Losing inches, but not weight

kimgriffinapparently
kimgriffinapparently Posts: 31 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey there,

So I've started seeing a PT and I've changed my 100% cardio work out for intense strength and some cardio. I am feeling firmer all over and I am losing inches but the scales are the exact same. Within 7 months this year, I shot up 21 pounds so I'm hate seeing them there.

Is it possible that I'll just keep losing inches without it showing on the scales or is there a point where the scales should be coinciding?
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Replies

  • 2013sk
    2013sk Posts: 1,318 Member
    That is great your losing inches..........!!!

    Yes you could get smaller, change your body shape and lose inches... But could even weigh even more as you are building muscle now!!!

    Sounds like your doing well - Keep it up : )

    Get your body fat % done, or use a tape measure!
  • LinkousSara
    LinkousSara Posts: 29 Member
    I struggle with the same thing! I have only lost about 25lbs in the past 2 years, but I have lost about 50 inches.... so I say put the scale away for a while and focus on how your clothes are fitting.

    Good Luck!
  • LTKeegan
    LTKeegan Posts: 354 Member
    If you're eating at a deficit, you're not building much muscle. I think what's happening is when you start to lose weight, you take fat from your fat cells but your body isn't sure it wants to let go yet, so it fills them up with water. The. Eventually you get a. "Woosh" where you lose all the water at once. For more info on this, check out Leigh Peele.

    Also, if you're really working out hard, it could be your muscles taking on water/fluid to repair. (If you're sore, this is likely contributing).
  • GillianMcK
    GillianMcK Posts: 401 Member
    I'll try and dig out the picture I saved, it was 3 different pictures put together with the 4th one explantion at the bottom, the girl in the picture took the pictures over time in a 2 piece bikini, body was slim, but started getting more toned and muscled but at the same time getting heavier.
    The 4th picture was the difference showing a pound of fat compared to a pound of muscle, the pound of fat took up much more room on the scales whereas the pound of muscle was very neat and small when compared (but still the same weight)
  • kimgriffinapparently
    kimgriffinapparently Posts: 31 Member
    Cheers guys, I really appreciate all your advice here. I weighed myself today (have been doing this 3 weeks now) and I actually weigh more than I did starting (by around 2/3 pounds). Inches are coming off slowly but I just know that 2 years ago, I was 10 st and fairly happy (Still with tummy) and now I'm 12 stone. I mean, if I get toned etc, shouldn't weight come off?
  • PunkyDucky
    PunkyDucky Posts: 283 Member
    I often wonder this too..what if you're over 200lbs and don't see the scale move.
    Would i be stuck in the 200s but leaner? LOL :p
    I've gotten much much smaller but the scale hasn't moved much..

    (that'd suck bc i'd like to weigh less also.)
  • margannmks
    margannmks Posts: 424 Member
    After more than forever being a slave to the scale ive finally got it that the inches and clothes dont lie. I recently traded clothes with my aunt who is my exact height but weighs 10 lbs less than me. Im wearing her 4 s and shes wearing my 8 s. One pair of jeans are the same exact levis. I kept thinking she was in denial about her weight but it wasnt the case im just way more muscluar. That made me finally get it.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    you're on the right path, dont worry about the scale weight as i'll eventually even out. plus why worry about a scale? are you seriously going to walk around with a scale to show people what you weigh or will you just be walking around in your smaller body?
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    I often wonder this too..what if you're over 200lbs and don't see the scale move.
    Would i be stuck in the 200s but leaner? LOL :p
    I've gotten much much smaller but the scale hasn't moved much..

    (that'd suck bc i'd like to weigh less also.)

    i've always weight a good 30-40 pounds more than what i look like for instance i'm 5'5 weigh around 220 pounds and i can comfortably wear a size 14 express jeans yet a really good friend of mine is 5'7 170 pounds and the jeans fit her the same. i always say that those extra pounds are made up of my sheer unbridled awesomeness :laugh:
  • Rachelc1992
    Rachelc1992 Posts: 246 Member
    Exactly this! And it's making me want to give up. I just want to see the scale move! :( . Also my inches are moving slow, but moving. Scale. Still and staying there :(

    And if I hear another person saying "oh I've lost a stone in 3 weeks" and they haven't done anything I may just sit on them!!!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    ignore the scales... no one else can see that number, but everyone can see you're losing inches!
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
    Mine moved! It took a while but the pounds lost started to fit the inches lost.

