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sparrow

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Who has gained more weight since eating right and exercising? My body fat has gone DOWN, my strength training has gone up and my cardio is the same. I am eating better but I gain weight. I understand the weight is prob. due to strength training, I hit it hard. BUT if muscle takes up LESS space than fat then why am I not fitting in my clothes as well anymore? Its making me want to stop! I feel fatter than I did at a higher bf%!
 
Muscle weighs more than fat. By eating right you may be feeding your muscles. By eating crap, you get out of shape and fat.
Makes sense to me :)
 
Muscle doesn't weigh more than fat. It takes up less space and is less dense. But one pound of fat is the same as one pound of muscle... but it takes up 4 times as much space as muscle.

Sparrow, it could be a number of things... water retention, how long you've been doing this workout, calories in/out, salt intake, etc.
 
sparrow said:
Who has gained more weight since eating right and exercising? My body fat has gone DOWN, my strength training has gone up and my cardio is the same. I am eating better but I gain weight. I understand the weight is prob. due to strength training, I hit it hard. BUT if muscle takes up LESS space than fat then why am I not fitting in my clothes as well anymore? Its making me want to stop! I feel fatter than I did at a higher bf%!
Click to expand...


Right there with you sweetheart, although I'm not sure about the BF thing. I didn't start that long ago, but I do know I have gained weight and IT SUCKS. LOL Just wanted to let you know that you are not alone....
 
well I am very very aware of my sodium intake so I know its not water retention unless I'm overdoing my workouts and my muscles are hoarding water because they're overdone. My cals are at 1300 right now. I started this forum on 600 cals so I've come a long way. I was maintaining for a long time at 130 flat on 1300 cals and then for no good reason I went up to 131-132 and i've been there for about 2 weeks. I'm on my way up to restoring my metabolic rate to a normal level and my goal is to get to around 2000 cals and then reduce a little to lose weight. I've been in "starvation mode" for many years. I feel like I'm totally repeating myself on many threads....this is to get those of you who have not read my diary up to speed.
SO I know its not the calorie thing unless my body is just suddenly rebelling. My cals are not high though.

I've been at my routine for 6 months and have been at the new diet that long too. The only thing I don't do enough of is drink water. I'd say I get about 40-50oz in on a good day.

anyway, its just something that bugs me. just venting...
 
Trainer Lynn said:
Muscle doesn't weigh more than fat. It takes up less space and is less dense. But one pound of fat is the same as one pound of muscle... but it takes up 4 times as much space as muscle.
Click to expand...

Lynn,
I can't help it - if you take one cubic inch of fat and one cubic inch of muscle, muscle weighs 4 times as much, right?
:confused:
 
Sparrow,
I just went through your diary for the last few days and here were somethings you might want to consider--

A few days ago you mentioned that your muscles were popping, that you liked the way you were looking in your bikini and that your abs were starting to show. Don't take this the wrong way, it is a question sent out with much compassion and understanding, could you just be having a bad body image day? I know I have fought these during some periods of my life some worse than others. Sometimes I see progress, other times I am completely blinded to it.

If this is not the cases, there are a few other things I noticed. You eat a lot of soy products, could your body have built up an intolerance to it? You mentioned cheat meals, sometimes a cheat meal can set me back a few days, not so much because the binge continues, but simply because the inflammation lingers in my body for a few days. You also have eluded to tasting the kids foods which can throw off your insulin and/or contribute to inflammation. And overtraining, which you also mentioned can cause the body to hold on to extra water sometimes.

Just some observations!

Sandy
 
Christa said:
Lynn,
I can't help it - if you take one cubic inch of fat and one cubic inch of muscle, muscle weighs 4 times as much, right?
:confused:
Click to expand...

Here is a way to look at it Christa that might make you feel better. Muscle does not weigh more than fat, however muscle eats into fat and can grow taking place of it so to speak. So if you gain muscle but lose fat then you can stay at the same weight, but have taken away fat and replaced it with muscle.

Here is a link that shows the different in 5 pounds of muscle and 5 pounds of fat.
 
Possibly a bad body image day. Many days I feel great in my nudy skin ;) but then I feel terrible in my clothes. If I could walk around naked all day I'd be OK. haha. I do not mind the way I look. When I put on regular street clothes it makes me feel like I look bulky and thick. Naked I look very toned and lean. I'm not sure if that makes sense of if thats tmo or whatever :D sorry.
I'm not sure about the intollerance to soy. I'm new to soy so I'm not sure what it can do to me, if anything. I like it because it gives more protein options. Whey is sorta gross but I can tollerate soy. I'm not sure about the cheat days. I always feel good after them. So far they haven't set me back. I normally lose weight the day after a cheat and I feel leaner. no kidding. the bites here and there could be affecting me though. I have vowed to have a very clean week....which will be really hard for me but make the cheats way more meaningful. I'm also starting carb and calorie cycling due to the advice of another member on this site who I trust. Don't worry about offending me, Sandy, I know you are sensitive. We are all just trying to find our way right?! I appreciate ALL advice and your willingness to post and brainstorm for me!
 
