Hey! So, this week I barely lost weight despite fasting and being in a caloric deficit of at least 500 calories. I haven’t been eating as good but I’ve been trying to be in a deficit. At the gym I find myself exercising my muscles more so I’m wondering if this could be why. If so, do I stop working out my muscles until I see a number on the scale I’m happy with? I just want to lose more stomach fat and what motivates me is seeing the scale go down.
You can certainly see your water weight increase if you are working your muscles hard. But I personally would not stop lifting just to see that number go down. Take your weight everyday with an app that records it. Look at the trending line. As long as you are generally going down then you’re on the right path. Slow progress shouldn’t matter so much if you are ultimately looking for a lifestyle change. If you do too many things at the same time you risk burning out. Keep it simple, keep a deficit, and work those muscles! Build muscles and you increase your how many calories your body is able to burn without extra help! Good news all around there!
Are you sure you’re tracking your calories accurately? Weighing your macros/food and making sure you’re actually in a deficit?
Remember that as much as you can gym, you can’t outtrain a bad diet. I.e as your post mentions you haven’t been eating as good - I’d make sure to focus on eating healthy and within your calorie deficit. Also to avoid food which can lead to water retention and therefore no change on the scale.
Separately, i wouldn’t obsess on the scales weekly as much, especially if you’re gymming. It could also be muscle gain than has tipped the scales the other way. An additional way to measure progress is to take progress photos where it’s easier to notice physical changes when comparing two points in time (say over 2-4 weeks) than through looking yourself at the mirror.
Stopping exercise in some attempt to move the scale is just shooting yourself in the foot in the long run. Especially if you’re building muscle, which is more metabolically active than fat thus raising your resting metabolism. It’s basically free calorie burn 24/7.
You said it yourself that you haven’t been eating as good and are trying to keep to a deficit. That’s the aspect to work on. Nutrition and diet to lose weight and exercise to shape the body.
If you’re still not getting the results you want then either calories in are getting miscounted or your calories out is lower than you think. That’s when you’d start to make some adjustments like adding 100 calories to your deficit each week until you get the results you want. Though the general guideline is to not go below 1,200 by the way.
Keep lifting. People who don’t train through weight loss look like a bag of skin by time they’re done. Gotta work them muscles. You’ll be fitter and more energetic as a result.
Start doing body measurements instead of relying on the scale. I take one measurement, my stomach. Sometimes the scale barely moves, but my measurements tell me a different story.