Following Up On 'Demystifying The Scale'
I'm sitting here studying my personal trainer materials and just came across the most eye-opening fact that I have to share with all of you:
60% of your body weight is water! Wow! :eek: That means that at about 140 pounds, I'm carrying 84 pounds of water around with me! More than half of what I weigh is plain old H2O! So I was thinking about what this means in terms of how unreliable the scale is for determining fat or fitness or health ... What we really care about is fat, right? When we try to 'lose weight', what we really mean is that we're trying to lose fat. We all know that body fat % is a better indicator of overall health and fitness than a number on the scale because it tells us what % of our body is fat and what is LBM (lean body mass). Lean body mass is composed of muscle (the good stuff :) ), bone, hair, everything that isn't fat, and all those pounds of WATER. We know that a pound of fat = 3500 calories. We know that it's physically impossible to gain or lose 2 or 3 pounds overnight (unless we had one HECK of a binge!). When we see those sudden big weight swings, all it means is that our water weight is changing. Not our fat, which is what really matters. So let's go back to Anne's great post about how much the scale fluctuates for her in a normal day. Obviously most of those big swings must be due to variables in the huge amount of water that she has in her body. And when you stop and think about it, who really cares whether they're holding 84 or 80 or 86 pounds of water? After all, what would be the point of losing 10 pounds of water? It wouldn't change anything at all, right? Michael Fumento, in his Fat Of The Land, talks about how easy it is for fad diets to manipulate these many pounds of water that we naturally hold. Dieters mistake the scale going down in the first two weeks of a diet as fat loss instead of simply as water loss. Karen, what does he call this? He's got a great term for the water weight scam - I don't have my book in front of me. A gram of carbs holds 3 to 4 grams of water, so when you cut carbs - voila! a big drop in (water) weight. And we all know what happens with water weight when we have too much sodium. But we all tend to misread these scale changes as FAT loss and FAT gain. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I think we're all (myself very much included) prone to reading too much into the number on the scale. If 60% of that stupid number is nothing but water, how much useful information are we really going to get from it? Of course, I doubt that I'll ever stop weighing myself every day :o , but I hope that this information gives me a much better perspective on what I'm seeing. And, as of now, I refuse to let that :devil: number make or break my day. |
Great post! And coincidentally, I just dug up this article for somebody else on the forum:
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This is a great informative thread. I use to be influenced by my scale and it would determine what my mood was for the day. Thank goodness I've finally realized it is normal to fluctuate.
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That's exactly what I was thinking of - thanks! I guess it's not surprising that so many diet programs - from Weight Watchers to South Beach to Atkins - all have their two week 'induction'-type plans to take advantage of this big water weight loss. You know how South Beach promises 8 - 11 pounds off in the first two weeks (I think it's on the cover) - well, how many of those pounds are just water? Do ya think people would get nearly as excited if the cover said something like:
:cheer: Lose 8 - 11 pounds in two weeks!* :cheer: *but 5 - 7 pounds will be plain old water :chin: |
So how come I didn't lose 8-11 pounds in 2 weeks????? :?:
I'm just as wet as everyone else :lol: Mel |
Because you were low-carbing before you even started South Beach and had already lost the water weight, perhaps?
You tend to see those huge initial weight drops when someone's coming off the really horrific typical Amercian couch potato diet. Heck, I lost six pounds (obviously mostly water) over the first weekend - Friday through Monday - that I was dieting!! (goes to show how badly I had been eating, eh? :faint: ) |
Mel, you are probably just way better at hydrating than lots of us are!
I lost 12 lbs my first week of 'dieting'. I was eating a lot of garbage! Another water example: DH, who is a heavy sweater, was losing up to 8 lbs on a long run. That's 1 gallon of water! (He's since mended his ways and hydrating much more adequately.) Water is more dense than fat, so it's possible to get big swings in no time at all. And it doesn't take much to change your electrolyte (mostly salt) balance and glycogen stores. Plus, being well hydrated is actually good for you! Most people recognize issues like DH's for what it is, but when you look at my initial loss, people just say 'Way to go!' And it's basically the same thing. Anne |
Muscle vs. Fat
Hello!
I've had an interesting experience with the scale over the last few months. I had my gall bladder removed December 30. Prior to that I had been exercising 2-3 days/week - cardio and weights - for ~2 years. I felt fit, I had muscles that disgusted my DH (he'd look at my arms and say, "Gross! Would you stop it!"). My pants fit. I weighed 112-113lbs. Fast forward to present: I weighed in yesterday at 115 lbs. Not much of a gain, right? Well, I have a roll that hangs over my pants now (besides my usual extra skin). For the 2 months following my surgery, I hardly lifted weights at all. Using my abdominal muscles was rather painful and I was tired (boo hoo!). And I didn't do anything resembling cardio. My theory;) : I lost lots of muscle and gained lots of fat which, while it amounted to only a 2-3 lb. gain, amounted to a lot of fluff around my middle. Soooo, although I liked the number on the scale, I had to accept the fact that the number didn't really reflect the whole picture, which was that I was considerably less fit and healthy. (:jeno: + :mcd: + :chockiss:+ :m: + :cookie:) - :tread: - :barbell: = :faint: That sums it up for me! Cebelle |
Cebelle, I think your theory is right on the mark. That's exactly what happened. You lost muscle, and it was replaced by an equivalent poundage of fat. I hate to ask, but does your dh like your arms better? More to the point, do YOU?
It's an easily reversed process. Pick up the weights again, start doing cardio, and you'll have the sleek muscle minus the fluffy middle back in no time. Muscle "rebuilds" faster than it builds the first time around...really! And the sooner you get back to it, the sooner you'll feel like you've got your strong body back. Muscle atrophies fairly quickly- but it does come back :) Mel |
Mel,
DH just likes to give me a hard time. I think he really would hate it if I had super-huge muscles, but I don't think he minds me trying to get/stay in shape. I hope. :crossed: :) At any rate, I choose to be healthy and he's not gonna stop me without a fight!!! And who wants to fight a woman with big muscles?:D It's good to know that it will rebuild faster, too. Thanks for your reply! |
hello!
new here from Germany, i had troubles with scales and really what people thought of me until i began weighing my the portions of food before consuming them. Yes, not visually or PBV (parts by Volume) but PBM (parts by Mass). Very surprising how people react when they know what the mass to volume ratio is. It works for me and the satisfaction overcomes the yearning desire to crave more food in my mouth. Am looking for low carb, high fiber diets too. great forum too. KF Quote:
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