2cm increase in a week? :(

Rumik

Hi all,

Can someone please help me understand this?

I've been dieting a looong time, and weight lifting 3 times a week for going on 3 years now. In the past 6 weeks or so I've shifted from cutting to bulking. The first few weeks were a little erratic as I figured out the right number of calories and macronutrient balance, so I gained 3cm of fat around my waist in that short amount of time. That was pretty shocking, but understandable. Once I'd settled on my macro balance and a 10% calorie surplus, my waist measurements stayed the same as my weight steadily crept up with my strength gains - exactly what I was after.

I weigh myself daily, but measure myself (particularly my waist) once or twice a week to make sure I'm staying on point.

So I've been 76cm around my waist for the past few weeks. I train in the gym Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs and rest Fri, Sat, Sun. I work away from home during the week so this works well for me, as I don't want to spend any of the small amount of time I get with my wife and daughter at the weekend in the gym. On these rest days, I eat the same amount of calories, but shift to high fat, low carb. By the end of the week I find my stomach is bigger, but by Monday morning it's pretty much gone back to normal.

So this weekend just gone, I did everything the same - stuck to the same calorie surplus, shifted from high carb to high fat, spent some calories on alcohol, earned some extra calories from walking around and doing stuff with the family. I didn't each much during the day on Sunday so when I arrived at where I stay while I work away around 10:30PM, I had to eat something in order to reach my calorie goal for the day. I'd already reached my protein and fat targets for the day, and had had relatively low carbs, and had to make up the deficit. So I had my go-to meal - Oat So Simple Original Porridge (oatmeal) with protein hot chocolate. I had two sachets of oats and two scoops of protein.

This morning, I weighed myself, and the scales haven't changed since Friday. I expected to see a small increase, but at least it wasn't a massive one, right? So then when I measured myself, nearly all my measurements had increased by 2cm - waist, navel, chest, hips, since I measured myself 7 days ago. So that suggests to me that the 1lb weight increase I saw over the same period was COMPLETELY fat! How can that be??

I DID have a sweet potato every day for lunch last week, which will have been around 50g of carbs, nowhere near my workout (I hit the gym at 5PM). That's the only real difference from the previous week. Or is it the porridge I had late last night just causing bloating? Does bloating show up as an increase in waist size?

I am really panicking now, fighting the urge to go back to cutting. It took me years to lose 60lb of fat and while I've been feeling confident in my decision to build muscle over the past couple of months, I'm freaking out at the sudden increase in waist size.

I'm hoping for some reassurance, but I want the truth Should I stick to my guns? Should I adjust my diet (which is publicly available here)? Or should I stop before I go too far and go back to cutting to undo the damage I've done?

Really appreciate any advice.

Thanks.

HealthyVitamins

I'm no expert, but could it not just be water retention? I doubt you would have gained 1lb of pure fat in a week.

Rumik

That's sure what I'm hoping, but does water retention show up as an increase in waist size, or just an increase in scale weight?

HealthyVitamins

I would say both, if I am retaining water, my trousers are a little tighter, so I would think that's because of a few cm increase.

RoxieDawn

Water will show up everywhere and give you a puffy look everywhere... Yes it does.. IMHO, a person should have a range for 1 - 5 pounds of water gain either way, up or down for the scale and I guess I call it subcutaneous water under the fat layers under the skin...

It sounds like you are extremely meticulous with watching the scale and measurements, I am surprised you had not seen this before..

Water balance (keeping your electrolytes, potassium and sodium in check) in itself is a challenge..

Rumik

Yeah I'm surprised too, hence the freaking out! Last week was actually the first time I didn't measure myself multiple times during the week - I only did it once, so to me it feels like this 2cm increase has happened over night, which of course it probably hasn't. You can be sure I'll be measuring myself every day this week, lol!

aown61

I would stop measuring yourself so much too, you'll give yourself a complex

RoxieDawn

Do you by chance have a skin fold caliper? I also use one of these...

edited to add, I only do a caliper test once a month, just because of this issue we are discussing though.. it is just another piece in my arsenal to make sure I am on track (or moreover) increasing in the muscle and keeping body fat at bay..

Rumik

I do, but I've found it to be inconsistent. I'm staying with a personal trainer during the week and he has a BodyMetrix ultrasound device - from what I've read these are very accurate. Since I started eating at a surplus my BF% has gone up from 10.5% (which, honestly, seems low for how I look in the mirror, but as I said all reports seem to agree on the accuracy of the device) to 11.1%.

richln

Rumik wrote: »

I do, but I've found it to be inconsistent. I'm staying with a personal trainer during the week and he has a BodyMetrix ultrasound device - from what I've read these are very accurate. Since I started eating at a surplus my BF% has gone up from 10.5% (which, honestly, seems low for how I look in the mirror, but as I said all reports seem to agree on the accuracy of the device) to 11.1%.

I am not familiar with BodyMetrix, but I highly doubt it is accurate to within 1%. Even DEXA, which is the most accurate method, is only good to within 1-2% on average (DEXA can be even worse given some variables). Anyway, assuming you actually did gain 0.6% body fat, if I am reading your posts correctly, that translates to about 1 lb of fat in 6 weeks of bulking? That doesn't seem like a problem to me. Bulking can be mentally tough. Maybe it would be easier if you stopped weighing and measuring yourself for awhile and enjoy the strength gains?

Alcohol, sodium, and carb manipulation can all have a big impact on your water retention. Daily fluctuations of a few pounds and a centimeter or two on the waist happens pretty much every day for me.

Rumik

Thank you, that does settle me down somewhat I've gone from 125lb to 130lb in, yeah about 6 weeks. My waist seems to fluctuate quite a lot and when you read that the best way of tracking fat gain is to keep an eye on your waist measurements, when it shoots up like that I tend to panic.

RoxieDawn

Rumik wrote: »

Thank you, that does settle me down somewhat I've gone from 125lb to 130lb in, yeah about 6 weeks. My waist seems to fluctuate quite a lot and when you read that the best way of tracking fat gain is to keep an eye on your waist measurements, when it shoots up like that I tend to panic.

Eat and enjoy the gains... you can always loose it later...

Rumik

Okay, my navel measurement is back to normal... panic over! That was a good experience, I know not to freak out next time