Dilema re losing weight

S

Shaz

Cathlete
I wonder if anyone else has this dilema. I would like to lose some body fat; it is about 23% according to my scales, and mostly concentrated in my thighs (yuk!), so I would love to see how I look if I got down to 15% fat. But, if I was to lose weight, I would actually be underweight for my height (currently 128 pounds and 5 feet 8).

I guess the thing to do would be to concentrate on gaining muscle weight first. But, I have tried this (for a long time), and although I think I do get a bit more toned, I never actually gain any scale weight.

I really do want to be leaner, so any advice? Should I just not worry about getting a bit underweight?

Regards,
Sharon.
 
IMHO, you should throw the scale away and just concentrate on gaining muscle mass through slow, heavy strength training AND upkicking the intensity of your cardio training. Forget about what the scale says - it doesn't distinguish between lean muscle mass and storage fat (not to mention blood, bone, vital organs, etc.) so why should it matter at all?

A-jock
 
Oh yeah

Amen A-jock. I wholeheartedly agree...why give a hoot what the scale says? I wish everyone would just throw them OUT.
 
Re: Throwing the scale away

I must respectfully disagree with the idea of throwing the scale away. I've heard too often of folks who have gone to the doctor and were shocked to learn that they had gained 80 pounds. True, a hint would have been that they had to buy bigger clothes!

I see no problem with weighing yourself once a month, but not more than once per week. I don't feel that this would constitute being a slave to the scale at all. It's a reality check.

Just my humble opinion.
 
RE: Re: The Great Scale Debate

I seriously doubt that the Shazzes of the world will inadvertantly gain 80 pounds (the composition of which is still not stated by any bathroom scale I know of) by throwing the scale away and simply focusing on challenging themselves physically while continuing to develop and maintain good nutritional habits.

If you weigh yourself once a month, during which month you've dropped 2 pounds of unnecessary storage fat and gained 2 pounds of vital, metabolically active and functional muscle tissue, what on earth is the scale going to tell you? That you haven't "lost weight". And heaven forbid that you gain that 2 pounds of good muscle tissue but NOT lose any storage fat - OMG, I've "gained weight"!

I am of the opinion that the bathroom scale is one of the golden calves of the modern age. It measures one mean number, and that's it. It doesn't tell you a lot more than what it does tell. I am also of the opinion that scale weight, like heart rate checks in cardio work, are overemphasized in importance simply because they are easily measured.

I think people, women especially, are terrified of letting go of the Judgment Of The Scale, for fear that they'll turn into raging food viragos and couch potatoes overnight and gain that 80 lbs. Kinda sad.

A-jock
 
RE: Re: The Great Scale Debate

I agree with A-jock, but I'd like to know what you think about Body Fat Measurements? Do you think they're accurate? I have a scale that displays your body fat %. You have to enter in your measurements (height, neck, waist, hips)and then it takes your weight and does some kind of calculation. Do you think this is good or no?

Danielle
 
RE: Re: The Great Scale Debate

Hi, Danielle! I'm not familiar with the scale you're talking about, but I'd be curious as to how it can discern storage fat from muscle mass even with measurements. There are so many genetic differences among individuals, including limb length, ability to gain muscle mass, etc. in various regions of the body that I'd have to view that calculation with a fair amount of skepticism too.

I guess my main objection to measurements like this (and there are far more sophisticated means by which storage fat and muscle mass ratio can be measured) is that people, women and men both, seem to get fixated on this or that magical number (i.e. "ideal weight", "ideal body fat percentage") and forever chase after it. Including a depressingly increasing number of participants on the Cathe forums. Yes, yes I know, what gets measured gets done and all that, but the importance of the numbers takes on a life all its own. I've struggled for years to get rid of that mindset myself, and I am truly of the opinion that it is counterproductive to the pursuit of true fitness.

That's my screed. Take what you want and leave the rest behind, as my A.A. buds were fond of saying.

A-jock
 
I have a similar problem. Weight in pounds isn't the issue here. It's more that I look skinny in clothes because I am only 130 pounds at 5'9", BUT have a lot more body fat than I would like. I have a hard time building muscle (been trying for years, just like you), so if I actually lose body fat, I will be even smaller. The body fat makes me look flabby, even if I am not overweight, if that makes sense.

