OUT, OUT, DAM SCALE

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Originally posted by TheMuffin on the main bb.

OUT OUT DAMN SCALE

By Sonya Tilley, CarbSmart Contributor


Here we go again...

How the hell does your body hold onto weight and still manage to get smaller while you are on your chosen low carb diet?!? You know the scenario: You are on Induction for two weeks, and you haven't cheated even once. You notice that your clothes fit better, that you are stepping a little livelier, and as far as you're concerned, all's right with the world.

But then you step on that evil construction of the Devil himself, the bathroom scale, and you instantly feel betrayed. The stupid thing insists that you have done nothing! Sometimes, it even states you have done less than nothing; it accuses you of cheating because it tells that you haven't lost any weight! Well, there area couple of simple explanations to help you get through this trying time.

First of all, if it is at all possible for you to do so, throw that insipid Monster Scale in the trash. Or at least put it up somewhere that it is really, REALLY inconvenient to get to so that you won't be tempted to ask it's opinion every single day of your life. Face it. If you are feeling better and your clothes are looser, do you really need the scale to tell you that you're on the right track? No! You don't! Why do you think you do it, then? I'll tell you why. The low fat diet demons have a tenacious hold on your brain. That's right, you've been brainwashed. All your life they have told you through doctors, dietitians, newspaper and magazine articles, surgeon generals and the like, that you give up X calories per day and you will lose a pound of fat. They even go on to tell you how much fat you should lose each week. In the process, they've made you dependent on the Monster Scale to gauge your progress!

What a big lie!

Even on the diets that "they" advocate, the Monster Scale does not often cooperate. You go back to the Diet Demons and demand to know why the scale does not reflect the torture you have put yourself through for a month. They immediately start backpedaling on the "give up X calories and lose a pound of fat" story, and start talking to you about water retention and muscle buildup. Sometimes, they even blame it on you with questions like, "Are you sure you counted the calories in everything you ate?" (This is delivered with a knowing little smile that makes you want to rip their knowing little face off.) Being the type that is given to blaming things on yourself, anyway, you cooperate with an answer like, "Well….." They pounce on this with "Ahhhh, well.." Then, they launch into one of their scoldings/lash/encouragement speeches.

So, get off their bandwagon, already!

Then, there's the competitive spirit. You hear about what other people have done on your chosen diet. Yes, Brian went on Atkins a year ago and lost over a hundred pounds. Yes, a hundred pounds in a year is over eight pounds a month, or 2 pounds a week, or .0119 pounds per hour….but, "Hello? You ain't Brian!" And, did Brian ever say that he lost .0119 pounds per hour? No! He said a hundred pounds in a year. This only proves he got on the scale twice; a year ago, and yesterday. Take a hint from Brian. Stay off the scale!

The second solution is to understand what is going on in your body in light of the current state of human affairs. Today, all a person has to have to eat every day is money and transportation to a grocery store or, better yet, a nice restaurant. However, your body's survival instincts have not matured in a million years. Your body still thinks you are a hunter-gatherer. Yes, in spite of a million years of evolution, your body still thinks you are going to have to go out and kill a mammoth to eat. The survival instincts with which you are going to have to come to terms are read-only memory. You can't overwrite them. Deal with it.

That said, let me tell you what happens when you lose a pound of fat. Your body has been saving this fat for that long hunting expedition you're going to have to go on to track, kill, dress and retrieve that huge animal. It keeps the fat in little pillows distributed throughout your body. When you start losing fat, it doesn't trust you to continue whatever insane path you have chosen that is causing the fat to dissipate. So, when the fat comes out of the pillow, it injects water as a "place holder." Sometimes that water actually replaces the weight of the fat it lost. Sometimes it replaces the volume.

Water weighs more than fat just like lead sinkers weigh more than feathers. If you stuff a pillow with a pound of feathers, you'll have a nice big pillow. If you stuff a pillow with a pound of lead sinkers, you'll have a nice (but rather hard and uncomfortable), small pillow. Now, let's say your body removes a pound of fat and replaces the weight with a pound of water. Your weight will stay the same, but you will be smaller. But, if your body decides to replace the lost fat by volume, that is a quite different story. Remember the great big feather pillow as compared to the tiny lead sinker pillow? Well, now think of a gallon of feathers and a gallon of lead sinkers. Try to pick up the gallon of feathers. Piece of (you'll pardon the expression) cake. Now, try to pick up the gallon of lead sinkers. Sucker's heavy, ain't it? So, you will be smaller, but you will have gained weight.

Eventually, your body makes the executive decision that you are not going to replace the fat you lost, and it lets go of the water. In the words of Danny Skaist: "When your body accepts the fact that they are no longer needed, the water will be expelled and the cells closed. This is known as the "whoosh."

What makes your body decide to replace by weight or replace by volume? I dunno. But I do know that it does not seem consistent to the casual observer. What makes your body decide that you are seriously not going to replace the fat you lost? I dunno. But now you know why it's so important to drink your water, huh? Loss of fat is inextricably related to water intake. It's more than a little foolish to go on a diet that facilitates the removal of fat and then refuse to give your body the tools it needs to do so.

Bottom Line: Stop getting on the scale and drink your water. If you stick to your plan and wait for the "whoosh," it will come.

