Ooh the scale is bad....muscle mass vs fat mass?

So I weigh myself at the gym today (they have those weight ones like the doctor's offices have, not the digital ones) and it shows I've gained 8lbs. So before I start freaking out too much, I know some of that weight is muscle. I had previously weighed in in May when I signed up with a personal trainer and was 132 with a body fat of 15.4%. I haven't re-done the body fat percentage yet but I sure don't like what that scale says. Granted, when I signed up with trainer guy I said I wanted to build muscle and not necessarily lose weight so we've been concentrating a lot on weights and it definitely shows. But.....any ideas on how much I can attribute the weight gain to muscle and how much to sometimes poor eating habits?

I had gotten down to 132 via a breakup (gotta love ending relationships! LOL) and now I'm back at what is regular for me before starting the gym. Sigh. Now I don't want to re-weigh and re-do all the measurements trainer guy took when I first signed up! I don't know what I'll do if they are bigger numbers where they shouldn't be.

So....ideas? Suggestions? Make me feel better about the number? ;-)

well - there are a few things that i can suggest... first off, i always find it a bad idea to weigh myself on two different scales, and won't do so unless i'm away from my own for a long period of time, because i have yet to find two scales that weigh exactly the same! but of course, if you only used that scale....?!

then there is also the factor of water retention, that time of month etc that could be the reason for your increase in weight - i had this very disturbing exerience yesterday: i had weighed in the day before and yesterday felt really bloated, stepped on the scale and had gained 2 pounds! in 24 hours!! today i'm 1 pound down again!

I suggest that you weigh yourself once a week, this way you can keep track and do the necessary adjustments before it feels insurmountable - also, do measurements on your body to see the progress that way.

and if you aren't looking to gain weight, perhaps you could readjust your cal intake, since you will lose weight no matter what you do, as long as you keep a 500 cal deficit a day.

good luck :-)

Get your measurements re-taken. One pound of muscle is 1/4 the size of 1 lb of fat...fat percentage and measurements are a more accurate measurement of fat loss....way better than the scale!

So yeah...don't freak...yet. :-)