Scales not showing progress
morty1966
Posts: 250 Member
I am in week 2 of Jillian Michaels body revolution (6x30 mins workouts a week). I am careful with my calories (1420) but it's not showing on the scales. Has anyone else experienced this? My clothes are looking great but when I get on the scales the numbers are going the wrong way. Is this normal? I'm overly fussed about it but it would be good to have the scales reflect all my hard work.
Do I just need to be more patient?
Do I just need to be more patient?
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I have had a few times when my charts have plateaued, for no apparent reason even though I am eating sensibly and exercising well. Once I went around 3 or 4 weeks at the same weight then dropped 3lb the next week. It definitely isn't linear with me. The long term trend is the important thing, though it can get a bit disheartening, I agree.0
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I did the 30 day shred and it wasn't until the third week that things started to change on the scales. I remember asking others about it and lots of people had the same - third week! The main aim is to look and feel better - stronger, lean muscles are heavier for the volume they occupy than fat, so you may weigh slightly heavier but look a whole lot leaner!! Don't worry!! Keep going!!0
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body fat % and inches. if you track those measures I am willing to bet you'll see the progress there even if it doesn't show on the scale.
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I find tracking measurements really helps give a confidence boost if the scales arent moving much but ur doing the right thing.
Im excersising alot and want to get my size back down to a 12 (UK) if that means Im 12stone but a size 12 im happy and if im 10 stone and a size 12 stilll just as happy,
Dont get too concered about the scales, I bet you will reep the rewards in the long term. It can take a week or so for weight to catch up X0 -
Dont forget, weight loss is down to you and your honestly. Dont blame the scales.0
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Dont forget, weight loss is down to you and your honestly. Dont blame the scales.
I am honest, 100%. Which is why I asked the question.
I shall plod on, see what happens. I'm happy with the way I look, but the scales are not my friends sometimes. I've tried on a new dress I ordered in the sales, UK 14. It looked fab and is 2 sizes smaller than this time last year.0 -
Thanks Weffie, that's good to know. I love her workouts, I am getting stronger with each one.
I'm going to start recording my measurements too. Thanks for that tip everyone.0 -
Dont forget, weight loss is down to you and your honestly. Dont blame the scales.
I am honest, 100%. Which is why I asked the question.
I shall plod on, see what happens. I'm happy with the way I look, but the scales are not my friends sometimes. I've tried on a new dress I ordered in the sales, UK 14. It looked fab and is 2 sizes smaller than this time last year.
So often people arent. The main thing preventing weight loss is people dont record things properly, treat things such as sauces, pinches of things, etc as an insignificance and this is the reason why.
It is never the fault of the scales or any other third party.0 -
Dont forget, weight loss is down to you and your honestly. Dont blame the scales.
I am honest, 100%. Which is why I asked the question.
I shall plod on, see what happens. I'm happy with the way I look, but the scales are not my friends sometimes. I've tried on a new dress I ordered in the sales, UK 14. It looked fab and is 2 sizes smaller than this time last year.
So often people arent. The main thing preventing weight loss is people dont record things properly, treat things such as sauces, pinches of things, etc as an insignificance and this is the reason why.
It is never the fault of the scales or any other third party.
:huh:
OP, the scale is a dirty, stinking liar and you shouldn't pay attention to it. Don't think that just because you've gained a couple of lb that means you are doing something wrong, because a lot of the time, you aren't.
Chances are your body is simply adjusting to your new exercise routine and your muscles are retaining water. I gained scale weight when I did 30DS too. It didn't stay on for long, but I have a lot to lose.
Your clothes and measurements are a far more accurate way to measure success.0 -
hi, just quick question are you exercising along side the calorie counting?0
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Thanks Lauren (who looks so much like a friend of mine!). My friend who started losing weight at a similar time loses every week, sometimes a lot, sometimes just a bit. But she doesn't exercise much.
