Not losing weight OR inches

[BrassicaBabe]

So, I'm 50 and life has changed! Ive sudden piled on weight. Despite being active.

I've lifting heavy. Since November. Im getting stronger.

I can get my head around the fact that the scales are unchanged. But inches are unchanged too!!

Any idea what might be happening please? Im gong slightly bonkers!

Has your diet changed?

Muscles weigh more than fat, as I’m sure you’re aware, but if you’re serious about losing weight I’m afraid you have to look at your diet first and foremost! Great you’re getting fit though, I can eat right but find it impossible to get my arse in the gym.

I always thought that losing weight was 80% diet and 20% exercise?

Try a low carb diet, seem to work well for weight loss in 50+ yo, along with the exercise you're already doing.

Look to your calories and macros.

Thanks. I get the calorie deficit thingy. It's more a "what's going on" question rather than "how do I lose weight" one.

If I was gaining muscle, weight unchanged but inches decreasing then Id understand.

If not gaining muscle, but weight decreasing, then id get that too.

But what I can't get my head around is that Im getting stronger (so more muscle mass you'd assume) but both inches AND weight the same.

If inches didn't change, you'd assume my weight has gone up in line with increased muscle. But how can I be stronger but still weight the same, inches the same. My head hurts!

Well in terms of “how am I building strength but my body isn’t changing”…. Strength building and muscle building are different disciplines. To a degree they do cross over of course but a simple example is that a weightlifter will look to lift as heavy as poss for up to 5 reps. This is the strength rAnge. A body builder (aesthetic not strength) lifts in the hypertrophic rep range, which is around 10/12-15 (ish).

so it’s entirely possible that you can be gaining strength but not seeing a significant change to body especially if you’re not eating enough protein to build muscle or in enough of a calorie surplus or deficit (delete as appropriate depending on goals).

now in your case this could be totally irrelevant and it could just be water retention and perhaps you’re balancing your calories and rep ranges just so. So you’re feeling the benefits but not seeing yet.

Up your protein, drop your calories a tiny bit, like 100 a day. Ensure your lifts are in the right range (12 reps to failure or near failure) and ensure to get your NEAT - low level cardio and 10k steps a day. Stick at it for a few weeks, if no change, drop calories slightly again.

Thank you! That's really helpful!

I would like to increase my protein. Any pointers without having to main line chicken breast? 🤣

Today I've had:
Yoghurt and a little granola
Lunch sized portion of beef/veg/noodle stir fry (egg on toast is the often go-to)
Roast pork, cabbage, peas, sweetcorn, small jacket potato with a little butter

30 min cardio today. (Weights another day). I'm not eating my exercise calories.

Being peri menopausal is a head feck! Things that used to work, not work. Body is very keen to hang on to weight if I get it wrong. And very reluctant to give it up again when I get it right 🤣

Maybe not that impressive to some. But I'm def achieving some muscle gain! I just want to lose the inches (or weight! I'm not fussy 🤣🤣)

Muscles does not weigh more than fat. That's a misconception. Muscle occupies less space than fat due to its mass to volume ratio. One pound of muscle weighs the same as one pound of fat. However, fat is less dense i.e., is ‘spreads out more’ than meat. Fat has a density of around 0.918g/cm3 vs 0.96g/cm3 for beef, thus, less dense.

Therefore, fat occupies more space. I.e., 5lbs of muscle will look smaller in volume than 5lbs of fat due to its higher density.

An example using approximate numbers:
1lb of fat = 454g
1lb of beef = 454g
One pound of anything, will equate to 454g (or 453.5936 to 4 decimal places).

However, using the calculation for density (density = mass/volume) and using the SI units of g/cm3

1lb of fat occupies a volume of 495 cm3.
1lb of meat occupies a volume of 472 cm3.

Therefore, two people can have the same mass, but have different body compositions one ‘looking’ more muscular vs one looking less muscular as their fat cells are ‘occupying more space.’

What is your height now?

what are your
bust (at biggest)
waist (at smallest)
hips (at biggest)

You don't appear to have remotely fat arms in that picture.

sorry not clear, I mean circumference measurements on those

I know people put a lot of store in measuring inches. It never works for me as I swell up randomly from time to time. I have a bracelet which I wear all the time and it gets tighter then loosens, then tighter then loosens, all for no reason.

A lead weight of a pound weighs the same as a pound of feathers

People really struggle with that!!!

Another thing is that it’s takes a lot of effort, more so for women, to gain muscle ie your muscles are physically bigger. And a lot of time. As per pp there’s a big difference between gaining strength and gaining muscle. Especially on mumsnet where some ppl think doing bums and tums in the church hall once a week has lead to such great muscle gain that that is why their scale weight’s gone up.

Do you want to lose fat? If so you need to be in a calorie deficit and if you’re not losing fat then you’re not in a deficit. Exercise uses far fewer calories than ppl think.

There are some great educators out there with a proper Sports Science background. Emma Story-Gordon is a good one on IG and her podcasts are worth a listen too at ESG Fitness.