    But now I've lost even more inches in a whoosh and the scale didn't budge. I don't care, lol. It's the inches I'm concerned with. But I'm assuming I'll drop pounds later after this round of inches. ???
  • DamianaKitten
    DamianaKitten Posts: 479 Member
    i always say that those extra pounds are made up of my sheer unbridled awesomeness :laugh:

    This has always been my approach. :laugh:
  • kimgriffinapparently
    kimgriffinapparently Posts: 31 Member
    Thanks guys. Thank god for this site. Otherwise I'd have gone nuts by now!
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    Don't sweat the scales. It's not about what you weight - it's about how you feel.

    If the belt's getting looser - you're heading in the right direction.

    Keep up the good work.:smile:
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,262 Member
    Your in that magical place that we all dream about. Keep going and don't complicated it.
  • margannmks
    margannmks Posts: 424 Member
    you're on the right path, dont worry about the scale weight as i'll eventually even out. plus why worry about a scale? are you seriously going to walk around with a scale to show people what you weigh or will you just be walking around in your smaller body?
    Thats too funny and true,i got an image like a flava flav with a scale around my neck instead of huge clock.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    If you want more advise, you are going to want to start logging calories. If you continue to gain, it' s because you are eating more calories than your are burning. So while you might be seeing some moderate recomposition or you are not measuring exactly in the same spot. It' s also possible your weight gain is either water weight increase from exercise or you truly are gaining new fat from eating too much.

    Not trying to put you down, but if you want success in terms of weight loss, diet is by far more important than just exercise. With that said, I personally don't care about scale results but you do use it as a trend tool to allow you to understand how many calories you can eat a day.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,262 Member
    If you want more advise, you are going to want to start logging calories. If you continue to gain, it' s because you are eating more calories than your are burning. So while you might be seeing some moderate recomposition or you are not measuring exactly in the same spot, it' s possible your weight gain is either water weight increase from exercise or you truly are gaining new fat from eating too much.

    Not trying to put you down, but if you want success in terms of weight loss, diet is by far more important than just exercise. With that said, I personally don't care about scale results but you do use it as a trend tool to allow you to understand how many calories you can eat a day.
    Not necessarily. A new maintenance level will occur followed by a deficit while maintaining the same caloric intake.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    If you want more advise, you are going to want to start logging calories. If you continue to gain, it' s because you are eating more calories than your are burning. So while you might be seeing some moderate recomposition or you are not measuring exactly in the same spot, it' s possible your weight gain is either water weight increase from exercise or you truly are gaining new fat from eating too much.

    Not trying to put you down, but if you want success in terms of weight loss, diet is by far more important than just exercise. With that said, I personally don't care about scale results but you do use it as a trend tool to allow you to understand how many calories you can eat a day.
    Not necessarily. A new maintenance level will occur followed by a deficit while maintaining the same caloric intake.


    Sorry, but what are you implying. I am not trying to be rude, but I don't see which part my paragraph you are addressing.. Heck, maybe it's the drugs I am on for my sinus infection :laugh:

    Are we talking a decrease in TDEE post weight loss or what?
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,262 Member
    If you want more advise, you are going to want to start logging calories. If you continue to gain, it' s because you are eating more calories than your are burning. So while you might be seeing some moderate recomposition or you are not measuring exactly in the same spot, it' s possible your weight gain is either water weight increase from exercise or you truly are gaining new fat from eating too much.

    Not trying to put you down, but if you want success in terms of weight loss, diet is by far more important than just exercise. With that said, I personally don't care about scale results but you do use it as a trend tool to allow you to understand how many calories you can eat a day.
    Not necessarily. A new maintenance level will occur followed by a deficit while maintaining the same caloric intake.