Sadyia, yes I am calorie counting and exercising. I don't eat my exercise calories generally unless I am very hungry. But I have increased my daily calories from 1350 to 1420, to account for the extra exercise.0 -
Measure yourself with a tape measure. Log the results here on MFP. If you are exercising you may be increasing muscle mass, which makes you leaner (=thinner), but weigh more. I have the same thing. Especially when I started lifting. Hang in there.0
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Sore muscles will retain water, this can sometimes mask weight loss.0
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My irregular weight loss I described above is not down to my eating over for three weeks then having a week where I ate nothing. I do log my intake, and exercise, but the scales do not always show a linear loss (it would be odd if they did as I am human, not a machine), and it is nothing to do with dishonesty or fooling myself. I did that when I wasn't losing weight, before I found MFP.0
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it is possible that you are not eating enough calories for your amount of working out and your body may actually be storing all the food you are eating...change up your intake number a little not a lot but add lots of fresh veggies for snacks 2-3 times a day...and also try drinking some caffeine free peppermint tea (I use hot tea) it works on the stomach and keeps it more normal to help the acids break your food down....these tricks helped me when my scale went the wrong direction...I went from 1450 calories to 1500 and went from gaining to losing again...but add veggies not just food....good luck!!!0
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OP, the scale is a dirty, stinking liar and you shouldn't pay attention to it. Don't think that just because you've gained a couple of lb that means you are doing something wrong, because a lot of the time, you aren't.
Chances are your body is simply adjusting to your new exercise routine and your muscles are retaining water. I gained scale weight when I did 30DS too. It didn't stay on for long, but I have a lot to lose.
Your clothes and measurements are a far more accurate way to measure success.
So true!0 -
There is a huge difference between losing weight and getting a healthier body.
I am adding another voice saying check your measurements, you may be losing fat but gaining muscle.
and muscle weighs more than fat.
Keep eating and keep exercising with a mix of cardio and weights, you will feel and look so much better0 -
I'm thinking of weighing myself once a month rather than daily as I do now. I find the scales demoralising. Once a week easily leads me to slipping back, but 4 weeks is long enough to show a general trend and stops me obsessing. I will take my measurements though, after all being toned and slim is more important than the number on the scale. I shall weigh myself on the first of the month, then take the batteries out of the scales.0
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I'm thinking of weighing myself once a month rather than daily as I do now. I find the scales demoralising. Once a week easily leads me to slipping back, but 4 weeks is long enough to show a general trend and stops me obsessing. I will take my measurements though, after all being toned and slim is more important than the number on the scale. I shall weigh myself on the first of the month, then take the batteries out of the scales.
Measure and weight yourself once a week (no more often) on the same day and at the same time. Do it is the morning, it will be the most accurate at that time. Two weeks might not be enough time to notice a big change in weight, but you may notice your clothes fitting just a bit better. Keep at it and you will achieve the results you want!0 -
The OP will not have gained that much muscle in 2 weeks of that sort of routine. At best with proper diet and lifting a few times a week you could gain a pound or so of muscle in 12 weeks. The OPs weight gain after 2 weeks will be water due to the change in exercise routineThere is a huge difference between losing weight and getting a healthier body.
I am adding another voice saying check your measurements, you may be losing fat but gaining muscle.
and muscle weighs more than fat.
Keep eating and keep exercising with a mix of cardio and weights, you will feel and look so much better0 -
I hate how the scale is used as the end all be all for so many people. It is one of the worst measures. Gaining muscle mass is a great thing! Losing fat is a great thing! If you're doing a bit of each, your clothes get smaller on you and you feel better, and yes, you may gain weight. So what? You're better off.
If all you want is to lose weight, cut off a body part (a human head weighs about 11lbs). Great results, fast! If you push for weight loss, you're doing just that, except it is valuable muscle you're cutting off instead of a visible body part.
You're on the right track. Don't let a scale deter you from being the best you, you can be.0 -
The scale sometimes lie or take a long time to reveal the truth. Instead of worrying about numbers on the scale pay closer attention to your non-scale victories, such as: how your clothes fit, meeting your eating and workout goals, etc.0
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If you're measuring accurately and logging honestly, you'll eventually have progress. As others have said, the problem with perceiving your progress is that it's not linear. Scale weight is a useful metric, since it's so easy to measure, but it isn't perfect.
It's unlikely that you put on much muscle mass unless you're doing heavy lifting (which body revolution doesn't involve). You're probably retaining some water, though. Plus daily fluctuations are inevitable, depending on sodium and fiber intake, biological rhythms, etc.
