Weight loss frustration

dfuller1021

Hi all. I'm feeling quite frustrated. Over the last 3 and a half years I've put on about 55 pounds. Mostly due to my thyroid becoming underactive(I have hashimotos). So I've struggled to get the weight off. Since December I gave lost 20 pounds. I know I should be proud and feel great. But I haven't going down a pant size. Some say they see the changes in my physical condition but I don't see it to the extent they do. I'm frustrated. Has anyone else experienced the loss of weight and no change in clothing sized or feel the frustration of working so hard to not see the changes?

fatty2begone

I have lost 20 pounds too, since end of January. I have not lost a pant size yet. I however, have lost 5 inches off my waistline. I notice a little more sag in the rear of the pants and a little more flow in the thigh area, but really no change in the size yet. (I put weight on everywhere so it is not as noticeable if you carry it more in one area then another)

OP, 20 pounds loss is great! Keep going and eventually the pant size will change. I have read from other discussions, that in many cases, the more weight you have to lose, the pant size change takes a little longer than if you have only a small amount to lose.

dfuller1021

I too gained weight everywhere so maybe as I lose it it's a little off everywhere. I have lost a total of 6 inches(overall so it's a little off every thing). It's frustrating

AlexandraFindsHerself1971

I first realized that my thyroid wasn't working when my previous weight loss stopped dead in the water. I'd been running happily along at a pound/pound and a half a week at 1450 calories, and suddenly... BOOM. Not at all. Plus the itching and fatigue, and I knew what this was.

To make a long story short, they took out the remainder of my thyroid (which had grown into a massive goiter) in February, and it's just now at the end of April that I'm feeling okay to start getting the rest of the weight off.

If you are not seeing an endocrinologist, you should. If you are still having symptoms of hypothyroidism, and not losing weight on a carefully measure pound and a half a week, then your levels aren't right.

88olds

How sure are you about how your clothes fit? When was the last time you bought new clothes on the way up? Are those clothes still around? I gained, and then lost, about 100 lbs. I had clothes of every size. After I got to goal weight, I spent years purging the clothes that didn’t fit because they were too big.

The only area where I didn’t have trouble were clothes for work because I wore suits. I had the tailor to tell me what fit right. My own eye was useless.

nsk1951

Yep ...it's a bummer, for sure! I lost 60 pounds and only changed 1 clothes size down. Of course, that lower clothes size is loose but I'm not smaller enough to go into yet another smaller size.

Come to reflect on it ... it's cause of my body shape that I never noticed how much weight I was packing on during those years when I was actively gaining ... AND, when I was young and slender, my body was still pretty much the same... and I had the impression I was fat because my tummy was rounded instead of board straight! ... I think exercise might help with the body size ... Also, if you are losing weight too fast, it could be that the muscle is being lost and fat cells are growing so you look pretty much the same ... that happened to me ... I could feel the taught strong muscles becoming softer and flabbier and when I touched myself it was soft and mushy instead of hard and firm ... fat takes up more room than muscle does!

ErinKeegan2

I work hard, but I also don't lose much weight. I've heard, you need at least 2 years to get in shape. Just slow down and listen to your body

dfuller1021

Thank you all. Alexandra I am being treated for my hypothyroidism. I was at an endocrinologist foe a long time and now just take levothyroxine and have regular visits with my pcp over it. NsK I do exercise regularly. I do cardio and strength training. 88olds yes I am sure about how my clothes fit

boilerdawg2009

Is it possible that your clothes were too small on you before? Before I started losing weight, I was too stubborn to admit that I needed bigger clothes and so it took a long time to get the point where I was buying smaller sizes. It also took me even longer to actually see the changes in myself. It really wasn't until I started doing weights more that I started to see it. Just be patient with yourself!

nsk1951

There is a gym at the apartment building I live in ... and I think this stream has inspired me to head that way ... and not just walk by, but actually go in and use some of that equipment!

AnnPT77

You're doing great. It's not you.

Clothes sizes are weird. It took several tens of pounds (I don't remember exactly how many) for me to drop a pants size, when starting out. (Sounds like you started about where I did: I needed to lose 50-60 pounds, too.) The inches difference between the bigger sizes are bigger than the inches differences in smaller sizes (it's a geometry thing, partly).

On top of that, we tend to lose fat kind of unevenly, faster from some areas than others. The pants need to fit the largest remaining bit, and if there's some part that's losing slower at first, we can be stuck in the bigger size until that area starts to shrink by a useful amount. But it will, if you keep up the excellent progress!

It's totally frustrating at first, though. As I got close to goal, even though I intentionally slowed loss down to keep things healthy, it seemed like the size changes were almost stupid-fast. I remember having to buy new pants (a size down) after about a month, when close to goal, in order to have something that didn't fall off me at a special event I was attending.

So weird, so frustrating!

Hang in there, you're losing well. It will happen . . . eventually, even at speeds that are frustratingly fast, toward the end. (Consignment shops were my budgetary friend for a bit there, to keep the costs down. Also, choosing clothes that would fit longer as sizes changed.)

By the way, in case you haven't seen it already, this is a great thread about hypothyroidism and weight loss:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10767046/hypothyroidism-and-weight-management

It was written by a guy who used to be on MFP who is a scientist in the hypothyroidism field, himself hypothyroid, who lost and then maintained weight using MFP to calorie count. Solid, science-based information . . . unlike what's on a lot of sites out there in the blogosphere.

You're doing great, keep up the good work - the clothes-size results will come.

AnnPT77

ErinKeegan2 wrote: »

I work hard, but I also don't lose much weight. I've heard, you need at least 2 years to get in shape. Just slow down and listen to your body

Take heart, much can happen in less than 2 years, depending on what you mean by "getting in shape".

If "getting in shape" means weight loss, it needn't necessarily take two years to lose a meaningful amount of weight (may not take a person all the way to goal, of course). If "getting in shape" means fitness improvement, that, too, can improve quite a lot in less than two years . . . and it's a great quality of life improvement, IME.

I started out completely sedentary, in my mid/late 40s. By two years into exercising regularly, I was already becoming the oddball pretty-fit fat person: Good strength, good cardiovascular fitness as measured by things like resting heart rate and heart rate recovery . . . despite still being technically obese . . . and staying obese, for over a decade.

Unfortunately, "working hard" on the exercise front may not be enough to lose weight. I went from super-sedentary to very active (even competing athletically) in my those 40s, and didn't lose weight until I was 59-60.

Quite an intense exercise session may only burn around one serving of peanut butter on a slice of hearty bread, and it's very easy to eat that much extra when not calorie-counting, and not even notice. (I'm assuming you - the person I'm replying to - are counting, since you're here on MFP. Me, I wasn't counting, back then.)

There's more than one path to physical self-improvement. Clearly, reaching a healthy weight and becoming more fit (strength and cardiovascular fitness) together is ideal, but either one - healthy weight or better fitness - has benefits without the other, too.

It's great that you're working hard, but don't assume you won't get a payoff before 2 years, if you're working hard, working smart, and are consistent. The progress is incremental, maybe gradual, but real. You may surprise yourself with where you come out, in a long span like 2 years, if reasonably consistent. I did.

dfuller1021

Thank you all

SpinforCals

Keep it up sounds like progress is happening