Close to goal: Slow weight loss, but still shrinking?

Domicinator

Wanted to hear if my experience matches what some of you have experienced.

I am fortunate in the fact that my body has always lost weight pretty much EXACTLY on the time line that MyFitnessPal says it should. For example: I am 9 lbs. away from my final goal of 175 lbs., and 2 weeks ago I set MFP to 1900 calories a day at a sedentary activity level. 15 days later, I had lost exactly one more pound. I've had plateaus, but for the most part, it's been happening pretty much the way MFP predicted it would.

During this final push, I'm noticing that while my weight is only going down very gradually (because of the increased calorie intake), my belly fat and love handles still seem to be gradually shrinking. It seems like I'm continuing to burn fat without losing weight. Is that even possible?

I'm likely not gaining it back in muscle, because I'm still eating at a defecit. Also, because I'm a lot skinnier this year than I was last year, the cold fall weather is KILLING me, so I'm not going out on my bike or walking too much at the moment. It just makes me miserable.

Have any of you who are getting close to goal seen this happen? I feel like maybe I'm just imagining it.

PS: I've lost 66 lbs. total so far, but suddenly my total is displaying wrong on MFP--it's saying I've only lost 56. Anyone else having that problem?

1ZenGirl

I don't know the reason for it but it is the same for me. I would rather focus on the clothing size then the scale so I'm happy with it!

kellellie

I'm feeling a little bit of this lately. I've been pretty bummed out that for almost 2 months i've been stuck between 179 and 176, kind of bouncing all over the place. Granted, in the last 2 months "life happened", two family members passed away, I had an unexpected surgery, I went on a vacation, I quit my job and am starting my own business, so I just chalked it up to stress and not logging as accurately, and probably not sleeping as well (and also eating too many delicious sour cherry gummy candies).

I was 176 two days before vacation, 178 the day we left, 181 the day we came back. Yet somehow while ON vacation I went down a half inch in my waist and an inch in my hips. I busted my butt when we got back home to get back on track and got back down to 176 within a week, and today i'm back at 177. It's bizarre, but my jeans are feeling looser and people keep telling me I look fantastic. It's a weird thing to hear when i've been stuck for so long and feeling like i'm not making any progress, but I think things are just sort of... shifting around

I've lost a total of 84 pounds, the first half of that lost over several years of half-assing it. The last 35 have been since May 21st, and I was losing 8-9 a month at first. Since around August it's slowed WAY down to 4-5 a month. Dunno how much of that is that i'm getting closer to a healthy weight and how much is the crap that's been happening in my life, maybe a bit of both.

mdrichardsons

Yes glad you posted this I have experienced the same thing. People keep telling me I look like I'm losing more but I have been fluctuating from 142-140. I have 7 lbs to goal so I'm inching for it! Can weight move around so you're more proportionate? I admit I have lacked in weighing food and not counting an extra cracker or two so I figured that was it but it doesn't explain clothes fitting different and the comments from friends.

lorrpb

I've read on here that some shrinking continues even after eating at maintenance. I hope so!

AnnPT77

OK, this may be kind of gross/graphic, and it's definitely not scientific (n = 1), but here goes:

Subjectively, it seems like when I've lost weight, my fatter areas first just get squishier, but not dramatically smaller, then they sort of condense or consolidate, eventually getting smaller & less squishy. I'm not completely convinced about this, and I am still losing weight (though at a very, very slow rate - I think less than 0.5lb/week at this point, trying to stabilize my weight). That continued loss could confound the observation. But that's how it seems. For sure, during weight loss, the change in my measurements has not tracked linearly with pounds lost.

I'm not sure whether loose skin shrinking back is a factor, or not. It's weird. I wish someone could offer some research-based insight, but that's not going to be me.

HutchA12

I think with the smaller deficit its just easier to mask fat loss with water retention and digesting food. I can fluctuate several pounds a day that coincides with what I have eaten/drank, sodium levels, and carbs. The trend is still downward but its going to look really slow.

At this point I put more stock in taking pictures every month and using measurement to track body fat vs look at my weight.

Domicinator

HutchA12 wrote: »

I think with the smaller deficit its just easier to mask fat loss with water retention and digesting food. I can fluctuate several pounds a day that coincides with what I have eaten/drank, sodium levels, and carbs. The trend is still downward but its going to look really slow.

At this point I put more stock in taking pictures every month and using measurement to track body fat vs look at my weight.

This has been true for me up until about 2 months ago. I'm now noticing that when I hit a new low, I tend to stay there. So in the morning, with no clothes on and after going to the bathroom, I'm 177. By the end of the day, after I've had all my meals and snacks, I'm usually more like 181. But in the morning, I'm right back to 177.

I find that kind of amazing. Last night I ate what I felt was a little bit heavier dinner--I didn't go over my calories for the day, but I went right up to the limit. My wife makes these awesome meatballs and I like to cut them up and eat them with fresh mozzarella. That's what I had last night and felt stuffed after dinner, but this morning I was right back to 177 again. Crazy.