To see the trend behind the fluctuations, I actually recommend daily weigh-ins, with a huge caveat: you need to do some math to find the difference between your actual weight loss and the daily fluctuations, which are much larger. Using an exponentially weighted average can help you filter out the noise and focus on the trend, as John Walker explains in "The Hacker's Diet" (http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/). The chapter on "The Rubber Bag" explains, briefly, the source of these fluctuations. The chapter on "Signal and Noise" explains how some simple math can filter them out. Walker explains how to do the math, but you can also set up a free account on his server to do it for you, or use a service like Beeminder or TrendWeight.com.
For example, here's my graph from last August:
You can see that on the 20th, my scale weight had gone down 4 days in a row, but it went up the next 4 days. Since 3 of those 4 were below the trend line, though, the trend continued downward. As long as most of my daily weights were below the trend, the graph showed me that I was losing weight. In December, on the other hand, my goal was to maintain weight, and about half of my measurements were above the trend line.
[Edited to fix image link.]0 -
Bwogilvie - that is a work of art. I'm very impressed. I think I would go slightly potty if I did that. My aim is to move away from my obsession with scales. I think daily weigh ins with recording and mapping and making graphs would feed that monster instead!
However, that said, you are right, which is why I think monthly might work better for me, rather than daily.0 -
Hi, I've read alot of previous posts on this subject. I started Focus T25 this Monday and gained 3lbs up to this morning but believe me...I'm not feeling demotivated.
Basically what has happened to me since I started T25...and I swear I haven't noticed this happened before cause I've never done anything that intense in such a short space of time before....is that I began to feel extremely hungry at times that I do not normally. With my previous mindset (prior to joining MFP), I would have never given my body food when I feel hungry at odd times. But because I am learning more and more through MFP posts, how the body functions change together with lifestyle changes such as change in exercise, I decided that I am not going to withhold eating. So I ate just a little to cover the hunger, nothing much at all.
I've also noticed an obvious change with regards to how my body treats the water I intake. I try to drink no less than 8 glasses of water daily. Prior to starting T25, I would go to urinate very often during the day and night. And after I started T25, my trips to the bathroom reduced drastically. Just today I spoke to myself that I shall have to increase my water intake, since it seems that my body is now retaining water due to the exercise.
What I'm trying to say is...what our friend are saying on this topic is so true. You exercise and change your eating habits, your body will take some time to adapt to its new lifestyle. I know it's scary when you know you're working hard, and the scales don't show it...but please start doing measurements. I've made sure to measure prior to T25 (edited...I said weighed but i meant measured). Please log in your measurements today.
I'm no longer looking for success on the scale. As I continue with T25, I'm looking for success with my measurements. I look forward to reading about your progress later on.0 -
The OP will not have gained that much muscle in 2 weeks of that sort of routine. At best with proper diet and lifting a few times a week you could gain a pound or so of muscle in 12 weeks. The OPs weight gain after 2 weeks will be water due to the change in exercise routineThere is a huge difference between losing weight and getting a healthier body.
I am adding another voice saying check your measurements, you may be losing fat but gaining muscle.
and muscle weighs more than fat.
Keep eating and keep exercising with a mix of cardio and weights, you will feel and look so much better
I was talking more long time results in regards to checking measurements and gaining muscle and watching the scale. Being patient. Focus on how you look and feel.
My body didn't get overweight overnight. It is going to take awhile to get a fitter body. The recommended weight loss goal is 1-2 lbs a week, any more then that then it is unhealthy. Also a women's body weight can fluctuate from +/- 10 lbs during a month. (I read that in a science magazine)0 -
For example, here's my graph from last August:
[Edited to fix image link.]
I returned to WOW at this...impressive.0 -
Also a women's body weight can fluctuate from +/- 10 lbs during a month. (I read that in a science magazine)
That happens to me all the time...I do +/- 5 lbs or so...I have gotten used to it now, and I'm no longer panicky about it. :happy:0 -
There is a huge difference between losing weight and getting a healthier body.
I am adding another voice saying check your measurements, you may be losing fat but gaining muscle.
and muscle weighs more than fat.
Keep eating and keep exercising with a mix of cardio and weights, you will feel and look so much better
Nope.
You don't lose fat and gain muscle at the same time (outside of minimal noob gains).0 -
Measure yourself with a tape measure. Log the results here on MFP. If you are exercising you may be increasing muscle mass, which makes you leaner (=thinner), but weigh more. I have the same thing. Especially when I started lifting. Hang in there.
No....
If you're in a caloric deficit, which OP says she is, you're not going to gain mass.0
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