on weight loss subject

Question
-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
My father swears that in the past 4 weeks after our Christmas feast that my stomach is smaller.  I get on the treadmill or home elliptal machine about 4 times a week for at least 20 minutes a day.  The darned scale says that I am bigger.   The scale was fixed by my father.  He says muscle weighs more than fat and that is a fact.  Is it?  Also, I am sure that my routine will pay off but it seems it has been long enough.  This discrepancy seems to describe the difference of mass vs. lbs.  Is this theory correct?

Answer -
Hello Lisa,
Great question. Your father is right to an extent. Muscle is denser than fat. So relatively speaking a small amount of muscle can weigh the same as a visually larger portion of fat. However, a pound is a pound regardless. So, yes you could be losing fat while gaining muscle.
However, that is unlikely by doing just cardio activity. Resistance training is key in building muscle. Which is what we ALL want, even women, or the elderly. Muscle is where fat is burned. Increase muscle and you boost metabolism and burn more fat.
So, I wouldn't get too fixated on the scale #. Here's a page out of my new book I'm writing, that will explain it further.

"Chapter 11 Scales and Tales

  It's so ingrained in our brain that we should rely on the scale to track our progress. It's been said the scale never lies. That's not quite true, as it doesn't tell the whole story either. Realize now, that judging your progress on the scale is a sure fire way to have feelings of doubt.
  Let's go on a field trip to the moon. We hop in our rocket ship, and blast off! We're on the moon with scale in hand. You get out and weigh yourself. It's a pretty good bet that you weigh less than you did while at home. Do you look any different? Do your clothes fit better? Surely not, so why is this? The scale measures our weight under gravity. It can't distinguish between water, fat, or muscle weight.
  Why is the scale a bad choice to track progress? When you follow a typical diet you lose weight in the beginning. Sometimes even up to 10lbs in a week. Is that fat? Nope, what you've lost and what the scale neglected to show was that you lost mostly water weight, and even some muscle. Why is that important? Water loss is temporary and losing muscle will slow your metabolism.
  In the short-term the scale is your friend but what about the long-term when you've sacrificed muscle and slowed your metabolism. Thus, this is when people usually gain back more weight than they've lost. When you starting eating supportively, you actually store more fuel (glycogen) for your muscles. This glycogen holds water. So, when you begin to eat as I suggest, there may not be any weight loss on the scale at first, even though you're losing fat. The scale might even increase as you hold on to more water than fat you're losing. This is a good thing though. When you begin resistance training you build muscle. Since you're adding muscle mass, remember this is a good thing since you increase your metabolism, the scale might not budge as much as you'd like.    
  As you can see the scale doesn't really give a good reflection of your progress. In fact, when eating right and exercising correctly the scale might even show that you're not making any progress, yet you start to look and feel better. This is why I suggest for people to use the mirror and the way their clothes fit as a better judge of progress over a scale. Again, remember the scale can't distinguish if you're losing water, fat, or muscle."

Hope that was of some help to you.

If you have further questions just ask.

Also, I put out a FREE monthly email newsletter keeping people up to date on nutrition and exercise. If you'd like to join just email me [email protected]

To Your Success!
Mark Shields
Hey Mark!  The way you explained that is some way I can really understand.  What about this book?  Is it out?  Put me on your mailing list.

Answer
Hello Lisa,
It will be completed and shipping Tuesday. It's more of an entire package, consisting of a book, 2 audio CDs on cardio and nutrition, as well as a DVD for exercises. I'm offering a special pre-order rate for any that purchase before Tuesday. Normally, the entire package will sell for $137, but for the pre-order you only pay $67.
It comes with a 100% Money back guarantee so if for any reason you're not satisfied with it, just send it back.

I'll also add you to the email list, if you could just email me at [email protected] with your email address so I know where to send the email.

1. Prev:Is this diet safe?
2. Next:alcohol and weight gain