Lily's Lyrical Lollop. Destination: Land's End...

[coralprincess]

So - you been playing that game, Jo? If not, why not? Too busy Spangling, huh?

I've got a cold. Whinge. :cry: Whine. Thanks DS. I kind of hoped my new healthy diet would help ward off bugs - I hardly ever had any bugs while on Cambridge - but alas, this one must be a tough beastie.

Never mind. 'Tis only a cold. I've been drinking lots of fluids like a good girl to flush it all out. Actually, there's been one hell of a lot of flushing today... Missy Jo, you know you sent up that prayer-y type thing that I'd lose 4 pounds? I think my body decided that today would be the day it let go of all the cr*p. Quite literally.

TMI, right? LOL, sorry.

I ache like crazy after all my cleaning exercise yesterday! But it feels so good to have actually achieved something for once.

Hope y'all have had a good day. May you all have sweet n' slimming dreams!

Oh to be regular Not that I'm complaining much, 810 is much better in that department than SS+!

Hope you feel better soon hon xx

 

[Kf12g10]

awww i have a cold too lily! we can't even have lemsips and i'm smack bang in the middle of my exams which is making it a hundred times worse, I've had 2 today and got 1 tomorrow - i've had some tofu today (with a tiny bit of chopped toms, I know not strictly on the list but i'm rule bending!!) and a pack muffin - banana yum yum, drinking lots too but had to go for a wee twice today in an exam.. slightly embarrassing!!

stilll the more you drink the more you shrink! even with a cold hopefully, altho with my nibbling this week I'd be quite happy to have stayed the same - i'll get right on it next week with no exams and (hopefully) no cold!!!

get well soon lily!

 

[Lily]

Well, I got on the scales this morning with hope in my heart...



...to discover I was up a pound. FFS. :d'oh:

Never mind. It is TOTM after all. And I have got a cold and I'm still a bit achey, so I must be retaining water like nobody's business. At least, that's what I've decided.

I was telling my OH earlier that I'm trying to view the weigh ins as a science experiment. Not sure if OH was convinced, mind. :8855: But you see, I'm trying to look at it as doing everyone a public service - if you swap to a different diet, how long does it take before you start losing weight again? (answer, you don't wanna know - apparently it's ages )

Ho hum. My body is much happier having all this healthy nutritious food put into it. I'm much happier. I seem to have got my confidence back. My body shape is changing even if the scales aren't shifting - which would suggest that I'm losing fat even if it isn't showing up at the scales. And right now, I feel as though I'll be able to eat this way forever. So all of that's pretty cool, right? :happy096:

And maybe there's just something wrong with the gravitational force in my kitchen. Maybe if I weighed myself in someone else's kitchen, I'd be down half a stone...

 

[MinnieMel]

Hi Lily,

I think you would weigh less if you weighed in someone else's kitchen (especially if they lived on the moon).

Mel

 

[Lily]

Hi Lily,

I think you would weigh less if you weighed in someone else's kitchen (especially if they lived on the moon).

Mel

Yes!! That's where I've been going wrong!

 

[*Shanny*]

Lily I really enjoyed reading your last post.. Makes me smile that you are feeling happier with your new life style.. Go you.!

Thanx for support I'd be lost without you xx

 

[MissyJo]

Lily I really enjoyed reading your last post.. Makes me smile that you are feeling happier with your new life style.. Go you.!

Thanx for support I'd be lost without you xx

I'd be lost too....wandering aimlessly clutching an empty MAM tub and mumbling gently.

 

[MissyJo]

So - you been playing that game, Jo? If not, why not?

Never mind. 'Tis only a cold. I've been drinking lots of fluids like a good girl to flush it all out. Actually, there's been one hell of a lot of flushing today... Missy Jo, you know you sent up that prayer-y type thing that I'd lose 4 pounds? I think my body decided that today would be the day it let go of all the cr*p. Quite literally.

TMI, right? LOL, sorry.

Hope y'all have had a good day. May you all have sweet n' slimming dreams!

