[Bytsi]

Thanks to everyone for the answers - I think the advice that it's ok to lift but not try for PR's all the time and be aware of extra recovery / limited HIIT is where I have been headed anyway...

Originally Posted by Leigh P.

First off a week isn't a stall! If you stay consistent the weight will go down. I think you are starting to doubt and I can't tell you it isn't complicated, consistency is key, just stick it out. Water transfers, everyweek isn't some massive success story. Sometimes we look worse, feel horrible, and have no results and then 12 days later we are down 3 pounds and tighter than ever. You don't just lose fat like that.

Thanks Leigh... trusting in consistency is hard. I know you're very familiar with clients who panic... as someone who's been dieting and spinning their wheels with workouts that weren't focused enough on goals, I've learned so much in the last few months here. And I need to trust in what I'm learning and in the results people get when they are patient.

fat loss is a handicap and should be treated as such. That it isn't the time to test out that new max strength building program.
Also a lot of you look at some of my clients and they will attest to the fact that they were overtrained. They have been lifting and killing themselves for a long time. They needed a break, you may not.

You want to lift, lift. All I say is lift for you goals. If you have a goal of fat loss then understand that you training should suit that.

If you just like training for training sake that is great, but answer this, when do you start to get obsessed with the lack of training? Does that happen to come more when the doubt sets in?

I find that people think that MORE training equals more fat loss. All I say is more training can just mean more problems. MODERATION AND PATIENCE is key.

I don't know if I need a break, but I do know I have had to become more aware of rest and recovery. As I posted my workouts, someone pointed out that I had only 2 real rest days in a month of workouts... there is variety and cross-training, but there wasn't enough rest. I'm going to make an educated guess that I've lacked recovery for years and years - but I'm working on getting more recovery and have done better with it since then.

Obesessed with lack of training? I'm gonna say that's been a fairly constant part of my life. I was fat and sedentary for about a decade (I lost my 20's to being fat and I can't ever get 'em back). Then in my 30's I learned to exercise (cardio and then eventually weights) and eat better (but not "clean"), lost the weight, "got a life." I have consistently exercised for more than 10 years without any lengthy breaks (probably never more than a week off - and those were rare). I'm working on my fear of regaining if I don't workout. Not easy to overcome, even for recovery purposes (but I'm learning).

You can't out train a bad diet but you can overtrain into poor fat loss.

I may need to tattoo this on my forehead.