Skinny-fat is the word that comes to mind, but I work out with heavy weights and do tough cardio 5-6 times a week, so i don't know what else I can do! I can stop eating as much (2000-2300 calories a day), but then I think I'd look emaciated.

Sharon, what would you do to be leaner that you aren't already doing?

PennyLaney
 
Why not just use a measuring tape instead of a scale to gauge your progress? You could measure your trouble spots (for me, that's waist, hips and thighs) once a month and determine whether you are progressing the way you would like. It's important to ensure your diet is clean and your workouts are consistent, too. It sounds as if you need to shake up your routine if you're not seeing progress; maybe add more cardio if you're not doing much of that, or add more weights.

By the way, dropping from 23% to 15% body fat is a huge drop. It might be more motivating and less drastic to try to drop a clothing size (within a particular manufacturer) instead of percentage body fat, which is hard to measure accurately anyway.
 
RE: Re: The Great Scale Debate

Thanks A-jock! That helps!! :D

I agree with you about the genetic differences among individuals!!

I'm really gonna try to not focus too much on those numbers!

Danielle :7
 
RE: Re: The Great Scale Debate

Dearest A-Jock,

You misunderstood my defense of owning a bathroom scale. I did NOT mean that if one chucks one's scale, it means that one will gain 80 lbs.! Come now!

I do now see the scale as an enemy, it's a tool, and can be a good tool if used properly. Weight Watchers owes part of it's success to making the members accountable in the weigh-in, and one of the secrets many persons who have lost and kept off weight is the occasional weigh-in.

I believe our own Donna, when she was very heavy, would not go near a scale except when forced to at the doctor's office. Then, surprise! She was amazed to see that she had put on weight, 35 or 40 lbs. worth.

I'll keep my scale, and will be remain mentally healthy in spite it of it.
 
RE: Re: The Great Scale Debate

I think I'll bow out of this thread now. I left my cat-scratch-jacket at home today.

A-jock
 
Thank you for all your replies, I've got some useful info.

A-jock, I have tried heavy weights. Maybe I haven't been consistent for long enough, but I just don't seem to see a definite increase in muscle mass. Also, while I am training that way, I miss the total body workouts, and I don't feel I am using as much energy, so I worry that I am just going to increase fat instead of muscle. I do agree, however, that we can't rely totally on scale weight.

PennyLaney, it sounds like we are really similar! I too look quite tall and skinny in my clothes, and if anyone knew I was concerned with fat loss, they would laugh. But, under the clothes is a different story! People assume that if you are not big and overweight, then you are not fat. This goes back to what A-jock says about scales being unreliable.

In answer to your question, Pennylaney, to get leaner, I want to get consistent with the intensity series. I am also trying to lower my starchy carb intake as I normally eat a lot of cereal and sandwiches for snacks. My boyfriend has just lost nearly 2 stone on a "not quite so strict" version of the Atikins diet. Also, in Cathe's description of getting in shape after her baby, she said that she cut starchy carbs by about 85%, but still ate lots of fruits and vegetables. This sounds to me like an Atkins approach (lowering carbs reduces insulin, the fat-storing hormone), but is much healthier, as veggies aren't excluded.

Stebby, using a measuring tape is a very good idea. I could measure my thighs!

Regards,
Shaz
 
Shaz, if I may interject, a big part of that muscle building process is nutrition. If you're not taking in enough protein and complex carbs, then you have no foundation to build upon. I have no idea what you're eating but its just food for thought.

no pun. :D
 
Ok, I tried to stay out of this but i just gotta but in..

I do totally agree with Annette, but can relate to the mindset of the others here (I am not quite as "healthy" as Annette, yet). But I also would like to say, Annette, remember that you are the one wearing a size zero skirt so maybe possibly this kind of thing doesn't bother you so much. Have you thought about that? We do all envy your attitude but some of us are still stuck in size 12 pants, you know what I mean? Therefore these questions will always come about. Unless of course Shaz wears a size zero skirt and STILL thinks she needs to lose fat!!:):) I know most of the time I think like Annette but there are days when I wonder why I stay so "fat" when I seem to work out so hard...

