Losing weight but no inches...

Pakitalian
Pakitalian Posts: 218 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey there guys! Just wanted to know if anyone else is experiencing this... I have been on a plateau for months.... I have started working out more, and I have finally noticed a difference.. I have dropped a good 6 lbs in the past two weeks, but I have not lost a single inch! Clothes are not feeling looser, nothing. I know change doesn't happen overnight, but I just thought I would notice something?? Just wondering if this is normal??? I want to make sure I am "losing" fat and not muscle, so I am about to start stregnth training pretty hard as well. Thanks!!!

Replies

  • Tari_D
    Tari_D Posts: 121 Member
    I am having the same problem; I've lost a fair bit but hardly any inches. So if anyone has thoughts on this I'd also appreciate it.
  • Pakitalian
    Pakitalian Posts: 218 Member
    Bump
  • marbit
    marbit Posts: 108
    I find that I lose one or the other. In the begining I was losing weight, then I plateaued at about 147lbs, and I was starting to get really disheartened. Then I thought, hey, maybe I should measure myself. I had lost inches everywhere. Then I started losing weight again, I hit 136 last week, but my inches remained exactly the same. I am not 100% sure why that would be, I just chalk it up to the way my body reacts to healthy eating and exercise! I mean in truth, how would I know really, since my prior 33 years have been junk food and lounging around!
  • lukeout007
    lukeout007 Posts: 1,237 Member
    6 lbs is great but I'm not sure you'd notice much as far as inches go. Especially if you're already small which judging by your profile pic you are. Also inches may not always come off in the expected places. I noticed my neck shrank a lot while my belly has taken longer to start losing inches from (though its finally started happening).

    Keep it up and eventually you'll see the difference you're looking for.
  • judypriv
    judypriv Posts: 206 Member
    I have the opposite issue. I have lost over 20 inches in three months but only 8 lbs?
  • A_New_Horizon
    A_New_Horizon Posts: 1,555 Member
    Give it time. Remember that you are losing weight from EVERYWHERE. It doesn't necessarily mean it is coming from your chest, waist, hips, etc. I could be from your face, hands, feet. When you lose weight, you can't pin point where it comes off. This is a process. Losing 6 lbs is fantastic - enjoy the weight loss and the inches will come. At some point, you will probably have the opposite problem - inches gone and no pounds.
  • sister_bear
    sister_bear Posts: 529 Member
    I go through periods were I drop lbs and see no change in my body. It alternates with periods where the scale doesn't budge, but I see my weight shift around on my body and reshape. These periods last weeks, sometimes months. Right now I'm entering another dropping lbs phase. These phases are shorter than the body-morph phases, so I'm riding the wave.

    In other words, as long as you have results of some kind, be it lbs or inches or just looks, who cares? :smile:
  • Livin_Large
    Livin_Large Posts: 104 Member
    are you doing strength training or anything to drop inches?
  • Lady_Chadwick
    Lady_Chadwick Posts: 2
    Being female you have to calculate the time of the month into waist inches. I think it is the water the body wants to hold on to to make sure there is enough for the extra blood and all that.

    Measuring my own at certain times is quite depressing even if all else is progressing well.

    Also ditto the 'loss is never even' sometimes more lbs go, sometimes more inches, so long as the over all picture is heading in the right direction life is good.

    AND ditto the 'you are already small'. You are, and if your body is losing the weight 'all over' it wont really make that much of a difference for a bit. And depending on the clothing in question it may just not be tight enough to notice (there isn't much difference between 'yep fits' and 'yep fits with a smidge to spare')
  • aftergypsies
    aftergypsies Posts: 248 Member
    Yeah like others have said, I've seen one or the other drop. Sometimes it's inches I lose with no change on the scale and sometimes change on the scale but not inches. I think it's normal?
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
    Likely, you are losing fat deposits from around your internal organs. This kind of fat is the most deadly, so it's very good that you are getting rid of it. I found that there weren't many visible changes until I'd lost at least 15 pounds, so hang in there!!

    And as someone above posted, I too have lost only 8 pounds in 3 months (this year), but lost more than 12". Dunno what's up with that, but I'll take it!!
  • Lib_B
    Lib_B Posts: 446 Member
    Hey there guys! Just wanted to know if anyone else is experiencing this... I have been on a plateau for months.... I have started working out more, and I have finally noticed a difference.. I have dropped a good 6 lbs in the past two weeks, but I have not lost a single inch! Clothes are not feeling looser, nothing. I know change doesn't happen overnight, but I just thought I would notice something?? Just wondering if this is normal??? I want to make sure I am "losing" fat and not muscle, so I am about to start stregnth training pretty hard as well. Thanks!!!

    Let me start by saying that I've noticed that when my kids go thru growth spurts, they will start eating like crazy, get chubby and then the appetite drops back and that's about the time they start to shoot up.

