Weight not dropping.

My body shape is changing but the scale isn’t showing any progress. According to the scale I have been at the same 234lbs for the past 3 months. In the hope that I am gaining muscle mass and losing fat at an equal rate, I ordered myself a digital caliper. I should get a better idea of what is going on.
 
Anyone else own one of these?

[img]http://img10.echo.cx/img10/5676/goldenfrog5th.gif[/img]

I don't have that particular one, but a few people do.

Since it uses multi site measurements, it will be a good tool for you to track body composition over time.

Keep a record of measurements.

Too bad you did not start with the caliper!  Then you would have seen the first 4-6% drop!  That is always exciting!

Now on to other matters..

If you have been at the same weight...what does that tell you about calories?

It tells you you are at maintenance.

What is happening is that your body is taking the stuff you eat and building muscle etc...and then using fat stores for energy it can't get from food.

PROBLEM!! Muscle burns energy...so as you put on more muscle you start to burn more energy.  Eventually your body takes from muscle to make up energy needs and lower metabolism.

This see-saw can go on and on..you need to break this plateau!

Depending on your goals you need to change your calories and/or your activity.

Assuming is is ..gaining muscle mass  .. you are doing fine until the muscle starts to go, then you just need to boost your calories around 20% or 500 calories...and not just from protein!  We are talking about meeting energy expenditure needs here..that means carbs and fat, as well as protein!

If it is..losing fat... then you are doing fine until the muscle starts to go then you need to change the intensity of your activity..you want to lose fat not muscle!

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I forgot to mention...the body also does this cool thing where it moves fat stores round.  So it may be reapportioning fat from thicker areas to less noticeable so some areas are getting more defined.  (oh, but it does that with muscle too)

This happens during the see-saw, burn fat here, store fat there, store muscle here, burn muscle there.

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My caliper came in already, fast shipping on BB.com’s part.
 
It’s going to take me awhile to use this thing right; I took my measurements three times and came out way different each time.  I’ll take a cold reading in the morning when I wake up, along with my body weight.

[img]http://img10.echo.cx/img10/5676/goldenfrog5th.gif[/img]

Yes.  you do need to practice taking the measurements.
 
You need to get the hang of grabbing the skinfold and getting the tension.
 
Also of using the same location.
 
I will often take 3 readings and they will be 14.9%, 14.8%, 14.9%  or maybe (rarely) more off (14.7, 15.2, 14.9)...but you can see that you are close enough to say you have 14.9%.
 
Take Caliper and weight at the same time of day every time.
 
This is NOT an exact measure.  So if you take 6 in a row, maybe 3 will match.  But the variance should not be too much: like getting 11% and 16%!!!
 
With time, your skinfold will be consistent and your measurements will be pretty uniform.

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I think I kind of got the hang of this caliper, 22.7% seems to be about the norm on my measurements.
 
At 237lbs and 22.7% bf that gives me around 183lbs LBM.  I will start my cut to 10% in January; I’m hoping to maybe add an extra pound or two of muscle between now and then.
 
I have never done a true cutting phase so it will be interesting.
 

[img]http://img10.echo.cx/img10/5676/goldenfrog5th.gif[/img]

Thats exciting!!
 
I just went from 20% to ~15% and going for 11% right now...

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Ok now I am really confused. I weighed myself this morning before breakfast and after the morning dump and now I am 240lbs. There is no way I gained 3lbs this past week. I used my calipers but it came out to right at 18% bf which I know is to low. I can’t have gained 3lbs and lost ~5% body fat, that’s just not going to happen in one week.
 
I have increased my cardio, but kept my calories the same. This has lead to aches and pains that I associate with to few calories.  This weekend I’m increasing my protein intake and bumping up the calories slightly. I also added some Aminos.
 
I made a quick trip to GNC to see what they had for Aminos. I went with Twinlabs Amino Fuel 1000. I got a small bottle and I will go through it soon. If they help I will order me some more or switch to a different brand, I will most likely go with Animal Nitro.
 
I’m going to go buy a new scale and see if I can get my wife to do the caliper test for me.
 

