Why the Scale Lies?!?
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coachligia
Posts: 10 Member
Ok, have you ever worked your tale off, only to step on the evil scale and see a gain?!? I mean we all know we're not supposed to be stepping on the evil gadget all the time, but sometimes we just can't help it! I. myself had this experience this week, and was seeing RED:explode: !
I upped my cardio time and intensity, have not been over my calories and had a 2 lb gain?!? What the heck:sad: ?!? After doing some researching I found this really good article:
Why the Scale Lies
We've been told over an over again that daily weighing is unnecessary, yet many of us can't resist peeking at that number every morning. If you just can't bring yourself to toss the scale in the trash, you should definitely familiarize yourself with it.
A single teaspoon of salt contains over 2,000 mg of sodium. Generally, we should only eat between 1,000 and 3,000 mg of sodium a day, so it's easy to go overboard. Sodium is a sneaky substance. You would expect it to be most highly concentrated in salty chips, nuts, and crackers. However, a food doesn't have to taste salty to be loaded with sodium. A half cup of instant pudding actually contains nearly four times as much sodium as an ounce of salted nuts, 460 mg in the pudding versus 123 mg in the nuts. The more highly processed a food is, the more likely it is to have a high sodium content.
That's why, when it comes to eating, it's wise to stick mainly to the basics: fruits, vegetables, lean meat, beans, and whole grains. Be sure to read the labels on canned foods, boxed mixes, and frozen dinners. Women may also retain several pounds of water prior to menstruation. This is very common and the weight will likely disappear as quickly as it arrives. Pre-menstrual water-weight gain can be minimized by drinking plenty of water, maintaining an exercise program, and keeping high-sodium processed foods to a minimum.
Another factor that can influence the scale is glycogen. Think of glycogen as a fuel tank full of stored carbohydrate. Some glycogen is stored in the liver and some is stored the muscles themselves. This energy reserve weighs more than a pound and it's packaged with 3-4 pounds of water when it's stored. Your glycogen supply will shrink during the day if you fail to take in enough carbohydrates. As the glycogen supply shrinks you will experience a small imperceptible increase in appetite and your body will restore this fuel reserve along with it's associated water. It's normal to experience glycogen and water weight shifts of up to 2 pounds per day even with no changes in your calorie intake or activity level. These fluctuations have nothing to do with fat loss, although they can make for some unnecessarily dramatic weigh-ins if you're prone to obsessing over the number on the scale.
Otherwise rational people also tend to forget about the actual weight of the food they eat. For this reason, it's wise to weigh yourself first thing in the morning before you've had anything to eat or drink. Swallowing a bunch of food before you step on the scale is no different than putting a bunch of rocks in your pocket. The 5 pounds that you gain right after a huge dinner is not fat. It's the actual weight of everything you've had to eat and drink. The added weight of the meal will be gone several hours later when you've finished digesting it.
Exercise physiologists tell us that in order to store one pound of fat, you need to eat 3,500 calories more than your body is able to burn. In other words, to actually store the above dinner as 5 pounds of fat, it would have to contain a whopping 17,500 calories. This is not likely, in fact it's not humanly possible. So when the scale goes up 3 or 4 pounds overnight, rest easy, it's likely to be water, glycogen, and the weight of your dinner. Keep in mind that the 3,500 calorie rule works in reverse also. In order to lose one pound of fat you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in. Generally, it's only possible to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week. When you follow a very low calorie diet that causes your weight to drop 10 pounds in 7 days, it's physically impossible for all of that to be fat. What you're really losing is water, glycogen, and muscle.
This brings us to the scale's sneakiest attribute. It doesn't just weigh fat. It weighs muscle, bone, water, internal organs and all. When you lose "weight," that doesn't necessarily mean that you've lost fat. In fact, the scale has no way of telling you what you've lost (or gained). Losing muscle is nothing to celebrate. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you have the more calories your body burns, even when you're just sitting around. That's one reason why a fit, active person is able to eat considerably more food than the dieter who is unwittingly destroying muscle tissue.
Robin Landis, author of "Body Fueling," compares fat and muscles to feathers and gold. One pound of fat is like a big fluffy, lumpy bunch of feathers, and one pound of muscle is small and valuable like a piece of gold. Obviously, you want to lose the dumpy, bulky feathers and keep the sleek beautiful gold. The problem with the scale is that it doesn't differentiate between the two. It can't tell you how much of your total body weight is lean tissue and how much is fat.
There are several other measuring techniques that can accomplish this, although they vary in convenience, accuracy, and cost. Skin-fold calipers pinch and measure fat folds at various locations on the body, hydrostatic (or underwater) weighing involves exhaling all of the air from your lungs before being lowered into a tank of water, and bioelectrical impedance measures the degree to which your body fat impedes a mild electrical current. If the thought of being pinched, dunked, or gently zapped just doesn't appeal to you, don't worry. The best measurement tool of all turns out to be your very own eyes. How do you look? How do you feel? How do your clothes fit? Are your rings looser? Do your muscles feel firmer? These are the true measurements of success. If you are exercising and eating right, don't be discouraged by a small gain on the scale. Fluctuations are perfectly normal. Expect them to happen and take them in stride. It's a matter of mind over scale.
by: Healthdiscovery.net
Have YOU ever been through it?!? What are your thoughts?!?
