkytink]

Muscle does way more than fat so if he is just building muscle under any fat layers he will put on weight. The trick is to burn the fat and at the same time increase the muscle beneath. He needs to be doing a lot more cardio - vascular exersise (running, rowing, cycling machine) to burn of the fat. Without this he won't see any benefit of the weight training at all.

[rinkytink]

Sorry that should have been weigh !
Why not try him on a royal navy basic training programme ?

http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/2933.htm
l

You'll notice that there is a good combination of aerobic and muscle building activity.

[darth vader]

boognish76 assuming your boyfriend is telling the truth (cos we don't judge on this site :-) then i strongly recommend a dietician to help you, and analyse your calorie intake. You say you eat healthily but it's amazing how some calorie-dense foods creep in (i thought muesli was good for you until i realised the calorie content compared with the goodness it provides - have switched to shredded weat and porridge since!). Also as quattro says (and i'd not considered this to be honest) the chap needs to concentrate on aerobic exercise not weight training. rinkytink - ok i've cross referenced a few sites and all i can say is the jury is out - some say yes it is significantly more in weight others say no. WW says no also. ivillage.co.uk says it is not in women, but is in men.

[IggyB]

reassure your boyfriend that he's done (and doing) amazingly well, if he's lost a few inches off his gut in four weeks he is burning through those fat deposits at a great rate... whether muscles or fat weighs more doesn't really matter whats impressive is if he is shrinking around the middle and staying the same weight!!! FAB MUSCLE AND TRIMMED DOWN SPARE TYRE. throw those damned bathroom scales away - meaningless when your just getting started at the gym - and ask your gym instructor about a bil-electrical impedence test (or bofy fat test), the is a method of very accurately measuring how much of your body weight is fat - use this test as the motivation if you really need some numbers to cheer you up. If your gym doesn't have this sort of equipment they should at least be able to do a caliper test (pinching the fat to see how much you have and the predicting the entire body percentage) OR just keep measuring your self to see how you shrink around the gut region. good luck to your b/f and well done for the progress so far.

[IggyB]

opps meant bio-electrical impedance test.