Why the scale lies to us

newhabit

The last thing I’ll mention is that with fat loss, consistency is key, the metabolism has built in safeguards to balance out any very high or very low calorie days, if you swing your calorie types, or amounts wildly throughout the week, it can be disastrous to your weight loss, I won’t get into details about why, but feel free to ask me in an email or tweet if you want to know more. Just know that if you’re consistently swinging from many hundred calories below maintenance to a few hundred calories above maintenance throughout the week that’s NOT the same as maintaining a 300 calorie deficit every day, the body reacts to extremes, and it reacts with fat storage, this is fact, not opinion.

ok so why is it that "cheat days" where someone might have 1400 calories one day and 2600 the next seem to result in weight loss in the long term? does that person actually store fat because they had one low day and then a high day. why does "zig zagging" work?

ExplorinLauren

Thank you

Snikkee

bump

AndreaL0918

I like this post!!! I totally agree!!! I've been working hard the only difference I see is in my clothes, the scale doesn't ever move much!

the3erwins

I have suspected that my scale was lying to me for some years now!

briannadunn

This is an awesome post. I am well aware of the information that you have posted and use that information to my advantage. I weigh my self everyday and look at the trends, sometimes there is a loss and sometimes a gain or plateau. I have lost a total of 1 pound since Thanksgiving but I gained 6 pounds in water weight and it took me over a week to lose it and then I maintained for a week and have lost to 228. I also upped my workout to 1 hour a day on my Elliptical 5 days a week and lifting 3 days a week..So, is there a change or is it just water keeping on. Anyway, it is great that you have posted this because it encourages others to keep working hard and to measure progress other ways not just the scale.

nerchk

I needed to hear this, was crying just last night to my friend telling them I am still at the same weight I was when I started gym. But I fit in the size 38 clothes now. Not perfectly but I fit. I can zip them n button the pants up. The problem is just the love handle which is a little too big and I want to get rid of that. My size 40 needs to be given to some one who lost from 44 to 40 because they look too huge on me. Yet the scale hasn't moved.

When I want to make myself feel better, I wake up, gym and immidiately take a bath before I rehydrate. I'm ussually 1lb less than what I was before gym. But also what I do when I don't want to use my scale because I'm one of those who obsess abt the scale. Immidiately after my workout I drink lots of water before bathing. I know I have gained water and the scale will b up by a lb or 2 so I don't bother using it.
My scale is a good friend, but my mirror n my clothes are really disagreeing with what my scale is saying. I will continue strenghth training whether scale moves or not. I know I'm moving

McAlyna

Thanks for the post! :flowerforyou:

This helps me stay motivated. I gained almost 5 pounds since I start lifting heavy. I do see some result in pictures but not measurements as I am suck with it anyways.

emily_bird

Incredible helpful and well said. Thank you for taking the time to write this .

SHBoss1673

ok so why is it that "cheat days" where someone might have 1400 calories one day and 2600 the next seem to result in weight loss in the long term? does that person actually store fat because they had one low day and then a high day. why does "zig zagging" work?

there's a lot of variables in this, how often a person is doing this, how long they are staying at the different levels, what their body composition currently is, what types and length of exercise they are doing, how old they are, whether they are in malnutrition or not, whether they are completely filling out their glycogen stores during the re-feeding phase...etc.

Generally zig-zagging does NOT involve calorie surpluses, it involves larger and smaller calorie deficits at very specific timing in order to take advantage of the time it takes to complete glycogen depletion in a 72 hour period. these are advanced techniques that require patience, knowledge and trial and error, usually they are difficult to do correctly and only work for a relatively short period of time (although I know a few people that do it all the time, but it takes a lot of dedication and monitoring to do right).

newhabit

ok so why is it that "cheat days" where someone might have 1400 calories one day and 2600 the next seem to result in weight loss in the long term? does that person actually store fat because they had one low day and then a high day. why does "zig zagging" work?

there's a lot of variables in this, how often a person is doing this, how long they are staying at the different levels, what their body composition currently is, what types and length of exercise they are doing, how old they are, whether they are in malnutrition or not, whether they are completely filling out their glycogen stores during the re-feeding phase...etc.

Generally zig-zagging does NOT involve calorie surpluses, it involves larger and smaller calorie deficits at very specific timing in order to take advantage of the time it takes to complete glycogen depletion in a 72 hour period. these are advanced techniques that require patience, knowledge and trial and error, usually they are difficult to do correctly and only work for a relatively short period of time (although I know a few people that do it all the time, but it takes a lot of dedication and monitoring to do right).

so if someone had a week of staying around 300 below TDEE but just had one high day and one low day, would this tend to make them store more fat or not? for example, my tdee is 1900. usually i eat around 1600 most days. one day i went as high as 2400 and then another day 1200. would this mean more fat stored because of the high day?

SHBoss1673

so if someone had a week of staying around 300 below TDEE but just had one high day and one low day, would this tend to make them store more fat or not? for example, my tdee is 1900. usually i eat around 1600 most days. one day i went as high as 2400 and then another day 1200. would this mean more fat stored because of the high day?

Assuming all the numbers are accurate, on the day you ate 2400, you would store some fat, more than you would if you ate the same way but less total calories. One day isolated at 1200 probably wouldn't have any effect one way or another since you would have glycogen stores to be able to replenish that much. Keep in mind that I'm talking in generics here, it would truly depend on your body, everyone is a little different in their metabolism, which is why I stress trying things and constantly tweaking until you are satisfied.

buzzcogs

Best explanation I've seen so far!

GanjaBall

Thanks! This really helped me out!!

degasvegas

Bump

DouMc

Thanks. I really needed to read this!

marvybells

Last week I had a freak out when the scale went up a pound and a half...the next day it was down 4 lbs and i decided to hell with scales. I'm going off of how i look & feel and will take measurements instead

kerriotto

Very timely advice for me. Thank you for posting!

lucylou9701

Bump

lorcart

While none of this is NEW information to me, you have no idea how much I needed to read this and be reminded right now. Your timing was perfect! Thank you!!!

dharmony1

While counting calories and getting good exercise is important, eliminating as much processed food (and thereby eliminating sodium, excess carbohydrates and fat) and replacing it with fresh food is critical. Get rid of the canned vegetables and "instant" foods and replace them with fresh(or frozen) vegetables and food you make yourself - not something from a can or a box. This will help to even out some of those swings on the scales - or at least it has for me.

makemyselfpr0ud

Bump

SHBoss1673

While counting calories and getting good exercise is important, eliminating as much processed food (and thereby eliminating sodium, excess carbohydrates and fat) and replacing it with fresh food is critical. Get rid of the canned vegetables and "instant" foods and replace them with fresh(or frozen) vegetables and food you make yourself - not something from a can or a box. This will help to even out some of those swings on the scales - or at least it has for me.

I'm with you. to a point. I don't feel that a person needs to completely eliminate processed foods, but yes, minimizing processed foods and choosing food sources that are the least processed as possible is always a smart idea. Not only just for sodium, also because fiber, micro-nutrients, and phyto-chemicals are lost during processing as well.

AestheticStar

A friend sent me the link to this post because I got up today, & the scale said I gained two pounds. But now after reading this, I see why. I did eat something a little high in sodium, so I assume it's water weight. This was a great informative post! Thank you. I see the changes in my body already, so I'm going to ignore the scale. As long as I see & feel the changes, that's important.