Oops, I did it again.
However, rather than weep in despair over the weight gain, I’ve decided to step back and take a more nuanced look at what is happening to my body.
First, about an hour after weighing myself this morning (I was up 0.6 pounds) I had to answer the call of nature, which would have effectively meant I had no weight gain today and would have been up 1.6 pounds for the month, which is equivalent to about two days of average weight drops. Not a big deal.
Second, I noted that for the month, my weight only went down on two days around the midway point and both drops were minimal, rounding errors.
Third, the Garmin scale measures other stats, and I’ve added several below:
- Skeletal Muscle Mass. This is the muscle you can build through exercise.
- Body water. This is when you feel bloated because you drank at the fountain for five minutes solid after a run.
Both of these result in weight gain–one more permanent, in the form of muscle growth, the other more variable, as your hydration level rises and dips.
And looking at all the stats, I see something interesting for this month:
- My body fat percentage is unchanged, even as my weight increased
- My muscle mass has improved slightly, by 0.3%
- Body water is unchanged (with a higher weight, it also counts for less)
In all, it seems I am not losing much fat (almost entirely due to diet), but am also building muscle (due to running), with the net result of weight gain, which is mostly due to positive changes.
It still means I need to change up my diet to lose more fat, because it’s still too high. So in November, no snacking at all, save what I may have left over from this month, then nothing after (I don’t have vast stores of snacks, so I should deplete them in a few days at most). Then we’ll see if I can actually bring that pesky body fat number down.
I remain, as always, donut-free.
Stats:
Weight: January 1, 2023: 164.2 pounds Current: 168.8 pounds Year to date: Up 4.6 pounds October 1: 166.2 pounds October 31: 168.8 pounds (up 2.2 pounds) Body fat: October 1: 24.9% October 31: 24.9% (unchanged) Skeletal muscle mass: October 1: 29.8% October 31: 30.1% (up 0.3%) Body water: October 1: 54.8% October 31: 54.8% (unchanged) Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds
