Weight-loss Reassurance!

Soy will not add fat! Just use good quality and it is a great nonfat protein. I have been with Shaklee for 15 years. Everyone drinks lots of soy protein and have for years and years. They are the most fit people you will ever meet.
It does not mess with hormones, it has pytoestrogens. The latest studies show that it will help prevent breast and lung cancer. It's also great for heart health and helps prevent blood sugar bouncing.
Victoria

Doesn't muscle weigh 5 times more than fat?

Also remember that anything SOY or CORN, even high fructose corn syrup will add the pounds, even while sieting. Soy messes up the hormones (acts as an estrogen)that control metabolism and weight gain, especially around the middle..

Toss the scale!! They don't tell you anything you need to know. If you pants are loose and you have cut out your sugar you are living healthier and that is awesome. The video is a great thing and watching what you eat. Try staying away from the processed foods, the closer to the farm( the fresher) the better.
You have a great start keep up the good work.

Don't worry about what the scale says. You are doing good. Remember that muscle weighs more than fat, so while you may not be losing weight you are getting slimmer. Just go by how your clothes fit, that should be proof enough that your work is paying off.

Great job on your weight loss so far!

Kim, If you follow any of the exercise experts they will tell you that the scale is not the best indicator of good health. Dr. Oz places more importance on the size of your waistline, your cholesterol levels, and your blood pressure. If you really want to see "numbers" measure your waist, upper arms, and thighs. Instead of getting on the scale (which of course you can still do) check those measurements. If you are toning muscle then while the scale may not show a change the measurements of your arms, legs and stomach will. If you really want to check your progress keep a notebook with your measurements and your weight and take a picture of your self at each stage. You will see the changes better that way.

Don't panic. Yes, it could be the muscle. My husband is on a different weight loss program and it is all about losing fat and "maintaining" muscle. He has lost weight, but sometimes he loses inches without losing weight. Bottom line, if your clothes are getting looser do you really care what the number on the scale is? Eat healthy, exercise and if you steadily decrease your size over time you are doing great.

Kim,

Muscle weighs more than fat so it could very well be muscle. Most olympic athletes have an "overweight" BMI or close to it because they have so much muscle mass even though their body fat percentage is incredibly low.

You could also be retaining water, especially if the pounds came on overnight. The best way to help with water retention is to drink more (counterintuitive, I know) and watch your sodium intake.

It could also be that you hit a plateau. Our bodies are designed to do lots of physical labor with very little food because that's what was needed for thousands of years of survival. It's just been in the last 100 years that food has been so plentiful and physical activity has become just a hobby. That means when you drop your food intake and increase your activity, your body will compensate to become more efficient - doing more and needing less fuel to do it with. Plateaus are usually conquered with patience and changing up your routine - what you eat, when and how you work out.

I would recommend you measure success with the measuring tape and by the fit of your clothes and rely less on the scale. If you do choose to weigh yourself, don't do it more than once a week and make sure it's at the same time of day, same day of the week and with the same amount of clothes - or lack thereof. All these factors can change your weight by pounds. You may also want to check your scale batteries to see if they need to be changed.

Good luck and keep up the good work,
S.

Muscle DOES weigh more than fat. Try to weigh yourself only once a week instead of every day or every other day.

Your body is also going to go through a cycle. Lose water weight fast, then slow down, then 1 pound, then 5, then back to 1. It's a natural progression.
Congrats!
M.

I don't have time to read all the responses, so I apologize if someone already said this, but training with a heart rate monitor can really increase your results. Many times, a person isn't training hard enough or is training too hard, and you just don't know without and HRM. They start as low as around $25. Also, have you changed your intake to go with your new exercise program? Because if you haven't, then you are just burning your most recent intake during your workouts and not getting into the 'fat' of things.

I by no means am a trainer or nutrionist, but have learned a lot in the last year having a husband training for a marathon, and needing to cook for him! I'm sure you will find a solution to your plateau and will overcome it!

Looks like you already got a lot of GREAT answers :-) One other thing - could be a plateau too. Some say if you go off the diet for a day or so and go back on, you'll break the plateau? I could be way off :-) Great job! Don't give up. I do Billly Blanks' workouts and one of the things he always says "look at yourself, where you are today is where you mind put you, where you'll be tomorrow is where your mind put you" -- keep going girl. You'll probably slow down a lot on the weight loss. It starts to come off only like 1 lb. a week for me - sometimes only 1 lb every couple of weeks! (depends on how many cheats I had!), but slow is better. Make permanent healthy changes to your diet as you go. Go slow :-) Love it - thanks for your post, it was helpful for me to read everyone's answers!

