Comment Fat vs muscle (Score 1) 978
7 pounds in 12 weeks isn't a bad result; experts recommend a weight loss of half a pound per week, so they were in the range.
Still, a good explanation for the relatively small weight loss is that they were developing muscle while loosing fat, as they moved from a sedentary lifestyle to working out 5 times a week; it would have been nice to see the body fat percentage before and after the 12 week period.