Losing Pounds, Not Belly
ericansweeney
Posts: 3 Member
I’m noticing that my weight has changed on the scale, but I’m not seeing it on my body. While I know I’m used to seeing myself every day, I am just wondering what I’m losing first. It’s frustrating because I feel like the scale is lying because I can’t point out anything different despite the decrease in pounds. I need some words of enlightenment!
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Replies
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Are you measuring areas with a tape measure? Unfortunately, you cannot spot reduce. The body is going to take from where it wants, which is typically the areas we wish to keep.. Joking aside, I recommended measuring monthly in addition to weighing on the scale. The scale does not always tell the full story.5
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You might want to take pictures as you go, or measurements, or both. I can tell you that it took a long time for me to notice a difference in the mirror, but you’ve just got to be patient. You can do it!5
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Take measurements. I know my middle is where I lose last (looking back, it's also where I developed puberty fat stores first). I plan to start taking monthly photos and measurements so when the scale slows, I have other ways of seeing change. I also factor in how clothes are fitting, how I'm overall feeling, and such. Definitely try to find some non-scale victories.3
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How much weight have you lost and how much do you weigh now?2
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Stomach area is the hardest for me to loose as well. I've increased my water and cut back on carbs and have noticed a slight difference. No carbonated drinks seems to make a huge difference too. hope this helps. good luck9
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How long have you been losing for? It took me 4 weeks to notice a difference, and I can only see it on my shoulders and upper back. But my BF is down 5% (caliper tested every 4 weeks) and other people insist my torso looks slimmer. Pictures and measurements are very useful- especially if you are doing any work in the gym, etc (I have only actually lost 1-2lbs in weight due to newbie gains in the gym).1
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yes, when I started losing weight....friends and family would make comments like....your face looks thinner. WTH! I wasn't trying to lose weight from my face, but the belly was the last to see results. I agree with monthly measurements and well as weighing on the scale. Also you should feel your clothes fitting differently around the waistline. Good luck. honey!0
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When I lost weight on the scale it took a while before it translated to inches lost on my stomach. But then it just started shrinking, even when I thought to be eating at maintanence. Maybe I was actually at a deficit and just had to lose more weight? Maybe I was still retaining water and that had to flush out? Maybe I had only lost water and not the fat at first? I have no idea but I do know that the scale and your body do not always match up. So perhaps your stomach will keep shrinking irrespective of when you lost these pounds.0
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The first fat you will lose is around your organs so you won't see that. After that, it could come from anywhere/everywhere. I had lost around 30 pounds before before I finally seen a difference (in pictures, I still look the same to me in the mirror), and it was from my back! There was a massive difference, rolls where missing lol. Def take pictures and measure like everyone has said.1
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That's why we use a tape measure.
I'm to the point where the scale won't move, measurements are the same, but I know I'm losing fat because I can feel little bones in places that were covered before.2 -
It’s very frustrating the part of my body I hate the most is my stomach even though I carry my weight pretty well and no one believes me when I tell them I what I weigh my stomach will fold over my pants and I know it will be the last thing to go and my boobs will probably shrink first1
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hardest thing belly usually last to go...stay the course add cardio acceleration in to the exercise4
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Most of us are not very skilled at detecting small body changes, especially with high expectations.0
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The belly is the last to go usually it takes time to see changes in our body. Do you have much weight to lose?
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Measure. consistently.0
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I know that most people suggest measuring and that's not wrong, however, it can totally happen that you lose like 70 pounds and still look basically the same as before. Your measurements will tell you that you've lost overall a bunch of inches, which is awesome and you even might be in a normal range BMI, but you still look the same.
Nobody will look and me and say "wow, you're so lean and slender". If they knew me before, they will comment on my loss, because it *is* visible. People who didn't know me before will still call me chubby because although I've shrunken in general, I still have thunder thighs, two bellies, massive upper arms and so on.
So yes, that can be super frustrating, but your clothes will show the change, your more and more noticeable hipbones, collarbones, and ribcage will show the change... The scale doesn't lie!2 -
As others have said, measure and make sure you do it in a way that you can be consistent about it.0
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Modeling a person as a perfect cylinder, and assuming height is constant, Your
weight = Pi * height * radius^2
circumference = 2 * Pi * radius
so your measurements (circumference) only change as the square root of your weight. A little more manipulation shows that, in fact, your fractional change in measurements would go as half your fractional loss in weight under the "cylindrical person" model.
dC/C = (1/2)*dW/W
So, you lose 10% of your body weight and you get a 5% loss in circumference.
Math, bam!
(This corresponds pretty well to my loss of 10% body weight last year when, in fact, I did lose about 5% of my circumference. Amazeballs.)3 -
Measuring, paying attention to the way clothes fit, and looking for non-scale successes are all good advice... HOWEVER... if you ARE doing all of these things and STILL not seeing results (like me, this time last year), please don't give up.
I didn't see ANY difference in the way I looked until I'd lost about 30 pounds (which took six months... and even then, you could only see it in my face/neck/bust--I was trying to lose from waist/belly!!! Ugh!). Then, after about seven more pounds' loss, I could all of a sudden see an inch and a half loss around my waist. What a great day that was.
So: I keep trying to remind myself: The inches WILL come off if I keep losing. So hang in there. We can do this.2 -
I just read the book the Flat Belly Diet! and I think it has some good stuff in it. It's only been a couple days since I started applying the principles of the book and my stomach does seem to have shrunk a bit already. It's very simple. I would recommend reading the book. It basically says you need to eat a serving of monounsaturated fats at every meal and recommends keeping your calorie intake at or under 400 calories per meal at the same time. It also allows for a 400 calorie snack that also includes a serving of monounsaturated fats.22
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