Slow progress

Options
I'm 4 months in and down 15 lbs. But my body is EXACTLY the same. I have no idea where this 15 lbs came from. I keep seeing stories of people losing a good amount of weight and going down in dress sizes in 4-6 months and I'm not even seeing a difference. How long has it taken you to see your body change? I need slow progress success stories. This just seems ridiculous at this point.

Replies

  • jpaulie
    jpaulie Posts: 917 Member
    Options
    The key word is progress. A pound a week is excellent. Also hard to say without knowing your starting weight. Someone starting at 170 and down to 155 will notice a bigger change than someone starting at 250 and down to 235.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,069 Member
    Options
    COMPARISON IS THE THIEF OF JOY


    Don't worry about what other people's bodies are doing, worry about your own. It took me over 30lbs to go down a dress size. Take progress pictures, we often can't see the gradual changes in the mirror but if you take regular pics and compare them to your start pictures it becomes more obvious.
  • 88olds
    88olds Posts: 4,482 Member
    Options
    This is your own brain messing with you. Your program is working. The only hard data you get is the scale. And as jpaulie points out, a pound per week, if you can live like this long term, is excellent. You've got it.

    But your brain has found a way to tell you it's not good enough. If you read this board a lot, there are a variety of not good enough posts from folks who are progressing just fine. Number 1 is probably- not fast enough. But- I don't see it, is probably #2. Then there's I just don't like how I look or my partner doesn't like how I look. Or nobody else has noticed. All varieties of all this effort and the results aren't good enough. Oh, forgot loose skin, that's a big one.

    Like was said, we don't know where you are in the process. Whatever you lose, someday your feet, knees, hips, heart maybe, will thank you for it.

    Don't let your brain do you in.
  • elizabethmcopeland
    elizabethmcopeland Posts: 167 Member
    edited September 2017
    Options
    1) congratulations, great work! i've been slowly losing weight; its taken me a year to lose 15lbs!
    2) take different measurements, don't just go by what you see (actually use a tape measure and look at bust/hips/biceps/etc). conversely, i weighed the same in these two photos:

    8p9l82feo237.png
    sobus7psuevy.png

    3) your body is always going to be changing, and it's going to be a constant fight until you die, that's the thing about us humans. if you're not learning and fighting, you're not growing and developing. the only time it's going to stay the exact same is for the brief moment after you die. but that's morbid. lets not think about that.
    4) first pic above, nov 2014 - 192lb. progress pic from last month at 179: n5pz477l7w7u.png
  • mallycat1013
    mallycat1013 Posts: 27 Member
    edited September 2017
    Options
    Thanks everyone! I did do progression pictures but I dont see a difference. I can't wait to see even just an inch. On the plus side I can go on hikes without getting winded.
  • mallycat1013
    mallycat1013 Posts: 27 Member
    Options
    I am 5' 2 and started at 165. I gained 50lbs with my first pregnancy. So I'm trying to get down to prepregnancy weight.
  • EatingAndKnitting
    EatingAndKnitting Posts: 531 Member
    Options
    I have lost 45 pounds this year. I'm just now seeing a slight difference, and only when I look at photos. I know I've shrunk, I've gone down two pant sizes (I was wearing 28s when I started, but they were elastic waists and I think I would have been in 30s if they weren't elastic, now I'm a 26) and one shirt size.

    But I don't see it in the mirror. Someone said it's like peeling an onion, the outside layers are the biggest but show the least change. But the inside layers are the smallest but show the biggest changes.

    We'll get there. We just have to trust the process, the scales, the measuring tapes, and our friends.
  • TammyL8
    TammyL8 Posts: 47 Member
    Options
    I started at 244 lbs last October. Now I am down 30lbs. I never really noticed my clothes were fitting looser. What woke me up to my progress was the fact that it took longer for my back to start hurting whenever I did simple tasks. Another wake up call was when someone gave me a smaller size T-shirt for my bday and it fits. I’ve also convinced myself that I haven’t gone on a diet, just changed my diet.

    When I hit the 200 lb mark, I’ll reassess my goals and adjust accordingly.
  • TammyL8
    TammyL8 Posts: 47 Member
    Options
    0gzcldfx8txc.jpeg
    g0ov36dz8g8a.jpeg

    These were taken August 7, 2017 in the T-shirt given as a gift. I was in the neighborhood of 220 lbs.
  • cjsacto
    cjsacto Posts: 1,421 Member
    edited September 2017
    Options
    Thanks everyone! I did do progression pictures but I dont see a difference. I can't wait to see even just an inch. On the plus side I can go on hikes without getting winded.

    Don't rely only on your own eyes. B) I've lost about 10 lbs (this time) and I'm still wearing the same clothes, though they fit a little better, maybe. I do see something of a difference in the mirror but a few days ago I took some photos in the same outfit as about three months ago and had a hard time seeing an improvement. When I showed them to my boyfriend, though, he said. "Are you kidding? There's a HUGE difference! Your waist, your arms, everything." We only see the flaws in ourselves.