Losing Weight but measurements going up

Rumik

Hi all,

I'd like some opinions, if you don't mind?

33 years old, male, 5'4, 135lb, 17-20% body fat - trying to get down to 12%. For a while now I've been sort of stuck around the same weight, and the same body fat percentage - really struggling to lose any more. But then, losing has been insanely slow for me - just under 50lb in 3 years I diet during the week, in which time I lose a lb or so, and then cheat a little on Saturday and put it back on again, and so it goes on and on. Seems pretty obvious to me that I should stop cheating so often, so I'm going to do that, but...

This past week, to give me a push, I've increased my Stronglifts workouts to 5 days a week instead of 3, and increased my carbs from 73g a day to 100g a day, and started following the Endomorph guide here: http://www.muscleandstrength.com/expert-guides/fat-loss - so eating 6 times a day with most of my carbs before and after my workout. I definitely feel stronger during my workouts, but as I'm still in a calorie deficit I'm hesitant to increase the weights much further as I won't actually be putting on on any muscle. I'm going to go back to 3x a week next week as I'm feeling a little more sore than usual.

Anyway, so this week my weight has been going reliably down, from 137lb on Monday to 135lb today. It's been 7 days since I measured myself, and my waist has gone up from 83cm to 84cm... so I'm confused. I'm losing weight, but my measurements are going up? What could this be?

My instincts are screaming at me to stop what I'm doing and go back to 73g a day, but even then I'd started increasing size around my waist. As an endomorph, it's so, so difficult for me to burn fat so after making progress going backwards in any way is a horrible, horrible feeling. I get so disheartened when I go backwards, so trying new things is scary.

So I'm just trying to figure out what might be happening, and make the right decision about how to proceed.

Any advice?

Thanks

GreenIceFloes

I don't think I'd go by somatotypes if I were you.

Also that extra cm on your waist could just be a bit of bloat.
Check out this thread: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=113563121

Rumik

Thanks for the link. I have started eating bread again (wholemeal) most days, so the extra fibre could explain it.

GreenIceFloes

No problem
Good luck!