"WHY SCALES LIE"

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  • Kell_Smurthwaite
    Kell_Smurthwaite Posts: 384 Member
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    I love my NSVs more than seeing the number on the scales go down (even though I love that too!). At the moment I seem to have stalled on the numbers, but I'm seeing a difference in my body now - going ot the gym thre times a week and working out with weights as well as doing cardio is having a great effect on me. I've actually come to the conclusion that I may never actually need to hit my "goal weight" because if I continue as I am now, I'll be more muscle than fat anyway and I'll look sleeker while being slightly heavier.

    It's funny, I never thought about this before, but I was 11 stones when I got married. My Mam's comment when I told her that was, "Wow! You hid that well!" Fact was I worked out like a crazy thing for months and months to drop the pounds before my Big Day so I was less fat and more muscle. If only I'd kept that up, I wouldn't have been the size I was when I first logged onto MFP! ;)
  • Shayztar
    Shayztar Posts: 415 Member
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    Bump. My scale has been up and down the same 3 lbs for 2 weeks now. I am confused because I have changed up my workout. Different muscles are hurting now. But it's also been party after party here and I've been eating pizza and burgers, tho usually within my calories. I'm starting to get confused. After reading this article, I went and measured myself and I've lost half inch all over. Still don't totally get it tho...
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,692 Member
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    Bump. My scale has been up and down the same 3 lbs for 2 weeks now. I am confused because I have changed up my workout. Different muscles are hurting now. But it's also been party after party here and I've been eating pizza and burgers, tho usually within my calories. I'm starting to get confused. After reading this article, I went and measured myself and I've lost half inch all over. Still don't totally get it tho...
    Because weight loss isn't linear and that how you supply calories to your body and how you exercise will affect it. It really boils down to totally calorie intake though.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer/Group Fitness Instructor
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • dlyeates
    dlyeates Posts: 875 Member
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    That explains a lot.....but I still want my scale to go down 20 more lbs!!!
  • ckyte1
    ckyte1 Posts: 36 Member
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    bump
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    Tape measures lie as well . . . or at least they give wonky results if you use them wrong.

    Last week, I saw a sudden drop in my waist measurement. I lost a pound on the scale but more than two inches off my waist. I didn't believe it at first, so I measured twice . . . but was still skeptical. I should have measured three times and used a different tape measure. That morning, I couldn't find the tape measure I usually use. And it turns out that the back of the alternate tape measure doesn't start at the end; it starts 2 3/4 inches from end with a little legend reading, "Start here when using this side." The 5 pound gain in muscle mass needed to explain the drop in waist measurement was too good to be true!

    tape1-1.jpg

    My waist is down a little bit. For the first time, I can use the smallest hole on my belt and actually breath, but the loss is a half an inch or so, not the unbelievable three inch drop I was mismeasuring. I'm not disappointed, but relieved to have solved the mystery. Part of the problem is I weigh and measure first thing in the morning, before food, before coffee, and before totally waking up. Sure prescription for mistakes!
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    Bump cause I need it back on my topics for reference.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,692 Member
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    bump again for all the "depressed" scalers.
  • peachyxoxoxo
    peachyxoxoxo Posts: 1,178 Member
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    Thanks for bumping, lots of people need to see this!
  • lionskitty
    lionskitty Posts: 72 Member
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    linking this for all my friends
  • joy31021
    joy31021 Posts: 216
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    bump
  • Believeth64
    Believeth64 Posts: 469 Member
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    Bump
  • gogojodee
    gogojodee Posts: 1,261 Member
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    Bump.
  • bonitacubana
    bonitacubana Posts: 41
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    totally a depressed "scaler" - I keep stopping and starting weighing and I saw earlier in the thread where someone was shocked to see a person who weighs several times a day: that's me. I am scale/weight OBSESSED.
  • mommyweighless
    mommyweighless Posts: 192 Member
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    Love this!
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
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    LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Crabtree99
    Crabtree99 Posts: 1 Member
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    i use to look at the scale all the time when i walked by it had to get it out my bathroom now i only weigh myself once every 2 weeks now im more focused on losing weight then the scale
  • miadhail
    miadhail Posts: 383 Member
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    Makes me feel alot better when my scale fluctuates throughout the day. But I have slowly progressed in focusing in how I feel physically and how my clothes fit, and how many stairs I can climb before I start huffing and puffing lol as indicators of my fitness increasing instead of the scale. Still an awesome article. Thanks once again!
  • MiSo_SeXy
    MiSo_SeXy Posts: 210 Member
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    Yeah I've stopped weighing in every morning, it was driving me insane.
    Thanks for sharing this article
  • catapultlaunch
    catapultlaunch Posts: 17
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    It's so funny -- your perfect timing, that is... I asked my husband this morning to please hide the scale from me so I can't weigh myself daily; it was undermining everything I'm working so hard for. It became an obsession each morning because it is in the bathroom and so easy to just step on since it's right there. I don't fall face first into food as a result, but the hamster was on it's wheel big time in my head afterwards. Why? Because every time there was a slight fluctuation here and there I would ruminate. I asked my husband if he did away with it and he said, "What scale?" :happy: My hero. Tomorrow morning when I look at the empty space in my bathroom, I will kindly remind myself that I am not a number on the scale and I'm doing just fine so far.

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