building muscle, scale barely budging

[annhett]

This is driving me crazy. I'm having a terrible time with the scale. I work out with a personal trainer twice a week. I'm much improved over when I started with her. I'm stronger, my balance is better. I can see definition. I am active most other days of the week - walking or biking. Most days I burn at least 2300 calories (according to my body media arm band). My target is 2420, which I get several days per week. Anyway, the scale is barely moving. I suspect it has to do with muscle. I want to go back to the bod pod soon and see if my body fat has gone down. I'm 44 and have at least 40 more pounds to lose (40 would put me at the very top of the normal bmi range).
Has anyone had this experience? I'm assuming the scale will start moving again, but it's getting really discouraging.

[vgpedlr]

Don't fixate on weight, it is just one marker. Focus on healthy practices. Since muscle weighs a lot more than fat, it is entirely possible that your body composition may improve while weight stays the same. Patience.

[alias]

I exercise for my overall health. I also want strong muscles, good balance, flexibility etc.

I watch what I eat to lose weight.

For me, exercise doesn't make me lose weight. Maybe it helps me not to gain. For example if I walk 20 minutes I burn 100 calories. That the same as one banana. I would have to walk all day long to make a calorie deficit.

To lose weight I would recommend using SparkPeople. It's a free web site. Track your calories for a week or two. You can also analyse you diet for all types of nutrients, fats etc. It will help you too see what needs to be cut and what needs to be added to your diet. I've found it quite helpful. And once you get the hang of putting in the food into the database it's quite easy. You can also save certain foods that you eat all the time to your favorites. Which also make the process of entering the data easier. They also have nice charts and graphs for your weight, food analysis and exercise.

Good luck!

[annhett]

I'm really hating the scale these days. I show a loss, then the next day I show a 2 pound gain. I've gained 2 pounds since yesterday and about 5 in the last week. How is this even possible?

[canadamike]

Get rid of the scale or at least only weigh yourself every couple weeks. Weight fluctuates daily...don't stress about it.

Just keep on striving to do the best you can with this lifestyle and the changes you want will happen over time. Maybe it will take a month, 3 months, a year...patience is key.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp4lA5_G-EU&hd=1

[annhett]

thank you for the video.
I told my trainer this evening that I wasn't going to get on the scale for a while. I'll see if I can actually follow thru.
All of the other changes are exciting. My love handles are so small now. When I used to ride my bike, that roll of fat would bounce up and down when I rode on brick roads. That no longer happens. So I need to focus on the positive changes that are happening!

[annhett]

i just made a commitment to my trainer to not step on the scale until aug. 19. It will be hard, but I will do it.

[sharonbikes]

You might also find it helpful to look how Norm tracks his weight - he uses trends and not so much day to day numbers. I think he explains it in his Journal and on his blog.

Sharon

[wkriski]

I lost 20 lbs of fat then I increased my weight training efforts and started drinking more water. The scale jumped up 5-6 lbs for over a week at least. It's coming down but still above my low. But I'm getting a lot stronger with my workouts and feel bigger.

So I also measure body fat with a body fat monitor for upper body. There's also a scale for this. Plus I have calipers which are a bit tricky (you have to grab the fat, not the muscle). Also pants, shirts, jackets are getting looser, take pictures of yourself. Take measurements of back, arms, legs. Lots of other ways to measure progress but I'm trying to focus on the strength gains - how many more chin ups, dips, etc can i do.

[Dougalling]

Hello

Just ranting here.
A scale is to ensure you are not obese nor anorexic.
When did the scales leave the doctors offices to be in everyone's home and become a pound per pound change in weight machine?

[momof4]

Interesting...I've recently revisited the whole "scale" issue.

Weighing myself has never, ever, been helpful to me. That was a big "duh" moment. I'm not saying everyone has my issues, but when the scale showed a loss, it gave me permission to eat more, and when it showed a gain, the disappointment made me give up trying to eat better. What good is that?

I've been reading some things from Rachel Cosgrove, and she advises that we get rid of our scales since we all know they're not a measure of fitness. Our clothing is.

I recently saw a photo of a body builder who looked great (not like she used drugs), and it listed her as being 5'2" and weighing 135. That's much more than the 110 I was taught would be "right" for her height. So for me, at 5'5", I could have a range of, say, 125-145, depending on my body composition. Why should I care what the scale says?

At first I thought, "I'll weigh myself when I need new pants." But why? If my current jeans start falling off, and I've been eating well and exercising, I'll know I made progress and changed my body for the better. What good would the scale do?

At the doctor's office, I see no reason why I can't tell them not to weigh me unless they need to know it for medication use or if I'm needing surgery and the anaesthesiologist needs to know my weight (in that case, they'll have a bigger problem just getting me to agree to general anesthesia, which scares me to death!). A friend told me her friend doesn't weigh at her doctor's and they have in their notes that she had an eating disorder and doesn't weigh herself, so it shouldn't be a big deal unless there are medical issues.

So, at this point, I have no intention to weigh myself again. Maybe that'll change in the future. It'd be great if I could see it as "just a number" or just another measurement, but I don't, and I'm not convinced that it's measuring anything accurately.

[annhett]

thanks for posting. I have about 50 pounds to lose and it is hard to wait for the feedback of loose pants. I know i shouldn't weigh. My trainer also tries to get me to ditch the scale.

[Joseph65]

Several studies have shown the more a person used the scale the better their weight control. From the experience of a few people I've known daily weighting kept them from cheating. Researchers have found that those who stopped weighting themselves after a few day of cheating did not want to see the results and therefore continued to gain weight. Those that stayed with the scale gained less when cheating and got back on track faster. Oh, and a woman who lifted very heavy and I mean very heavy might gain all of seven pound in a year as muscle. That muscle would burn a whole extra 7 calorie per pound or 49 calories more total. So, forget about the additional muscle allowing you to eat more and not gain weight. By the way, it is very difficult to gain muscle while losing weight. The best you can hope for is to maintain the muscle you have. The body naturally resists making muscle when the caloric content of the diet is less than required for being weight stable. The body will gladly built muscle when excess calories are available.

[momof4]

It's hard for me to focus on health and fitness if I'm also looking at the scale, which is one reason I quit weighing. Here are some articles I found useful. I'm sure for some people the scale isn't a big deal, but for many women especially, who are more likely to have had disordered eating or eating disorders, it can be a problem. If it's "just a number on a scale," then if it's becoming a distraction, why bother?
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_art ... dio_coffin
http://fitgirlreport.com/2013/06/04/my- ... akthrough/
http://fitgirlreport.com/2013/06/13/the ... rstanding/

(I haven't dug into either of those websites to see what the authors think about food, so please don't assume these people support Dr McDougall's plan).

[annhett]

over the winter i started binging and stopped looking at the scale. i gained 20 pounds! now that the weather is nice, i'm doing much better. I'm in OA now and will hopefully not repeat this next winter. I also need to figure out what to do about sad (the seasonal disorder). This was a really bad winter!