I am starting week 4 of the NROLFW program and I LOVE it. I am lifting heavier than I ever have at the gym and can FEEL my strength. I do have one concern though so I'm hoping someone here can help me out. My energy levels and strength results are undeniable. I feel fantastic. However, I'm finding that my pants don't fit me. I'm finding a lot of my jeans are very tight and some of them I can't even button. Is this common? I'm eating clean - no cheat meals. I'm hoping this will even out over time. My goal in this is to gain muscle but I don't want to out grow all of my jeans and buy bigger ones. Know what I mean?
How much are you eating? The workouts are rather intense, and people tend to find that if they're not actually counting and measuring, they're actually eating more than maintenance, and therefore… weight gain.
Another culprit is often water retention.
So look to your food, track what you eat, weigh everything, and see if that provides you with the answer or if you need to look further.
Thanks for your response. I started off eating the 1900 calories on non-lifting days and 2200 calories on my lifting days. When I noticed my clothes were getting tighter I lowered the calories for this past week to 1650-1800. I track all of my calories through Calorie King and have been keeping my fat-carb-protein percentages in line. You may be right about the water, I just started my period and that's always good for at least 4-5 lbs of water but the particular pair of jeans I wear around this time of the month are tighter than usual. It makes me nervous.
I have a digital scale but sometimes measure with spoons/cups. I just found a thread with a video on how slight miscalculations with using spoons can add up to a lot of calories. I think I will stick to my scale completely and see how I get along. Thanks!
Ya, I'm nearly done with stage one and my pants don't fit either. I'm trying to gain muscle and i can tell that it's working. Unfortunately, gaining muscle inevitably (as far as i know!) comes with a little bit of fat gain.
I don't worry about it, I'll trim off the fat later, and will be left with lovely shapely legs
Is it me or is phase I a bit leg heavy? I'm making gains on the lower half of my body, but not in the top, eventhough I'm pushing myself.
I just have three workouts left in Stage 1 so I am about 6 weeks in I guess? I've been gradually trying to build up to my maitenance calorie level (2200/1950); I'm still not quite there. Right now I am at about 2100/1800. But previously I was eating 1300-1500 daily. I've gained about 2lbs but I am trying not to worry about it. I'm hoping to get to maitenance level, stay there for a few months and let my body get used to that while building muscle, and then do a cut to try to drop some extra fat. So I think you're not alone in your experience!
This happened to me too! and at right about the same time point in the program. I swear, it's because all this weight lifting made me grow a butt. When you had no butt to start with, you don't appreciate how much room a proper rear can take up in your jeans!
When my butt filled out, it pulled my waist bands lower and therefore the waist sat at a wider point across my hips... and i'm pretty sure i was holding onto some water too. they were loose again by stage six.
i'm on week 5 of stage 1 and i'm having the same problem-- i have a J Lo butt now and my pants all fit weird. i weighed myself the other day and i'm still clocking in at the same weight I started at, but my butt has definitely grown. i have to keep repeating, "you are the same weight, you have not gained any fat" every time i put a pair of pants on.
I had to chime in with this--my rear has never been small, but now it is a totally different shape thanks to NROL4W--I was telling hubby last night that my jeans are now tight in the thigh and butt and loose in the crotch and waist. My husband is Greek and loves the round ass. : )
I am new to the forum and am in stage 2, was so worried that the scale weight did not change, I went down one jeans size but that's it. Nice to know it's not only me alone
This is starting to happen to me now -- Week 4, right on schedule. Glad I'm not the only one. I worked from Jan-March to get back into my "skinny" jeans (doing other stuff -- running/pilates/light weights, etc) and now, a few weeks later -- they don't fit again. Well they fit around my waist but they're hard to get over my ass. Very bad for the self esteem. Oh well, it gets better, right?
Well, reading that people are at week 4 (I'm doing A4 tomorrow!) and seeing changes is a bit dispiriting but is motivating me to improve my diet and work harder!
Have you all been following a clean diet, near the rations of 40/30/30 like in the book?
I bought new jeans last week and, granted they're a slim fitting lower rise style, but I feel so big! Especially in the thighs (my problem area).
Have you all been following a clean diet, near the rations of 40/30/30 like in the book?
Clean, yes. Well, mostly. I still have ice cream and pizza sometimes. I'm not measuring cals or macros -- I'm not really into weighing or measuring. Or counting. I'm challenged enough just making sure I have groceries on hand so I can prevent myself from ordering in or relying on convenience meals.
My diet had previously been pretty carb-heavy so I've been trying to make sure I eat LOTS of protein and slightly more fat, and I'm trying to improve the quality of the carbs I'm eating, i.e. squash and apples rather than gummy candy and flaky pastries.
I'm eating a lot but in spite of not tracking I haven't gained any weight. (But I should say that in addition to the weight lifting I bike to work every day and I have a fairly physical warehouse job).
In terms of the pants not fitting I think of it as growing pains. An awkward phase, like weight lifting puberty. On the whole I feel leaner and stronger. My butt is just bigger. I guess.
I did NROLWFW when it first came out and didn't finish the last phase. I gained weight.... it was fat ,not muscle and my pants were skin tight. I used the calories in the book and even went down to the -300 cal. For me the calories were just WAY too much,hence the weight gain.
I am doing NROLWFW again (just started) because it is the best weight program out there and very balanced. BUT I am tracking calories via Calorie King and going with a greater deficit (1500cal workout day/1300 nonworkout day). So far so good and I feel great! Bobbie K
Scroll down a bit to the second pair of pictures of a figure athlete and note her before and after measurements. She has put on some weight, dropped her body fat percentage and increased her measurements in the after picture but now sports a very muscular body.
Her starting body fat level was already so low that any increase in inches would probably be obvious as muscle.
I am doing another program now that hopefully will turn out to be more appropriate for fat loss since I need to lose about 15 or more pounds of fat (I am currently 32%). I really enjoyed NROWFW and am looking forward to giving it another go when I get rid of my pudge.
Starting week 4 - Pants don't fit?
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