Is it possible to not lose weight but just inches?

I joined the local CrossFitness Gym last year for about a month and lost inches.....only!

My weight did not budge at all....I wasn't eating healthy but was making sure I did the protein shakes immediately after workouts.
I was trying to eat HEALTHY MOSTLY but would occasionally have fried foods or Mexican and desserts. ((sweets my weakness)
According to my trainer and the owner of the gym, I lost the most inches than anybody they've seen in a months time.
Mostly around the waist and thigh area (my trouble zone)!

Of course, I weighed 220lbs and i'm 5 feet and 9 inches tall ......obese/overweight definitely BUT the eye wouldn't say so! Most people are surprised at my weight.....even my doctor.

Being that weight loss is new to me and truly not my specialty, I asked around and most women I've talked with are rather please with inches......although the scale doesn't move!

I would take inches lost over weight lost any day.

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero

Staci is my hero.

I second this. I dropped 2 skirt sizes a 0 pounds when I started lifting!

Someone asked me at the gym today how much weight I have lost (started my journey January the 2nd) I told her Ive lost inches rather than weight.

She thought I was joking she said I look like Ive dropped mega pounds. In all honesty Ive "dropped" 2 pounds but a stack of inches along the way. I havent weighed myself for two weeks now. Scale has been banished to the back of the wardrobe!

Happens to me all the time. I recently increased my weight training and have gone up five pounds in weight, but my clothes fit looser than before. And every time I would plateau for a month, I'd still drop a size. Muscle takes up less volume than fat so if you tend to swap them out evenly like I do, your weight often doesn't change, but your size will.

BIG TIME. my first 2 weeks using MFP I lost an inch and a 1/2 and no weight. sometimes the scale isnt worth looking at... that measuring tape will sure make you feel good.

This is what's happening to me as well. I've only lost about 7lb in the past 3 weeks, but I can fit into some of my smaller jeans now. Any thoughts, or comments are welcome!

Absolutely it's possible. I had difficulty during the month of February and it seemed that I wasn't losing weight on the scale. However, I could feel my clothes getting looser and looser. All of a sudden, I've experienced a "whoosh," and the weight is melting off.

Inches are what matters. The number on the scale represents a variety of things...bone density, fat, muscle, water, waste, etc...but people only tend to identify the number on the scale as fat...so they don't see the scale move, or watch it fluctuate and they just automatically jump to fat without taking into account a bunch of other stuff that number represents.

This.

Also, I'm in a similar boat. I've stayed within the same 3-ish lbs since December, yet have just dropped another 1.5". In total in a year I have lost only 10-13lb, but 18.5".

I aim to lose another 6" and have given up caring about the scale. If I stay 141-144lb for the next year and lose those 6", I wouldn't care. May be confused, but not upset!

...Although I would probably lose another 3 pounds or so, which could still keep me near 138-141lb.

Fat does not weight much, where as muscle weighs a lot more. Your body is likely losing fat AND gaining muscle (Good job!) so the weight that disappears when the fat is gone is replaced by the weight of the muscle you put on. And muscle is good because the bigger the muscle, the more calories it burns at rest. And you will have that toned look instead of "skinny fat" (Slim, but no muscle & weight is mainly from fat).

It is absolutely possible -- and a nice sign that you are losing body fat, not lean muscle. Keep doing what you're doing. The scale will catch up to you eventually.

Fat does not weight much, where as muscle weighs a lot more. Your body is likely losing fat AND gaining muscle (Good job!) so the weight that disappears when the fat is gone is replaced by the weight of the muscle you put on. And muscle is good because the bigger the muscle, the more calories it burns at rest. And you will have that toned look instead of "skinny fat" (Slim, but no muscle & weight is mainly from fat).

Since it seems there is confusion in many of these comments that you can put on muscle at some enormous rate, especially for women, while eating at a deficit.

You aren't.

There is more to LBM than muscle, which is just part of Lean Body Mass - which is everything but Fat Mass. Water being big part of it.

Here's study of men, so better able to add muscle.
New to lifting, so better able to add muscle.
And eating at TDEE, so better able to add muscle.

They dropped fat and gained LBM (they didn't measure actual muscle, but likely some was) at the rate of 3.5 lbs per 16 weeks.

Less than 1 lb per month.

No, you are not gaining as much if any muscle as you think. LBM yes, and as study shows, that increases metabolism, which is great.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/778012-potential-muscle-gain-lifting-and-metabolism-improvement

And yes, you can gain great strength without gaining any muscle. Unless you burn it off eating and exercising wrong.