Congratulations!
I just want to say - who is going to be gathering with you around the scale? The reason you probably started the workouts is because of the mirror. Having more energy and looser clothing is the real benefit. Yes Muscle weighs more than fat so things are probably fine. Don't loose momentum because of the scale. Have fun with it and keep working toward getting healthy and sculpting your body! Good luck!

Kim,

Way to go!! You are doing great. As I'm sure many have already said, muscle DOES weight more than fat, and it is very common for people working out as much as you are to "gain" according to the scale. I have heard it said before that it is much better to measure yourself in inches rather than pounds!! And, in my opinion, the best thing to do is to try to keep the focus off the scale and on the great things you are doing. Exercise takes awhile to "take effect," but once you start seeing the effects, the results can be exponential. Keep going!!

One thing that really keeps the motivation flying over weight loss/exercise is Weight Watchers. I have used this diet many times to lose weight while keeping track of (and getting rewards from) exercise. I have never officially joined or attended a meeting, but my mom and sister had extra materials they were willing to let me use. It's such a great diet, because it's really not a diet at all - when you're exercising as much as you are, you'll get so much motivation out of getting 8+ points for all the exercise in one day. You could eat like 3 brownies for that! (Or drink 3 beers ;).

But, diets aside, you are doing great!!! Keep it up! Think about challenging yourself with a 5 or 10K!

Different things will affect your weight - you should be very proud of your accomplishments so far. Congratulations!

You may very likely be building more lean body mass while losing fat which is contributing to the low weight loss (but you may find your clothes fit better). Water weight can also have an impact if your body retains fluids close to your period.

The only other recommendation is to really track what you're eating to make sure you're not accidentally increasing calories during the day because of your extra exercise efforts. What I wouldn't recommend is a drastic reduction in your caloric intake unless you're willing to commit to that for the rest of your life.

Here's an interesting article posted on Facebook yesterday by a physician at MD Anderson in Houston, TX. This is not new information, but it's nice to see it printed in a major publication (NY Times).
http://links.mkt1985.com/ctt?kn=127&m=2898128&r=M...

I know the scale is very easy to use as a reference to if you are getting in better shape.. but take a closer look at the measuring tape.. it's a more accurate tool. Weight can go up and down a lot during the course of just one day. Hormones have so much to do with it and what you have eaten has a lot to do with it.. Muscle weighs alot more than fat. I'm sure you are doing great.. I wish I had your motivation.. good for you.

Hi Kim. Lots of great answers to your questions. Congratulations on your weight and inches loss! Sounds like you have a plan and are doing really well. I believe you are building muscle and even tho a pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat, the muscle takes up less space and that's why your clothes are looser. The number on the scale varies on everyone, depending on lots of factors - water weight, the time of the day you weigh (if you just drank or ate something), the time of the month you're weighing (hormones, period), your stress level, your sleep deprivation....lots of factors.

I personally weigh every day to keep myself in check but maybe it would help if you weighed less often so you won't get frustrated in case the scale reads up.

Keep up the good work and have fun on your fitness journey!

Hi Kim
It's muscle. And when you start a new weight training- muscle weight lifting type -program, you gain weight. Part of it's from muscle- part from being engorged as your body builds them. That last part levels out some in a couple weeks.
Lean mass weighs a lot more. Fat only weighs 1lb per the size of 4 qtrs of butter.
Lean mass burns most of the calories in resting metabolism-- so yeah-- you want to build that up.
If you're only doing weight loss and not exercising and weight training, you can lose lean mass (ie the scale goes down faster) yet then you rebound faster as your resting calories decreases so if you eat more than that-- wow- weight gain more in fat stores too.
If you want-- email me and I'll run a quick profile on you-- no charge.
My email is ____@____.com Put momsource in the subject line.
And pat yourself on the back!! You should've joined our online challenge for $$ and might have been rewarded in a second way for your hard work.
Mostly-- your health will benefit. Kudos.

About me: 49 yo perfusionist, wellness coach also doing a nationwide online biggest loser for up to $599, wife, mom with awesome 8 yo twin girls.

B. J

Are you getting enough sleep??? I was working out like a crazy woman from 6 to 11 weeks post partum and lost a whopping 2 or 3 pounds in 5 weeks. Then I went back to work (a relatively active job, but not intense active) and started sleeping 7+ hours a night once baby started sleeping. And I lost 20# of baby weight in a year without going to the gym. Not encouraging for keeping me working out, that's for sure! But the point is, do not underestimate the power of sleep!

