Ray,
I have a quick question that is kinda bugging me. Last Monday, I went with your program 100%. I started before the holidays, but had to travel, and its not easy to do away from home. So on Monday, I weight 283lbs. By Saturday, I dropped down to 273lbs. I’m like, this is great. On Sunday, I ate lunch at my mother in-laws…turkey, stuffing, etc. It was my ‘cheat’ meal. After that, I’ve been on my diet 100%. But on Monday, I weighed myself and I was 276. And today, I weighed 276.5.
I’m just a big confused on what is going on. I can afford to lose weight.,,muscle doesnt build that fast. I can say that I do feel good and I feel like I’m losing weight. I just don’t think I dropped water weight because I’ve been working out. Like I said, I’m wondering how one day 273 and then next pretty much is 276. Also, I weigh myself on two scales at the gym.
Should I not worry about it and keep truckin or do you think there is a problem?
Thanks
Marc
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Ray Answers
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That’s an awesome question Marc. One that I get a lot and I’d love to answer it for you.
Short answer: Keep on trucking. It’s all part of the process.
Long answer: You’re a big dude. Very small changes in how much you sweat, how many carbs you eat (yes, holding water along with them), resistance training causing muscle growth while your burning fat resulting in a 0 overall change in scale weight but significant difference in your silhouette.
If you were 140 pounds, shifts in a pound or two represent a larger overall percentage of your bodyweight. When you weight more, the fluctuations are more.
Keep going Marc, you are actually doing really well because it usually takes 2-3 weeks before most people’s bodies do any responding at all that is not just water weight.
P.S. I would also get a bodyfat tester from Walmart so that you can see if you are getting leaner from a Body Fat standpoint and forget about the traditional scale. It messes people up.
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Hi guys. Just happened upon your site. Looks good.
I have run against 2 issues that need clarification.
First ! I am a small dude. I have lost 45 lbs and now have stabilized at ~135lbs at age 54, and at 5′-8″ I’ve always been a hard gainer as far as mass is concerned (aside from fat). Now it is time to bulk up in the right manner. In the past I have been a freeweight enthusiast, and never been able to bulk up the arms. They looked like atrophied appendages on an othewise trim massed torso. I am looking for suggestions on that front.
Second ! My chest routine needs modification. I have a unique problem in that the left side bulks up less than the right side (strange, eh?) I am conscious of keeping the presses consistent . I even add an extra 10# to the Barbell on the left side to help balance out the difference. It doesn’t seem like it helps much.
The difference from left to right is noticeable (at least to me). Seems like the arms stay consistent with each other in measurement.
aardvark
I have a schedule problem. I want to follow the morning cardio training but I have one problem with this. My schedule runs like this I work 6 days out of the week and 4 days off. My schedule changes every time I go in 0530-1330, 4 days off then 1330-2130, 4 days off and then 2130-0530, 4 days off and it repeats. The question I have is if I still fast 12 hrs will it still work the same way?
Totally agree with Ray. I’m 5’11″ / 185 and relatively fit. By eating more carbs, I can “gain” 5 pounds in a day. Of course, the weight is mostly liquid and quickly goes away after a fast, even a carb only fast. Water weighs 8 1/3 pounds a gallon, and many foods are mostly water.
Keep track of weight trends over weeks or months and find a way to measure body fat. Though I weight myself daily, I only use it as a guidance tool and not a way to measure whether my program is working.