Slow down in weight loss

troisieme
troisieme Posts: 6
edited 5:07AM in Introduce Yourself
Hello,

I am a big fan of My Fitness Pal, which I mostly use via the Iphone App. It is right there whenever I eat something, so I always know where I am with respect to my goals. I weight myself too often I suppose, but the whole project is generally going very well. I have lost anywhere from 15 to 18 pounds, and I am close to my goal of 10% weight loss.

Recently the rate of loss seems to have slowed down. This coincides with my doing some extra exercise, in the form of bicycling. I am wondering if this is diverting some of my calories from fat to muscle. Is there an objective way to tell? I cannot use a BMI scale on account of health reasons.

Replies

  • BeantownSooner
    BeantownSooner Posts: 254
    Get a tape measure as that'll be one of the easiest ways to tell. Muscle is more dense than fat. For example, 1 Ton of Bricks and 1 Ton of Feathers are the same weight but it would take 1 dump truck to move the bricks and probably 50 to move the feathers.

    If you're replacing fat with muscle your body should be shrinking. Clothes fit better, jeans you haven't worn in a year now fit, etc. Those are some easy ways to tell if you're replacing fat with muscle.

    Measure various areas of your body as the replacement can come from anywhere. I do the following:

    Neck, Shoulder, Biceps, Forearm, Wrist, Chest, Abdomen (across belling button), waist, hips (across larger part of my bum), thighs, knees, calf and ankle.

    Total them all up and then 2-3 weeks from now do it again.
  • troisieme
    troisieme Posts: 6
    Thanks! I will try this.
  • troisieme
    troisieme Posts: 6
    It looks like my weight loss resumed since my last post. I got down to my goal of 10% weight loss, but then there were a couple of days of relatively large food intake due to social occasions and my weight is up a bit. But my waist size decreased an inch, and I am definitely fitting easily into all my trousers.

    I guess this is just going to be a constant in my life, and I do not mind. My Fitness Pal in the meantime has come up with some neat upgrades, that make it even easier to keep track of what I am eating. This, and the feedback, have been key to my success.
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