Clothes are looser, but havent lost weight??

Archeron

Howdy all,

I posted here a wee while ago about my continuous battle of the bulge looking for advice and tips on how to go about winning that battle a bit better. (oh how I miss my bottles of Yazoo:rolleyes: ) Many good tips were given, and a few months later, I feel the benefit of it, but one thing confuses me greatly.

My diet is now quite good with plenty of fruit, veg and fibre and very little of the evils, and I exercise quite regularly. The benefits can, in my eyes, be seen as my clothes are looser, some clothes now fit again that didnt, and generally, I just feel better about myself and think I look a bit better. The weird thing is though, that the scales tells me that I havent lost anything. I know muscle weighs heavier and that, but I havent really been doing muscle training, just some cardio to try and work some weight off.

Is it possible to lose weight without actually losing weight? If so, is this a good or a bad thing? cheers.

Edit> If its of any consequence, I have completely eliminated bread from my diet as of the past 3 weeks.

justsomebloke

Archeron wrote:

Is it possible to lose weight without actually losing weight? If so, is this a good or a bad thing? cheers.

No it is not possible for your weight to stay the same if you have lost some BF without having put on some muscle. However the increase in muscle is actually a good thing as it will help to increase your metablosim due to the fact that muscle needs more calories at rest to sustain itself then fat.

So congrats and keep up the good work

quozl

If you weren't doing much exercise before then the cardio you're doing will have built some muscle. Running has certainly built some muscle in my legs. And like you said, muscle weighs more than fat.

If you really miss that yazoo then add more cardio. It's a great recovery drink, reasonably low fat, high carbs and some protein I go through litres of it Just don't add it back in without the extra cardio!

Dragan

Archeron wrote:

Is it possible to lose weight without actually losing weight? If so, is this a good or a bad thing? cheers.

Hey dude, weight is weight, but as alread mentioned you can lose bodyfat and have gained muscle. For example...for the last few weeks i have been roughly around 246 pounds, but my waist size is dropping and my shoulders, arms, chest and back are all getting bigger ( i cannot train legs right now due to injury, mores the pity! )

I suggest you use the scale only as a guide, but play close attention to the mirror, as it will tell you a lot more!

And be objective, if a part looks bad then say so, if it looks good then say so!!!

iregk

Well as you run you will build muscle on your legs. Now even though you are not going at a muslce build program with any gusto if you do a lot of cardio you will cut body fat and refine and build a little muscle.

the key thing here is that muscle weights 4 times fat! So 10k of fat lost could be 2" on the waist but your running could put on 10k of muscle gain which would not be a big physical gain. Very rudamentary guide that but you get what im saying.

TerrorFirmer

I think I'm about a stone heavier then I was about 3 months ago, but the same size clothes still fit, sometimes it's hard to learn to ignore the scales but you get to a certain stage where you'll always know yourself anyway how you're progressing, you won't need the scale...

iregk

I'm the same. My girlfriend the other day asked if I was loosing weight. This because my 36" jeans didn't fit as snug as they did 2 months back. I'm now a 34" and half a stone heavier!

rubadub

I stayed at 12 stone for a few months, went down to 11 3/4 yet was getting smaller all the time. Now I am about 12 1/2 stone and am the same waist size as at 11 3/4

Cravez

Dont go by what a scales tell you but as you have noticed, how your clothes fit. I used to have a 36/38 inch waist and weighed 12 1/4 stone. I now have a 34 inch waist and weigh just over 14 stone! I only use scales now to see if im putting on weight (which i want).

Wotzit

Jesus am I glad I read this thread! I've been going to the gym for about 4 months, 3/4 times a week and was getting so frustrated that I hadn't lost one single solitary pound - but my clothes fit better and the general shape and look of my body has improved. Methinks I'll ignore the scales from now on...tks all!