lost 20 lbs but I still don't look or feel any different

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  • missyfitt
    missyfitt Posts: 4 Member
    Don't give up guys! This is a good sign the weight will stay off. Inside must get healthy first, then body will reflect that. You don't want the other way around. I call it the bathtub drain, it doesn't seem like the water is going anywhere until towards the end. Much is happening with blood, hormone releases, water etc. the outside will catch up.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Show your before & current pics to a trusted friend. I'm sure they will see a diff. Our memories and even our own perceptions of pics are not accurate.
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
    Well to start, the 20 pounds you lost is not all body fat. A good amount, maybe upwards of half, could be water weight lost which will not show any difference on your body.

    We as people do not notice slow, subtle changes. We really only notice big changes around us and of ourselves. This is also how many gain weight lol.

    Fat also follows a First On Last Off approach. So, depending on how you gain body fat, it could be hard to tell any difference even with a good amount taken off. As an example, if the 20 pounds is spread evenly everywhere vs the 20 pounds coming directly from 1 thigh!

    Also... important, repeat IMPORTANT: Not all body fat is external. Internal body fat surrounds and hangs on internal organs. This body fat is dangerous. Losing it will cause weight loss but show no outside changes. So, it is possible this is the fat that recently went bye bye for you, and if so, is the BEST thing you could have done for your health.

    Anyway, just keep at it! You're doing fine right now!
  • biodigit
    biodigit Posts: 145 Member
    Zombie thread :|
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
    biodigit wrote: »
    Zombie thread :|

    Omg I didn't even notice... I just stick to threads on the first page and assume no zombies... grumble grumble grumble...
  • barbara3213
    barbara3213 Posts: 98 Member
    I went from a size 14 to a 2-4. 60 lbs. Even though my clothes size changed dramatically, I couldn't see it in the mirror. That may be different than your situation. I just had a serious mental block after being overweight my entire adult life. Our brains take longer to lose weight than our bodies I guess.
  • phoenixncf
    phoenixncf Posts: 1 Member
    Any update? Its been a few years since this post, but stumbled across it when I googled myself having the same problem. Granted, I was a lot heavier then you. I started at 416 and today hit 390. 26 pounds and I can't notice any outward difference. I realize even at 390 I'm still way overweight, but it's honestly very discouraging right now. I expected I'd see SOMETHING at 20 lbs...
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,292 Member
    edited June 2021
    phoenixncf wrote: »
    Any update? Its been a few years since this post, but stumbled across it when I googled myself having the same problem. Granted, I was a lot heavier then you. I started at 416 and today hit 390. 26 pounds and I can't notice any outward difference. I realize even at 390 I'm still way overweight, but it's honestly very discouraging right now. I expected I'd see SOMETHING at 20 lbs...

    Even though this is a zombie thread, it is an issue many of us face at some point of time or other (not perceiving changes).

    But in your particular case, how fast have you lost these first 26 lbs?

    Take it easy, take pictures, keep going, and it will come!

    Especially when starting at a larger size a lot of internal fat that is pressing on your internal organs (visceral fat) tends to reduce first. While not visible it is actually the most dangerous.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,557 Member
    phoenixncf wrote: »
    Any update? Its been a few years since this post, but stumbled across it when I googled myself having the same problem. Granted, I was a lot heavier then you. I started at 416 and today hit 390. 26 pounds and I can't notice any outward difference. I realize even at 390 I'm still way overweight, but it's honestly very discouraging right now. I expected I'd see SOMETHING at 20 lbs...

    Like Mr. Pav said, this is a really old thread, so probably a bunch of those people aren't even around anymore (their loss, figuratively and (we hope) literally! 😉).

    Personally, I think this is much a brain problem as a body problem (even though Pav is right that loss of the dangerous visceral fat doesn't much show, but is the most important loss for health, and can happen first).

    I'd lost from class 1 obese to a healthy weight, and it still took time for my self-perception to catch up . . . even in looking at photos. There's an old thread here on MFP for before & after face photos, and I posted on that saying I didn't see much difference in my two photos. Other people posted to reassure me that they did see a difference, but of course I thought they were just being supportive and nice. Now, if I look back at the same two photos, there sure *is* a difference, pretty easy to see . . . now. Back then, I couldn't see it at all: My self-concept as a fat person got in my way.

