Please help sort out some myths/confusions i have.

[aileenosaurus]

Hey I was wondering if you all could help me with a few things that I am confused about. My beginning weight in 2009 was 230lbs. I am currently 140lbs. Although I had originally went down to 130lbs but when i began weight training and drinking protein shakes I have seemed to gain ten pounds and needless to say i am so confused. Now, what my current issue is that i was happy with the way i looked at 130lbs. Now, not so much, I have a bulged stomach area now but every other body part seems to be the same. i also realized that my new goal is fat loss which is why i picked up weight training. Although i have lost a significant amount of weight, i am just scared that changing my routine is causing weight gain. I will include the things i eat and the workout i am currently doing. Plus i use to do cardio at least 5-6 times a week for 45 minutes and now it is saying 2-3 times no more than 20-30 minutes. I feel as if i am going backwards and all my hard work is not paying off. I also read that a flat stomach comes purely from dieting and not doing abs which i find hard to believe.
So long story short:
1. Does weight training make you gain weight?
2. Do protein shakes make you gain weight?
3. Does doing only 2-3 times a week no more than 20-30 minutes of cardio sufficient?
4. Is getting a flat stomach purely based on your diet?
5. Does weight training makes u burn fat/calories faster?

Now the protein shake i drink is Fitness Pro Super Whey sugar free 50g. i currently drink two shakes a day one scoop per serving and i add a full banana to it.
My diet consists of:
veggie burgers
100 calorie whole wheat bread
sweet potato
brown rice
veggie chicken patties
fat free yogurt
special K yogurt cereal
assorted vegetables
eggs
tuna
oatmeal
a lot of water
pepper jack cheese
assorted fruits
tilapia
chicken

My workout plan is a full body workout:

Day 1: Chest/Shoulders
Dumbbell Bench Press
3 sets of 10 reps
Smith Machine Incline Bench Press
3 sets of 10 reps
Butterfly
3 sets of 10 reps
Barbell Bench Press - Medium Grip
3 sets of 10 reps
Barbell Shoulder Press
3 sets of 10 reps
Standing Front Barbell Raise Over Head
3 sets of 10 reps
Side Lateral Raise
3 sets of 10 reps
Machine Shoulder (Military) Press
3 sets of 10 reps
Upright Barbell Row
3 sets of 10 reps


Day 2: Back
Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown
3 sets of 10 reps
Lying T-Bar Row
3 sets of 10 reps
Reverse Grip Bent-Over Rows
3 sets of 10 reps
Bent Over Two-Dumbbell Row
3 sets of 10 reps
Seated Cable Rows
3 sets of 10 reps


Day 3: Legs
Barbell Squat
3 sets of 10 reps
Leg Press
3 sets of 10 reps
Seated Leg Curl
3 sets of 10 reps
Stiff-Legged Barbell Deadlift
3 sets of 10 reps
Standing Calf Raises
3 sets of 10 reps
Barbell Lunge
3 sets of 10 reps


Day 4: Biceps/Triceps
Preacher Curl
3 sets of 10 reps
Hammer Curls
3 sets of 10 reps
Seated Dumbbell Curl
3 sets of 10 reps
Standing Biceps Cable Curl
3 sets of 10 reps
Barbell Curl
3 sets of 10 reps
Decline EZ Bar Triceps Extension
3 sets of 10 reps
Triceps Pushdown - Rope Attachment
3 sets of 10 reps
Underhand Cable Pulldowns
3 sets of 10 reps
Straight-Arm Pulldown
3 drop sets of 10 reps
Dips - Triceps Version Dips
3 sets of 10 reps

Now any suggestions, changes, and diet plans are HIGHLY welcomed! I really appreciate you for taking the time to read this and helping me achieve my weight goal of 128lbs. I was so close, now so far :( and in all honesty i need help because i am completely discouraged and ready to give up.

Also i have lost all the weight naturally, SO if you have ANY supplement suggestions, i am willing to try it at this point to burn this fat.

Thank you. and i will be checking regularly.

[Char]

First I want to say congrats on your weight loss.
Now to answer your questions:

1. You ask if weight training can make you gain weight. Yes it can. Muscle weigh more than fat so I wouldn't be worried about your weight gain. Focus more on your bf and the mirror.

2. Yes and no. Protein shakes can make you bloated but it also depends on what you mix with it. I would switch one of your shakes with real food.

3. 20-30 min of cardio 2-3 days/week can be enough but it depends on the intensity. I would up it to 30 min 4-5 days/week.

4. Getting a flat stomach is 20% workout and 80% diet. You can have tight abs but if you don't diet down they will never show. You can do crunches all day long but that is not gonna make your stomach any flatter if your diet isn't there to support it. Also you can be bloated from different foods like gluten, protein shakes, dairy.. etc.. We are all different and some are more sensitive to certain foods than other.. But yes, a six pack is made in the kitchen.

5. When you develop your muscle you will burn more calories. Muscles needs energy to function as it is an active energy force.

When I look at your diet I notice a few things. What's the ingredients in the veggie burgers and veggie chicken patties? Are they store bought? Homemade? If they are store bought I would look and the ingredients. Processed foods always contain loads of sodium, sugar and/or fat. Also fat free yogurt is usually loaded with sugar so I would go with the Greek yogurt as that contain less sugar and are higher in protein. The special K cereal is high i cabs so probably not the best choice. Why not oatmeal? Also cheese should be eaten in moderation.

Well, that's just my 2c

[megdaig]

1. The only thing that causes you to gain weight is eating too many calories. If you're in the proper deficit, you shouldn't be gaining. Combine caloric surplus with heavy weight training and you should [hopefully more] gain muscle + [hopefully less] fat. The ratio at which you gain muscle over fat (p-ratio) is determined by your genetics.

2. The only thing that causes you to gain weight is eating too many calories. If your protein shakes are putting you in a caloric surplus, yes you will gain weight. You can still have shakes and be at a deficit, but why not eat those calories instead?

3. Cardio isn't necessary for fat loss. Consider it the fine-tuning knob to adjust how large or small of a caloric deficit you are in.

4. Kind of. You must have muscle in the abdominal area to have a "6-pack" once you lose the fat via diet. If you continue to work out abs and not reduce body fat, you can actually increase your muscle mass to the point where you no longer have a "flat" midsection and can look almost barrel chested. But you'd have to be gaining a considerable amount of muscle to get to that point so likely not going to happen for you. Just know that abs are the same as any other muscle group and they require rest to grow, no need to work abs 5 days a week, one should do it.

5. For every additional pound of muscle you gain you burn a whooping 6 more calories a day (not the stated 50 you see everyone tout), not very significant. But the act of lifting weights in the gym preferentially burns more fat over catabolizing aminos for energy (like long cardio sessions can when you cross into the anaerobic state) since you're doing more aerobic work during weight training. I take that to mean that over a long period of time, lifting weights > cardio for fat loss.

[nranallo]

Weight training does make you gain weight. I was115 to 124 then year off 120 now 134 but *most* of my pants still fit. Your gaining muscle mass which in turn will burn more calories. Just don't make the mistake I did. Consuming too many calories to *bulk* now I have an extra little fat :) oops! O well just got to work harder!

[oregonchick76]

1. Does weight training make you gain weight?
No. Eating a calorie surplus does.

2. Do protein shakes make you gain weight?
No. Eating a calorie surplus does.

3. Does doing only 2-3 times a week no more than 20-30 minutes of cardio sufficient?
Sufficient for what? Cardio isn't necessary for weight/fat loss.

4. Is getting a flat stomach purely based on your diet?
A flat stomach is based on low body fat levels. Low body fat comes from eating less than you burn.

5. Does weight training makes u burn fat/calories faster?
While it's not true that a lb of muscle increases your metabolic rate significantly, progressive weight lifting requires the body to build/repair muscle muscle which does burn additional calories.

