Losing Pounds, Not Belly

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ericansweeney
ericansweeney Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
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

  • ZRunner5Lulaica
    ZRunner5Lulaica Posts: 168 Member
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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.
  • Redordeadhead
    Redordeadhead Posts: 1,188 Member
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    How much weight have you lost and how much do you weigh now?
  • speedingticket
    speedingticket Posts: 73 Member
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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).
  • ereck44
    ereck44 Posts: 1,170 Member
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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!
  • Jingsi84
    Jingsi84 Posts: 127 Member
    edited January 2018
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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.
  • Jessie24330
    Jessie24330 Posts: 224 Member
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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.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,572 Member
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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.
  • Marykaylady2010
    Marykaylady2010 Posts: 69 Member
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    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 first
  • ketome7
    ketome7 Posts: 21 Member
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    hardest thing belly usually last to go...stay the course add cardio acceleration in to the exercise
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    Most of us are not very skilled at detecting small body changes, especially with high expectations.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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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?
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,728 Member
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    Measure. consistently.
  • missevil
    missevil Posts: 113 Member
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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!
  • TravisJHunt
    TravisJHunt Posts: 533 Member
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    As others have said, measure and make sure you do it in a way that you can be consistent about it.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,521 Member
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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.)
  • ma_bitts
    ma_bitts Posts: 16 Member
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    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.

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