What if you lost...

lorrpb
lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
edited December 1 in Health and Weight Loss
What if you lost inches, looked better, and felt better, but the scale weight was the same? Would that be a problem for you?
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Replies

  • Unknown
    Unknown
    edited April 2016
    This content has been removed.
  • ReaderGirl3
    ReaderGirl3 Posts: 868 Member
    edited April 2016
    For me, yes. My glucose number is directly tied to my weight (I have around 4 years of data/blood work that backs this).

    eta: I'm already at goal weight and have been in maintenance for a while now. So I was reading the question as if I'd be ok at my original, higher weight.
  • pomegranatecloud
    pomegranatecloud Posts: 812 Member
    I'd be fine with that.
  • Dana_E
    Dana_E Posts: 158 Member
    Not a problem!
  • Adc7225
    Adc7225 Posts: 1,318 Member
    I really, really wish I could say no to this. I lost about 90 lbs over 2+ years and then I during the cold, rainy winter I started doing more bodyweight workouts at home . . . I had gained some weight and that just irked me but then one jean Friday - my jeans just glided up over my thighs and I realized that though I had gained I was smaller.

    . . . but sad to say I still battle with the scale. Probably because I still see myself closer to that person I was before, I know its just how I am shaped but it still bothers me. So on scale of 1 - 10 it rates a 7 as being a problem for me.
  • Nicklebee93
    Nicklebee93 Posts: 316 Member
    edited April 2016
    I would be happy. No one needs to know what i weigh, they are looking at ME. Inches are what they're noticing. I don't have a big number floating above my head... But i need to lose another 15 pounds or so before i get to the point i wish to be at. 120 is my goal, it has been for a long time. But if i find i look fine at.. 125 or 115 then i'll have to adjust... but i fear the day i feel i still need to lose more! :s
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    lorrpb wrote: »
    What if you lost inches, looked better, and felt better, but the scale weight was the same? Would that be a problem for you?

    Not at all. I'd be happy to gain weight if it went along with decreasing fat percentage and increasing LBM percentage, and improved measurements.
  • ashliedelgado
    ashliedelgado Posts: 814 Member
    Now, I would be fine with that. 70lbs ago, I needed to see that number move.
  • IILikeToMoveItMoveIt
    IILikeToMoveItMoveIt Posts: 1,172 Member
    No prob. If I was loosing inches all my lifting would be paying off. I'd be ecstatic and rarely use the scales again! (Just to keep tabs of course.) That would lend itself to me feeling even better and fitter.
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
    Not a huge problem, no, but part of the reason I'm losing weight is for the ability to climb a mountain, and every pound of weight, whether in my body or my pack, is a pound I need to carry 19,000 feet into the air.

    That said, I could do it at my current weight. Probably not at my starting weight.
  • thunder1982
    thunder1982 Posts: 280 Member
    Realistically the scale needs to drop some more for me, but that being said I have more of a size goal. I reckon I know roughly what that will be in kilos and chances are that will a bigger number than someone would think I weigh (I have been reluctant to tell people my weight since highschool, I was by no means fat and I told my best friend how much I weighed, being a featherweight she couldn't hide her shock).

    ATM I dont have the motivation/desire to count calories but I am motivated to improve my fitness so I am working on fitness and strength and just watching the scale to make sure its not creeping back up.
  • TheLegendaryBrandonHarris
    TheLegendaryBrandonHarris Posts: 502 Member
    The scale is one of many tools, just like the measuring tape.
    Be honest. Be steady. Finish the drill.

    Do that and the positive results will come.
  • RobinvdM
    RobinvdM Posts: 634 Member
    With the numbers in my weight no. Id be too imposing next to my reed of a hubby, despite his being a foot taller. Now, if I were under 200 but it was all hard work and lean muscle then hells ya
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,598 Member
    At my current weight (goal weight), I'd OK with losing inches but not weight, since that would imply gaining muscle/strength. I'd be even happier, deliriously so even, to stay at pretty much the same size (basically) but weigh 10 pounds or so more, for the same reasons.

    Neither would've been true at my starting weight - if nothing else, similar to what others have said, because my joint problems (especially knees) are soooo much improved now that I'm lighter. For my personal case, increased strength at the same weight couldn't have had the same positive effect. (I'd already lost a couple of sizes worth of inches without losing weight, before this past year's weight loss.)
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    I would be thrilled if that happened. I do not care at all about my overall weight in pounds right now. I'm more concerned with body composition.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    I'm trying to lose weight partially because of my sciatica so it will for me.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Great comments and great work, everyone! I see so many threads in which people express that they've lost inches, not pounds, and are stressed because of it. Some people seem addicted to the scale number. I thought that posing it like this would help focus on what really matters. Do you HAVE to see that number move, or are you REALLY happy with the results? I understand those who had specific reasons for wanting fewer pounds. :)
  • ReaderGirl3
    ReaderGirl3 Posts: 868 Member
    edited April 2016
    lorrpb wrote: »
    Great comments and great work, everyone! I see so many threads in which people express that they've lost inches, not pounds, and are stressed because of it. Some people seem addicted to the scale number. I thought that posing it like this would help focus on what really matters. Do you HAVE to see that number move, or are you REALLY happy with the results? I understand those who had specific reasons for wanting fewer pounds. :)

    A good, thought provoking question!
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,687 Member
    lorrpb wrote: »
    What if you lost inches, looked better, and felt better, but the scale weight was the same? Would that be a problem for you?

