I hope I can get an answer here. I have been LCing for 24 days now. I have lost inches, and my clothes fit differently, but the scale has not budged.

I did LC last year, and had a huge success on it. The weight came off consistently and easily, and best of all, the results started nearly right away. This time is not like that.

My questions are:

If I am continually loosing inches, is this an indication that I am on the right track and need to change nothing ?

If I continue to loose inches, will the scale eventually move if I continue to do the same thing as I am now?

Why is this time different. My body is not cooperating the way it did last year. Is this a common occurance for "repeat LCers"?

I am beginning to get discouraged, and would appreciate any feedback on these questions.

Thanks,

Elizabeth2

When I first started Induction, I lost a about 8 pounds. Once I moved into OWL, I continued to lose for about another month. Then after being in OWL since the begining of Feb. I was gaining "weight" according to the scale. But I was losing inches.

I was a bit irritated because like a lot of people I'd like the scale to reflect my losses but I learned to appreciate all that muscle does for us LCer's. It helps us burn even more calories!

So what you are probably experiencing is an increase in muscle mass, a bit of water retention (which as long as you're drinking enough water to keep you in the bathroom every hour, you're ok) and you probably are still losing fat but the muscle mass and water is causing the scale to stay the same (or in my case, go up).

Eventually, your body will shed enough fat again for the scale to budge. My scale finally went back down after I "put on" 5 pounds (of water & muscle). Because we are eating a delicious diet that encourages muscle growth, we have to expect some muscle to grow!

Nat posted a picture of 5 pounds of fat vs muscle and the most obvious thing is the difference in its volume. The muscle looks half the size of the fat.

Annie G.

I suspect right now your holding onto some water, maybe alot of water, Check your eating, Are you eating enough? and drinking enough?

I was stalled and thought I was not losing weight, I was not but I also cut back to one meal a day...so I was not eating enough.

Also check the other posts for known stallers like aspertame, and dairy products.

Don't get discouraged, as long as your losing inches and it is NOT muscle mass your doing fine.

Elizabeth, congrats. You're doing just fine. Losing inches is to be desired. Losing inches w/o losing scale weight is a sign of increased lean muscle mass. Annie is right; muscle takes up much less space than fat; yet one lb of each, is one lb of each as far as the scale is concerned

Have a look here:

Weight loss vs. inches loss

The volume of fat vs. the volume of muscle

Nat

Many people seem to experience this when they leave low-carb then come back. It's a matter of getting your body to trust what you're doing to it again.

The answers may lie within these links:

So, You Think You're a Turtle?

Yo-yo Dieting: The Side Effects

The Wrong Way to do Atkins

Karen

Hi, Elizabeth....

You should check out this thread...I think it'll answer your questions...

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...&threadid=40895

BTW, my scale was *definitely* wrong ....my weight turned out to be the same as the previous day. Wishful thinking, for sure!!!!

Take care!!