Those &%#*! scales!! (tad bit whiney)

Stephanie0523

Stephanie0523

Cathlete
OK, Liann probably will want to post her dead horse cartoon here, because I know I'm beating a dead horse with this anger-with-the-scales thread :confused:, but I'm super duper frustrated!!:mad::mad: Here's the scoop: I have been eating clean (as clean as possible for me ;)) and working out every single day for the past week and a half (previously I was doing about 4 or five days a week, but I gave up rest days for Lent) and... wait for it... I GAINED THREE POUNDS. What's up with that?? I was doing BBL and liking it a lot, but I decided I needed to incorporate more weights so I just started CLX Push phase again this week. I feel great. I feel like I'm building muscle. My clothes don't feel tighter but they don't feel any looser. Could this extra weight be muscle swell? Or is that unlikely? I'm thinking of upping my protein, but am not sure how I'd fit it in.

Any suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated (dead horse cartoon excluded :p).

Thanks, ladies!! :)
 
Oh Gosh don't get me started! At my husband's suggestion I have stopped weighing myself so much. I get on the scale MAYBE once a week if that now and TBH I feel so much better! As long as I think I look okay then I avoid the scale as much as I can. I admit it's a tough thing to do but it's getting easier with each passing day and I am much happier for it!

I was a daily weigher because it helped to keep me in check but things started getting wierd where I was putting on weight and couldn't figure out why b/c I couldn't SEE the weight anywhere! I was getting so mad. That's when my DH put his foot down and told me to cut the crap! lol He even threatened to throw the scale away if I didn't cut down on weighing myself! :eek:
 
My first guess would be water retention. At least for me, it's amazing how my water weight can vary 4 lbs in a week!

As for the scale, I bought an antique doctor's scale that is really cool looking, but I'm not so sure of the accuracy. So if I really MUST weigh myself I have a scale, but I'm not as inclined to use it knowing it could be off. It helped me break the habit.
 
I just want to say that I feel your frustration. I don't understand where the weight gains come from when you are working so hard and eating clean. I don't have a scale at my house, I weigh myself at my mom's so I only get to weigh in once every week or so. That keeps me from being too obsessive about the number on the scale. I just was really mad this week because I had a 1 pound gain, ugh!
 
I hate the scale too.

Stephanie0523 said:
I gave up rest days for Lent I decided I needed to incorporate more weights I feel like I'm building muscle.
Click to expand...

There is the culprit. First, no rest days tends to put the body into a stress mode, stress=stress hormones=an increase in insulin and insulin is a fat storage hormone. Annoying, but true. Second, adding more weights to your routine adds more weight to your body for some people. I'm suspicious you are like me and well put on a couple of pounds of both blood in the muscle and more muscle fiber on your body. Third, you said you 'felt like you were building muscle' I would say, yup! You did.

So, if you want to lose body fat, put at least one day of rest in your routine. Don't increase the protein too much, add more healthy fats instead, even protein produces an insulin response albeit a small one. Add in one day of easy yoga. Keep your strength routines to more of a maintenance mode for your muscles. That should work. Include both kinds of cardio, LSB and intervals. LSB is short for long slow burn, so thats a cardio workout of 45-60 minutes in your target heart rate, a steady state workout not any of the IMAX s.
 
I hear your pain, girl!! I was weighing daily up until this past week because it was driving me crazy seeing the scale either go up or just not flippin' budge :mad:!! I had my husband hide the darn thing so I wouldn't be tempted. I wondered about water weight thing also. I like the ideas of adding in a LSB workout or two a week and yoga/stretching would be beneficial. Thanks for the ideas!

Hang in there!

Pam
 
I understand. Extra work = fat loss right? Not neccessarily. Your body needs rest or you will become inflamed and bloated. Extra work means extra swelling, extra work might mean blown adrenals, extra weights might mean extra muscle. YaY!

Eating clean is great but there is a calorie in calorie out thing for me. I NEED to rest appropriately, eat appropriately and work appropriately.

I suggest getting a good coach for three months. I am saving up for a good online one.

I could handel losing fat on my own up to a certain point. Now I am on my last 10lbs and I want to get ripped. I need someone with alot of experience helping me because I train hard and my body goal is harder to attain than just a healthy BMI.

I knew I was eating clean and working hard, I just didn't know if I was working smart, because the results were not there. NWIM

Good luck!!!
 
I am unable to get on my scale due to the fact that I ran it over with my car MONTHS ago!!!!!!!!!!

I fear I moved from weight issues to ANGER MANAGEMENT issues. :eek::eek:

I gave up sugar in my coffee for Lent and believe me, I am not feeling so sweet these days. :D:D:D:D
I need my coffee but it's kinda gross without sugar.
 
