Pounds vs. measurements, what's up?

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ucalegon
ucalegon Posts: 43 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I went from 120lbs to 107lbs entirely via diet, then decided to go on maintenance calories and work on my level of fitness. It's been great so far -- I've been walking, dancing, running, hiking, circuit training, and bicycle riding all over the place (I'm grateful for the weather, to be certain). It has been a month and a half since then.

The one downside is, my weight on the scale has gone up by about three lbs, back to 110. This has worried me, but my waist size has gone down nearly half an inch even though my weight has gone up three lbs. I'm hoping I've gained some of that weight as muscle although I haven't been lifting weights substantially, so it seems doubtful, especially considering how hard it is for women to gain even a half a pound of muscle every two weeks. Can anyone tell me what's going on, or give me some hope?

Replies

  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
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    Hope? You're losing inches - who cares what the scale says?? :bigsmile: I lost a full pants size without losing a pound, and I'll take that any day! Congrats!
  • ChangingAmanda
    ChangingAmanda Posts: 486 Member
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    Most likely it's just water retention. When you start an exercise program your muscles store water and other things to repair themselves. This can cause a gain on the scale which can last a few weeks. For women, we don't have the hormones (usually) to gain a great deal of muscle bulk in a short time frame. Also, weight in general fluctuates due to TOM (time of the month), DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness), water retention due to a high sodium meal, how long it's been since you last pooped/peed (sorry for the grossness). Heck, just through a day, I "gained" 5 lbs just from normal activity. In no way did I consume nearly 20,000 extra calories that day.

    The scale is just a number and unless you advertise it, no one's going to know. Most likely you're either at a normal or below normal weight depending on your height. Stop focusing on the scale number and start focusing on measurements and how you're feeling and how your clothes fit.
  • ucalegon
    ucalegon Posts: 43 Member
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    Thank you for the input, I definitely care more about the measurements than the scale! I just wonder if water retention wouldn't show up in the measurements, too. As I'm only 5'1.5", my goal weight was 105 and now I'm having to rethink that.

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