Get Fit Inside and Out With Tina and Bryun

It’s been a couple of days since I posted an update and I have to say, I LOVE not weighing in every morning. While it’s great for information (like on The Plan), it can definitely play tricks on your mind. Since finishing the plan, I have vowed to stay off of the scale any more than once a week (at the most!) It’s been a relief, especially while doing weight training.

When most people add a new workout to their routine, whether that routine consisted of heavy training or no training at all, it will come as a shock to your body. Weight training is especially traumatic to your body since it causes micro-tears in the muscle fibers. This is a good thing and the intention of weight training because those micro-tears actually for the body to repair the muscle, making it stronger and bigger. It becomes more able to withstand the trauma of heavy weights. This is also why you must increase your weights over time, usually fairly quickly at first and slower as your workouts continue. But, when these micro-tears occur, the body responds by flooding the area with fluid to help with repair. That fluid is going to show up on the scale every time.

I often get the question: “Why did I gain weight in my second week when I lost so much my first week?” The first week is a shock to your body and it responds immediately by flushing water weight. Most often, people follow their diet plan exactly. In most cases this means adding significantly better quality food than they have been eating and new workouts. By the end of the first week and beginning of week two, your body is beginning to adapt to your new plan by repairing the trauma and holding on to water. When this weight shows up on the scale, people assume the plan/workout/diet/etc doesn’t work and they give it up. In fact, it’s working exactly as it should. Just because you see the number on the scale rise one week, doesn’t mean it isn’t working or you aren’t losing fat. In fact, you could be losing fat but holding water and show a gain on the scale.

It’s temporary but disheartening. So my solution to keep myself focused on the positive, is to stay away from the scale entirely.

I can SEE the changes happening, feel my muscles working. I focus on how I FEEL rather than a number. I don’t take measurements often because those can take a while to show, a few weeks at least. It’s the same with body fat percentage, but when I feel some soreness in my muscles and I KNOW I’m eating right and exercising, staying the course becomes much easier when I focus on having fun, enjoying the changes I’m creating and watching to see my muscles change shape. I glance at my shoulders as I’m doing pushups, thrilling to the sight of the dip in the top, or the curve of the muscle by my biceps. I enjoy the fact that I can get through a tough workout with taking a break, when last week I took two, or how I can do a jump kick this week and couldn’t when I started. Or even something as simple as doing one more sit-up than I could during the last workout. Each of those small victories is much sweeter when I don’t base my success on a variable that changes like the wind, for as many reasons as one can imagine.

Your number on the scale is based on your entire body: water, fluids (like blood volume), muscle mass, fat and bone. To think that the amount of blood at any given time won’t vary, or how much water you retain, or how much that chicken salad you just ate adds would be remiss, but we forget. We forget that workout we did yesterday if we don’t feel sore but your body remembers and is holding on to water, just in case you decide to do it again. We didn’t realize how much sodium we had in that diet soda and how much water we are retaining because of it. We assume that we are “building muscle” and since “muscle weighs as much as fat” that is why the scale didn’t change.

By the way, 1 lb of muscle weighs the SAME as 1 lb of fat but takes up MUCH less space (just a pet peeve of mine to hear people say that!) but it takes quite a while of weight lifting to add muscle. Most people don’t gain even 4 lbs of muscle in a month. Most of the time, the non-movement of the scale (when eating right and exercising) is due to excess fluids. So what can you do about it?

*Drink lots of water! About ½ oz per 1 lb of body weight (eg. 200 lb man drinks 100 oz water) + 8 oz for every 30 min of exercise. That will give your body the fluid it needs to flush out fat burned, repair muscles, perform bodily functions and filter out toxins (like excess sodium) from your body.

*Avoid excess sodium. Try using Himalayan Salt or sea salt instead of iodized salt as these will give your body the minerals it needs rather than stripping them. Read labels, there is sodium in places you wouldn’t expect.

*Watch alcohol consumption. Alcohol causes water retention, albeit temporary. Drink an extra 8 oz of water for each alcoholic drink you consume.

*Sweat. Whether in a sauna, hot shower, or cardio workout, sweating is a great way to rid the body of extra water and keep it from retaining water it doesn’t need. It helps the body flush toxins through the skin and will keep your skin clear and glowing. But be smart and make sure you are replenishing fluids lost with pure water…again, 8 oz for every 30 min.

What are some of the ways you cope with the scale? Let’s hear about them…