Sparrow, I didn't read your journal and have no idea if you should be carb cycling or not because I don't know enough about you. However at 1300 calories per day... can you tell me what your cycling plan is going to look like?

Theleip, those are the exact props I use when I provide seminars to people. I show them how much more room 5 pounds of fat takes up compared to 5 pounds of muscle.

The point here is that the number on the scale is a bunch of baloney. You can weigh 160 pounds one day... workout so friggin' well for a month or two.. weigh yourself again and be 160. You get upset beacuse you didn't lose any weight.

BUT you could have lost 5 pounds of fat and gained 5 pounds of muscle. See the problem with scales? Not to mention the gain in muscle and reduction in fat revs up your metabolism, burns through calories, gives you more strength, strengthens joints and bones, etc
 
Lynn I am doing 2 days of low cal (1150)/lower carb, 3 days of moderate cal (1300)/mod carb and then 2 higher days of 1600 and higher carb. I have been trying to drag myself out of starvation mode that I've been in for years for the past 7 weeks and have gone from 600 cals at the beginning to 1300 now. I've stayed at 1300 for 4 weeks and at first I was maintaining on it but now I'm gaining (weight and size). I talked to another member of this site who suggested trying to cycle to get my body jolted again into allowing me to add cals but maintain weight and lose fat. I am quite active so my goal has been to get up to 1800-2000 cals and maintain that for awhile before reducing it slightly to lose weight/body fat. My goals are 125 pounds (I'm at 131.5) and 13% body fat (I'm at 15.7). I don't mind increasing my cals but psychologically I need to be able to maintain my weight and comfort in my clothes. What is your opinion on it all?
 
I just want to add that having your cals so low might actually cause your body to store more fat as a defense system. If you starve it too hard, it will hold on to more..
 
yeah I know it most certainly does that but since I had increased from so low to the number I'm at now I didn't think it would think it was still 'starving'. Granted I know 1300 is still too low thats why I'm trying to cycle as a way to get the cals up even more. I'm just trying to increase slowly so I don't gain weight too fast-if at all. But possibly the reason I was maintaining (and every once in awhile losing) weight on 1300 at the beginning was my body thought "cool, now I'm getting some food here" but since stopping at that number it has assumed thats all there is and stopped cooperating. I only halted because I was having trouble actually consuming that much food since I was used to only 600-800 for so long. I was taking a breather to get used to it before increasing again..but then I started the gain. ugh. its a mess. I need to just trust the process is what I need to do.
 
Oh yeah, Definately know what you mean here... I was freaking out when I was first into getting healthy..my body kinda like puffed up a little bit and my face looked pufffy. I gained about 5 or 6 pounds and everyone kept telling me your body is just now getting used to it and your body will even out real soon.

It did too cuz now I lost a few of those pounds already and am back to a normal weight now. Plus a whole lot happier :)

Be patient and let it work. You can't give up now.
 
Sparrow, to be where you are at now compared to where you were (eating wise), I think you are doing excellent. I think, too, that you just have to trust what you're doing right now. A little further down the road, if things are not where you would like them, then maybe some changes are needed, and we can go from there. Just my thoughts. But, no doubt, you have come a LONG way.
 
Thank you guys. Seriously, your widsom and encouragement means a lot and I need it. In my head I want to go backwards just because its what is comfortable and I'm so sensitive to how I look and feel. My day seems to be somewhat determined by how I feel in my skin that day. Thats not cool, I know. I know I have come a long way. Without running into this site I would have NEVER known what I needed to do was to increase my cals higher and higher until I pull myself out of starvation mode. If I had ever tried that on my own without all this encouragement along the way I would have stopped long ago-at the first weight gain! pathetic. Thank you so much guys. I won't stop or go backwards and Jaymie, you totally inspire me to keep going since I know what you've been through with this. JPC you have been awesome and very very helpful. Stay with me guys and help me through to the other side!
Lets see what the next few weeks bring.
 
Well sparrow, in essence, the person that has been the most help to you has been YOU !! We can suggest and give helpful advice, but if you choose to ignore or regress back to your past, then what we say is of no help. You chose to "experiment" with our advice and so far you've made progress, I would say. You were willing to change, that is the main difference. We could not change you. We can support and encourage, the rest is up to you. So far I think you are passing in flying colors. Take it one day at a time ( I know, old cliche). We'll be here and long as you are there.
 
Right on. You're the one being responsible and taking action for your life. Bravo to that!

You have absolutey come a long way. Are you female? If so your goals worry me a bit. I know you are doing very well and we are all very proud of you. I just want to be sure you have a realistic and HEALTHY mindset of your body.

That still seems to be an issue for you at times. I'd keep cycling so you can get used to eating more because your body definitely wants it :)
 
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