I upped my cardio time and intensity, have not been over my calories and had a 2 lb gain?!? What the heck:sad: ?!? After doing some researching I found this really good article:
Why the Scale Lies
We've been told over an over again that daily weighing is unnecessary, yet many of us can't resist peeking at that number every morning. If you just can't bring yourself to toss the scale in the trash, you should definitely familiarize yourself with it.
A single teaspoon of salt contains over 2,000 mg of sodium. Generally, we should only eat between 1,000 and 3,000 mg of sodium a day, so it's easy to go overboard. Sodium is a sneaky substance. You would expect it to be most highly concentrated in salty chips, nuts, and crackers. However, a food doesn't have to taste salty to be loaded with sodium. A half cup of instant pudding actually contains nearly four times as much sodium as an ounce of salted nuts, 460 mg in the pudding versus 123 mg in the nuts. The more highly processed a food is, the more likely it is to have a high sodium content.
That's why, when it comes to eating, it's wise to stick mainly to the basics: fruits, vegetables, lean meat, beans, and whole grains. Be sure to read the labels on canned foods, boxed mixes, and frozen dinners. Women may also retain several pounds of water prior to menstruation. This is very common and the weight will likely disappear as quickly as it arrives. Pre-menstrual water-weight gain can be minimized by drinking plenty of water, maintaining an exercise program, and keeping high-sodium processed foods to a minimum.
Another factor that can influence the scale is glycogen. Think of glycogen as a fuel tank full of stored carbohydrate. Some glycogen is stored in the liver and some is stored the muscles themselves. This energy reserve weighs more than a pound and it's packaged with 3-4 pounds of water when it's stored. Your glycogen supply will shrink during the day if you fail to take in enough carbohydrates. As the glycogen supply shrinks you will experience a small imperceptible increase in appetite and your body will restore this fuel reserve along with it's associated water. It's normal to experience glycogen and water weight shifts of up to 2 pounds per day even with no changes in your calorie intake or activity level. These fluctuations have nothing to do with fat loss, although they can make for some unnecessarily dramatic weigh-ins if you're prone to obsessing over the number on the scale.
Otherwise rational people also tend to forget about the actual weight of the food they eat. For this reason, it's wise to weigh yourself first thing in the morning before you've had anything to eat or drink. Swallowing a bunch of food before you step on the scale is no different than putting a bunch of rocks in your pocket. The 5 pounds that you gain right after a huge dinner is not fat. It's the actual weight of everything you've had to eat and drink. The added weight of the meal will be gone several hours later when you've finished digesting it.
Exercise physiologists tell us that in order to store one pound of fat, you need to eat 3,500 calories more than your body is able to burn. In other words, to actually store the above dinner as 5 pounds of fat, it would have to contain a whopping 17,500 calories. This is not likely, in fact it's not humanly possible. So when the scale goes up 3 or 4 pounds overnight, rest easy, it's likely to be water, glycogen, and the weight of your dinner. Keep in mind that the 3,500 calorie rule works in reverse also. In order to lose one pound of fat you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in. Generally, it's only possible to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week. When you follow a very low calorie diet that causes your weight to drop 10 pounds in 7 days, it's physically impossible for all of that to be fat. What you're really losing is water, glycogen, and muscle.
This brings us to the scale's sneakiest attribute. It doesn't just weigh fat. It weighs muscle, bone, water, internal organs and all. When you lose "weight," that doesn't necessarily mean that you've lost fat. In fact, the scale has no way of telling you what you've lost (or gained). Losing muscle is nothing to celebrate. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you have the more calories your body burns, even when you're just sitting around. That's one reason why a fit, active person is able to eat considerably more food than the dieter who is unwittingly destroying muscle tissue.
Robin Landis, author of "Body Fueling," compares fat and muscles to feathers and gold. One pound of fat is like a big fluffy, lumpy bunch of feathers, and one pound of muscle is small and valuable like a piece of gold. Obviously, you want to lose the dumpy, bulky feathers and keep the sleek beautiful gold. The problem with the scale is that it doesn't differentiate between the two. It can't tell you how much of your total body weight is lean tissue and how much is fat.
There are several other measuring techniques that can accomplish this, although they vary in convenience, accuracy, and cost. Skin-fold calipers pinch and measure fat folds at various locations on the body, hydrostatic (or underwater) weighing involves exhaling all of the air from your lungs before being lowered into a tank of water, and bioelectrical impedance measures the degree to which your body fat impedes a mild electrical current. If the thought of being pinched, dunked, or gently zapped just doesn't appeal to you, don't worry. The best measurement tool of all turns out to be your very own eyes. How do you look? How do you feel? How do your clothes fit? Are your rings looser? Do your muscles feel firmer? These are the true measurements of success. If you are exercising and eating right, don't be discouraged by a small gain on the scale. Fluctuations are perfectly normal. Expect them to happen and take them in stride. It's a matter of mind over scale.
by: Healthdiscovery.net
Have YOU ever been through it?!? What are your thoughts?!?
