losing inches, not weight!

[EricaG]

i don't care if i weigh 200 lbs and can fit in a size 4.

but can someone explain to me how i'm losing inches off my waist and not really losing weight..

i've gotten down to 198 ... and lost 4 inches off my waist.

im super excited about that and it's kept me going to the gym even on the weekends.

i wrap my stomach with plastic wrap and rip it off after im done with cardio.

my stomach looks alot less bloated but the scale isnt showing me any progress.

can someone explain what is going on here. i contemplated the idea of maybe im gaining muscle...just wanted a second opinion. thanx.

[Lindsay]

muscle weighs more than fat

[MargieK]

If you can get your body fat % measured you could figure out that you are losing fat and gaining muscle. My gym did that as part of a 3 month program and I think I only lost about 6-7 pounds on the scale but they said I lost over 10 lbs of fat based on my body fat. The trainer said that the other benefits of gaining muscle is that my metabolism would now burn more calories every day.

I think I'm in muscle-gaining mode right now, my scale hasn't budged for awhile. I decided to look up whether muscle actually does burn more calories than fat. It does - not much, but it does. Here are some links to articles.

How Many Calories Does Muscle Really Burn?

Metabolism and weight loss: How you burn calories

[Smiley]

I think this is something that is hard to explain other than it does happen and we have all had it happen at some point in our band journey. You are correct though in saying that it is the size you get to that is more important than the weight you are. We have a tendancy to beat ourselves up over a pound or two but in all actuality as long as we can still fit into our "skinny" clothes and look great, the scale doesn't matter.

[Apprehensive]

i don't care if i weigh 200 lbs and can fit in a size 4.

but can someone explain to me how i'm losing inches off my waist and not really losing weight..

i've gotten down to 198 ... and lost 4 inches off my waist.

im super excited about that and it's kept me going to the gym even on the weekends.

i wrap my stomach with plastic wrap and rip it off after im done with cardio.

my stomach looks alot less bloated but the scale isnt showing me any progress.

can someone explain what is going on here. i contemplated the idea of maybe im gaining muscle...just wanted a second opinion. thanx.

You have it right. You are gaining muscle and since muscle weighs more than fat (mass vs. volume)you may appear to be losing weight but in reality you are not, you are just turning that unwanted fat in to muscle. You are at such a good point right now...KEEP GOING.

I can't wait until I can say what you have said.