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[Jugo]

Great article... thanks for posting it... I am printing it out!!

Juls

[3-for-me]

Very good! I think you should post it on the ML, too. Maybe even make a sticky out of it for Newbies.

Jami

[inatic]

it was posted on the ML, that is where i got it

It should be a sticky

[Leenie]

Excellent!

What is your first memory of how much you weighed and what impact do you think that has on feeling the necessity to get to a certain number now?

Mine is 4th grade and being the only one in my small class to be over 100 lbs. According to the height/weight charts at that time, I was already overweight. The sad thing was that I was taller than anyone else but already had that in my head that I needed to get down to a certain number so I would be within the charts.

I haven't been in the chart ranges for weight since.

How many of you look at other posters stats and see they are the same height but weigh much less and instantly think that weight should be your goal weight? I've done that many times. I see someone that is 5'5 and 125 pounds and think well maybe I should weigh 125 pounds. For goodness sakes I can't weigh 125 pounds unless I lose muscle!

Anyway, it's a good time to really think about why a silly number has such control and what can be done about it!

[inatic]

Leenie your so right.. I look at other numbers and used to think i should weigh that too. I am 5.4" and weigh 137 on average(from my records from dtrainer. I dont weigh anymore. If i weighed what I thought I should weigh, I would be a skeleton. I'll keep the weight and all the muscle

[SherryBerry]

Ileen...Great article! Thanks for posting...I hope everyone reads this! I think this should be a sticky too.

[SherryBerry]

Originally Posted by Leenie

Excellent!
How many of you look at other posters stats and see they are the same height but weigh much less and instantly think that weight should be your goal weight? I've done that many times. I see someone that is 5'5 and 125 pounds and think well maybe I should weigh 125 pounds. For goodness sakes I can't weigh 125 pounds unless I lose muscle!

Leenie...I absolutely agree that we need to focus on body composition not scale weight. I have 130 lbs. as my goal weight but that may change. I'm going more by my goal body fat percentage of 15%.

[Sugar Patrol]

Thanks so much for this article!! I am seriously to the point where I want to rid myself of my scale permanently. I started getting more serious with my weightlifting at the beginning of this year, and back then, I weighed 135-140--and even some periods where I weighed between 131-135.

I love the improvements I've made in my body, my arms and thighs especially, and my clothes still fit nicely. Howeveer, it's such a downer when I get on the scale and it reads between 142-144. If I'm bloated, it even gets on up to 148.

I feel like I'm leaner, but the scale always makes me second guess my accomplishments.

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Resurrecting a keepsake post.

(Thanks again, Ileen. )

[inatic]

wow T, that is an old one. but a goodie..

I'll add my coaches scale rant here too.
BEWARE! Rant About The Scale! | Lean Bodies Consulting

[Alison Jean 71]

Great read. I needed it. I just need it to sink in.

[WenB]

Awesome article.

[iamcrazy]

wonderful advice

[Sybilizedliving]

Do you think there could be a happy medium, though? Do you guys really NEVER weigh?

I'm all for not weighing because it really makes me crazy and I don't believe it is a true reflection of progress or health/fitness....but at 220 pounds, I still need to lose weight. My concern is that if I NEVER weigh, I'll get complacent and stay at this weight (because it certainly feels better than when I weighed 300 pounds!).

I've been at a plateau for several months now and trying to mix things up to get moving downward again. Without at least a monthly scale check-in, will I really be able to tell if I'm losing again?

Just curious if any of you have dealt with this.

[inatic]

measurements, mirror reflection and clothes can tell you that as well. I weigh every day but it does bother me one bit if it doesnt move when i see progress else where.

if you plateau you need to address why? too few cals, too much exercise, too many cals. could be lots of reasons.

[TXUKGal]

Wow! Thank you for posting that. I really needed that. For the last few days, I've been gaining weight (about 4 lbs) and couldn't figure out why. I was in good ketosis, been exercising and keeping my carbs between 20 to 30 grams but was gaining. I finally took my measurements last night because I felt smaller even though I was gaining and my measurements were smaller. So, I guess now I just need to wait for the "whoosh" to come. I'm hoping that will be soon.

[hummingbird11]

suggestion: get a Tanika Ironman scale that measures bodyfat/water/muscle.

that way you will see TRUE progess (internal body re-comp) and not just some meaningless number (total weight) that may be discouraging when you're doing everything else right, but the scale still won't budge

I use my bra and pants as my measuring tools

Originally Posted by Sybilizedliving

Do you think there could be a happy medium, though? Do you guys really NEVER weigh?

I'm all for not weighing because it really makes me crazy and I don't believe it is a true reflection of progress or health/fitness....but at 220 pounds, I still need to lose weight. My concern is that if I NEVER weigh, I'll get complacent and stay at this weight (because it certainly feels better than when I weighed 300 pounds!).

I've been at a plateau for several months now and trying to mix things up to get moving downward again. Without at least a monthly scale check-in, will I really be able to tell if I'm losing again?

Just curious if any of you have dealt with this.

[Ladybugg]

Very interesting - Bumping up

[uclangel422]

Thanks for bumping this. I really needed to read something like this today. The scale can be so discouraging.

[KimmySue]

Good read - thanks

[Trishagrrl]

Thanks for this article! Very fun and informative