Fallen out with my scales!

jillcally
jillcally Posts: 20 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have been to the gym EVERY day, doing monster workouts, climbing around 60 floors on the stairmaster, upwards of 6k on the treadmill, done a spin class and only gone over on Saturday when granted I did go to an all you can eat chinese and had 2 pints but I hadnt been out for ages and thought I'd more than earned it in exercise!

Sooo I get on my scales this morning which is my usual weigh in day and I'm the same as last week! I'm telling myself its because every day I've been doing weighted squats and loads of reps of shoulder presses, bicep curls etc. I FEEL smaller, I'm in a skirt I couldnt breathe in a month ago but the scales aren't moving!

Could it be due to muscle? My arms and shoulders are definitely more defined!

Replies

  • xsmilexforxmex
    xsmilexforxmex Posts: 1,216 Member
    If youre seeing definition it def can be fat loss with muscle gain. It's best IMO to ignore the scale and get a measuring tape to look at body fat loss.
    Also, chinese is super high in sodium, so you also could be retaining water weight from the weekend. Don't stress to much, if it is, it'll come off over the week!
  • arguablysamson
    arguablysamson Posts: 1,709 Member
    I have been to the gym EVERY day, doing monster workouts, climbing around 60 floors on the stairmaster, upwards of 6k on the treadmill, done a spin class and only gone over on Saturday when granted I did go to an all you can eat chinese and had 2 pints but I hadnt been out for ages and thought I'd more than earned it in exercise!

    Sooo I get on my scales this morning which is my usual weigh in day and I'm the same as last week! I'm telling myself its because every day I've been doing weighted squats and loads of reps of shoulder presses, bicep curls etc. I FEEL smaller, I'm in a skirt I couldnt breathe in a month ago but the scales aren't moving!

    Could it be due to muscle? My arms and shoulders are definitely more defined!

    I know it is very common to promote exercise with diet, but if you are doing "monster workouts," that is indeed the most likely problem. Your body stores even more water to begin repairs on the microscopic muscle tears acquired through workouts. Your body actually loses best with very little exercise, I have found. Even cardio exercise can set back efforts if done beyond a super-light intensity. Also, sodium/water weight will be all over the place, but weigh once only every 7 days to get an accurate weighing of yourself. Weigh naked, in the morning, and right out of the shower before you've had anything.
  • jillcally
    jillcally Posts: 20 Member
    Thanks for the replies, I will put it down to both sodium and getting popeye muscles! (joke) I will carry on and hopefully make friends with my scales next Monday!
  • scrittenden
    scrittenden Posts: 79 Member
    The scales are definitely not our friend lol. I was in a great mood having lost another lb over the weekend...hopped on scale this morning to cheer myself up before work only for the scales to try and tell me I had gained weight! Scales have a horrible habbit of not telling you the truth lol
  • 2013sk
    2013sk Posts: 1,318 Member
    Take photos or yourself, and use the measuring tape.

    Or get your body fat measured, and go by lowering this instead of the 'number' on the scales.

    I have built so much muscle now, and I am a lot heavier, but your body shape changes & you tone up : )
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    If youre seeing definition it def can be fat loss with muscle gain. It's best IMO to ignore the scale and get a measuring tape to look at body fat loss.
    Also, chinese is super high in sodium, so you also could be retaining water weight from the weekend. Don't stress to much, if it is, it'll come off over the week!

    You can't build muscle eating at a deficet...

    It's water and gylcogen stores.
    know it is very common to promote exercise with diet, but if you are doing "monster workouts," that is indeed the most likely problem. Your body stores even more water to begin repairs on the microscopic muscle tears acquired through workouts. Your body actually loses best with very little exercise, I have found. Even cardio exercise can set back efforts if done beyond a super-light intensity. Also, sodium/water weight will be all over the place, but weigh once only every 7 days to get an accurate weighing of yourself. Weigh naked, in the morning, and right out of the shower before you've had anything.

    No exercise is a good thing....and the weight is just water and definately no on the bolded part.
  • Trying2Recover
    Trying2Recover Posts: 43
    could be muscle indeed, do you take measurements?
  • xsmilexforxmex
    xsmilexforxmex Posts: 1,216 Member
    If youre seeing definition it def can be fat loss with muscle gain. It's best IMO to ignore the scale and get a measuring tape to look at body fat loss.
    Also, chinese is super high in sodium, so you also could be retaining water weight from the weekend. Don't stress to much, if it is, it'll come off over the week!

    You can't build muscle eating at a deficet...

    It's water and gylcogen stores.

    pretty sure it's called "newbie gains" - eating w/in 10% TDEE. I'm in a deficit and went from 30lb curls to 50 so you def can.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    That's why I measure a few things every week, and if one of them has improved, I consider the week a success:
    1- Weight
    2- Measurements
    3- Exercise progress
    4- Energy
    5- Blood sugar (used to be dangerously close to diabetes)
  • carolsteele45
    carolsteele45 Posts: 43 Member
    No exercise is a good thing....and the weight is just water and definately no on the bolded part.

    Is that:-
    No, exercise is a good thing .....................
    or did you actually mean what you wrote
    No exercise is a good thing...........
    Missing out on that comma makes it completely the opposite meaning
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    If youre seeing definition it def can be fat loss with muscle gain. It's best IMO to ignore the scale and get a measuring tape to look at body fat loss.
    Also, chinese is super high in sodium, so you also could be retaining water weight from the weekend. Don't stress to much, if it is, it'll come off over the week!

    You can't build muscle eating at a deficet...

    It's water and gylcogen stores.

    pretty sure it's called "newbie gains" - eating w/in 10% TDEE. I'm in a deficit and went from 30lb curls to 50 so you def can.

    okay sure muscle gains in the arms from treadmill and stair stepper...:noway:

    newbie gains are referred to in a lot of weigh lifting forums . Getting enough protien, doing resistence training, being very new to "exercise" or extremely overweight are how you get newbie gains.

    and going from 30lbs to 50lb does not indicate muscle gains it means strength gains...the two are not the same.

    And it is very hard for a woman to gain muscle while she is trying let alone not trying...muscle gain for a woman isn't going to happen at a drop of a hat...
  • HoneydewLouu
    HoneydewLouu Posts: 18 Member
    What you're doing sounds great! Unfortunately, our bodies just don't act like we expect them to sometimes! I remember having a couple weeks really going for it with the exercise, and then weighing myself and finding I had actually gained a pound! It could have been muscle, it could have been anything! Scales aren't always a great indicator of weight loss.

    Try not to get disheartened. You are exercising, you are healthy and the weight will eventually come off. The more we stress out about it the harder it gets!

Categories