Discouraged

[dthomps]

I weighed today, which I typically do not do, because I'm easily discouraged. And, it was a bad idea.

My low weight -- almost two weeks ago was 196. Today, the scale registered 198. So bizarre.

I'm purple every morning. I cheated ONCE a week ago with two tiny pieces of artisan chocolate.

On a good note, my clothes feel looser than ever. I can now take my pants off without unbuttoning. So... I don't get it.

I weighed today, because I was feeling thin. And I thought -- it's been two weeks, even if I'm having an upswing, it still has to be lower than my last weigh in.

My exercise includes push ups for the push up challenge, physical therapy (it's a workout!) and running against the current in a swimming pool lazy river twice a week for an hour each time.

Grrrrr. I don't get it!

And a quick today's menu, which is fairly typical.

1/2 cup pumpkin with pat of butter and cinnamon
cup of coffee with full cream
mozzerella cheese stick
roasted chicken breast, with skin.. GAG
pot roast (probably 6-8 oz. and cauliflower)
sugar-free jello cup and whipped cream

And of course, water, water, water. What am I doing wrong?

[FwL]

Re: Discouraged

If your clothes are getting looser, you aren't doing anything wrong.

You're seeing results.

[pagliaccia]

Re: Discouraged

Did you make that jello yourself, or is it pre-sweetened with aspartame? Also, how close is your TOM? What was on the roasted chicken breast skin (spice rub, etc)?

Yeah, and what Fwl said. I don't care if I weigh 1000 pounds, so long as I can shop at normal stores again. Muscle weighs more than fat, after all.

[JulieB]

Re: Discouraged

You may not be doing anything wrong at all - muscle weighs more than fat - if you are building muscle & losing fat you may not see changes on the scale. Have you measured? It sounds like you are losing fat & gaining muscle since your clothes are looser

Your menu looks good. You may be a bit short on veggies (you don't say how much cauliflower) - many people lose better when they eat their veggies. Also, there is aspertame in the Jello which we generally try to avoid. Is the whipped cream sugar-free (made it yourself)? The canned stuff is full of sugar.

Are you getting enough fat? I can see that you ate the chicken skin Have you tried FITDAY.COM? It can be helpful

[Elizellen]

Re: Discouraged

I agree - if your clothes are getting looser you are doing NOTHING wrong

You are losing FAT

Who cares what the metal monster tells you if all around you can see your body getting smaller and clothes baggier?

[Fuddle]

Re: Discouraged

Been there. Recently.

This is my first post to these forums. I'll be back soon.

[keriann_forgoodthistime]

Re: Discouraged

You may not be doing anything wrong at all - muscle weighs more than fat - if you are building muscle & losing fat you may not see changes on the scale.

Sorry to disagree here - but the whole "muscle weighs more than fat" does not mean anything...when you're losing weight - even if you're exercising and weight lifting - you will NOT gain a pound of muscle...it's close to impossible to do this - and even weight-lifters will tell you that.

See this thread: http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...to-muscle.html

(no offense meant - this is just a pet peeve of mine).

[dthomps]

Re: Discouraged

Thanks all. I just really needed to vent.
And I am completely guilty of eating jello with aspartame. It's just so easy and quick. I typically try to have just one of those pre-cups per week.
It's just the bizarrest thing to see the numbers on the scale increase while I KNOW my waistline must be shrinking. I see those bigger numbers and think I must be imagining that I'm getting smaller. It's like the placebo effect.
Anyway... I'm going to take your advice to heart. I haven't measured yet, and now I really wish I would've early on, so I had something other than the scale to compare to.
So here's my other question: Should I change my goal weight to a clothing size or something, because I'm starting to think my scale is a lying liar who lies.

[Elizellen]

Re: Discouraged

Why not set 2 goals - one for weight and one for the clothes size that weight usually means and see which you reach first?

[neutronnorman]

Re: Discouraged

Muscle does not weigh more than fat!!! One lb of fat equals one pound of muscle in weight. Weight is mass mutiplied by the negative vector of acceleration, gravity( 9.81 m/s^2), g. Cheez... Muscle is a lot deneser therefores take up less volume....
Density, rho (the greek letter) = m/V; mass divided by volume...thus V = m/ rho, volume equals mass divided by the density. The larger the density (in the denominator) the smaller the volume while keeping mass constant.

[dthomps]

Re: Discouraged

And... you lost me, Norm! I'm a words girl and that looked suspiciously like math stuff. I think I get what you're saying -- muscle takes up less space than fat as in one pound of muscle takes up less space than one pound of fat. Am I correct?

[pagliaccia]

Re: Discouraged

Muscle does not weigh more than fat!!! One lb of fat equals one pound of muscle in weight. Weight is mass mutiplied by the negative vector of acceleration, gravity( 9.81 m/s^2), g. Cheez... Muscle is a lot deneser therefores take up less volume....
Density, rho (the greek letter) = m/V; mass divided by volume...thus V = m/ rho, volume equals mass divided by the density. The larger the density (in the denominator) the smaller the volume while keeping mass constant.

Ok, how about if instead I say one cubic foot of muscle weighs more than one cubic foot of fat? Obviously, when two things have the same weight, one doesn't weigh more than the other. I don't know about JulieB, but I've certainly taken enough physics courses to not need a science lesson.

[neutronnorman]

Re: Discouraged

Me too...about the physics courses...but you should of used cubic meters....

[pagliaccia]

Re: Discouraged

Me too...about the physics courses...but you should of used cubic meters....

Anytime I start thinking of fat in terms of that much volume, I get depressed again.

[goin2befit]

Re: Discouraged

Muscle does not weigh more than fat!!! One lb of fat equals one pound of muscle in weight. Weight is mass mutiplied by the negative vector of acceleration, gravity( 9.81 m/s^2), g. Cheez... Muscle is a lot deneser therefores take up less volume....
Density, rho (the greek letter) = m/V; mass divided by volume...thus V = m/ rho, volume equals mass divided by the density. The larger the density (in the denominator) the smaller the volume while keeping mass constant.

So does this mean that muscle takes up less space then fat, therefor the scale may not move, but the clothes fit looser?