Thursday - November 18 weigh in

Up two pounds!

I went on four (one more than last week)
two hour walks, got in three dives Sunday,
yet came up two pounds?
I am tighter, girth going noticeably down.
But, up two pounds? I may begin to question
my scale after a few more weigh ins like this.
Haven't taken my vitamin packets, nor
have I drank near as much water this
week. Don't think I've eaten much
more than usual, but could be.

Tom

I'll have to wait until it's officially Thursday for me before I post my weight, but I thought I'd jump in here and leave you with some hard learned wisdom. The scale can be your best friend or worst enemy. It really depends on what you use it for. Remeber this - and this is VERY important - a scale can't tell you anything about your fitness or body composition. Period. The only thing a scale will tell you is how much mass makes up your 3 dimensional space on this planet - and how that mass is affected by 32 ft/s2 of gravitational acceleration

Use the scale as a general guideline, but don't go crazy over it. I want you to try something for me, actually, you'll end up doing for you, but anyway... Take a tape measure and measure around your chest (under your arms, across your nipples). Write that number down. Meaure your abdomen at your belly button. Measure your waist right above your hip bone. Measure your hips at their widest point - usually halfway down your backside for guys. Measure your thighs and your upper arms. Write all of these numbers down in a journal of some kind. THOSE are the numbers that in the long run, are going to be the most meaningful. Oh, and another number that will be worth noting. Your resting heart rate. Write down your beats per minute right when you wake up. If you get startled out of bed by your alarm clock, set it 5 minutes early and the lay in bed for 5 minutes to calm down again. For me, that's the number that means the most. When I started 7 months ago, I had a resting heart rate in the low 80's - sick, huh? As of this week it's been in the mid 50's. No matter how many pounds and inches I've lost so far, I'm most proud of that number. Why? Because that number took the most amount of hard work.

There are so many great and wonderful things that happen to your body when you start working out. You lose fat, you gain muscle, you gain fitness. The scale can tell you nothing about these things. So hold your head high and proud that for another week, you've put forth the effort that it takes to make yourself the most fit that you can be. What's 2 pounds? A litre of water weigh a little more than that. Maybe you've finally gotten yourself properly hydrated?

-Frank

Nice work Frank

Tom - keep at it, do what Frank says (even though I haven;t measured yet... ), stay the course, watch the progress. Over the courseof a week, 2 # either way is really a non event. It's where you are in 3, 4, 5 months tat will be the real judge

I may go diving instead of my swim tomorrow night, so I weighed tonight at the gym, 0 change, at 241. I'm happy (relatively, more so after reading frank's post) with that
Chris

Hi all I'd love to join. Overweight female who really doesn't want to disclose weight but will say that I am 5'8" and wear a size 14. Anyway, my goal is to were a size 10.

FYI, if you see you are gaining pounds (e.g. the 2lbs above), don't weigh yourself weekly, do your measurements. By walking, exercising, diving, etc you are building muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat, ergo you definitely could have weight gain, but still lose inches and body fat. Usually, the first couple of weeks is fluid loss with some initial fat loss, after that you may see a gain of a few pounds once you start exercising. Go by inches AND weight when trying to lose. My goal is to be size 10 by May of 2005. Right now I will not be able to dive due to upcoming surgery on a brain tumor until then. I will post measurements weekly. Hugs to all and best of luck!

Liz
www.goldenreefinn.com

Thanks folks!
I was just annoyed, been through it before years ago.
The measurement idea is a good one, I took some of them before I started when I ordered my BCD, I'll do the rest now.
And, yes I know, my whole concern was fitness when I joined, so it was going over the top to let myself be annoyed at the number ont he digital read-out of the impersonal hunk of stainless steel that looks back with red eyes.
*Losin' Lard.
*Gainin' fitness.

Tom

Tragedy of tragedies!!!! UUGGGG, UP 0.8 POUNDS!!!! HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN???? Just Kidding.

See how silly that looks Tom? Just take it one day at a time and you'll get there. It's just tough in the instant information, fast food, pre-processed, pre-packaged life that we live in that this stuff has to take so long. I'm going to guess that you didn't have some crazy sort of hormonal imbalance and gained this weight and lost that fitness in a few weeks, so it'll take some time to get it all back. Keep up the good work.

Chris, take it easy (this, coming from me). Your training log looks like the pepto-bismol isle at the grocery store, it could stand to look a bit jaundiced The pool will always be there, but the ocean is forever changing - GO DIVING! Besides, diving is good for a dark pink square, right?

Liz, feel free to join in at any time. No need to post your actual weight. I think most everyone posts pounds lost or gained. Just put a post in the one sticky thread about joining the thread. It's been ongoing for quite a while. Just pick Tuesday or Thursday for your weigh-in day. That's it. Surgery on a brain tumor??? How did you just "sneak" that into the conversation?? Judas Priest girl, forget diving for a little bit and just get better. You've probably already done this, but definitely go over your plan with your doctors, they probably have some good insight for you. That said, they probably won't tell you to not exercise, so go for it. Take care and welcome aboard.

-Frank

scuba-punk:

Tragedy of tragedies!!!! UUGGGG, UP 0.8 POUNDS!!!! HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN???? Just Kidding.

See how silly that looks Tom?
-Frank

Click to expand...

Is there some special reason you chose to call yourself a punk? ;-}
Yes, I admit to over-reacting. . . occassionally.
The one measurement, at the top of my hip bones, turns out that that is at my navel, so would the belt line be a better fit?
I got back some warm fuzzies when I measured, because I've tightened up a bit around the belly since I measured nine days ago.
That was seven climbs ago.
Speaking of cardio-vascular fitness, and I know you were, I'm regularly completing my course in a half hour less time and my breathing is much less taxed then it was two weeks ago. Again, things to get my mind right.
Thanks for getting my head back in the right place. I think that would be on top of my shoulders and above the rest of my body; which it wasn't when I made the first post this morning.
I used to have a type "A" personality;
I had thought I was cured.

Tom

Glad I could help That's the problem with gazing at the scale all the time, you end up looking down too much and walking into the trees while out on the trail. The waist measurement at your beltline is perfect. Everyone's torso is different, so where your belt is, that's where your "waist" is. As you've already noticed, healthy weight loss and fitness gain truly is an "endurance" event that can last from now until your last day on the planet. Success in that kind of endeavor has more to do with your mind than your body.

And yes, I can be a punk, but it's for your own good
-Frank

Yeah yeah yeah,,,,,,, this morning, I was walking around the house..... do I lug my scuba junk to work to go for a dive in Malibu? Or my swim stuff for masters? Getting home a little earlier and watching Survivor with my wife won out over diving.....So I am going swimming

I will go this weekend, just not sure which day....

And Liz, welcome. Take care of yourself first. Best of luck to you as well

Chris

Nomaster:

Up two pounds!

I went on four (one more than last week)
two hour walks, got in three dives Sunday,
yet came up two pounds?
I am tighter, girth going noticeably down.
But, up two pounds? I may begin to question
my scale after a few more weigh ins like this.
Haven't taken my vitamin packets, nor
have I drank near as much water this
week. Don't think I've eaten much
more than usual, but could be.

Tom

Click to expand...

Tom,

Sorry, I am jumping in on this late but don't worry about it. A couple of things to remember. Muscle weighs more than fat so if you are building muscle you can actually gain weight while losing fat which is perfectly o.k. Second, if you have not hydrated as well, your body can actually go into a water retention mode because it thinks it isn't going to get as much water. This can also result in a minor weight gain. So, without knowing more, I would say don't stress about it. The best gauge of your progress (IMHO) is how your clothes fit.