Why have I lost weight but NOT lost weight?!

[AnnListersBlister]

I have been dieting (Fast 800/Low Carb) for a few weeks in a desperate attempt to get off some flab that's crept on over the last few months, and I can tell it has worked, but the scales haven't budged.

My midriff area is much flatter and I feel a lot less flabby.

FWIW I bought some digital scales for this new plan especially, I never usually weigh myself regularly. I weighed myself last summer and was 9st 10lb, and this time, my new scales are reading 10st 4 but they're not budging!

Another factor may be that my house is fully carpeted. So I am having to weigh myself outside as it is the only hard surface however my house is on a hill and I am wondering if the uneven flags could be affecting the way the scales read.

Just a bit disheartening!

If you move the scales, always make them go to 0 before you step on properly. I also weigh 3 times in a row. Can you lay down a board on the carpet or just use the bathroom or kitchen floor? Most scales have feet on them that can be used for carpet. But I also measure myself with a tape. Not all weight loss is on the scale. Keep going if it’s working otherwise!

What would your rather, scale goes down and you look the same or scales stay the same but you look better?

Seems like a non issue! Keep doing what you are doing and ditch the scales

Muscle weighs more than fat. Could be that you are losing weight but gaining back muscle.

My bathroom is carpeted (i know, I know 😂) and my kitchen has the old style fuzzy flooring (probably worse than a carpet). I have thought about the board idea however. Might try that later.

True@Anyday !
I am going to the gym regularly but i always did!

Good idea about measuring. Going to begin doing that starting today.

How do your rigid clothes feel on? Not stretchy gym clothes but rigid jeans or trousers?

@Balloonhearts muscle doesn't weigh more than fat - that's a myth. Have a google!

Correct it really doesn’t it just takes up less room on your body as it’s dense. This is the confusion.

In practical terms it does weigh more then? Ie you can be heavier but your measurements stay the same or get less? Is that not right?

Is it not that people don’t add the ‘for a given volume’, which is implied.

No, not really. If you are heavier then you are heavier. The fact that it might be muscle means that the weight of the muscle will take up less space than the weight of the same mass of fat.

Your building muscle

I still don’t understand.

I think the point is that the scales have gone up but it’s possible the measurements eg waist circumference haven’t. I’d say this is because the same volume of muscle weighs more? I don’t know if it’s just semantics. I feel like I’m derailing the conversation though :-)

Yes, you're right that the same volume of muscle weighs more. But it's generally the case that someone stays the same weight but loses inches, because the muscle is replacing fat and therefore the volume it occupies is smaller.

Women in calorie deficit don't grow new muscle.

Muscle doesn't replace fat. When in calorie deficit it's almost impossible to grow new muscle.

No she's not

It's the scales on the carpet.
They won't give an accurate reading. I unfortunately know from experience

No one is building muscle after a few weeks in a calorie deficit. Building muscle in a deficit is very hard and specific, it’s not impossible it’s body recomp and I have done it to some extent but not extreme by any means, low level tbh, a lot of the muscle I have built is still covered by some of my body fat and only just becoming visible near the end of my weight loss. you end up losing weight very very slowly and gaining definition in muscles over a long period of many months. I set out from day 1 determined not to lose my muscle mass being in a calorie deficit as that’s not the body I want. To that end I have accepted I will always have big legs they will not be skinny as I try to build them to be/look strong.

fat is fluffy, like marshmallow and muscle is lean and dense like a steak. 1lb of marshmallow is the same as 1lb of steak, just there is more volume of marshmallow. The body holds a lot of water, so when you go into a deficit you are eating less carbs and salt. For every 1g of carbs consumed and held as energy, you hold 3-4G of water, and salty foods also cause you to retain water so in the first few weeks of a diet you usually start to lose this water, leading to a less bloated appearance.

this is a long way of saying weight loss is a long complex journey, don’t give up, fat loss will happen if you carry on it’s just not particularly rapid I’m afraid

Hallelujah 🙌 for this.

Every thread where someone says the scales aren’t moving down, loads of ppl come along and say, well you’re building muscle. As if building muscle was so easy. It’s quicker and easier to lose fat.

It takes a long time to build muscle and every Tuesday in the church hall doing Bums and Tums won’t do it.

Here’s a good article about muscle building for anyone who’d like to learn more.

www.businessinsider.com/muscle-building-potential-gains-progress-monthly-trainer-2022-4#:~:text=According%20to%20fitness%20researcher%20Lyle,you've%20been%20lifting%20weights.

@PortiaWithNoBreaks have you missed the part where she states she goes gym regularly and ALWAYS HAS

So it's not like she just started building muscle last week. Read the posts

She's still not building muscle though. Even less likely if she's been exercising for a long time. Women can build small amounts even if a calorie deficit if they go from no weight training to starting, but it doesn't keep going.

”Going to the gym” is meaningless. Loads of ppl say this as if it’s a get out of jail free card.

I’m sure if OP was training with intensity, progressive overload, had a proper training programme, eating in a surplus, high protein consumption that she would have said so.

Then muscle growth might go some way to explain static weight. Even then it would be a couple of kg at most.

And furthermore, @Cas112 ppl often think if they feel stronger that they have “built muscle” but that’s not the reality. It just means they’re stronger.

Yes different surfaces, uneven flooring etc can affect the number on the scale, as can things like water retention, time of the month etc. I'd suggest not to just focus on weight as a tool for progress , but take body measurements and/or progress photos and track your results in a number of ways.