Question for those that started 100+ pounds over weight

I have been told many times over the last few years to not pay as much attention to the weight scales as perhaps measurements.... measure yourself. Arms, legs, etc etc. That will be a better tale-tell sign than the 'ol scale, which to me is fickle and fluctuates too much in a day to be totally 100% reliable.

Kitty_Nikki wrote: »

Hi. I am 30 years old, 5'7 with a starting weight of 256. So far I have lost 17 pounds and I feel like I can't even tell aside from the scale. I still look the same, all my clothes still fit the same. So I am just wondering what everyone else's experience was. How much weight did you have to lose before you started to actually "notice" it?

I am 33, 5'7", and my highest weight was 260 last year... During christmastime last year I lost 15 lbs without trying (super stressed with closing escrow on our home and apparently I am a forget to eat type of person when I'm stressed)... I didnt really notice a difference at that time, but other people did... Then I started purposefully losing in March at 245, and am currently 173... I definitely noticed a difference in the first 10 lbs... My clothes fit differently, and my body just felt tighter... But I was working out HARD for at least 30 minutes every day... I think that made a huge difference.

Hiya. Well done for starting this journey! I AM 5ft10,begun at almost 300...now I am 168. Noticed changes after 40 pounds, approximately. Good luck to you. This road is easier than it seems. Just stick with it, even if you get a slip up now and then xxx

I started at 540 pounds. Am currently at 453. I look in the mirror and see very little change. I put on the clothes I wore when I started and they are HUGE! I feel the larger one is the more one needs to lose to see a difference. Plus I think our own eyes/mind don't let us see the results until they are far more pronounced.

The day my underwear kept falling down my butt was they day I started to notice, visually, that I was losing weight.

jgnatca wrote: »

Take a rubber ball, with a radius of 300. It's volume is about 1.13 x 10 (8th power).
Drop 10% of it's volume you get 1.02 x 10 (8th power), which gets you a radius of 289 (96% of original).
Drop 50% of it's volume and you get 6 x 10 (7th power), which gets you a radius of 238 (79% of original).
I started to really notice after thirty pounds and then the loss just accelerated. I don't have to lose as much to drop a size any more. I'm women's XL/L now by the way.

TL:DR
You are losing mass all over so it won't be visible for a while.

That's helpful. No really! I never had that perspective. And I carried much weight at my shirtwaist - think apple shaped - so loss there was first without much loss elsewhere.

I started out 230lbs. (I'm 5'3", I've lost 60lbs and have another 40-50 to lose). I noticed a difference after about 15lbs, my clothes felt a little looser. It wasn't until I had dropped about 30lbs that people started commenting. Even though I love my shrinking tum and bum my favorite part is how much easier it is to walk up hill. I love to walk and there is a monster hill that I have to climb on the way out of my neighborhood. When I first started I would have to stop 4 or 5 times on my way up. By the time I had lost 40lbs I could make it without stopping and now I can dash up it and hardly be out of breath. Loving that!

Way to go!! People didn't say anything to me until around 30 pounds....

Hi! I will first say that you are doing great in the success you have had!
I am 42, 5' 8.5" woman and my starting weight was 265 at the end of April. I started my journey to health on May 1, and I have lost 70 lbs in 7.5 months. I still have 55 to go.
Key things I would like to encourage you with:
1. Break down the ultimate goal into a realistic plan. Set small goals along the way and Celebrate small successes, they add up! The goals can be end of month, trips or special dates. My goal had been to lose 10 lbs a month, so every month I lost 10lbs or more, I met my goal! The total of 100+ loss is intimidating, so set closer goals. I found using apps that track weight loss progress like My Weight HD, really help with setting those smaller goals and seeing the progress. Then, compare your success with your goal and see how the new remaining goal is less intimidating as you succeed. At first, I would say 10 lbs was a great start, then 20 lbs was great consistency, then 30 lbs was proof of new lifestyle change and great progress, etc... When I lost 40 lbs, a friend told me to go buy 40 of something! So I did! I bought 40 Quest protein bars! My remaining 55lbs feel achievable, not intimidating like the 125 did when I started!
2. Weight is only one of many ways to track progress. Use all the tools available to you to track progress!
3. In the MFP web configuration, add as many measurements as you can, more than the defaults, and measure yourself weekly. Even if you don't think you look different, the tape measure won't lie. It will also show you where you are losing the weight. I even got the % body fat to show up once by adding a number in either Runtastic or Map My Fitness. My scale might not be terribly accurate (the number varies a bit when I step on it several times in a row) but it has a % body fat and I started capturing that number. Wish I would have done it from the get go. Also, some measurements I have added at different points in time.
3. When you lose weight, believe the scale! I went through times where I started shopping around for a new scale because I didn't think I was really losing weight, but rather imagining it. Even ounces count! There is a mindset that is hard to break where you see yourself the same as you were. I find myself looking at my weight loss charts (graphs) to internalize the change!
4. I send photo updates to a few select people that I know will encourage me along the way, rather than posting on fb or public forums. I know they are honest when they tell me they see a difference.
5. Compare your strength or endurance and celebrate when you can do more! When I first started, I could not do a push up to save my life! Not even a ladies push up! I started using the Runtastic push up app on my kitchen counter leaning sideways! Then, I was able to move to be floor, where I would plop down and push myself up to my knees. Little by little I could hold myself a bit longer, especially as I strengthened my core. Now I can do ladies push ups without touching the mat, only touching the push-up app on my iPad with my nose! The strength gained is a success. Even my chiropractor has to manipulate me differently now because my muscles would fight him otherwise! That is new!
6. Keep it up even if you don't see progress. The body will need time to adjust to the changes. It didn't take overnight to gain the weight, don't expect the loss overnight either. You will go through a lot of change at once and then, your body will almost put in the breaks like saying "give me a bit to get used to this". Just be consistent. Don't overindulge nor starve yourself. The changes will resume. When I started doing strengthening exercises, I didn't see the weight go down, but the shape changed, and I even got a lot of comments. The weight wasn't changing because muscle was replacing fat, which resulted in smaller volume. Eventually, the weight started to drop again.
7. Listen to your body. I was able to learn to pick up cues from my body on what changes I should make. I realized I needed to strengthen my core muscles because I was having a lot of tailbone, knee and heel pain, so I started to work on that. I also noticed that as I worked out harder, I would feel more tired, hit the wall, feel exhausted or even dizzy, so I increased my calories a bit!
8. Chose healthy foods of convenience. Have healthy go-to, default options on hand that will prevent you from going to bad stuff or eating while starving. I often go to grapes, apples, nut thins crackers and laughing cow light cheese wedges, Quest protein bars or Ostrim meat sticks. Think "this is how I eat now".
9. Sleep! This is something I need to improve. The body needs sleep for the organs to regenerate and the muscles you tear during workouts to heal. I have noticed that with the same food, same workout and only varying on sleep, the days I wake up after a longer night of sleep, I lose more weight than the days I wake up from a short, sleep deprived night!

Congratulations on your success! Keep it up! You can do it. God bless you!

I first noticed when on of my rings fell of. The exterior changes are subtle. You will notice before your friends. Focus on how great you feel!