I am also stripping down and strength training actually upped my fat-burning capacity. i train heavy as hell- only 5-6 reps per set- and do at least one powerlifting exercise each session. i started off about 27% bf and have stripped down to about 20- all while adding significant muscle(i'm 6' 254lbs). my waist has dropped 3 inches and my chest has dropped about 2 but i've gained significant strenght in my squat and deadlift and have held court on my bench. The place you may need to look is your diet. when i stalled out about a month ago, i realized that my omega 3/6 balance was screwy because i was inhaling about half-lb of almonds a day. once i cut that out, i went back to losing 1-2 lbs a week. look at your diet and see where it may have a hiccup... hope this helps.

You're replacing fat with muscle. Weight should not be the #1 indicator of progress. My weight loss has slowed down dramatically, however I can see progress after implementing more resistance exercises.

Exercise, especially with weights is a (ugh, I hate this phrase) "game changer."

You will have body recomposition but sometimes not weight loss- and even weight GAIN. Once you introduce exercise to your regimen you need to look for inches and not so much weight.

I am 5'4 125lbs and have been for about a year or more. However, I started a once a week very intensive heavy weights workout around 7 months ago. I went from leg pressing 70 pounds to 230 pounds and chest pressing 48 pounds to 102 pounds. My a*s, if I may say so myself, is amazing. My arms are toned and I am down a dress size (currently holding steady at a size 5 jrs and a size 1/2 women's).

However....not one ounce lost. Not one. It sucks, but I have to focus more on the fact that I look better (tighter). That's really what matters.

If you are not losing/gaining both weight AND (more importantly) inches, it may be time to re-evaluate your diet. Some of the main culprits are:

Too much fruit, especially dried and high GI

Too many nuts

Too much cheating

Too many frankenfoods (shakes, bars, processed jerkey etc)

Too many carbs

Besides toning in diet, check your rest/recovery and sleep, stress stalls as much as diet

I think I notice something similar too, though even when my weight is stalling, I'm still noticing things that I take as my indicators that I'm continuing to lose fat - I see more vascularity in my arms and hands (which have always been covered by at least a thin layer of fat).

I just don't see any progress in the place I'd most like to, my stomach. But I imagine as it's the last vestige of accumulated fat, it's just harder to see the miniscule progress that I'm most likely still making.

Do I think I'm building as much muscle weight as fat weight I'm losing? I strongly doubt it. Maybe the strength work is causing my muscles to retain more water?

Yep, replacing fat with muscle will definitely up your weight. Also, putting stress on the body (including healthy exercise stress) will make your body retain some "emergency" fat.

Unless you are doing some pinch measurements or doing an immersion test, you really have no idea if your strength training is stalling your fat loss.

If your body is storing more glycogen (for exercise purposes), you'll also gain some water weight as well.

I would say that you need to do some specific data collection to get a grip on the situation. Start measuring weight and body fat% at least weekly. FOr body fat%, I personally use an omron device once a week, which, while not EXTREMELY accurate, allows me to see trending. I also use a more accurate means less often for calibration - I used a BodPod for the first time a couple weeks ago, I recommend it. Measure at the same time on the same day, preferably immediately after awakening (fasted state) for the most accurate results.

Next, journal a weeks worth of food and exercise. And I mean JOURNAL! If you bite it, write it, if you drink it, ink it. This includes ANY supplements or para-foods (shakes, bars, etc). This is important as you might not realize a subconscious increase in volume of food to support an increased volume of work, and because of this aren't being as clean as possible. From a supplement standpoint, it's important as if you decided to start using creatine, for example, you are likely to see a quick spike in weight and then a plateau as your body stores more water while taking it.

I recently went on the Whole30 challenge (day 23 right now) and have lost a consistent 3 pounds a week while changing noting else. This includes 5 days of CrossFit a week I've set four PRs in the last 10 days, so I'd be interested to know what your volumes are and what you are actually eating.

I went from 266 to 208 (as of today) between May and now. For a 1 month period I experienced the same thing you are talking about. While some people said I was in that fat burning sweet spot (burning fat, gaining muscle) I agree with some of the comments from above about tweaking your diet some. I've tried to really be more aggressive in limiting the amount of fruit I take in (either 1 serving a day or none) and also really monitoring nut intake (less so than fruit though). I made those changes and 10 days later with no real change to the workout regiment I dropped 8ish lbs.

The folks from this study (below) by Ballor et al. (1996) actually gained weight, even as they lost body fat. The reason was that they followed a strength training while maintaining a mild caloric deficit. Check the graph with the body composition. The group doing strength training ended up with much better body composition; the other group lost fat and muscle!

http://healthcorrelator.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-lose-fat-and-gain-muscle-at-same.html