Congratulations! I can't tell you exactly why the scale says what it says -- could be the muscle tone, could be water retention, maybe your scale is broken! =)

I say don't rely heavily on what the scale says -- you said it yourself, you feel great and your clothes are fitting looser, etc.

Keep up the good work!

Kim-
I have been working out since college. I used to be all about the scale and losing or maintaining a weight. I had to learn that muscle weighs more than fat. So, there is a point where you might gain some weight due to muscle mass increasing. This was demonstrated to me by going from a size 7 to size 2 and only losing 3 pounds. I had shaped my body and lost fat but the muscle kept the scale almost the same. Make sure you drink enough water and do cardio as well as muscle toning. As long as you are seeing the results in your clothes then you know your exercising is working! Hope this helps -
J.

Sounds like you hit the road block. I know that all too well. You have to intensify your workout routine once you hit this to start the loss again. Keep in mind also that you lose a lot the first month. After that I find you lose 1 pound a week with good exercise and dieting. Remember you have to burn 3500 calories to lose a pound. Think about that. That is a whole lot of calories. You can base your calorie consumption and exercise around that. I do and had great results. I went from 225 to 130 in about 6 months. I worked my butt off to do that. So to lose 2 pounds a week which is the most the vast majority of doctor's recommend you have to lose or burn 7000 calories. That is a whole lot of exercise and dieting. I went with the 1600 calories a day. No sugar, soda, etc I also only had 30 grams of fat at the most and only 10 grams of sat fat. I found going vegan made a huge difference. The biggest actually. Dairy really is a horrible thing for a diet. Especially cheese. And intensive cardio. Worked like a charm. Look online you can figure out what most exercises burn. That worked well for me.

But you can do it! It just takes a lot of effort. I mean I lost nearly 100 pounds!!

You are building muscle and muscle burns calories so keep working out! Good for you! The scale is just part of the equation but at this point don't let the number on the scale get you off track!!! It should be more about how you feel (do you have more energy?) and how your clothes are fitting. Congrats on the weight loss and keep going! Being a healthy, good example for your children is SO important!

I've always been told muscle weighs more than fat. So I would say you are doing it right and be proud of yourself if your clothes are fitting looser..

sometimes you can have water weight gain certain times. I can step on the sacale in the morning and again at night and have 3 ponds difference in that time scary hey. Just keep on the good work. If you feel good and notice a chnage in your body you are ok.

I would agree with Kim. It could be several different things. I would say be patient. My husband and I have gone through this and it is normal to hit a plateau at some point. Try changing up the routine a little and maybe what you are eating to see if that helps. I also find that during my time of the month, I do get bloated and don't lose anything but then after, the weight starts falling off again.

Hurrah for you!! I think the initial weight loss and shape change followed by a plateau and then perhaps even a gain....Sounds normal. The best way to change shape is to build "core" muscle and we know (but are sick of hearing) that muscle weighs more than fat.

I joined a gym after being anti-exercise my entire life. But babies, a desk job, free lunches, and my 30s (sigh) changed my mind. When I signed up I thought I wanted to lose 10 lbs. I got an assessment from a personal trainer and in the end, his assessment was that it wasn't weight loss that should be my primary goal rather tone and strength and stamina. And this made a lot of sense to me. I like not measuring progress by a scale but rather how my clothes fit and the bounce in my step when I feel like I have had a good week.

A friend recently told me to vary your work out - Cardio one day and weights the next - And that will help keep your metabolism "guessing".

As someone who has LOST weight since turning 30 and having two kids, but who feels much less toned and like my jeans are getting tighter.... my advice would be to throw out the scale and absolutely go with how you feel and how tight your pants feel! Who cares what the scale says?? We don't own a scale and the only time I'm weighed is at the doctor's office. Here's my philosophy: pants too tight that day? Stop eating so much and take the stairs instead of the elevator. Feeling pretty good? Have dessert! Enjoy your life and enjoy feeling better and stop worrying about the darn scale!

You are doing everything right! Get off of that scale. I know it's hard 'cause you want to see the progress immediately to make sure your hard work is not in vain but the scale can be evil. LOL. I mean that in a good way, it's my vice too. It's better to way only once a week and always keep track of your measurements. Like the pp said, it's a better way to see your progress even when the scale is not moving. But you did say your energy was up and your pants were looser so that right there is your proof! Keep up the good work. Sparkpeople is a great website I'm on and it's free! I've been using it for 3 years and it's helped me lose the weight after both babies with all the help I need without coming out of the pocket. JM rocks!