Heheh.....I got similar pay back today and it seems Carla got some moon dust too.....though she doesn't want to talk about what happened 'in there'. Cough.

Hows the balance sheet today?? Xxx

 

[MissyJo]

Well, I got on the scales this morning with hope in my heart......to discover I was up a pound. FFS. :d'oh:

Never mind. It is TOTM after all. And I have got a cold and I'm still a bit achey, so I must be retaining water like nobody's business. At least, that's what I've decided.But you see, I'm trying to look at it as doing everyone a public service - if you swap to a different diet, how long does it take before you start losing weight again? (answer, you don't wanna know - apparently it's ages... I'm much happier. I seem to have got my confidence back. My body shape is changing even if the scales aren't shifting - which would suggest that I'm losing fat even if it isn't showing up at the scales. now, I feel as though I'll be able to eat this way forever. So all of that's pretty cool, right?
And maybe there's just something wrong with the gravitational force in my kitchen

Have had to do stupid edity thing again to get a comment under....

Lily you know your shape is changing and you know body is feeling great. Because the Earth's forces are all wrong I've asked NASA to get up both up there to button moon so that scale centred justice will be done.

You sound so positive....love it. Bodies eh? Oddities xx

 

[coralprincess]

Lily, don't worry about the scales, scales are stupid, you said it yourself

Mine jumped up after cycling to & from work yesterday. I was 2lb heavier & the only thing I did differently to every other day for the last 8 weeks was exercise!

See? Stupid scales. ;p

If you feel better, and happy, and you've been eating well the results have to follow xxx

 

[Kf12g10]

How are you feeling today Lily? My cold is disappearing hope yours is too xx

 

[Lily]

Lily I really enjoyed reading your last post.. Makes me smile that you are feeling happier with your new life style.. Go you.!

Thanx for support I'd be lost without you xx

I am happier - much happier - thanks Shanny. I feel 'normal' again (which is hilarious, cos there's nothing 'normal' about me )

I'd be lost too....wandering aimlessly clutching an empty MAM tub and mumbling gently.

That was you? I thought it might be! Your MAM tub's empty? I've got three quarters of a pot I could send you, LOL. That's if I was allowed, which I know I'm not (before anyone comes and tells me off!).

Heheh.....I got similar pay back today and it seems Carla got some moon dust too.....though she doesn't want to talk about what happened 'in there'. Cough.

Hows the balance sheet today?? Xxx

Still 14st 4lbs. :sigh: Can't facing changing my stats back to 200lbs though so it can stay at 199lbs. Grrr. I have felt pretty icky today, though. I think it might be a stage of this weird cold I've got.

Have had to do stupid edity thing again to get a comment under....

Lily you know your shape is changing and you know body is feeling great. Because the Earth's forces are all wrong I've asked NASA to get up both up there to button moon so that scale centred justice will be done.

You sound so positive....love it. Bodies eh? Oddities xx

Thanks babe. I just have to wait until the moon's in Uranus then?

Lily, don't worry about the scales, scales are stupid, you said it yourself

Mine jumped up after cycling to & from work yesterday. I was 2lb heavier & the only thing I did differently to every other day for the last 8 weeks was exercise!

See? Stupid scales. ;p

If you feel better, and happy, and you've been eating well the results have to follow xxx

I know. I know. Grrrr. Stooopid scales.

How are you feeling today Lily? My cold is disappearing hope yours is too xx

It's much better, thank you for asking. Sore throat's all gone and I'm hardly snotty at all, but I've felt a bit icky and headachey today. Luckily I've got tomorrow off work, so hopefully I'll be fighting fit by the weekend. Glad you're feeling better too.

 

[Lily]

I'll admit that I spotted a link to the words in this article on another thread here on Minimins recently. I first read this years ago when I was doing Atkins, but was never too sure who'd posted the original (cos I like to credit the author where I can). But it looks like the original author was a personal trainer called Renee Cloe and it was originally posted on this website (probably before 2002): http://www.primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/weight/scalelies.htm though it looks like it's been edited down some more since the version that was posted on one of the Atkins boards in 2005: http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard....arb-dieting-faqs/6737-why-scales-can-lie.html

So, for all of you who've ever wondered why the scales lie, fill your water bottles, put your feet up, and settle down for a bit of a read...

WHY THE SCALES CAN LIE:

We've been told over and over again that daily weighing is unnecessary, yet many of us can't resist peeking at that number every morning. If you just can't bring yourself to toss the scale in the trash, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the factors that influence its readings. From water retention to glycogen storage and changes in lean body mass, daily weight fluctuations are normal. They are not indicators of your success or failure. Once you understand how these mechanisms work, you can free yourself from the daily battle with the bathroom scale.

Water makes up about 60% of total body mass. Normal fluctuations in the body's water content can send scale-watchers into a tailspin if they don't understand what's happening. Two factors influencing water retention are water consumption and salt intake. Strange as it sounds, the less water you drink, the more of it your body retains. If you are even slightly dehydrated your body will hang onto its water supplies with a vengeance, possibly causing the number on the scale to inch upward. The solution is to drink plenty of water.

A biologist at Berkeley shared something very revealing on the low-carb BBS system about 4 years ago that helps us all through the erratic weight fluctuations you invariably encounter:

"Fat cells are resilient, stubborn little creatures that do not want to give up their actual cell volume. Over a period of weeks, maybe months of "proper dieting", each of your fat cells may have actually lost a good percentage of the actual fat contained in those cells. But the fat cells themselves, stubborn little guys, replace that lost fat with water to retain their size. That is, instead of shrinking to match the reduced amount of fat in the cell, they stay the same size! Result - you weigh the same, look the same, maybe even gained some scale weight, even though you have actually lost some serious fat."

This is what we have been telling folks. You lose inches but not pounds because your body plumps the fat cells. I tell them it is a complicated biochemical process that your body replaces the fat molecules with water and fluids until you exceed your bodies predetermined fluid level. Then your body will release a chemical that releases all this stored water and you get a sudden overnight loss of several pounds. Then the cycle starts over again with inches gone and the scales lag behind.

The good news is that this water replacement is temporary. It's a defensive measure to keep your body from changing too rapidly. It allows the fat cell to counter the rapid change in cell composition, allowing for a slow, gradual reduction in cell size. The problem is, most people are frustrated with their apparent lack of success, assume they have lost nothing, and stop dieting. However, if you give those fat cells some time, like 4-6 months, and ignore the scale weight fluctuations, your real weight/shape will slowly begin to show.

Excess salt (sodium) can also play a big role in water retention. A single teaspoon of salt contains over 2,000 mg of sodium. Generally, we should only eat between 1,000 and 3,000 mg of sodium a day, so it s easy to go overboard. Sodium is a sneaky substance. You would expect it to be most highly concentrated in salty chips, nuts, and crackers. However, a food doesn t have to taste salty to be loaded with sodium. A half cup of instant pudding actually contains nearly four times as much sodium as an ounce of salted nuts, 460 mg in the pudding versus 123 mg in the nuts. The more highly processed a food is, the more likely it is to have a high sodium content. That's why, when it comes to eating, it's wise to stick mainly to the basics: fruits, vegetables, lean meat, beans, and whole grains. Be sure to read the labels on canned foods, boxed mixes, and frozen dinners.

Women may also retain several pounds of water prior to menstruation. This is very common and the weight will likely disappear as quickly as it arrives. Pre-menstrual water-weight gain can be minimized by drinking plenty of water, maintaining an exercise program, and keeping high-sodium processed foods to a minimum.

Another factor that can influence the scale is glycogen. Think of glycogen as a fuel tank full of stored carbohydrate. Some glycogen is stored in the liver and some is stored the muscles themselves. This energy reserve weighs more than a pound and it's packaged with 3-4 pounds of water when it s stored. Your glycogen supply will shrink during the day if you fail to take in enough carbohydrates. As the glycogen supply shrinks you will experience a small imperceptible increase in appetite and your body will restore this fuel reserve along with its associated water. It s normal to experience glycogen and water weight shifts of up to 2 pounds per day even with no changes in your calorie intake or activity level. These fluctuations have nothing to do with fat loss, although they can make for some unnecessarily dramatic weigh-ins if you re prone to obsessing over the number on the scale.

Otherwise rational people also tend to forget about the actual weight of the food they eat. For this reason, it s wise to weigh yourself first thing in the morning before you've had anything to eat or drink. Swallowing a bunch of food before you step on the scale is no different than putting a bunch of rocks in your pocket. The 5 pounds that you gain right after a huge dinner is not fat. It's the actual weight of everything you've had to eat and drink. The added weight of the meal will be gone several hours later when you ve finished digesting it.

Exercise physiologists tell us that in order to store one pound of fat, you need to eat 3,500 calories more than your body is able to burn. In other words, to actually store the above dinner as 5 pounds of fat, it would have to contain a whopping 17,500 calories. This is not likely, in fact it's not humanly possible. So when the scale goes up 3 or 4 pounds overnight, rest easy, it s likely to be water, glycogen, and the weight of your dinner. Keep in mind that the 3,500 calorie rule works in reverse also. In order to lose one pound of fat you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in. Generally, it's only possible to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week. When you follow a very low calorie diet that causes your weight to drop 10 pounds in 7 days, it's physically impossible for all of that to be fat. What you're really losing is water, glycogen, and muscle.

This brings us to the scale's sneakiest attribute. It doesn't just weigh fat. It weighs muscle, bone, water, internal organs and all. When you lose "weight," that doesn t necessarily mean that you've lost fat. In fact, the scale has no way of telling you what you've lost (or gained). Losing muscle is nothing to celebrate. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you have the more calories your body burns, even when you're just sitting around. That's one reason why a fit, active person is able to eat considerably more food than the dieter who is unwittingly destroying muscle tissue.

Robin Landis, author of "Body Fueling," compares fat and muscles to feathers and gold. One pound of fat is like a big fluffy, lumpy bunch of feathers, and one pound of muscle is small and valuable like a piece of gold. Obviously, you want to lose the dumpy, bulky feathers and keep the sleek beautiful gold. The problem with the scale is that it doesn't differentiate between the two. It can't tell you how much of your total body weight is lean tissue and how much is fat. There are several other measuring techniques that can accomplish this, although they vary in convenience, accuracy, and cost. Skin-fold calipers pinch and measure fat folds at various locations on the body, hydrostatic (or underwater) weighing involves exhaling all of the air from your lungs before being lowered into a tank of water, and bioelectrical impedance measures the degree to which your body fat impedes a mild electrical current.

If the thought of being pinched, dunked, or gently zapped just doesn't appeal to you, don't worry. The best measurement tool of all turns out to be your very own eyes. How do you look? How do you feel? How do your clothes fit? Are your rings looser? Do your muscles feel firmer? These are the true measurements of success. If you are exercising and eating right, don't be discouraged by a small gain on the scale. Fluctuations are perfectly normal. Expect them to happen and take them in your stride. It's a matter of mind over scale.

by Renee Cloe,
ACE Certified Personal Trainer





Interesting stuff, eh? What's even more interesting is the number of people who've tried to pass this article off as their own... I had to do quite a bit of digging to find this.

 

[Kf12g10]

As usual a wonderful article that I live to read Lily

 

[bettiesrevenge]

Well I never. Of course people like to plagurise wise words. As a person who is obsessed with scales at the moment and had over a week on SS, my scales have stuck in the last two days.

The most you could probably burn in real fat in cambridge is then about what...for an average metabolically rubbish person with a BMR of 1300. Hmm I am going to work this one out. SS is roughly 415 a day right, so thats 885 deficit calories a day. 6195 a week, so thats actually only 2lbs of fat in the real world. Which could explain why people who excercise dont tend to lose as much, because its possibly 2lbs of fat, 1lb of muscle and 1lb of water which accounts for the average 4lb a week loss.

Hardly seems like much does it?

 

[coralprincess]

Lily you're my saviour once again. Posting that has come at the perfect time for me, thankyou xx

 

[Lily]

Well I never. Of course people like to plagurise wise words. As a person who is obsessed with scales at the moment and had over a week on SS, my scales have stuck in the last two days.

The most you could probably burn in real fat in cambridge is then about what...for an average metabolically rubbish person with a BMR of 1300. Hmm I am going to work this one out. SS is roughly 415 a day right, so thats 885 deficit calories a day. 6195 a week, so thats actually only 2lbs of fat in the real world. Which could explain why people who excercise dont tend to lose as much, because its possibly 2lbs of fat, 1lb of muscle and 1lb of water which accounts for the average 4lb a week loss.

Hardly seems like much does it?

Panic not - no one's that metabolically rubbish. Even my BMR's higher than that, and I'm 41 years old and a sedentary office worker. Mine's about 2,100-ish. Edited to say - no it isn't - it's 1620.

2,100 is my estimated daily calorie requirement to maintain weight. See post 406.

I worked out once that the most I could expect to lose per week on SS was 3 pounds a week. And of course what actually happens is that you lose 3 pounds one week, 4 pounds the next, 2 pounds the next week, then 5 pounds, then 1 pound... You get the picture. An average of 3 pounds a week.

You can't build muscle that fast (and theoretically you can't build muscle at all on SS - though some folks seem to - maybe their bodies borrow it from other places where you can't see, like the stomach). The people who exercise typically don't see big losses every week because exercising inflames joints and muscles (not in a bad way - that's just how it works) which means they retain more water - and scales are stupid and can't tell that you've lost fat but retained water.

Oh, and the scales sticking for 2 days will happen a lot once you get past week 3. In fact, I think my record on SS for the scales sticking even though I was doing SS 100% was 6 days. But then you'll get a sudden drop of 2 pounds overnight, followed by another pound the next night. It all evens out in the end.

 

[bettiesrevenge]

Panic not - no one's that metabolically rubbish. Even my BMR's higher than that, and I'm 41 years old and a sedentary office worker. Mine's about 2,100-ish. I worked out once that the most I could expect to lose per week on SS was 3 pounds a week. And of course what actually happens is that you lose 3 pounds one week, 4 pounds the next, 2 pounds the next week, then 5 pounds, then 1 pound... You get the picture. An average of 3 pounds a week.

You can't build muscle that fast (and theoretically you can't build muscle at all on SS - though some folks seem to - maybe their bodies borrow it from other places where you can't see, like the stomach). The people who exercise typically don't see big losses every week because exercising inflames joints and muscles (not in a bad way - that's just how it works) which means they retain more water - and scales are stupid and can't tell that you've lost fat but retained water.

Oh, and the scales sticking for 2 days will happen a lot once you get past week 3. In fact, I think my record on SS for the scales sticking even though I was doing SS 100% was 6 days. But then you'll get a sudden drop of 2 pounds overnight, followed by another pound the next night. It all evens out in the end.

I can sleep easy now!

When I did SS the first time round, I did a full week of ss staying the same, it was so cruel, but yeah true to form then a few days later it would just drop off.

Is your BMR really that high...I am calling my CDC, she has this jazzy scales that give you a print out and it said mine was 1300!!! I must be virtually dead!!!!

 

[Lily]

Well, strictly speaking, 2,100 isn't my BMR - it's my daily calorific requirement at my current weight and level of activity.

I quite like this site: Estimated Calorie Requirements - go see what your calorific requirements actually are. I figure I'm so sedentary I put in 12 hours resting and 12 hours very light activity - but I probably am a bit more active than that really.

 

[JeFeDe]

I'm banking on that Math, Lily! 3/week will get me to my goal in time