Connection between weight loss and visible body fat?

Sometimes our brain doesn't register the changes our body makes. This is why it is imperative FOR ME to track my measurements, both from the scale and measuring tapes, and graph it so I can visualize what has happened. Progress photos also help. For the longest time I couldn't figure out what everyone was talking about with the "you look great" or "have you lost weight" because I personally didn't see the difference.

Brains are funny this way.

Congrats on the first 5 pounds! Everyone is going to be different in when they see a change. The more you have to lose, the less noticeable a 5 lb difference is. My favorite analogy is a paper towel roll. When the roll is full, you hardly notice taking 1 or 2 sheets. But when you are at the end, taking one sheet makes a big difference.

Keep going. Take progress pictures and measurements along the way. Just looking in the mirror can be really hard to see changes.

Basically what everyone else said. I generally lose all over, pretty evenly, which means no one piece gets noticeably smaller all at once. Hyper aware of the places we hate the most (for me it's my stubborn calves who seem to think every weight loss opportunity is time to say 'hold my beer' and never lose inches), it's easy to ignore the places we don't think about. For me, I never noticed my neck getting smaller. Or my fingers. Or my toes. Or my feet.

While I'm busy staring at my calves like they're a pot about to boil, my neck lost half an inch last month, ninja style!

The body does as the body will do. Keep at it, and you'll see loss! Take them measurements! Take them progress photos! You'll get there!

Congrats on 5lbs!

This is kind of disgusting, but imagine that that 5 pounds of ground beef was spread out in a layer over most of your body. That wouldn't be a good fashion statement (Lady Gaga notwithstanding), but it would be quite a thin layer.

Furthermore, most of us hold some body fat internally, around our internal organs, and that can be depleting as we lose weight. Since that's particularly worrisome fat, that would be a good thing . . . but pretty darned invisible.

So, 5 pounds is hard to notice, even if our "noticing circuitry" were perfect . . . which, as others have said, is far from true. It's hard to see slow changes in ourselves. (For the longest time after losing weight, I'd look at clothes that actually fit me, and think "no way").

Yes, the pouches and rolls diminish eventually. The process is slow, so it's hard to notice as you go along. (That's why periodic photos, say monthly, can be a help. But I didn't even see a difference in photos from during weight loss, that now I can look back and see there really was quite a difference - the perception thing again.)

Even more frustratingly, some of us (me) can even look a little worse midway to goal, than at goal (the rolls and pouches can get squishier/less dense before they disappear - but they eventually shrink). . . then keep improving for months after reaching goal (as true loose skin keeps shrinking). It's a process!

What I'd suggest you might want to do is go over to the "Success Stories" part of the MFP forum, and look at some threads over there. Some particularly inspiring ones are linked in the "Most Helpful Posts" area in that topic. Here's a direct link:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300359/most-helpful-posts-success-stories-must-reads

I think you'll see that folks are definitely losing lots of their rolls and pouches. They're not special snowflakes, either: It can happen for you . . . it's just that it takes a while, so patience is useful.

Best wishes!