How is it possible to loose inches and not pounds?

[burtonator]

People on the board keep suggesting to be cautious of the scale as it can lie and to also measure yourself so that you can tell you're getting leaner.

This does seem to work. During the last week I was stalled at 190 for about 4 days. I finally broke through I think and I'm 189 today. This is my second week of clean induction so its not unexpected.

Anyway. My main question is how can it be that people loose inches but not pounds? Does the body become denser and not flush water until a given moment?

I'm confused...

A scientific explanation would be nice

[cajunthunder]

Re: How is it possible to loose inches and not pounds?

Here, read this article:

http://stores.yahoo.com/carbsmart/outout.html

[Effie]

Re: How is it possible to loose inches and not pounds?

There's also an explanation in the thread called "Why The Scales Lie" which is in the Atkins FAQ Forum. (Sorry, my browser doesn't let me copy & paste.)

[iamcrazy]

Re: How is it possible to loose inches and not pounds?

Alot of the time if you are exercising you will be losing fat but gaining muscle which is leaner than fat but weighs more. Your weight may not change but you will be losing inches as your body tones up

[2big4mysize]

Re: How is it possible to loose inches and not pounds?

well the science is that you have 3 things going on during your Atkins your body is morphing its mass and scales only tell you the effect of gravitiy on your total mass so you could burn up 9 pounds of fat add 3 pounds ofr muscle tissue ( muscle tissue is 75% water BTW so it is denser then the same mass of fat (which is stored with no water and contains very very little fluids) and added 3 pounds of fluid mass in other places (your fluid mass is in a cnstant state of flux) giving you a scale loss of only 3 pounds. Measuring you will see you are much smaller and wonder what is going on.

For very complicated biochem reasons we need to keep some of our shape for normal body reactions to occur so as bulky fat is removed we add fluids to our tissues. When the biochem interferrence from this stuffed fluid exceeds out individual tolerance for it our body generates fluid shedding chems and poof over night you pee out several pounds of fluid weight and you say whooshie visited.

make freinds with your tape measure and don't worry about your scale numbers after all nobody sees them when you walk by. the see the healthier smaller you walking by.

Happy low carbing.

[FightingTheFight]

Re: How is it possible to loose inches and not pounds?

make freinds with your tape measure and don't worry about your scale numbers after all nobody sees them when you walk by

I gained 10lbs in a month, but lost 20 inches all together ...its an amazing process. I just wish people would stay away from the scale.

[ipopup]

Re: How is it possible to loose inches and not pounds?

Picture this, my claves were 15 inches at 232 lbs at 168 they are 14.75 inches (I have nicely muscled calves not fat) does this mean I am not losing lean muscle mass? When I retain water my waist measure ment goes up 1/2 to 1 inch. At one point my hips actually gained 1 inch, I nearly lost my backside so I started doing more squats etc. to keep my butt muscles. I walk 6 days per week lift weights 3 times per week.

BJ Webb

[lbrowne]

Re: How is it possible to loose inches and not pounds?

Great examples. Remember that a stall is no weight loss or movement in inches for more than 30 days, and wouldn't be unexpected at some point. Anything else is just a hesistation.

There's a sticky at the top of this forum titled "weight loss is not linear".

Congrats on your losses so far!

~ Linda