increased bone mass?

nibbynoo
nibbynoo Posts: 250 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
hi,
I'm doing a weight loss challenge and I'm a little confused about my progress!
I've gained 4% muscle and lost 3% fat which is great but I've also gained 3% bone mass.
how the hell can my bones get bigger?! Sorry if this sounds really stupid to people in the know, but google hasn't turned up much so I'm a little confused!!

Thanks :)

Replies

  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    they didn't get bigger, they got denser, i.e. heavier for their size

    for an example of density, if you have a piece of gold and a piece of wood the same size, the gold will be heavier, because it's denser. So that's what's happened to your bones, they stayed the same size but got heavier because they got denser. This is a really good thing health wise, because denser bones = less risk of osteoporosis.
  • Noor13
    Noor13 Posts: 964 Member
    Higher bone density is awesome :) Reduced risk of osteoporosis.
    Also congratulations on packing on some muscle and shedding the fat-way to go :)
  • joshdann
    joshdann Posts: 618 Member
    hi,
    I'm doing a weight loss challenge and I'm a little confused about my progress!
    I've gained 4% muscle and lost 3% fat which is great but I've also gained 3% bone mass.
    how the hell can my bones get bigger?! Sorry if this sounds really stupid to people in the know, but google hasn't turned up much so I'm a little confused!!

    Thanks :)
    Just to be sure... how did you measure these changes?
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
    Yeah, that's a good thing! But, if you're measuring using a body composition scale, just be aware that they can be very inaccurate.
  • nibbynoo
    nibbynoo Posts: 250 Member
    I go for weigh in's on a big fancy set of scales with a handlebar thingy. It tells you the water, fat, muscle, bone masses also metabolic age, bmi and all that stuff. I have a tracking sheet with it all written down, trying to learn what it all means so I can track it better!!
    That is interesting about bone density, I never knew that could be affected with exercise!
    Back to the kettle bells I go!! :)
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
    I don't know that I'd trust what that scale tells you, regardless of how fancy it is.
  • albionjen
    albionjen Posts: 86 Member
    I've heard that those scales can be pretty unreliable, though I suppose if you are repeating the measures using the same equipment it could reflect real changes. Increasing bone mass happens when you do weight bearing exercises (like kettlebells!). See this link to read a bit more:
    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/patientinstructions/000492.htm

    As a random asside, bone size can also increase through use. If you have the left and right arm of a skeleton you can often tell whether they were left or right handed due to differences in size of the arm bones. For a more modern example, in professional tennis players the arm bones on their dominant hand are often larger than on the other side.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10962345

    Greater bone density = less fracture risk, so it is all good :)
  • nibbynoo
    nibbynoo Posts: 250 Member
    I've always been a bit skeptic of these scales myself (how the hell can they tell what my bones are like?!)
    . . . but from what you guys have told me; I have been getting a lot more calcium and doing kettle bells everyday for the last couple weeks, so its all good :)

    Thank you :)
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    Those scales are wildly inaccurate. I wouldn't place too much stock in having gained 3% bone mass. You may find out next week you've lost 5%!

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