How is it? inches but not weight?

Darlingir
Darlingir Posts: 437
in Health and Weight Loss
What is the phenomenon behind losing inches but the weight not showing on the scale? I understand that is happens but why? wouldn't inches correlate with weight? Just curious if anyone knows the answer to this. Perhaps it's obvious, please enlighten me. :)

Replies

  • Flossalynnwoo
    Flossalynnwoo Posts: 2
    Perhaps you are losing fat but gaining more muscle.
  • stfuriada
    stfuriada Posts: 445 Member
    Fat is fluffy, muscle is not.

    It;s like putting 1 lb of cotton candy (fat) in a jar vs 1 lb of sugar (muscle). Fat takes up more space in your body than muscle.
  • hbrittingham
    hbrittingham Posts: 2,518 Member
    Muscle takes up less space than fat.
  • entersandlady
    entersandlady Posts: 7 Member
    Although it can be frustrating, its actually a really good thing.

    My understanding of it is that you will have burned off fat (from exercising etc) and have built up building muscle (you want this!). In otherwords, your bodyfat percentage will have decreased and you lean mass increased, but your weight remain the same.
  • Darlingir
    Darlingir Posts: 437
    is that something that happens ONLY if a person exercises along with diet?
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    is that something that happens ONLY if a person exercises along with diet?

    Pretty much. I can't imagine how else it would happen.
  • Kmsnomaha
    Kmsnomaha Posts: 167 Member
    I think you would have to have some weight training involved to increase muscle mass.
  • Lissette_Brooks
    Lissette_Brooks Posts: 173 Member
    What is the phenomenon behind losing inches but the weight not showing on the scale? I understand that is happens but why? wouldn't inches correlate with weight? Just curious if anyone knows the answer to this. Perhaps it's obvious, please enlighten me. :)

    That question has been burning in my brain for weeks now. I only just started being serious about the gym for the past month, Eating good working out with weights and cardio. My measurements say I've lost 2 "... But the scale usually doesn't change. Wasn't sure why or how that worked either. I still like losing 2', but I feel like unless its a significant amount of inches like 5, I'd almost rather see the scale go down instead. IDK maybe i'm just not getting it?..
  • cari4jc1
    cari4jc1 Posts: 233
    I don't understand it at all either. The summer of 2009 I weight 205 and started to exercise. We stopped eating so much processed foods, but I didn't count calories at all. I pretty much ate whatever I wanted. I went from a size 18 to a size 14 in under 2 months, but lost no pounds...only inches like crazy. This time I'm counting calories and exercising like crazy and I've been losing pounds and inches. Maybe it has something to do with the calories. Maybe if you eat more calories those calories help to build that muscle while you're burning fat and when you're restricting your calories those calories have to go to your normal body functions instead of building up the muscles. Just a thought. I don't really understand it.
  • katejkelley
    katejkelley Posts: 839 Member
    If you're not working out (and if not, why not?), it could still be that you've improved your diet considerably, which effects your bone mass as well. I know I've lost a lot of inches because my clothes fit so much better now, but I've only lost 7 pounds. I am working out, though, so attribute some of that to increased muscle mass. As long as you're losing inches, don't worry so much about the scale.

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