    On top of that, the first pounds can be less visually striking (even if lost on the outside rather than inside the body).

    Consider a big ol' onion: When you peel off the outside layer, it doesn't look much smaller. Body fat is like that, if we lose a thin layer from lots of places when we still have a larger body size. As we peel more layers off our personal onion, even layers of the same thickness, they make a bigger and bigger perceived difference to the size of the remaining onion. Same deal with body fat.

    Here's a gross mind experiment: Imagine the 26 pounds you lost was butter, and you now took that 26 pounds of butter and spread it aaaalllll over your body in an even layer. It would be a thin layer (and feel pretty weird, I think). Take a shower, lose the weird feeling, not be a much different size overall. Same deal. (If only losing body fat were as easy as showering away butter, eh? 😆).

    You are doing great. Keep weighing, believe in the truth of that, the idea that losing many, many thin and nearly unnoticeable layers (inside or out) adds up, improves your health, gradually downsizes your body . . . a concept with which your self-perception will eventually catch up (later!). (Though I have to admit, even 5+ years after losing, sometimes I look at pieces of clothing when I'm packing a suitcase or something, and think "no way I fit in that!" 😆).

    On top of the scale thing, pick out some pieces of clothing that are snug or maybe won't button, and try them on periodically. You'll see progress, and eventually need to find smaller ones to gauge progress. Also, take photos in snug or minimal clothing, full length, front, side, back. (Wear a bathing suit or snug shirt/shorts, not undies. Someday, those will be your "before" photos, and you'll want to show them to people, believe it or not.) Get a cloth/plastic tape measure, like tailors use. Periodically measure in lots of places: Neck, chest, belly, hips, thighs, calves, upper and lower arms. Remember benchmarks so you measure the same spot each time. Probably even your shoe size and hat size will change!

    All of these different metrics will proceed at different rates of change, and any of them may tell you you're making progress . . . because you are. Long term, I'm betting that any health markers you might be worried about, if you have some of those, will also improve. You're well on an exciting road to lots of good changes.

    Congratulations on your progress so far; wishing you many more successes. Eventually, you'll be able to see them, in the mirror, once your brain catches up with the reality!
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    wunderkindking wrote: »
    I know, zombie thread but I can't resist because this hits close to home.

    17qBL4GrRHauh0fNX2OkOb.jpg
    That's me two years ago. I got fatter during covid.

    77Hs8cULOZYPenq4GrGx7v.jpg
    That's me this past weekend.

    Do you think I feel like I look any different in a mirror? No.

    PICTURES ARE USEFUL.



    Photos work well because human vision is psychological not physiological like photos are. Most people can start seeing their weight loss when it hits the 20% mark I would think based on my personal experience but when it comes to the mind everything gets a fuzzy from individual to individual.
  • Onedaywriter
    Onedaywriter Posts: 326 Member
    Congrats on losing the first 20 lbs! You are well on your way!
    A couple of things to think about:
    - if you gained the last twenty pounds on the faster side you maybe never quite got used to carrying them. I gained about 15 pounds in the three months or so right before I got started so never really adjusted to carrying that weight. Then the first 15-20 pounds off felt like no difference from what I was used to.
    - I’ve been doing this for a little over three years. I reached the weight I’m at after about a year and a half and have maintained for about a year and a half. I still think of myself as an obese person but I’m not. It akes the mind time to adjust- my guess is the longer you carried it for the longer it takes.
    - You’ve lost approx 10% of your body weight. No matter how you see yourself or how you feel, this has a hugely beneficial impact on your health.
    - A lot of the reason we don’t notice the loss has to do with geometry (volume of a rounded object v. circumference). As you lose more, the differences will be noticeable much more quickly. I lost about 30 pounds before going down a pants waist size. At my current weight if I go down like 10 pounds i am swimming in my pants.

    Keep at it! This- right now- after the first big slug of weight is when the changes start to become really awesome!!

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