I'm SEVERELY confused.
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So should I not be concerned that I'm not actually LOSING weight? Isn't that the goal? ?The BMI chart says I'm over weight. personally that doesn't make me comfortable.
You should not make judgements based on such short trial periods.
Resume your MFP plans for two weeks. Hit your calorie goals daily and don't cheat yourself by eating things and not recording them. Don't estimate food quantities.
Do this for 2 weeks and then check results, and make sure you weigh yourself consistently in terms of procedure (for example, after you wake up and use the restroom).0 -
The main thing is to stay in your calorie range, get LOTS of activity, drink plenty of water and stay fit. Sometimes the scale goes down, sometimes it doesn't. But if you stay the course for the long term, weight will come off. Just don't obsess about it at any given moment. If your clothes are getting loser, you are losing inches, etc. and you will be feeling better and you will keep the weight off over the long term. Don't obsess about the scale.0
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Most of the days I got to Karate for ~3 hours. From 4 to 7. But i only REALLY work out for ~2 out of the 3 hours of that. and I was following it for about a week before the "Happening". do I need to exercise more and eat less?
1 week is not nearly enough time to make any determinations about anything.0 -
You were probably building muscle.. It weighs more than fat...
lolz
lolz is my thought exactly. A pound is a pound, muscle is more dense than fat.0 -
You were probably building muscle.. It weighs more than fat...
Not this. You cannot build muscle on a calorie deficit.
^ This is untrue, you can build muscle in a deficit, it's just very difficult, requires certain conditions to exist, and requires very accurate intakes. Can an experienced bodybuilder do it? Very unlikely. Can someone who just started lifting? More likely in this case.
Now that being said, the problem with people claiming that muscle gain is offsetting scale weight, is that it doesn't physiologically work that way. If you are eating at a deficit, you are LOSING WEIGHT, by definition of deficit. Even if you are building/recomping some lean mass during a cut, your SCALE WEIGHT will decrease because you are in a deficit.
Lolz x 2!!!0 -
You were probably building muscle.. It weighs more than fat...
:explode:
This is not accurate.
The average woman will put on fewer than 5 lbs. of muscle in her ADULT LIFETIME unless she is hardcore training with Olympic weights.
And muscle doesn't weigh more than fat. Please stop repeating this. Thank you.
Umm adipose tissue (body fat) has a density of .9 Kg/L while muscle has a density of 1.06 Kg/L. Therefore a Liter of fat will indeed weigh less than a Liter of muscle tissue. Now granted the difference is only .16 Kg so it is a relatively small difference but the poster's point while poorly worded was not inaccurate.0 -
Lolz x 2!!!
I am happy to hear your thoughts on this if you have any.0 -
Most of the days I got to Karate for ~3 hours. From 4 to 7. But i only REALLY work out for ~2 out of the 3 hours of that. and I was following it for about a week before the "Happening". do I need to exercise more and eat less?
1 week is not nearly enough time to make any determinations about anything.
First, your weight lose won't be linear. You might lose nothing this week, 2 lbs the next, 1 the next and 4 the next.
Second, 2lbs a week IS kind of a lot to expect and in my opinion hard to maintain. That's a calorie deficit of 1000 a day! That leaves a lot of people hungry and more prone to binge and/or give up. I think most people should only try for 1lb a week (if not less). That's only 500 calories a day to cut.0 -
There are many reasons why the scale may not move but progress is still being made--water retention, etc. As long as you are losing inches, you are still doing well. Just keep at it and look at long-term results, not daily results. There are some weeks where I lose nothing, and others where I lose 5 pounds, all while doing the exact same things. Hang in there!0
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You were probably building muscle.. It weighs more than fat...
:explode:
This is not accurate.
The average woman will put on fewer than 5 lbs. of muscle in her ADULT LIFETIME unless she is hardcore training with Olympic weights.
And muscle doesn't weigh more than fat. Please stop repeating this. Thank you.
This has no bearings on me... apparently look very womanly. I'm a guy... and this is embarrassing.
:laugh: I only mentioned the range for women because MunkiMarie posted it. It was a reply to her. I promise I didn't think you were a chick. I don't know what the average is for men but I am going to go ahead and assume it's no more than 3 or 4x as much on the absolute outside.
lol
Sorry for the confusion.
P.S.: If you haven't noticed, the ratio of AWFUL advice to GOOD advice on the forums is about 10:1. lol0 -
1 pound of muscle takes up less space than 1 pound of fat. So as you strengthen your muscles, the actual pounds may stay the same, but more of the pounds are muscle, which takes up less space, which is why you are getting thinner. I'm experiencing the same thing...my rings are loose, my undergarments are loose, I had to take my belt up a notch, etc., but the scale isn't moving much right now. Just keep at it, and the scale will eventually start to move again.