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Replies
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Very interesting and eye opening. Definitely makes me feel better about my weigh in this morning!:):drinker:0
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thanks for sharing
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Thank you thank you thank you!!! I really needed to read this...made me realize that I am doing good and I need to keep it up no matter what that stupid scale says :mad:0
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This should be required reading when you sign up for MFP!!! Copying it for future reference!0
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I am a scale addict and because of these fluctuations I have made myself stick to weighing in just once a week. I have also been focusing on all of the NSV like losing 3.5% body fat last month instead of focusing on the scale....because in reality..what I really care about is that I'm in a healthy body fat range for my height, I'm healthy inside and out, and I look good....I say SCREW the scale!!! Thanks for the great info!0
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so true - especially the sodium section - it reeks havoc on me if I don't control my sodium. And you do have to read every label of every food because of the hidden salt...I stopped eating those low cal frozen dinners for lunch because of this...(and they were not really tasty or filling anyways)...I would rather a whole wheat pita stuffed with tuna and veiggies anyday now.....
Also the section about pre-menstral is soo true...I really try to avoid the scale during that week....just drink lots of water and workout like normal....
Great post 0 -
Thanks for sharing this! Really interesting article. I am really trying to only weigh myself ONCE per week but it's always so hard not to jump on mid-week to check on progress - this will help me keep things in perspective
:flowerforyou: 0 -
I have often wondered this myself and have experienced the same frustration as you working hard and seeing the scale go up instead of down. Thanks for sharing this article!!0
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unREAL - I needed this!!!
Thanks so much!!!0 -
Ironically this very thing happened to me and a friend of mine when we weighed yesterday......She gained and I had only a really small loss. This makes total sense and makes me feel a lot better about the evil scale....thank you for posting this!!0
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Interesting read for sure.
I know one problem with me is the Sodium intake. I definitely need to cut back on that. I put Sodium as one of the nutrition categories that I have tallied every day and its WILD how much sodium is in things.
Also, when I first started with MFP I was weighing myself daily. I have now backed of to weekly (on Friday mornings). That way I won't get hit with as many daily fluctuations.0 -
I weight myself most days, but from doing this I've learned my own body fluctuations, about 3lbs for me. Before I record a new weight I try to ensure my weight is roughly the same for at least 2 days in a row and not just normal ups and downs. So if someone is prone to measuring often that is the advice I would give them. Don't let a one day change distract you. If it is consistent over several days then consider that your new weight.
With that said, I like the article. Taking your measurements is a much better tracker than taking your weight.0 -
Thanks for such a common sense and helpful posting. Everyone should read and reread this so it becomes part of their attitude about weight and weight loss. 0
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WOW I love all the responses.... You know I have been working with fitness for a little while, and have struggled myself with being over weight for most of my life, I can say I really admire those "Cool as a cucumber personal trainers".... I still have days of struggles and wanting to throw my scale down my driveway!
But one thing I have notice is, that MOST people go through it, and it is just how our bodies work. I think although it is very frustrating, if we are being honest and logging things in our food journal and we are putting in the work, we have got to have the patience for the results...
Although being a girl, at least in my point of view doesn't help in the patience thing....lol I know I lack that at times, I put in the work and I want to see the results like NOW!...hahahaha
Let's keep focused and really concentrate on the long term, and take this as a lifestyle change :happy: ! Yes we CAN!0 -
The scale lies all the time. Especially when you factor in a weight training regiment to your weight loss goals. I would highly suggest people who want a true account of where they are put up a little cash to get a body fat analyzer of some sort. They come in a variety of forms and prices, some very affordable others not so much. But in the end having one to give you a rough idea of fat/muscle ratio is a much better way of tracking progress then a scale.
My wife and I picked up one of these and like I said there are plenty of others to choose from.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0020MMCDE0 -
I try very hard only to weigh myself once a week and even then I just use it as a tool. My scale is not a judge.. just a tool I use in my journey to a healthy life. I don't really care what it says, although it's telling me if I'm on track or not. The real judge is how I feel, how my clothes fit, and what my food diary looks like!
Stupid scale... who does it think it is anyway????0 -
bump for later0
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I was looking for answers to this question when I found this article on a different site. I was going to copy it, then I thought, "Surely someone else has posted this already." Sure enough! More than once, it appears, so I'll just add my $.02 to this one.
For the past 2 months I've been losing weight in a weird way. I don't lose anything for 3-4 weeks, then I'll drop 4-5 lbs in one day! This has happened twice already. It doesn't go back up - it just stays stuck! Yes, I weigh every day - I don't obsess about it, it's just something I do. I like to see how exercise and sodium affect my body from one day to the next. I know I'm getting more fit because I'm losing inches, my clothes are fitting better, and I can do a mile a lot faster than when I started (and not be winded the whole time) So the scale doesn't discourage me, but it does confuse me at times.0 -
bump0
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So glad I ran across this.....I scream when people are freaking out about gaining 3 lbs from eating dinner the night before. Im like are u kidding me, do u know how morbidly obese we all wud be if we gained weight (fat) that fast.0
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