inches lost and weight gained?

shansd

anyone else having this problem.
I have hit a plateau that for a while had me just sitting at the same number on the scale but now i have gained 4 lbs? but I have lost inches.... I know muscle weighs more than fat but i just can't believe that i put on that much muscle?
I don't know.

sweetgl

How fast did you gain that weight?

shansd

i think about a week

Gogo

Sounds more like bloating from sodium, but it is entirely possible to stay at the same weight and still be losing inches. Take it as a loss and congratulate yourself!! :flowerforyou:

LittleSpy

Could just be water weight in addition to some new muscle weight. I would doubt that you gained 4 pounds of muscle in 1 week as well so my vote goes for water retention.

WillPillageYourVillageForFood

I don't mean to be ugly, but a pound of fat weighs the same as a pound of muscle. Muscle is denser than fat so you can weigh the same amount as someone with more body fat yet appear slimmer than they do. You can have more muscle per volume than fat but the weight of them is exactly the same.

shansd

oh i know that, a pound of something is the same as a pound of anything else.
Just stated wrong.
So muscle is denser than fat.
I just find it so frustrating that people always seem to say that i put on muscle.
I still have enough weight to lose that I just think my body should still be burning more fat. Gaining weight when I eat very healthy and work out intensely is very frustrating.

wattsam1

what is the better way to phrase this then? That while you are losing weight/fat you are becoming more muscular than you were before so the change in the scale isn't as much as you expect it to be? We might as well learn how to phrase it so we don't get yelled at all the time!

Advengirl

During my TOM and/or moments of water retention, I go by the tape measure vs. the scale for those very reasons. lol

CrystalT

oh i know that, a pound of something is the same as a pound of anything else.
Just stated wrong.
So muscle is denser than fat.
I just find it so frustrating that people always seem to say that i put on muscle.
I still have enough weight to lose that I just think my body should still be burning more fat. Gaining weight when I eat very healthy and work out intensely is very frustrating.

Are you eating enough? Could you be in starvation mode? That's what it sounds like to me.

MacMadame

We aren't supposed to be able to gain muscle while in a calorie deficit. (I'm not 100% sure I believe this, but I do believe it would be darn hard to do and most people don't.)

If you aren't operating at a calorie deficit, then you can gain muscle, but most people don't gain that much ... maybe a pound a month for a gal who isn't deliberately trying to bulk up like a body builder.

But you can gain 4-5 lb. in one day from water retention. I know this from experience as Tues. I was 113, Wed. I was 117 and today I am 114. :laugh:

epoeraven

While it is true that a pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat, I would still argue that muscle weighs more than fat when looking at volume.

In other words....if you take a three inch cube of muscle - because it is more dense - it will weigh more than a three inch cube of fat.

So perhaps the correct phrase should be a pound of muscle occupies less space than a pound of fat.

jrobertson37

This is the exact reason i do not own a scale. I have been dieting since march, started out at 210 and today tried on a pair of size 10 (junior) jeans.!!!!!!!!!!!!! :drinker: I was so excited. I use a tape measure to measure my waiste=34, hips=42 and thighs=26 and i have two more inches to lose and im done dieting and on to a new way of eating forever. I do not know how much i weigh and dont want to know. Is that bad?????

LittleSpy

While it is true that a pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat, I would still argue that muscle weighs more than fat when looking at volume.

Agreed. Obviously a pound of something weighs as much as a pound of any other something. That's why it's so ridiculous to even mention that in casual conversation. 1 cup of lead weighs a lot more than 1 cup of feathers. Lead weighs more than feathers. A cup of muscle weighs more than a cup of fat. Muscle weighs more than fat. The "equal volumes of each" part is already implied so unless you're talking to super ignorant folks or small children, you really don't need to explain the whole "a pound weighs the same as a pound" thing.

:grumble: :laugh:

songbyrdsweet

Okay, I'll solve this problem.

You are NOT GAINING MUSCLE when you're in a caloric DEFICIT.
You have to eat EXTRA to build. If you could build in a caloric DEFICIT, you wouldn't be able to lose fat.

It's a combination of water, glycogen, food, and waste.