[img]http://img10.echo.cx/img10/5676/goldenfrog5th.gif[/img]

Well, you have to track it over time....
 
You have to take the measurements at the same time and the weight on the same scale at the same time in the same cloths.
 
The skinfolds of course can vary a little.  Especially until you get use to it.
 
Could you have put on muscle and water and lost fat...yes.
 
My biggest 1 week change was:
Weight -165 lbs
BF% - 16.5%
LBM - 138 lbs
BF - 27 lbs

To
 
Weight - 168 lbs
BF% - 14.8%
LBM - 143lbs
BF - 25lbs
 
The thing is, the next week it looked like this:
weight - 169
BF% - 15.6%
LBW - 143
BF - 26
 
So the muscle has stayed in the measurement, maybe there was a correction?
So just measure it week to week.
 
How did I respond?..after the second measurement I kept my diet and training pretty much the same.  After the third measurement, I could see I was still in a caloric surplus (gained weight)  So I intensified my training.
The next weeks measurement looked like this:
weight- 171
BF% - 14.6%
LBM - 146
BF - 25
 
Granted, I am a traind fitness professional and have years of making these types of recommendations, but the formula can be simple enough if you are monitoring your food and BF.
 
If you are losing BF and gaining lean muscle...things are going fine...this is why I ask people to measure when they are doing this!!!
 
If it is giong the way you want it to go, don't change anything!!!
 
Don't add cardio, don't change the diet, if it's not broken...don't fix it!
 
The body is very busy!  Let it be busy the way YOU want it to be!
 
You are succeeding at your goals!!!!  Losing fat and getting more muscular!

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ORIGINAL: Goldenfrog

My body shape is changing but the scale isn’t showing any progress. According to the scale I have been at the same 234lbs for the past 3 months. In the hope that I am gaining muscle mass and losing fat at an equal rate, I ordered myself a digital caliper. I should get a better idea of what is going on.
 
Anyone else own one of these?

Muscle weighs more than fat and it could be that they scale is being balanced off as you lost fat you gain muscle..........

Come Visit my websites! www.figureteam.com www.lindacusmano.com www.bodyrushpersonaltraining.com

Well today I weighed in at 242lbs. I don’t know what is going on. I keep upping my cardio and still I’m gaining weight way to fast. I guess I’m going to have to give my diet a major overhaul and see what’s missing. I’m going to have to find away to add more physical activity to my everyday routine, but I’m afraid if I increase it to much I wont recover from my workouts well enough. I may have to just take the weight gain for this month then worry about it next month when I start my decent to 10%bf.
 
It’s starting to piss me off.
 
 
I am 8-12lbs heavier then I was at the start of November but I have only increased my waist by 1/4in. I’m guessing that’s an expectable increase for an 8-12lbs gain.  Maybe it’s not all that bad but I still wasn’t trying to gain ANY weight. I started this cycle hoping to drop 20lbs before Jan. 1; I can see that’s not going to happen.

[img]http://img10.echo.cx/img10/5676/goldenfrog5th.gif[/img]

Frustrating!!!

 
Have you started anything new...like creatine or other new supplements?
This is to be expected from them.
 
Also are you weighing in at the same time in the same cloths?
 
So, if you increased your calories and you train hard...and you were at a plateau...you might be seeing the results of a "metabolic" correction.
 

I’m hoping to maybe add an extra pound or two of muscle between now and then.

 
Don't be pissed, you are doing just that!  Unless its all fat!!!
 
If you are gaining weight, you must now be in a surplus.
 
2 ways that can happen.
1) you are now eating more than you burn...and you got there by increasing calories
2) you are now eating more than you burn...and you got there by losing muscle mass
 
Keep measuring your BF% to track Fat free mass and determine if it is #2.
 
If you are dropping fat and gaining muscle...aren't you happy?
 
Ok.  Maybe you are not clear what you really want.  You said some contradictory things.  Either you want to gain some weight til you start your cut or you are cutting now...???
 
IF you want to be cutting right now...that means specifically the loss of body fat...not body weight...if you are trying to make weight...then you need to drop weight.
 
What is the weight from: muscle or fat or mixed?  What is your BF% and weight now..?

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