Connection between weight loss and visible body fat?
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Hi Kelly. Congratulations on your 5 lb loss! Just keep going. You will see results. Pic's and measurements old clothes filling up a bag for charity and the scale will show you exactly how you are progressing. Best of luck in your journey to fitness and good health.
P.S. Speaking of old clothes that no longer fit. I kept one pair of pants and a blouse. Trying them on every now and again was a great motivator to me. Having those pants fall off after fastening the button was a real victory!2 -
Congrats on your progress so far! Honestly the more you have to lose, the slower it will be to visually see it in the mirror. Take lots of progress pics & measurements. Celebrate the small victories!1
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Just for a visual. The difference between the first pic and the third one is about 28lbs You can see a difference in my legs but not much on my stomach. In the last pic the shorts are two sizes smaller than the first pic though so I had lost all over.
But the biggest difference, the one you can't see is the pain I was in on the first pic and the lack of pain in the third one. I had Osteoarthritis in my hips and knees in the first one and it got so much better with the weight loss. Losing weight isn't always about what we can see on the outside, it is also about how much healthier our bodies are on the inside.
Keep going you will see the difference in time. But you may FEEL the difference sooner.
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Great job. For many of us, the weight comes off all over and you get proportionately smaller, so it’s harder to see.2
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I understand the desire to see the weight loss and how hard it can be to notice. I have a lot to lose and have rolls too and the first place I noticed the loss was in my foot. I have one foot that was always swollen and puffy. One day I looked at it and thought it looked weird, it took me a moment to realize that my foot wasn’t all swollen and puffy. The second place I noticed the loss was in my hands and wrists. I’m probably the only one who notices all the tiny changes, not just here or there in less puffy hands and feet, but in increased energy, slowly improving sleep quality, less overall pain and a number of other little things. Look for the small changes, take photos, and soon not only will you see the difference others will too.5
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Sorry to say that you probably will not see a difference in the mirror after 5 pounds. Those 5 pounds are still important, though. They're the first step in a longer process.
I'm also sorry to say that we can't control where we lose fat from, or what order the body takes fat from what areas. Often, the areas that bother us the most--like the stomach--are the last ones to lose fat. I still have a roll of fat on my stomach even though I lost 100 pounds, am in an optimal BMI range for my height, and have been maintaining for a year and a half. That roll is a LOT smaller than it used to be, though. I could start a recomp program to try to reduce body fat without losing weight, but I just don't want to.
Depending on how much you have to lose, it may be a long time before you notice changes in how you look. This is mostly because you see yourself in the mirror multiple times every day during the weight loss process. Imagine leaving a bowl of water out for several days until it evaporates. If you look at it every few hours, you won't notice much change, if any. But in a few days, you might think that maybe the water looks a little lower. It may be hard to tell for sure. After a few more days, though, you'll finally be pretty sure that there's less water. However, someone who only looked at the bowl on the first day and then three or four days later will definitely notice that the water level changed.
I hope that analogy made some sense.
Also, many of us who lost a lot of weight still have trouble thinking about ourselves at our new weights. I look in the mirror and I know I am 100 pounds lighter than I used to be. I don't see myself as "fat" anymore. (If you are an optimal weight yet see yourself as fat, it's worth talking to a mental health professional about your body image.) But I spent almost my entire life up to this point being obese, so sometimes it's still a surprise to see a thinner person in the mirror, and sometimes I automatically start looking at clothes in my old size, things like that. Even as you lose weight, it can take the mind a while to catch up to what the body looks like.3 -
Yes, you will lose fat in those areas. You will also lose fat from different locations, internal fat around your organs etc.
The places we put fat on are governed by our gender, hormones and genetic makeup, but in essence, belly for men usually goes first, hips and bottom on ladies.
One hard fact about rapid weight loss may be lose skin, if your left with that will depend on a bunch of factors also age etc.0 -
It took me about 20lb to see a difference. Then I started lifting heavy and boxing. When I started training I started seeing more dramatic changes on my body composition with less scale movement.1
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I found my fat pouches stayed the same size, then got softer and more sqishy then next thing I knew my clothes were too big! Everyone loses differently and if you are relying on just diet the changes will be different to someone who chooses to do more cardio which will also be different to someone who lifts weights. There is no wrong way for your body to change so long as you are doing it in a healthy way. