I realize that I’m about to burst everyone’s bubbles here, and I swear I’m not looking to get anyone down. But there is a myth amongst us, and I cannot let it go any longer. You need to know that what you have been told is incorrect, so that you can be better educated in your weight loss journeys.
Now, I know you’re all on the edges of your seats wondering what I’m talking about, huh? I know you are. I can see you. (Didn’t you know that we here can see you through your monitors? Scary, huh?) I’ll keep you on the edges of your seats no longer.
We’ve all been told that muscle weighs more than fat, right? Well, friends., I hate to tell you, but it isn’t true. It is a myth.
Let’s think about this:
Which weighs more? 25 lbs of bricks or 25 lbs of socks? They weigh the same, right?
It’s the same with muscle vs. fat. Muscle doesn’t weigh more than fat, it is just more dense and takes up less space than fat. That’s why when we work out and gain muscle, we get smaller.
So, now you’re asking, then why if when I do everything right, some weeks I gain weight? It could be water weight. In fact, most likely, it’s water weight. Our body weights fluctuate from day to day. That’s why all of you folks that weigh every day will notice 3-5 lbs in both directions every day. Water weight can also come from something as simple as eating food with more sodium than you’re used to. I don’t eat a lot of sodium, so when I do eat something with more sodium, like, ahem, Mexican food, I hold onto that sodium. And the scales will show it the next day.
Also, our bodies sometimes just need a break. Losing a significant amount of weight is a real shock to our bodies and sometimes, our bodies just need a breather. They will do this by holding onto weight or even gaining weight one week. They just need to take a moment to realize that what we’re doing to them isn’t a bad thing before they go back into loss mode.
What we have to do when we have those weeks we gain is just take a look at everything we’ve done that week. You may find that you’ll say, “oh…I did have _____ yesterday, and that may be it.” And if not, then you just have to be patient and wait it out. If the gain or no loss continues while doing everything right, then you know you have to look further into the situation.
I don’t want you to be discouraged by this. Exercise is still an essential key to weight loss. It help us gain muscle which helps speed our metabolisms up, which in turn helps us lose weight. So, gaining muscle is still a very good thing. I want you to gain muscle. By gaining muscle, you WILL lose weight. You will get leaner, and you will shrink. (Isn’t what what we’re all here for anyway?)
Now, as much as you hate to do it….pick up that myth, carry it to your trash can, and throw it away.
Sources:
A 2 Z of Health, Beauty, and Fitness
Personal Body Precision (A lot of other good myths on this one too!)
Weight Watchers
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