[baffled111]

Hi guys,

I've slowly dropped a few more pounds over the last month or so--about 4 or 5 and I've also been weight training and toning up. The puzzle is that while I've lost weight on the scale, my measurements are exactly the same. The most obvious explanation would be that I've gained muscle mass that is exactly the same volume as my old fat, but wouldn't this be reflected in a higher scale weight rather than a lower one?

Anyone have a clue?

[Meg]

Hey Baffled -- so much of this weight loss business is a total mystery.

I don't have a great answer for you, but if you're eating correctly and working out with weights and cardio, you're doing exactly what you should be doing. The five pound loss most likely is fat pounds because I know you're lifting weights (pretty intensively, I recall ) It's unlikely that you lost muscle with your exercise routine.

So if it's not muscle loss, it has to be fat (or water, but that seems unlikely). Why isn't it showing up on your tape measure? I can think of two possibilities -- one, measurement error or two, you're losing fat from places you don't measure.

It's hard to consistently measure in the same places and you can get tremendous variance just by moving a tape measure up or down an inch. Plus my waist measurement can change by an inch or two depending on my salt and carb intake.

Or it could be that your body is changing and losing fat from weird places, like your neck or ankles or someplace you don't typically measure. I lost a lot of weight in my fingers and wrists!

How are your clothes fitting? Have you noticed a change corresponding with the weight loss? That might be a better indication than measurements.

I know it's puzzling, but it really sounds like you're on the right track!

[paperclippy]

Add my vote for losing weight from weird places. As I got close to goal and a little below, I started losing from my fingers, forearms, and back. I never measured them though!

[clvquilts]

Does your face look thinner? How about your knees or calves?

5 pounds spread out across the entire 5'9" body might not show up on the measuring tape.

I can go up and down 5 pounds in a week with water weight and not feel any different in my clothes that hit all those measurement points. It must be going somewhere else.

[baffled111]

I hadn't thought of that! It could be coming off from anywhere. Probably my boobs which I don't measure (I do the bust measurement under my armpits), just to torment me My secret wish goal weight is 140, but I tell ya, if my arms, tummy and thighs stay the same as they are at 145 while my boobs get smaller and smaller, I'm regaining the weight!

I'm positive I've built muscle and lost fat, but I shall get independent verification of this next week when I get my body fat retested at the Y. Last time I was 22.2 and I'm hoping to be closer to 20.

[ennay]

for me my hip and waist measurements havent changed in many pounds....but since hip is the widest point and waist is the narrowest point...there is a whole lot of unmeasured torso in there.

What I am finding is my hip measurement is needing to be more precisely located...it used to be that my hip measured the same anywhere I measured from the belly button to the top of the legs. Now I have a more specific HIP that is the widest. How do you quantify something like that?