Lost inches not weight?

elfin168
elfin168 Posts: 202 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have heard of this happening but haven't experienced this myself before. So I am weight training full body 3 times a week at 5-8 reps. In my 2nd or 3rd week now. I am eating at a deficit with a reasonable amount of protein. I weighed myself this morning and weigh EXACTLY the same as I did about 4 weeks ago and yet am pretty sure I have lost fat. My waist is definetely smaller and more defined, my legs are slimmer. Any ideas of what is happening here? Could I be retaining water from the weight training?

Replies

  • jenncornelsen
    jenncornelsen Posts: 969 Member
    Yes you for sure can be retaining water. Also you didn't say how much you have to lose. If not much weight loss can be slow. Are you using a food scale and being accurate with your logging?
  • koalathebear
    koalathebear Posts: 236 Member
    It happened to me a few times this year when my weight wasn't moving but my measurements were shrinking. Our bodies are kind of weird ... not only can we not control where we lose weight, sometimes our bodies seem to like rearranging the furniture before tossing them out :)
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    elfin168 wrote: »
    Could I be retaining water from the weight training?

    Yes.
  • bigmike12
    bigmike12 Posts: 14 Member
    Also bear in mind that as start to train, you may see increases in muscle density and also the amount of blood that you have in your system. Don't get caught up with the value of the weight, but monitor things like body fat and caliper measurements.
  • MySlimGoals
    MySlimGoals Posts: 754 Member
    Less fat and more muscle. The same weight of muscle is smaller and denser than the same weight of fat so you could just be replacing fat with muscle which is good. Keep doing what you are doing. The increase in muscle will make it easier to burn fat.
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    MySlimGoals wrote: »
    Less fat and more muscle. The same weight of muscle is smaller and denser than the same weight of fat so you could just be replacing fat with muscle which is good. Keep doing what you are doing. The increase in muscle will make it easier to burn fat.

    Highly doubtful it's a 1:1 ratio of fat-loss to muscle gain. Gaining muscle is really....really hard and like OP says, she's eating at a deficit so gaining muscle is even harder than it already is....

    I'm with the others, OP if you know your intake is on point and you're at a deficit you're probably looking at water retention...although 4 weeks is getting a bit lengthy.
  • wiigelec
    wiigelec Posts: 503 Member
    How are you measuring weight and inches?
  • zebasschick
    zebasschick Posts: 1,067 Member
    after 7 weeks back to working out, i've stopped losing (i'm eating back most of my exercise calories), but my waist has shrunk by 2 inches, my calves no longer have any fat around them (you can see muscle detail) and my hips are down about an inch.
  • saresimsr36
    saresimsr36 Posts: 128 Member
    I actually quit weighing myself completely and only focus on measurements. For me personally, I find that measurements are more accurate than scale numbers. It's not to say I wont weigh once in a while, but I focus most on measuring.
  • allother94
    allother94 Posts: 588 Member
    My vote is you replaced fat with muscle. Same thing happened to me when I started losing weight. Eventually the muscle gains slowed and the fat loss continued and I dropped actual weight.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,486 Member
    elfin168 wrote: »
    I have heard of this happening but haven't experienced this myself before. So I am weight training full body 3 times a week at 5-8 reps. In my 2nd or 3rd week now. I am eating at a deficit with a reasonable amount of protein. I weighed myself this morning and weigh EXACTLY the same as I did about 4 weeks ago and yet am pretty sure I have lost fat. My waist is definetely smaller and more defined, my legs are slimmer. Any ideas of what is happening here? Could I be retaining water from the weight training?

    @sijomial hit the nail on the head.

    You are retaining water/glycogen and, as long as you are lifting you will retain it.

    If you are losing, your fat loss will overtake the retention in a few weeks.
    If your maintaining, your weight will go up a few pounds, depending on your weight and muscle repair needed, and will drop in a woosh when you stop.

    Lifting needs muscle repair, muscle repair needs glycogen and water, as long as you lift you will retain water/glycogen. It gives you the nice pumped look of active muscle.

    I have been maintaining for years, when I lift I maintain towards the top of my range, when I take a break I maintain near the bottom of my range. A matter of ~2lbs.

    I also pee like an elephant about 10 days after I start the break.

    Cheers, h.
  • RealWorldStrengthLLC
    RealWorldStrengthLLC Posts: 552 Member
    elfin168 wrote: »
    I have heard of this happening but haven't experienced this myself before. So I am weight training full body 3 times a week at 5-8 reps. In my 2nd or 3rd week now. I am eating at a deficit with a reasonable amount of protein. I weighed myself this morning and weigh EXACTLY the same as I did about 4 weeks ago and yet am pretty sure I have lost fat. My waist is definetely smaller and more defined, my legs are slimmer. Any ideas of what is happening here? Could I be retaining water from the weight training?

    Water weight fluctuations can count for a lot. Every gram of carbs makes you retain 4g of water (I think it's 4g). Salt, glycogen stores etc. All affect that stuff. I wouldn't worry about it, the scale doesn't tell the whole picture.

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