    Yes, it definitely would have been a problem. I came here to lose weight ... to get a better power to weight ratio for cycling up hills.

    Losing centimetres is an additional bonus ... and it would have been extremely unusual for me not to lose inches given that I lost 1/3 of my original body weight.

  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
    it would not have been OK in the beginning because my initial push to lose was "you need surgery but we refuse to do it until you lose some weight" - turned out after losing the weight I didn't need the surgery anymore :D
  • mespreeman
    mespreeman Posts: 70 Member
    lorrpb wrote: »
    What if you lost inches, looked better, and felt better, but the scale weight was the same? Would that be a problem for you?

    Nope.
  • MelissaPhippsFeagins
    MelissaPhippsFeagins Posts: 8,063 Member
    lorrpb wrote: »
    What if you lost inches, looked better, and felt better, but the scale weight was the same? Would that be a problem for you?

    I lost 41 pounds and have put 9 of it back since I started lifting weight. My skinny clothes still fit and I know I am stronger (like I can take the tailgate off my truck and put it back without help) and people ask if I am still losing.

    The scale is not the ultimate measure of health and wellness.
  • endlessfall16
    endlessfall16 Posts: 932 Member
    Noel_57 wrote: »
    It would be for me. Gravity is destroying my knees. If I don't get the scale to change, I'm done for. :o

    Right on comment. I notice you tend to respond wittily :) Nice.

    Technically the OP did state that you have to feel better. Failing knees wouldn't qualify. :)

    OP, there are other health issues such as high blood pressure, glucose level that do not stop at feeling better and looking better. The weight needs to come down.

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    lorrpb wrote: »
    What if you lost inches, looked better, and felt better, but the scale weight was the same? Would that be a problem for you?

    At first - Yes, because I wanted to get into a healthy/athletic weight range.
    Since hitting maintenance - Mostly no, it's what I'm doing really (recomp).

    But for cycling extra pounds means harder work / worse performance, especially on the hills. Currently cutting down to my summer cycling weight so yes I would be disappointed if I wasn't losing.
  • kristen6350
    kristen6350 Posts: 1,094 Member
    Now, when I'm already a 21 BMI, yes. When I was a 27 BMI I knew I needed the scale to come down for health reasons.

    Now, if I lose inches and the scale goes up or the same I'm not worried.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    Like others say, it's context. When I started I went weeks without a loss but lost loads of inches. It whooshed eventually but when you're very big it matters more.

    Now I know I can just trust the process and pootle along taking whatever form the progress comes in.

    When I get closer to my aesthetic goal then the inches will be far more important than the scale.

    So context and place in the "journey".
  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
    lorrpb wrote: »
    What if you lost inches, looked better, and felt better, but the scale weight was the same? Would that be a problem for you?

    In theory no. In practice, it depends on the results of my blood works. Currently, losing weight is what is making the results improve. I suspect that once I reach a stage where I'm no longer obese and only slightly over weight (according to BMI) and the values stabilize I would be okay with that. (I would probably also be starting recomp so the point would be moot :wink: )
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Scale weight is an emotional thing. It has been engrained in my psyche since I was a child: there was a weight that girls should be (in the media, in books) irrespective of height and body frame size...if I recall correctly it was 120-125lbs :smiley:

    Getting rid of that from my brain is an uphill struggle

    I weigh 40lbs more than that "perfect weight" but I'm at goal and in maintenance, within BMI and at a lean BF%. I suppose I profess to being happy with my scale weight but in reality it is still quite possibly an issue to me, albeit extremely small. I also make a big song and dance about being happy with my body now and that is true, that feels real. The two "feels" set up a dichotomy but my body, irrespective of scale weight, wins out,

    But getting away from decades of lighter is better is difficult, possibly impossible for me. I just continually reinforce to me that I'm great at this weight.

    Get out of your own head is quite possibly good advice here
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    lorrpb wrote: »
    What if you lost inches, looked better, and felt better, but the scale weight was the same? Would that be a problem for you?

    If I were at my goal size as demonstrated by being able to fit into my skinny jeans again, I wouldn't care what the scale said.
  • natalie3505
    natalie3505 Posts: 169 Member
    Absolutely! As long as my waist shrunk!
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