This can happen when your retain water.
It occurs when you eat high salt foods throughout the day. It may show itself the next day as a swollen face, hands, feet and ankles the next day.
High carbohydrate foods like pasta, can also induce the same effect. Glycogen is produced when carbohydrates are converted to glucose and then stored ready for use. However, on average 1g of glycogen tends to surround/bind itself to roughly 3-4 grams of water.
So, indeed, weight can fluctuate depending on the food we eat quite easily throughout the day.

Unfortunately, it's the perception they struggle with and the difference between mass and volume. I.e., mass it the same but the volume is different.

Muscle does not weigh more than fat, a lb is a lb no mater what you are weighing.

Muscle is denser than fat, therefore takes up less room. So while your weight might not change if you are losing fat and building muscle your measurements should change.

My friend is a PT and advises to have per day 1g of protein for every pound of body weight

oh ffs

Yes, a gram weighs a gram whatever it is.

But a cubic centimetre of muscle will weigh more than a cubic centimetre of fat.

And given that weight vs size is what prompts the statement in the first place, it's perfectly obvious that's what people mean when they say muscle is heavier than fat.

Nobody goes on to robotics or car enthusiast sites to whine that lead isn't any heavier than aluminium...

Yes I know. I have a very low carb diet but the heat really does me in but sometimes its not even when its warm

I've early 40s and been lifting heavy and eating in a surplus for a couple of months. Initially I lost an inch on my waist and gained cm's on my thighs and biceps. I fell off my tracking for a couple of weeks and it's crept up but that's ok as I'm doing another four weeks then going into a slight calorie deficit.

For me surplus looks like

30/40 (carbs)/30 macros tracked every day
c8% calorie surplus on my TDEE
3 heavy sessions of weights a week, plus 30 mins cardio
Average 10k steps a day
I also only eat unprocessed food pretty much, except a pea isolate drink. No added sugar, no refined carb, lots of greens, beans, lentils.

I don't know if you are like this but I find it VERY easy to go over on my fat intake so I have to watch this.

My deficit will probably be 50-100 calories under TDEE, but I would probably up the cardio sessions and steps a little too.

Workout wise I don't do abs really, only about 30 crunches a session, with no weights, as I am not looking to build muscle on my waist, but that's just me. Tbh the muscles get worked anyway through compound lifts, and my core is now strong AF.

Protein wise, typically I eat 40g oats for breakfast with a scoop of protein powder, 100g 0% greek yoghurt, almond milk, pumpkin seeds, blueberries, half a grated apple or carrot...

That's the first breakfast 🤣 then later I'll have a large egg, 50-100g 0% fat cottage cheese, drizzle of EVOO, with beans or seeded toast.

Snacks of apple and peanut butter, cottage cheese and pear. Lunches - home made bean soup, salad with a protein and carb, like quinoa and prawn, or black beans and tuna. Dinner the same. Lots of protein options...mackarel, seabass, cod, 5% beef mince, steak, salmon, pork, ham, chicken, turkey. Carb seems to be key - I'll gain less weight with beans and lentils, hence why I include those daily, I think they hang around for less time in the gut. I eat 200g of carb a day so defo don't fear carb. Especially not if you are lifting.

Bread wise I try to limit to a small slice as again most bread is pretty processed. I also eat tonnes of greens- if you start a meal with greens it lowers your blood sugar response (as does a spoon of white vinegar so I try to use that in dressings). I also do not snack at all in the evening after 8pm- the Zoe Nutrition podcasts found that was the worst for weight gain and actually eating often every 2-3 hours was not bad. I have tried intermittent fasting but it doesn't fit with my lifestyle as I get up about 5.30/6. Since I started weight training and macro tracking in May, my cholestrol has dropped 0.85.

So essentially I think it's small tweaks you are looking to make. Those biceps are popping!

That's 30mins of cardio a week not day.

And I have weeks where the scales goes up, my waist goes up, but then I look at my visuals and I can see the change :)

Getting nutrition and calories to a good place is key, and that might even mean gaining a little weight while you build muscle. Imagine your body has to turn that food into repairing muscle...that takes energy.

'...But a cubic centimetre of muscle will weigh more than a cubic centimetre of fat.'

Of course it would. That was already explained in the earlier posts.

Density = mass/ volume. Therefore, if you have the same volume of each, you indeed will have a difference in mass as the density will be constant for each material.

100cm3 of Beef (muscle) at 0.960g/cm3 = 96g
100cm3 of Fat at 0.918g/cm3 = 91.8g

As we are looking at body composition, if we compare two people who weigh eight stone (112 lbs) one will look leaner because the muscle occupies less space and has a ‘greater mass’ in comparison to fat, therefore less is needed to achieve eight stone. However, the other will require more fat cells to achieve the same mass of 8 stone and will look more ‘heavier’.

Personally, it's is better to explain topics in terms of the science it's based around to provide a deeper understanding.

For the record, physics and maths are imperative in robotics. Aluminium chassis and aluminium alloys are almost synonymous in car manufacturing and are integral in topics of vehicles.

But I guess you didn't know that.

Yes darling, I did know that. All that. My comparison was chosen for a reason.

My ire was directed at the people who appear to wait round the corner for threads like these, in order to jump out the moment somebody posts "muscle is heavier than fat" and shriek about density.

(What's the composition of normal human muscle and ordinary human fat? We could do a comparison of the molar weight if you like. See, I did chemistry A-level as well as the other two.)