Sometimes even progress can be frustrating

mpizzle421

I know this is probably neurotic...

But I've been pretty heavily focused on strength training over the last 3 months... much more so over the course of the last 5 weeks after starting a new strength training routine exclusively focused on compound lifts (the exception being curls, ya just have to do curls or it feels like a sin lol). All in all it's working very well... the way it was put together, every week I make progress and I'm seeing some gains. Flexed, the mirror shows me that I'm gaining muscle, and my numbers clearly show that I'm getting stronger and making progress weekly.

However...

Unflexed, the mirror also shows me that I have a sloppy layer of fat covering the progress I've made, and it's extremely discouraging some days. ESPECIALLY when the scale hasn't moved much. This week went well, I lost somewhere between 1.5 and 3.5lbs. (I weighed myself last Friday @ 242, and Saturday @ 244). This morning I weighed in @ 240.5. I dunno where the mystery 2lbs came from last weekend... whatever though. I'll chalk it up to "water weight" or something I guess.

The unfortunate thing is that I've gone UP and DOWN between 238-244 for at least 6-8 weeks. I have admittedly had some cheat days in that time, but have consistently worked my *kitten* off at the gym, and stayed active. No deviating or cheating that I'm aware of that would account for +5lbs since originally weighing in at 238 six or so weeks ago. I would love to believe that the scale is indicating that I'm gaining muscle while losing fat, but I don't see how that could really be possible while eating at a deficit.

I also probably set myself up for discouragement by believing that I would be farther along by now when I started this February. Ah well. I guess the more progress I make, the more I realize I have to go and it can frustrate the hell out of me. One day at a time I guess