    My weight loss is the same, I will drop the weight and then it will be 2-3 weeks before I notice the loss on my body. I think it's just the way it work.
  • kpittman0612
    kpittman0612 Posts: 84
    I had the opposite happen to me. I lost 7 inches in 30 days after completing Jillians 30 Day Shred but had not lost any weight, in fact I GAINED 1 lb. My clothes are ftting better and I can see the difference in the mirror so I will take it but it still puzzles me! I will make a note that I do not eat healthy at all!! I am still working on that. I don't have a problem working out I just can't seem to eat right too!
  • jac264
    jac264 Posts: 86 Member
    I agree with others - you are probably losing fat from places around your body that wouldn't reflect on standard measurements (waist, chest, hips, thighs) along with the possibility that you are retaining some water in other areas. I tend to bloat up in my waist when I work out a lot after taking a rest for a while. Just keep up the hard work!
  • janinebudgell
    janinebudgell Posts: 44 Member
    I'm also having the opposite problem. I had gone down 6 lbs but now have crept up all but 1 lb from where I started on Feb 20th, 2012. I have lost a total of 5 inches from off my body but only 1 lb and only one of those inches is from my belly, and of course that where I would really like to see the change!
  • ashlynn83
    ashlynn83 Posts: 1
    Don't be discouraged. When you are working out use low weights and do more reps, then you will see inches going with the lbs, otherwise if you are bulking up muscle you wont lose pounds or inches like you want. It took me 2 months to learn this and now I am losing both.
  • ThaRealNicki
    ThaRealNicki Posts: 322 Member
    I didnt read through the replies so i might be repeating something. I talked to my trainer about this lastnight, basically my question was, whats the pounds to inches ratio. He told me AVERAGE is around 2 inches per 10lbs but results arent garunteed to be this. He also told me that some people tend to lose pounds before they lose inches and for me to not be discouraged (Ive started losing inches already. but I wasnt losing them before) so no worries girl, everybody is different. im sure in no time youll be losing inches :)
  • jbarletta316
    jbarletta316 Posts: 30
    I had the opposite happen to me. I lost 7 inches in 30 days after completing Jillians 30 Day Shred but had not lost any weight, in fact I GAINED 1 lb. My clothes are ftting better and I can see the difference in the mirror so I will take it but it still puzzles me! I will make a note that I do not eat healthy at all!! I am still working on that. I don't have a problem working out I just can't seem to eat right too!

    I have this problem. I can see a difference and my clothes fit differently. I am 12 days into the 30-day shred and my first week I gained 3lbs. I've now lost 1.5lbs but that only brings me back to my starting weight. However, seeing and feeling the difference helps me not be discouraged.
  • jching29
    jching29 Posts: 163
    It seems like what happened with me was, I lost about twenty pounds, and kept measuring and measuring without any changes...then, BAM! Overnight, I lost like two inches off my hips, two off my waist and one off each thigh. I was so puzzled.
  • rainbowbuggy
    rainbowbuggy Posts: 320
    Don't be discouraged. When you are working out use low weights and do more reps, then you will see inches going with the lbs, otherwise if you are bulking up muscle you wont lose pounds or inches like you want. It took me 2 months to learn this and now I am losing both.

    This is not true, women cannot BULK up without steroids. It is perfectly fine for a women to lift heavy!

    As to answer the OP.....how are you eating? Are you eating enough? Are you lifting weights? Are you combining cardio with it? Have you taken measurements? From the looks of your pic your already in pretty good shape so maybe you are losing Visceral fat (fat around your organs).
  • ANewLucia
    ANewLucia Posts: 2,081 Member
    If you have restricted calories too much, your body will hold more of the fat and you will lose more of your muscle tissue. I am a part of the "Eat More to Weigh Less" group and many of the ladies there complain that in eating more, they are losing lots of inches but not seeing the scale move as fast as they would like...lol.

    Anyway, again too restrictive a diet can be the culprit, and if that isn't the case consider strength training which truly does transform the body. Keep in mind when you lift heavy, you must eat to fuel your body and though the scale may not move as quickly as many would prefer, the inches that fall off and the toning that occurs... to me that outweighs what the scale says:-)
  • rainbowbuggy
    rainbowbuggy Posts: 320
    If you have restricted calories too much, your body will hold more of the fat and you will lose more of your muscle tissue. I am a part of the "Eat More to Weigh Less" group and many of the ladies there complain that in eating more, they are losing lots of inches but not seeing the scale move as fast as they would like...lol.

    Anyway, again too restrictive a diet can be the culprit, and if that isn't the case consider strength training which truly does transform the body. Keep in mind when you lift heavy, you must eat to fuel your body and though the scale may not move as quickly as many would prefer, the inches that fall off and the toning that occurs... to me that outweighs what the scale says:-)


    This woman speaks the truth! Listen and she will show the way!!!!!! I promise!

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