I've just finished my 5th week of BFL and am patiently awaiting some loss on the scale. I've watched my inches go down over the last month, but the scale has done nothing but go up 2 or 3 pounds and then fluctuate between those low and high numbers. Nat, you mentioned something about when women typically show muscle gain and fat loss during the 12 weeks. Where did you find that and could you send me the link? Sorry, this is turning out to be a whiny post, but am I the only person doing BFL who is not losing? How are the rest of you doing?

Diva,

I frequently encounter this when training my clients.

It is important that you re-check your progress via waist measurements and/or bodyfat percenatge if the scale isn't dropping.

What could be happening is that you are adding fat and gaining muscle at an even pace ... which is GOOD.

Even if the scale went UP, but bodyfat and measurements went down it is still a GOOD thing since it will mean that you have added more lean mass to your frame, which will translate to a higher metabolic rate for you (muscle is active tissue and requires energy a.ka. CALORIES to sustain itself, whereas fat just sits there and does nothing.)

Dani, I second Dan's recommendation - take the measurements. Between week 7 and 8 my weight went up a good 8 lbs (up and down, down, then up - I covered it all) but the measurements kept going down. Women tend to typically build muscle slower than men so it takes longer to see the effects of it burning off your fat - this is week 10 for me and I am just noticing this happening at a pretty dramatic rate. Everyone is different, where I got most of my information from was reading the BFL discussion boards - there's a post like yours every day it seems

The weight training will build muscle, muscle will burn the fat - you'll see the results, but it may take 10 weeks - it may take 12. Hang in there and if you haven't written down your stats from day one start now.

Nat

Typo?

Wa'il

Of course, I meant LOSING fat and ADDING muscle ... that's what I get for sneaking on the board from work to post ... DOAH!

Thanks for catching that Wa'il.

OK, you are all correct and thank you, thank you so much for the information and for humoring me. I'm going to the BFL board now to check it out. Nat, I did measure in the morning on the day I started BFL, so I've got stats from ground zero and I'll keep checking them every week. As long as my measurements don't start going back up, I vow to ignore the ever changing number on my scale and just keep working out. (Until the number pleases me, and then I will jump for joy and treat the scale like a demi-god, worshipping its numerical readout. However, I promise to return to my new rational mindset by the following morning because the numbers will probably change then anyway.)