Ok, well, that said....Shaz, you don't really have to lose anymore fat, but I do understand you wanting to get leaner just for you. However 15% is very low and in my opinion, not maintainable assuming you have a real life where you can only work out about once a day. I have a desk job and cannot imagine ever being able to get to 15%, upping my cardio and all.

I have a body fat scale and hate it, but I know they are pretty innaccurate. Recently there was an aricle I read in Consumer Reports that said on average it measures a woman 8% higher than what she really is...so, see...you DON'T have to lose fat!!LOL!!

But like Annette says, you are the best judge of your progress. Above all, go by how you feel...

Janice
 
Ok, well I reread your thread and now I have to say at 5'8" and 128 pounds you for sure don't seem like a candidate even for fat loss. Put on the muscle, baby!!! Forget about your mental addiction to total body workouts, sometimes it is good to give each body part a nice long session of its own. Do you lift "heavy" currently?? Just because you may not be doing S&H does not mean you don't lift heavy weights....

Janice
 
RE: Re: Throwing the scale away

I agree with Honeybunch. When I gained 30 pounds a few years ago, I was in denial about it. I never weighed myself. I gradually had to buy new clothes. And the weird way that clothes fit, some clothes fit longer than others so it was easy to rationalize away. I weigh myself everyday now because I know that if I ever got away from doing that I would talk myself out of it and the weight would gradually sneak back on again. I'm a real "ignorance is bliss" person and I can already see how to try to find excuses for weighing myself, like it's almost TTOTM or I ate too much yesterday. For me, it's better to make a daily routine. And I don't freak out about my weight. Even if I'm up a pound or so, as long as it's in the same range, I'm fine. I've thought about weighing myself once a week but I find it difficult to keep up with a weekly schedule. For example, I try to brush my cats teeth every week and I realized this week I'd let it go for three weeks. I'm much more likely to do something if I do it everyday.
 
Janice, do you consider the pyramid tapes heavy? This is what I am doing currently along with the cardio and weights tape and jogging. I also want to add interval cardio work. I lift as heavy as I can in the pyrmaid tapes, but wonder, particular for upper body, whether I will really gain muscle doing a workout with such little time to rest.
 
RE: Hey, Janice

You raise an interesting point, one that I was thinking about this morning.

It is very possible that what works early in one's fitness program, when one is committed to losing unhealthy storage fat and gaining needed muscle mass, does not work at a later time when the body composition is back within healthy ranges and fitness performance levels are increased. Scale weight avoidance is indeed a form of denial for many who are unhealthily overfat and undermuscled, as is avoidance of looking at one's sedentary lifestyle and food overconsumption. And it could very well be that the scale can be one of many monitors that are helpful when one is in the early stages of a comprehensive lifestyle change.

That said, the fact that I wear a size zero skirt has precisely nothing to do with previous scale-weight monitoring. It has far more to do with constantly paying attention to how hard I'm working in each workout, cardio and strength, with being consistent week in and week out, and with allowing my body to start to determine what it needs for food rather than my taste buds.

The bathroom scale is such an integral part of our culture, that I think it's very difficult for weighers to imagine going without. But it's worthwhile to contemplate, especially as one moves to a maintenance mindset rather than a fat-loss-mass-building mindset.

Just my $.02 -

A-jock
 
I hate the scale!!!!!!

It just ruins my day. I weigh as little as possible. I am doing the BFL Challenge with a bunch of girls on here, and I will weigh and measure after 4 weeks, but not a day sooner, and my stomach will be sick when I get on that scale. In the last 2 years, I have gained about 15 lbs. Some of it is fat, and some of it is muscle. I had a girl Monday night tell me I looked slimmer than I did 2 months ago when she saw me, and my Aunt told me about 3 weeks ago, she has never seen me so skinny. My scale weight has changed very little in the past year, maybe 5-6 lbs. I weigh 145, I am 5'4". 145 is a high scale number for me and my height. But, I have been working out only to Cathe for about 1 1/2 years now, and I have put on alot of muscle. I do need to trim away some excess bodyfat, but if I get to 135-138, I will be happy. I will be lean, and hopefully wearing a 6 instead of an 8.
Lori S.
 
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