Everyone keeps repeating the "muscle weighs more than fat" adage. It's not true. That's like the question they used to ask in science class: "What weighs more, a pound of lead or a pound of feathers?" They are both 1 pound, so they weigh the same! The difference is the density and the amount of space they take up. A pound of lead takes up a whole lot less space than a pound of feathers. Same with muscle and fat. A pound of muscle and a pound of fat weigh exactly the same amount, but that pound of muscle takes up less space than the pound of fat because muscle is denser. It's a common misconception about weight vs. mass and density. Now if you take equal MASSES of fat and muscle (in other words, equal volumes), then yes, the muscle will weigh more because it's denser.0 -
1. Weight loss is not a linear, predictable event. Patience is key, as others have said.
2. You do not gain muscle weight in a calorie deficit, nor do you gain muscle weight in a matter of days. Stronger muscle fibers != heavier muscle tissue. If you have ropes on one side of a box and can't lift the box, then adjust the ropes to all 4 corners of the box, and lift it successfully, the ropes didn't get heavier, they just got more efficient (stronger.)
3. If you are losing inches, but not weight, it's most likely water and glycogen. Your muscles use glycogen for their energy source, and glycogen is stored in the muscle tissue with water. When you increase activity and exercise, your muscles call for more glycogen to be stored in them to increase their endurance, this causes more water to be stored in the muscles with glycogen. THat's why the scale shows no loss or sometimes even an increase.0 -
1. Weight loss is not a linear, predictable event. Patience is key, as others have said.
2. You do not gain muscle weight in a calorie deficit, nor do you gain muscle weight in a matter of days. Stronger muscle fibers != heavier muscle tissue. If you have ropes on one side of a box and can't lift the box, then adjust the ropes to all 4 corners of the box, and lift it successfully, the ropes didn't get heavier, they just got more efficient (stronger.)
3. If you are losing inches, but not weight, it's most likely water and glycogen. Your muscles use glycogen for their energy source, and glycogen is stored in the muscle tissue with water. When you increase activity and exercise, your muscles call for more glycogen to be stored in them to increase their endurance, this causes more water to be stored in the muscles with glycogen. That's why the scale shows no loss or sometimes even an increase.0 -
Basically don't over analysis. Give it time and see what happens. You might be retaining water and/or glycogen and there is no way to guess when this will release.0
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1. Weight loss is not a linear, predictable event. Patience is key, as others have said.
2. You do not gain muscle weight in a calorie deficit, nor do you gain muscle weight in a matter of days. Stronger muscle fibers != heavier muscle tissue. If you have ropes on one side of a box and can't lift the box, then adjust the ropes to all 4 corners of the box, and lift it successfully, the ropes didn't get heavier, they just got more efficient (stronger.)
3. If you are losing inches, but not weight, it's most likely water and glycogen. Your muscles use glycogen for their energy source, and glycogen is stored in the muscle tissue with water. When you increase activity and exercise, your muscles call for more glycogen to be stored in them to increase their endurance, this causes more water to be stored in the muscles with glycogen. That's why the scale shows no loss or sometimes even an increase.
When you work out, your body uses glycogen. When you work out more consistently, your body starts storing more glycogen. Glycogen needs water. So your body stores more water as well. That's how muscle repairs itself. Once your body figures out how much it needs, it will regulate and you will start to see the scale move.
Personally, I feel body fat is a much better indicator of fitness than weight, I'll never be able to get down to a "normal" BMI, I have too much muscle mass.0 -
You were probably building muscle.. It weighs more than fat...
:explode:
This is not accurate.
The average woman will put on fewer than 5 lbs. of muscle in her ADULT LIFETIME unless she is hardcore training with Olympic weights.
And muscle doesn't weigh more than fat. Please stop repeating this. Thank you.
This has no bearings on me... apparently look very womanly. I'm a guy... and this is embarrassing.
:laugh: I could tell you are a guy!0 -
very interesting and helpful post.. basically, if you continue to do all the right things, the scale has no choice but to move down.. i'm experiencing this right now- i haven't lost any weight since last weekend, but i've upped my weight training, and done a little bit more cardio, in fact today, the scale says i've gained 2 lbs- which i know is impossible. reading this and constantly reminding myself that as i work my muscles more/harder, that short term they will hang onto water, but eventually my body will respond with, "wtf, get outta here. i don't need all this *kitten*.'
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If you use muscle it stores glycogen, to do this it must also store four times that much water as well, as long as you are folowing a plan and creating a calorie deficit all will become good in time.0
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