Pounds rather than inches?

mylittlerainbow
mylittlerainbow Posts: 822 Member
edited November 26 in Health and Weight Loss
I know that people can build up muscle if they both diet and exercise and that your scale might not show much loss but that your measurements will show a decline, your clothes will fit better, etc.

I am losing rather slowly (1 pound per week) - set MFP to 2 pounds, but it doesn't want me to go below 1200 calories in a day and says my rate is therefore more like 0.4 pounds per week. Nevertheless, it's going down and that's fine. Wish it were faster and over with, but I wish even more to keep it off for the rest of my life!

The problem is that my measurements aren't going down. I own an arc trainer and ride it daily, arms as well as legs. I take classes at the gym about 4 hours per week and also work out there on the machines. I am just starting to try to lift weights. I walk every day everywhere, aiming at 30 min per day minimum, just because I live in a walkable area and don't need to take out my car for local errands. All of those things "promise" to streamline your body so that you will lose inches even if the scale doesn't budge for a while. But I have been measuring for 5 weeks now and only one of the measurements (hips) is at all smaller than it was in the beginning - and that's only by one inch.

Anybody else in this situation? I really believed I'd see the inches go down even faster than the scale, which hasn't been that fast itself.

Replies

  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
    If you're losing 1 pound per week (500 calorie daily deficit) then you're likely not gaining muscle, except for possibly a little bit of newbie gain at the beginning. Even if you're losing more like 0.4 lbs/week, that might well be the appropriate goal for you. 2lbs/week is really only recommended for very large, very obese people -- generally men -- who can eat at an 1000 calorie daily deficit without it being more than 20-25% of their total calorie intake. With your stats, a 20% deficit may well be less than half a pound a week, and that's totally fine and normal. Slow is good.

    All the cardio you're doing won't contribute much on its own to measurements going down -- other than via the slow weight loss, which comes from your calorie deficit. Lifting weights will help with that, somewhat. But remember, lifting weights at a deficit mostly helps preserve the muscle you have, not build more.

    You'll see the inches start to come off. But it will take time. 5 weeks is usually not enough to see a significant difference in measurements.

  • leooftheyear
    leooftheyear Posts: 429 Member
    are you weighting everything and logging accurately?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    What all are you measuring? You may be losing inches in places where you're not measuring. I measure the following:

    Waist (narrowest spot)
    Abdomen @ navel
    Hips (biggest spot)
    Thigh
    Calf
    Forearm
    Wrist
    Neck
    (Not sure why but I've never measured my upper arm.)

    You could be losing inches from any of those areas (plus any that I've forgotten about.) Also, I'm not sure how long you've been at it but think about what .4 pounds of butter would look like if you smeared it all over you. That's less than 2 sticks of butter. You can imagine how, if the weight were to come off proportionally (which it doesn't but bear with me for the sake of illustration) that .4 pounds would not make a huge difference in one specific area.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    @mylittlerainbow while there is no weight loss for the first six weeks after I stopped eating all forms of grains and most all sugars I was losing inches those first six weeks however. I do not know how/why. We all can respond different to the food we eat so what worked for me may not work for you. Weight loss is like my third goal. First is pain manage and second is better health markers. My regular exercise is walking a 1/4 mile daily and daily calories are more like 2600 at 64 weighting 200.

    Stick with what you are doing for 90 days and evaluate the results and then modify if needed is one suggestion. When we start eating right then time is on our side. :)
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    The changes are also going to be harder to track if you're already quite small. At first, when I was my biggest, my measurements changed dramatically in the first two months. Now it's much slower because the muscles have had all that initial faster conditioning and it's mostly going to be down to fat loss at this point, which is slower.

    5 weeks is really no time at all, I wouldn't expect to see huge changes in that time. 1" off your hips is a great start!
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    you might be measuring differently, at a different angle. It takes practice.
  • mylittlerainbow
    mylittlerainbow Posts: 822 Member
    Well, that's a good point - I'm not sure how accurate my measurements are, doing them myself. Just measuring neck, waist, hips, thigh - it would be nice to think my stomach was going down, so I should probably start measuring that! Thanks.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    mylittlerainbow wrote: »
    Well, that's a good point - I'm not sure how accurate my measurements are, doing them myself. Just measuring neck, waist, hips, thigh - it would be nice to think my stomach was going down, so I should probably start measuring that! Thanks.

    Make sure the tape is horizontal to the floor. Make sure you're standing the same way (as in feet together vs. feet shoulder width apart). And you're standing straight and not bending to read it. Definitely measure the biggest part of your belly (typically right at the belly button).
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
    Or don't bother with the measuring tape at all, 'cause you won't see small differences on it. Focus on how your clothes fit and how you feel.
  • mirrim52
    mirrim52 Posts: 763 Member
    Yes, you are probably losing from somewhere you aren't measuring.
    I would recommend measuring once a month. More frequently than that, and the changes will be so small there is no way of knowing if it was really a loss, or if you were just in a different spot, or pulled a little tighter this time.
  • mylittlerainbow
    mylittlerainbow Posts: 822 Member
    You know, if I focus on my clothes, I have gotten into two sets of pants that didn't fit me for a while - first the looser pair and now the pair that was a bit smaller. So that has to show progress! That and the scale might be good enough. Thanks!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    you're likely not going to lose inches all over the place. my first 5-10 Lbs was only noticeable in my extremities...rings loser, watch loser, etc...then it was my neck and my face slimming down. I didn't have a noticeable changes in measurements in my arms, chest, waste, etc until I was a good 20 - 25 Lbs down. my waist line was the last to go with only marked changes in my last 10 Lbs or so.

    I lost a total of about 40 Lbs.
  • tasharosesmith
    tasharosesmith Posts: 19 Member
    mylittlerainbow wrote: »
    Well, that's a good point - I'm not sure how accurate my measurements are, doing them myself. Just measuring neck, waist, hips, thigh - it would be nice to think my stomach was going down, so I should probably start measuring that! Thanks.

    [quote="mylittlerainbow;34581459"
    measure your bust which includes your back, arms and above your knees...I have had significant size loss in these areas and no loss on scales
  • malioumba
    malioumba Posts: 132 Member
    edited November 2015
    I find the measuring tape too inconsistent - somedays I measure it waay too loosely, other days, more fitting. Some suggested to go by the tightness of clothing. I like that way. I like having to buy new clothing and ditch out the fatter pants. =)

    "I am losing rather slowly (1 pound per week) - set MFP to 2 pounds"
    Pfft, I'd wish to be losing that fast!
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,399 Member
    Measurements can be just as tricky as weight. For example, most people only measure in a few places. You might well be losing in areas you don't measure as well. Combine that with the imperfections of measurements in general as well as possible water retention levels and such, and things can slow down.

    If you are losing weight you are shrinking somewhere unless you're building muscle quickly. So that is a positive thing.

    mylittlerainbow wrote: »
    You know, if I focus on my clothes, I have gotten into two sets of pants that didn't fit me for a while - first the looser pair and now the pair that was a bit smaller. So that has to show progress! That and the scale might be good enough. Thanks!

    This itself is a victory. But now just think of all the places you don't measure as well. If you lost a little fat on your forearm area, you would probably never even notice. And really the way clothes are fitted, there are probably a lot of areas you could lose and not notice it unless you measured a lot.
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