why is this happening?

I am almost down to my goal weight. 220. I was 229 last week. I weighed myself yesterday and I was 235! WTF! I have not changed my diet, I work out every day. My question is do you think I am gaining more muscle weight? I do see myself getting more defined but why the weight gain???

dont stress.muscle weighs more then fat! but muslce ALso burns more calories then fat, so in the end you will weigh less. but this happened to me tooo in the beggining of when i started working out ikept gaining weight but looked muscular. thats why i judge my progress by the way my pants fit,the way i look in the mirror, and measurements:)

I hate to do this, but muscle does not weigh more than fat - a pound of fat weighs the same as a pound of muscle, the fat just takes up more space!  Muscle is more dense.

NYGiantFan - give it a few days of eating well and weight yourself again, its probably just a normal fluctuation - maybe you had too much salt or something.

Do you have a digital scale... sometimes they go haywire.

Thaks guys. I just read that link on the scales. I am down from a size 42 to a 33, so I think I am doing ok. I wont let it get me fustrated. I am just going to keep doing what I am doing.

Yes its digital. Thinking of getting one that is non digital. What do you guys think the best one is?

katethegreat-no muscle does weigh more than fat...lol of course 1 lb of each weighs the same! but what you're getting at is right- muscle is more dense and compact than fat. but the same VOLUME of muscle weighs more than the same VOLUME of fat.

as to your question, you have the right attitude. the scale is not always a measure of progress. even if you have put a bit of weight back on, keep at it and it will come off. your weight fluctuates, that's normal.

I don't want to fight, but when someone says muscle weighs more than fat its just not true.  But you are right in terms of Volume, ie density.  The same amount of fat just takes up more space ie less dense.  Coming from a science background - its just not a correct argument.

HAHAHAHAHA HAK1031 im busting upppppppppppppp

hahahahaah "of course 1 lb of each weighs the same!"

thats really funny

haaaaaaa

k im done

I'm beginning to wonder if a lot of the panic I read if this forum is due to digital scales. My own experience was back 25 years ago. I was pregnant the first time and being SOOOOO careful to gain exactly the right amount of weight each month, went in for my checkup and had gained EIGHT pounds, when I should have gained like 2, then got lectured by my doctor.  ARGH!!!!

So we went right out and bought a doctor's scale. I have never regretted this purchase, and I believe it is one of the things that has helped me keep my weight in check all these years. It has few moving parts, really nothing that can go wrong in them. I can measure to 1/4-pound increments.  I believe you can buy them for under $200 now.... don't know about quality differences.

The problem could be with your scale.  An older mechanical spring scale can vary by a few pounds from day to day.

I like gadgets and recently purchased a Health-O-Meter digital scale (about $35) which is accurate to a tenth of a pound and also has a built in sensor that determines body fat percentage.

One of the first things I noticed was that my weight increases 1 or 2 pounds right after a shower.  At first I thought the scale was wonky, but the explantion is simple: your skin dehydates slightly overnight while you sleep. During that morning shower your skin can absorb over a pound of water in just a few minutes.

Food and drink consumed shows up right away, too.

So... what I do now is weight in first thing each day right after my morning coffee and BM (yeah, yeah, I can hear the teasing already...) but before showering or eating breakfast.

Anyway, that seems to yield the most consistent results for me.


- Dan

Hi, I'm new at this.  I have been working out for 4 weeks and I don't seem to be getting anywhere with this.  I work out 3 days a week (weight training) and I try to do cardio for at least 5 days for about 30 minutes.  I seem to be at a stand still.  I don't think I've truly lost 2 lbs in 4 weeks.  I don't really eat alot and I'm not eating a lot of junk food either.  I wish I could blame it on my scale but I think it is just going to be very  hard for me to lose.  I am 5'1 and 185-190.  What do you think???   

Ok I got on the scale this morning. 233. Down from 237 yesterday. Man that would be cool to loose 4 pounds a day!

I have the health-o-meter scale also, and I love how accurate it is to the tenth of a pound.  However, the body fat percentage is always going bonkers on me.  Apparently sometimes I'm 80% body fat, sometimes I'm 20%, lol.  This is without socks or clothes of course, cause with socks it doesn't work.  Anyway, I have to ignore that part.  Hopefully that's just my scale.  But I reccomend it for the weight accuracy.