Can't loose weight but putting on muscle

[Jotjepoes]

Last summer when I started biking seriously I lost about 7 kg. This summer (I live downunder) I've gone back to more or less the same diet, I find I can't seem to lose weight, but instead I think I'm putting on muscle or so my weighing machine seems to indicate.

I have an BMI of 26 and fat% of 23.5% (I'm female aged 41). I'd like to loose a bit more weight to have a BMI of 25 or less but I seem to be going the opposite direction in that I'm gaining weight but I think it's muscle.

I'm roughly on the same diet (muesli for breakfast, fruit for morning snack, tuna salad for lunch, yoghurt for afernoon snack, maybe with a couple of biscuits and then pasta or casserole with rice for dinner).

I'm on steriods (prednisilone 8 mg per day) as I suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, but gradually working my way off this onto other medication- although I was on 7 mg last summer - does this have an effect?

Any ideas or comments welcome. Thanks

 

[stevecycles]

Last summer when I started biking seriously I lost about 7 kg. This summer (I live downunder) I've gone back to more or less the same diet, I find I can't seem to lose weight, but instead I think I'm putting on muscle or so my weighing machine seems to indicate.

I have an BMI of 26 and fat% of 23.5% (I'm female aged 41). I'd like to loose a bit more weight to have a BMI of 25 or less but I seem to be going the opposite direction in that I'm gaining weight but I think it's muscle.

I'm roughly on the same diet (muesli for breakfast, fruit for morning snack, tuna salad for lunch, yoghurt for afernoon snack, maybe with a couple of biscuits and then pasta or casserole with rice for dinner).

I'm on steriods (prednisilone 8 mg per day) as I suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, but gradually working my way off this onto other medication- although I was on 7 mg last summer - does this have an effect?

Any ideas or comments welcome. Thanks

I am using cycling to help loose as well. Loosing weight comes down to taking in fewer calories than you burn. To start, find some computer software ( I use diet and excersize assistant for the Palm Pilot) or a website (fitday) that will computer your daily BMR. This is how many calories you burn without exercize. Plug in your goals, and it will tell you how many calroies you can consume in a day. When you exersize, you will increase your daily BMR. I was struggling to loose until I started this last October, and since then have had tremendous results. As far a the steroids, my understanding is they can make one appear "puffy" and they may stimulate the appetite, and may help retain water. But bottom line is calories burned must be more than calories consumed. Roughly 3,500 calories will equal one pound.

Best of luck!

 

[Felt_Rider]

The medication that you are taking can cause water retention and weight gain in some individuals. All though they are considered steroids they do not produce the positive effects on body composition that an anabolic steroid may produce (although anabolic steroids may also cause water retention they do have a positive impact on body composition). However, you can overcome this by continued effort of burning calories through an appropriate exercise program.

Personally I like HIIT type programs like doing high intensity interval programs 5 days a week to boost the metabolism, increase a thermogenic state and increase cycling performance and a long endurance ride 1 once a week for variety, but weight loss can generated by a number of different types of programs.

(look for the threads on this forum listing L4 type training)

 

[sogood]

Prednisolone is the problems per above post. The water retention and other metabolic changes would likely to have accounted for your difficulties. You should find your weight coming down when you cease that.

Agree that with the above, the only thing to do right now is to spend a bit more energy than intake. Just becareful of any steroid side effects and don't over do it.

 

[RickF]

With the prednisolone and weight, it is all in the dose. At high doses, prednisolone will cause abnormal fat accumulation between the shoulder blades and in the abdomin. At most doses, prednisolone will cause sodium, and therefore fluid, accumulation.

The problem with using BMI as an indicator of whether body weight is high or low is that BMI does not distinguish among muscle, fat, and fluid. Depending upon how your percent body fat was determined, percent body fat can be a much better indicator of whether you weigh too much. If the percent body fat was determined by measuring your specific density (e.g., by weighing you when you were underwater and after you have blown all of the air out of your lungs that you can), that is a very accurate assessment, and 23% fat is a little high. Estimating percent body fat through MRI or x-ray methods is also reliable. Measuring skinfold thickness is usually reliable, but if there is a lot of fluid retention from the prednisolone, then that method will overestimate the percent body fat. If the percent body fat was estimated by using the standard equations for height and weight and what the "lean body mass" should be, then the estimate is just as useless as the BMI value.

One word of caution that I am almost positive you already know, is that you should not stop the prednisolone abruptly or without your doctor's supervision. You should work with your doctor, though, to find the lowest dose of prednisolone that will control your RA symptoms. Changes in dose should be done in small increments with several days to a few weeks between changes.

 

[Jotjepoes]

Thanks all for some interesting posts. It sounds like once I work my way off the prednisilone I'll find it a lot easier.

I guess what I find curious is that last year I had such a success with weight loss when I was on 7 mg, but this year it's been a lot harder even though I'm on a marginally higher dose.

I thought what RickF said about BMI is interesting. I calculated my% fat on my weighing machine - not the most reliable - as this is done by sending a mild current through the body and from what I understand this is calculated by using height, weight and % hydration. But I've been using this for awhile now and just make sure I weigh myself at the same time each day, generally just before dinner, and so generally get a fairly consistent reading from day to day, with gradual changes. Does anyone know what the optimum fat % for women is? I've read that it is between 20 -25% for women, but some figues differ - particularly with age.

Thanks!

 

[daveryanwyoming]

... Does anyone know what the optimum fat % for women is? ...

It varies with age and goals. Check out this link: http://www.nutribase.com/fwchartf.shtml and scroll down to the table that lists body fat percentages by: athletes, lean, normal, etc....

 

[matagi]

Does anyone know what the optimum fat % for women is? I've read that it is between 20 -25% for women, but some figues differ - particularly with age.

Thanks!

Optimum bodyfat % is 22-25% for women so working on 20-25% is fine, it is set slightly lower in some ethnic groups, so if you are Chinese, Indian or Malay, you should be aiming for a bodyfat % closer to 20.

 

[djk202020]

Make sure you vary your diet. Just like exercise once the body gets use to the same thing over and over it becomes very efficent with it. you will stop losing weight if you are always eating the same things. Try looking up a diet plan for weight loss that varries intake. The wesite below is from a body bulding website. it for cutting fat off the body. it gives some good explanation about what is good and bad and how your body reacts to ceratin food. You might want to look for a more woman specific plan but hopefully that will help. You can pick and choose what you want to believe about it but after being on that diet for about 4 weeks I have lost 4% body fat.

http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/13weekstohardcorefatburningdiet.php