Here is my story. I'm a good 6'4" tall. The last time I weighed myself before today was about 2 months ago. At that time I weighed about 228lbs and I had a workout routine that included a good half hour of all around upper body exercises that included push-ups, curls, sit ups, and one other excercise I forget the name of. I had been doing those excercises regularly 3 days a week. Then cardiovascular stuff like running or stationary bike on the other days. I was no Rambo by any means but I could do about 50 push ups as of a couple months ago so I think I had some significant muscle mass. But it was a lot of aerobic strength with a lot of reps. Not heavy weight lifting.
The last two months however I fell off the routine. I basically went to the gym every now and then. At the very best my average of going to the gym was 2 times a week to do strength excercises and only 4 times/week total. This past week it became obvious that my muscle had gone away some. At best I can do 40 push ups. Moreover, I had been doing a lot of sitting around. Eating reasonably healthy but gouging on cereal, Kettle chips, and a ton of apples. I started feeling outright fat and out of shape.
I went to the gym today and finally decided to check my weight for the first time in 2 months when I had weighed 228. I felt pretty certain I was going to weigh in at the 238-240 range. To my surprise I weighed a pound or two LESS. (224 but with a very empty stomach so I'm adding a couple).
I don't know if this sounds strange to you but it kind of bummed me out that I weighed a 10lbs less than I thought. I really like being in tune with my body and it annoys me when I'm surprised like this. My feeling of being more out of shape and fat is still there yet my weight went down. On the other hand, I guess I am fitting into my clothes just about as well as I was before. And looking in the mirror kind of confirms that.
I can come up with only 2 explanations for it:
First, I had lost significant weight of muscle. But does that make sense to you based on going from 50 push ups to about 40? I've always heard that muscle ways more than fat, but that seems like a lot. Its not like I was a heavy duty body builder, then went instantly to being totally inert for a couple months.
The only other explanation is that while I have been eating a lot carbohydrates, they were good carbohydrates. I did finally learn the last several years that pizza, candy bars and donuts are what really kill you. Also, while I haven't been working out that much, I have been riding my bike almost everywhere to do errands and go to work. But it amounts to just a couple miles here and couple miles there. I hardly ever get my heart rate up so it doesn't feel like much excercise. But perhaps I have been burning more calories that I thought?
Anyway, I would appreciate any insight into muscle loss or gain. And any other thoughts you may have. And thanks for reading a somewhat long post. I thought it necessary to give some background of where I was coming from since I have no clear idea of what %body fat I have and other info that many on this board probably know about themselves.
Thanks.