RapidBreath said:
There is the culprit. First, no rest days tends to put the body into a stress mode, stress=stress hormones=an increase in insulin and insulin is a fat storage hormone. Annoying, but true. Second, adding more weights to your routine adds more weight to your body for some people. I'm suspicious you are like me and well put on a couple of pounds of both blood in the muscle and more muscle fiber on your body. Third, you said you 'felt like you were building muscle' I would say, yup! You did.

So, if you want to lose body fat, put at least one day of rest in your routine. Don't increase the protein too much, add more healthy fats instead, even protein produces an insulin response albeit a small one. Add in one day of easy yoga. Keep your strength routines to more of a maintenance mode for your muscles. That should work. Include both kinds of cardio, LSB and intervals. LSB is short for long slow burn, so thats a cardio workout of 45-60 minutes in your target heart rate, a steady state workout not any of the IMAX s.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info!! :) On the Lent thing: I find that I am at my best if I have my hour a day to myself to workout. I have three little boys and am a stay-at-home mom, so I need that time. When I take a rest day, it's hard for me to get back into the swing of things, so when I say I gave rest days up, I'm not doing hard cardio or lifting on what would be a rest day. Instead I'm doing long brisk walks in the park with the kids or yoga, but I still need my hour! I was doing BBL, which is very little strength, more endurance stuff, but I was getting nowhere. The best results I had in the past were lifting heavy. I'm going to give it another couple of weeks before I change routines. The CLX includes both interval and LSB cardio twice a week and three days of heavy lifting (only about 30 minutes per workout). If I have thrown my body into "stress mode" will it level off with consistency?

Pinkquinn--Sadly, I can't get a coach. That's what YOU GUYS are for. LOL! I only have about 10 pounds I am eager to lose immediately, 15 would be wonderful. I'm afraid since my child is nearing a year and a half, I can no longer call this baby weight. :( Thanks for the advice, though. I think that perhaps I need to tweak my calories. But I HATE counting calories. I journal my food to keep track, but I start really obsessing when I do calorie counting.
 
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Have you measured yourself lately? I always do a before and after measurement whenever I start a weight training segment. This way, I can keep track of where my muscle gains/losses are. I don't get very big when I strength train, so I have to measure to see the differences!

You may have increased muscle mass.

Of course, I do agree with the other ideas here about over-training! Throw a rest day in there now and then, see what happens!

I have been laughing at the scale-treatment posts here! I love my scale! I'm not the type who can just go by how I feel or how I think I look. That's what got me into so much trouble to begin with!
 
Well, my scales have been occasionally telling me the battery is "LO" so I decided to change the batteries this morning, and they were back down to what they were a week ago. The mystery pounds I gained are gone. Don't know if it's the new batteries or if my body is getting rid of excess water weight.

Thanks for all of your responses. I know not to put SOOO much emphasis on the scales, but it's habit.
 
My body fat scales told me that I had a body fat that was of the obese level. Now, I may not be happy with my body, but I'm not fat. So i got all frustrated, and read the manual... and guess what?

Warning: these scales will not produce accurate reasings if..
you udertake in 9 hours or more strenuous exercise a week (i do 12)
if you have a resting heart rate below 60 bpm (mine is 49)

So... although this makes no sense to me.. I felt SOOO ripped off. So, I took out the batteries, and went and bought a tape measure. It won't lie.... :D

I prefer to take measurements :) That way I can see where I am gaining muscles... although my biceps just don't seem to want to increase....
 
What does your resting heart rate have to do with body fat percentage? Maybe that's what's wrong with mine!!
 
Unfortunately I don't have any suggestions, but I just wanted to offer my support and also tell you that you're not alone! I could have written this post, that's for sure.

I think at this point, I'm just resigned to the fact that my scale's going to do whatever it's going to do and it's kind of out of my hands :(. All I can do is continue to do the things that will make my body healthy: eat (as) clean (as possible) food, incorporate lots of activity into my day, incorporate cardio and strength, get plenty of sleep (this is my big struggle lately), and try not to stress.

Big emphasis on the word "try" in that last bit. Just this morning I weighed myself, since I feel that I've been on a roll lately with eating well and exercising. Guess what? I'm up 2 pounds. Joy.

I'm about to leave for a trip to Italy in a week and a half and I'll have to step out of my usual routine since I won't be able to control what I eat all the time (hello, gelato and pasta), nor will I be able to do my usual regimented workouts (but I will be doing lots and lots of walking, hopefully). I'll probably gain weight, but I'm trying not to stress over it because it's a once in a lifetime vacation and what's life if you can't enjoy yourself? Who knows, I may surprise myself by actually losing weight on this trip. Highly doubt it, but I can't say I'd complain if it happened ;).
 
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