Why scales lie

Group: General Diet & Nutrition

Created: 2011/12/31, Members: 399, Messages: 16719

With such a topic so broad we truly try to cover the basics from all angles in this group. Nothing too big or too small. Nutrition is as significant if not more as exercise is to reaching your goals so learn all you can.

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Warfulpiece Posts: 4 Joined: 2018/04/07	2018/04/16, 10:13 AM To answer this I would suggest we first need to understand what weight is?. Weight isn’t just fat... it’s muscle glycerin water food consumed( food weighs something), food byproduct(poo for lack of a better term also weighs something). Point being just because the scale says you gained or lost weight or even stays the same doesn’t mean you are not losing fat. Proper weigh ins help.: Weigh yourself after you use the restroom at the same time every day( morning) wearing the same amount of clothing( naked is best) . And take the average for the week. ( add weight for 7 days and divide by 7 . Then comapare 2-4 weeks of averages . I think this is the most accurate practical way to understand what your body is doing. So obsessing over a scale number day to day won’t show you a clear picture. After comparing several weeks you can adjust your calorie intake and/or expenditure based on true results. This as always is just my humble opinion

Jac48 Posts: 143 Joined: 2004/04/23	2018/04/16, 02:15 PM I agree, scales can be and are often helpful but not always the best measure of overall progress. I lifted for years back in my early twenties until my wife and I had kids. Then everything changed, routines, sleeping, my job was outsourced and safe to say my gym days for the most part ended. Prior to lifting way back when, I weighed approx. 205, I didn't like my looks and my health overall was poor so I decided to go on a diet. Nothing specific, I just ate less. I never tracked anything to any certain degree, I just cut out portions and for the most part all sweets. In about 9 months I was down to 168. I then decided to start lifting..and over the course of say 9 years I was back up to 205 but much of it now was muscle. I did put on some fat but the majority was muscle. Fast forward to today and I weight approx. 187...I just started lifting again 4 weeks ago and initially decided I wanted to lose about 10 lbs. The more I think of it, It's really not weight I want to lose but inches in the waist. I would actually like to stay high 180's 190 but turn my fat weight into lean muscle. So I started measuring myself because I figure that's probably the best way to stay on top of my overall progress, I'm hoping to gain some muscle and do away with some fat.