Bodyweight increased, but I'm getting strange measurements

Question

Hi guys this is my 1st question on here.

male 27yo

I have begun working out again lately after a few years of no real physical activity. I have become skinny fat, with most fat around my stomach area. When I was younger I spent 3 years lifting weights in a gym and built up a good bulk of muscle. This time around I have decided to do calisthenics for a few months and see how that goes.

My goal right now is to build a solid strength foundation and hopefully start seeing a more muscular body. My workouts have been consistent, but my diet is a bit hit and miss but I'm slowly getting it under control. I've cut way back on my alcohol intake.

I've noticed over the last 3 months that I've been getting very strange measurements. I've put on 1.5kg in that time and have lost a couple of centimetres all over my body e.g.:

Shoulders 117.5cm -> 115cm

Chest 104cm -> 101cm

Hips, biceps and forearms have increased by half a centimetre. My stomach has remained the same at 97cm.

Can anyone explain these results please?

Thanks guys.

Answer 1

Sounds good. Honestly, getting started is the hard part.

First things first; get yourself a good workout program. There are tons of them out there, but some crowd favorites are Stronglifts and Starting Strength.

As for the measurements, it's likely nothing to worry about. When you start out, the body makes the biggest changes. But when it comes to losing fat, you have to remember one thing: When you lose fat, you lose it all over. You don't decide where to lose it. Same goes for gaining fat.

But honestly, just stick with it. Don't try to figure out what the measurements mean. But by all means, keep measuring and logging them. Anything you log (workouts, bodyweight, measurements, calories) is going to tell you what you're doing right and wrong. Seeing "hey, your chest grew and your stomach shrunk over the past two months" is going to tell you that you've made some gains on your torso, while you lost some fat. That's good info. Equally; if the opposite happens, you might think "ok, doing something wrong here". And your logs are going to tell you what you actually did, so you'll have a good idea where to start making changes.

Keep it up!