    Sorry, but what are you implying. I am not trying to be rude, but I don't see which part my paragraph you are addressing.. Heck, maybe it's the drugs I am on for my sinus infection :laugh:

    Are we talking a decrease in TDEE post weight loss or what?
    For some reason you said that the person could be adding water weight and fat, that would assume the person is eating over maintenance calories. I suspect that because she's losing inches that she's in a deficit. If she's in a deficit then some recomp is happening....which is adding new muscle fiber and it can be regional as well, not necessarily all over. To my point. If she's in a deficit and I see no reason why that isn't the case she will eventually hit a place where no weight loss occurs, that is maintenance.......and continuing to lift heavy can and will eventually create a deficit caused by increased metabolism and strength in exercise. Newbie gains should be taken advantage of.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    If you want more advise, you are going to want to start logging calories. If you continue to gain, it' s because you are eating more calories than your are burning. So while you might be seeing some moderate recomposition or you are not measuring exactly in the same spot, it' s possible your weight gain is either water weight increase from exercise or you truly are gaining new fat from eating too much.

    Not trying to put you down, but if you want success in terms of weight loss, diet is by far more important than just exercise. With that said, I personally don't care about scale results but you do use it as a trend tool to allow you to understand how many calories you can eat a day.
    Not necessarily. A new maintenance level will occur followed by a deficit while maintaining the same caloric intake.


    Sorry, but what are you implying. I am not trying to be rude, but I don't see which part my paragraph you are addressing.. Heck, maybe it's the drugs I am on for my sinus infection :laugh:

    Are we talking a decrease in TDEE post weight loss or what?
    For some reason you said that the person could be adding water weight and fat, that would assume the person is eating over maintenance calories. I suspect that because she's losing inches that she's in a deficit. If she's in a deficit then some recomp is happening....which is adding new muscle fiber and it can be regional as well, not necessarily all over. To my point. If she's in a deficit and I see no reason why that isn't the case she will eventually hit a place where no weight loss occurs, that is maintenance.......and continuing to lift heavy can and will eventually create a deficit caused by increased metabolism and strength in exercise. Newbie gains should be taken advantage of.

    Since the OP is not logging calories, it's highly possible she is eating over her TDEE. It's also possible she is eating at her maintenance calories and doing recomp. I propose that it's possible her "inches lost" could fall into a category of wrong measurement. Lets face it, to measure the same exact spot consistently is not always feasible. So you have to leave some room for error. I guess we would need to clarify, how many inches have been lost? Looking the post, there is NO quantifiable amount of inches lost.

    Realistically speaking, we need more than 3 weeks worth of data. But if she continues to gain weight, we know for a fact it is over consumption of calories and the inches lost were measuring inconsistency. I hope she just has water retention keep her weight up but it's hard to say without see any logged food.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,262 Member
    If you want more advise, you are going to want to start logging calories. If you continue to gain, it' s because you are eating more calories than your are burning. So while you might be seeing some moderate recomposition or you are not measuring exactly in the same spot, it' s possible your weight gain is either water weight increase from exercise or you truly are gaining new fat from eating too much.

    Not trying to put you down, but if you want success in terms of weight loss, diet is by far more important than just exercise. With that said, I personally don't care about scale results but you do use it as a trend tool to allow you to understand how many calories you can eat a day.
    Not necessarily. A new maintenance level will occur followed by a deficit while maintaining the same caloric intake.


    Sorry, but what are you implying. I am not trying to be rude, but I don't see which part my paragraph you are addressing.. Heck, maybe it's the drugs I am on for my sinus infection :laugh:

    Are we talking a decrease in TDEE post weight loss or what?
    For some reason you said that the person could be adding water weight and fat, that would assume the person is eating over maintenance calories. I suspect that because she's losing inches that she's in a deficit. If she's in a deficit then some recomp is happening....which is adding new muscle fiber and it can be regional as well, not necessarily all over. To my point. If she's in a deficit and I see no reason why that isn't the case she will eventually hit a place where no weight loss occurs, that is maintenance.......and continuing to lift heavy can and will eventually create a deficit caused by increased metabolism and strength in exercise. Newbie gains should be taken advantage of.

    Since the OP is not logging calories, it's highly possible she is eating over her TDEE. It's also possible she is eating at her maintenance calories and doing recomp. I propose that it's possible her "inches lost" could fall into a category of wrong measurement. Lets face it, to measure the same exact spot consistently is not always feasible. So you have to leave some room for error. I guess we would need to clarify, how many inches have been lost? Looking the post, there is NO quantifiable amount of inches lost.

    Realistically speaking, we need more than 3 weeks worth of data. But if she continues to gain weight, we know for a fact it is over consumption of calories and the inches lost were measuring inconsistency. I hope she just has water retention keep her weight up but it's hard to say without see any logged food.
    How does someone lose inches and gain fat in excess of the EBE.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    How does someone lose inches and gain fat in excess of the EBE.

    I will quote myself:
    Lets face it, to measure the same exact spot consistently is not always feasible. So you have to leave some room for error. I guess we would need to clarify, how many inches have been lost? Looking the post, there is NO quantifiable amount of inches lost.


    ps- why don't we get more data from the OP before we start to deviate from the topic.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,262 Member
    How does someone lose inches and gain fat in excess of the EBE.

    I will quote myself:
    Lets face it, to measure the same exact spot consistently is not always feasible. So you have to leave some room for error. I guess we would need to clarify, how many inches have been lost? Looking the post, there is NO quantifiable amount of inches lost.
    I hear you and that could be the case, but highly unlikely, speaking for myself mind you. I've always used the tape measure and mirror and never a scale. Normally when I was losing inches that's what was happening.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    How does someone lose inches and gain fat in excess of the EBE.

    I will quote myself:
    Lets face it, to measure the same exact spot consistently is not always feasible. So you have to leave some room for error. I guess we would need to clarify, how many inches have been lost? Looking the post, there is NO quantifiable amount of inches lost.
    I hear you and that could be the case, but highly unlikely, speaking for myself mind you. I've always used the tape measure and mirror and never a scale. Normally when I was losing inches that's what was happening.
    Considering how lean the OP already is, how many inches do you realistically thing one can lose over a span of 3 weeks? If you are lean, losing 1% body fat is extremely good. And considering the OP has gained 3 lbs since she has started, you still don't think there is room for incorrectly measuring?

    since I don't want to hijack, i will wait for more information from the OP.
  • kimgriffinapparently
    kimgriffinapparently Posts: 31 Member
    Hello! Wow! So much information - my head is hurting!! Thanks though!

    Okay, firstly that picture is my goal weight. That was me 2 years ago, I am around 21 pounds heavier than that now.

    I will start logging my food diary. To be honest, I could be eating better and defo need to start drinking more water. Since reading the advice I have started drinking more water and watching what I'm eating more.

    Today's food is a pretty standard day for me but should give you an indication of how I eat:

    Breakfast - 3 rashers of bacon (lean mean grill machined!) with 1 cup of semi skimmed milk in tea.
    Lunch - 2 bags of low fat crisps, protein shake (low whey).
    Dinner - 1 nut cutlet, 1 chicken kiev, oven chips (approx 1 handful).


    This hasn't been a set out diet for myself, it's just what I ate....I do have the odd drink which I need to stop but my personal trainer said that if I work out hard, I can eat what I want (within reason) and enjoy 1 or 2 glasses of wine a week.

    Btw, I double checked. I haven't gained weight. I am just the same. It's what I get for breaking my 'only way in the morning' routine.

    Off to see the personal trainer tomorrow. I just feel a but crap, because I'm always trying to lose weight but this year, I went 'bye cardio' and 'hello strength' . I feel great, but I have so long to go.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    Consider picking up a food scale to ensure accuracy and work a calorie plan with either your training or we can help. With only 20 lbs, your goal should be around 1 lb per week. Protein and fat will help with satiety and protein/weight training help with muscle retention.
  • kimgriffinapparently
    kimgriffinapparently Posts: 31 Member
    Thanks, I'm defo a beginner in the world of strength training!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    Thanks, I'm defo a beginner in the world of strength training!
    Thats fine. I would find a good full body routine to start and go light enough to work on form. As form improves then increase weight to maintain reps to around 8 to 12. After you master the routine then switch routines or add different sets. Or if you want look into the new rules of lifting for women.... its supposed to be great and has a routine in it.

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