Losing Inches but not Pounds - Explain please :)

I have been on a 30 day fitness plan and my diet has been ok but maybe could be a little better. However, I have proved the theory, exercise alone will not reduce your weight. I am on day 27 and I do feel fitter, but have only lost 1.45 lbs however, I have lost over 18 inches from various parts of my body - so it's not all bad news :-)

I would much rather be losing inches than pounds.

So is my body all of a sudden going to start melting this weight off ?

I do know that my muscles are much much bigger and harder and stronger. Some will argue with me, but I know my body and my muscles are growing very quickly, even though I have read over and over that you can't gain muscle when you are not in a "bulking cycle"......

as much as I would love to tell you that you're gaining pounds of muscle... most of the weight you see is just water.
Water is very heavy and as you lose fat, your body may start retaining it for a period of time... the so-called "plateau" people get...

the good news is, yes.. you will suddenly weigh alot less... you're still moving forward. You just need to wait until your body "releases" that extra water, and woosh... you weigh less.

if you want to mess with your head, weigh yourself in the morning (when people generally weigh the least), then drink 2 cups of water... you suddenly "gained" a pound.... if you wanted to suddenly "lose" pounds.. go out drinking for the night. (note: im not seriously recommending this, this is just an example)... when you wake up dehydrated from the alcohol the next morning, you will weigh pounds less... your weight can change drastically depending on how much water(and food, and waste) your body has in it. When you're losing fat, this number can change even more then normal as your body retains water.. and your dietary habits have changed from "normal" to a lesser amount of food.. and probably more water consumed.
make sense?

You are not gaining muscle on a pound for pound basis whilst losing fat. That's a nonsense red herring and you should ignore those suggestions. For starters you are woman, you don't have the level of testosterone etc that stimulates muscle growth, nowhere near the levels of a male and there isn't a man in the world who can gain a pound of muscle a week without huge, huge levels of anabolics/androgenics. Secondly your are eating at a caloric level below maintenance. To grow muscle you'd need to be eating a surplus.

OK, so with that out of the way, lets go on to your caloric intake. Your diary seems very detailed so I'm going to assume you are meticulous and not missing off a bag of family size Dorito's as a side for every meal. Your diary looks good. You're eating fine to lose weight.

Next is your exercise. I asked this question on one of your other posts but don't think you answered......what exactly are you doing for cardio as I am skeptical you are burning that level of cals 5 times a week. That's a huge number and I think most people overestimate it based on what the machines tell them (manufacturers inflate these number IMO to tell us what we consumers want to hear) or MFP (just another estimate). Ultimately though I doubt that's an issue as your caloric intake is still quite low.

So why aren't you losing weight?

It must be the plateau. You must be in metabolic survival mode right! Bullcrap. Ignore anyone saying that also. Those people have read a post somewhere from someone quoting the abstract of a study that if you read it propery clearly states that even when metabolic slow down occurs (survival mode) the subject still lost weight - ever see pictures of a far concentration camp survivor? Of course not.

So for me, the only answer here is fluctuations in your water retention. Nothing else makes sense. Your diet is good, your exercise is good, you are losing inches.....it has to be that and it makes a huge difference.

A fighter I know who is only a little bloke dropped 7kgs from his 70kg frame by reducing his water levels last week before his fight. Then gained it all back in 8 hours after weigh in.

So have patience, carry on as you are, keep weighing in at the same time of day, same conditions etc and it'll come good. Listen to the advice offered by everyone here (who are all very well meaning) and judge for yourself if it makes sense.

That's a good regime. It's sure to be burning a good bunch. My intuition says not as high as you think but prob only 100 out or so. Negligible really.

I'm with you. I started using MFP nearly 8 weeks ago. In the first 5 weeks I lost 12.2 pounds. I have also lost inches (although I don't know how many because I didn't measure, but I am down a pant size). In the 6th week I gained.4, and last week I lost .2 pounds.

I, like you, and nowhere near my target weight, I work out 5x a week (alternating cardio one day, and cardio/weight training the next). Although I realize the whole muscle takes up less space than fat thing, I still want to see the number on the scale get lower.

So....when do the pounds lost catch up to the inches lost??? Who knows. Every body is different. But like everyone has said here, and people have told me....as long as you are losing inches, keep doing what your doing and forget about the scale.

Like someone said earlier, I would rather be a lean mean 150 pounds than a flabby 130 pounds.

Good Luck.

I'd much rather loose inches. To me that is a sign that I am cutting through the fat and building more lean muscle!

Good luck, don't get discouraged if the scale doesn't move

Great feedback but what if, in my case I want to shed the pounds AND inches. Carrying and additional 20 pounds no matter how good it looks up a hill on a bike ride is a disadvantage. The lighter rider has an easier time. I have dropped a complete size but still weigh 220 (you would not know it by looking at me). 220 is a lot even if it is with muscle. If I gave you a 20 or even 50 pound bag of flour to carry on your bike up the same hill, well, you get the picture. I want to get lighter as well. HELP?