SUCCESS, Finally

drh1111

A couple of weeks ago, I posted that I was not losing weight, even though I was watching my calories and excercising. Today, I weighed for the first time since then. I made a point of wearing the same clothes and putting my scale in the same place. Guess what! I lost weight! I needed this because I was very frustrated.

Something that I am going to start focusing on is my body fat. I haven't exactly figured out how to determine that, but I believe it will provide a better indication of the success of my efforts. The reason is I have had to cinch up my belt another hole. So this tells me I was losing something, if not the weight. I will continue to weigh, but probably once every two weeks or once a month.

auticus

Pounds on a scale can be deceiving. Depending on your workout routine (which to me is just as important as your diet), the added muscle you are building will replace the fat in terms of poundage.

This used to annoy the hell out of me as well. I'd get on the scale at 240 lbs and then two weeks later I would get on the scale and it would say 240 lbs and I figured I was failing and give up.

However I would have lost a pants size because I hit the gym 3-5 days a week and do strength training.

If you are just dieting and not really exercising, then your body is telling you something with the non-weight loss. It's compensating for your lower calories by throttling back your metabolism.

Best of luck.

JoseMedina21

that is awesome, keep up the good work. those unwanted pounds will come off.

Morglem

Good for you! There are many sites online that will calculate your body fat percentage (just google "body fat percentage calculator") they are not 100% accurate but it will give you an idea. Good Luck!

InspoAdam

Well done for both losing weight and sticking with it. It can be very frustrating when you put so much effort in and stay the same weight (or gain). I am with you on the body fat thing though. My main concern is reducing my body fat as I personally believe that it is a far better measure than weight as it is all to easy to gain weight when you start working out. The problem is, this is "good" weight and it can easily muddy the waters if you are concentrating on weight loss. Body fat on the other hand can reduce even when you put weight on (provided the weight is "good" weight).

I use Tanita body fat scales to measure my body fat. You can get them in two types. The first type is your regular stand on scales type (I have these) and the second type is a full body fat scale with hand paddles. The second one is more accurate but has a bigger price tag.

As for using the scales, the only main rule is weigh/measure yourself at the same time of day as the measure of your body fat will change considerable over the course of the day.

drh1111

Thank you everyone for the input. The encouragement and advice are a big boost. Good luck to you in endeavours to achieve good health.