Not sure what your macros are from looking, but it doesn't seem like you're getting enough fat, and protein should be coming from FOOD mostly. Protein powder reliance needs to be overcome. How many calories is this?

Figure out maintenance level and eat to lose around .25 and .5 lbs per week. Yes, it should come off THAT SLOW.

Workout looks pretty sucky to me. "Full body" in my mind means that at each workout you work your whole body. What you're doing is something else.

I'd switch to a full body 3 x per week. Squat, bench, deadlift, chin ups, overhead press, etc, lifting in the 6-8 rep range.

[rdferguson]

1. Does weight training make you gain weight?

Other than some initial fluid retention from inflammation, no. Rather, weight training impacts what kind of weight you'll gain or lose when in a calorie surplus or deficit, and it's having that surplus or deficit that causes weight gain/loss. I'll note that you've described all the weight appearing on your stomach. You've been training your whole body. If weight training were going to cause you to gain weight, don't you think you'd gain the weight where it's needed (ie everywhere) in a form that's useful (ie muscle), rather than just bloating up your belly?

2. Do protein shakes make you gain weight?

Not in and of themselves. Again, it's calories in vs calories out. Protein shakes are a source of calories, so they can contribute to weight gain, but really it's the whole diet and activity balance that needs to be looked at.

3. Does doing only 2-3 times a week no more than 20-30 minutes of cardio sufficient?

Depends. Again, from a weight loss POV, it's all about calories in vs calories out at the end of the day. The main argument against a higher frequency and/or volume of cardio (from people who are worth listening to; there's plenty who aren't but still argue against it) is that the volume of training is hard to recover from, so it can create more stress than you actually deal with, which both increases the odds of over-reaching and can mess with hormones, resulting in a reduction in metabolic rate.

4. Is getting a flat stomach purely based on your diet?

Having a low amount of fat on the stomach is purely about calories in vs calories out. However, posture/transverse abdominis activity also affects how flat your stomach is, so I wouldn't say exercise is completely irrelevant here.

5. Does weight training makes u burn fat/calories faster?

There's a lot of answers here. Muscle mass requires more calories than fat mass to maintain itself (although probably not to the huge extent that glossy magazines will tell you), so in theory increasing muscle mass can increase your metabolic rate, all other things being equal. There's the EPOC/afterburn effect of resistance and high intensity training, but current research indicates that that's also highly exaggerated by the fitness media. There's the amount of calories burnt within each training session, and that depends on so many more factors than whether you're doing weights or cardio, but the more muscle mass is involved for the duration of the activity, the more calories will be burned during the activity, generally speaking. One minute of heavy squats will have a similar caloric toll to a 300m sprint for the same duration. The main thing about resistance training and fat loss is that if you're doing resistance training while losing weight, your body will be less inclined to get rid of pre-existing muscle mass, so it'll get more into the fat mass. If you lose 10lb of weight and none of it's muscle, then the amount of fat lost will be greater than if you lose 10lb of weight and 3lb of it is muscle.

[aileenosaurus]

Thanks for all your help. You have answered all my questions and now i have a clear understanding.
My chicken patties are store bought from publix.
My chicken patty is: 135 calories, 45 calories from fat, 10 grams of protein, 440mg of sodium, and 12 grams of carbs.
My veggie burger is: 95 calories, 25 fat calories, 11 grams of protein, 270 mg of sodium, and 7 grams of carbs.
My protein shake for one scoop is: 125 calories, 15 calories from fat, 42 mg of sodium, 2.5 grams of carbs, 0 sugar, and 25 grams of protein.

I feel much better knowing that the weight gain is possible especially if im only bloated in one area. As far as the workout program, i just came off a full body workout and i am switching my routine which i do every 2-3 months. So i currently just switched to a split routine to change it up. Also, i will stop looking at the scale and begin to measure myself with a tape measure. That was a great idea! and I also found an amazing diet on this website pertaining to my calorie intake.

I truly appreciate all your help in answering my questions. Thanks for all your help :)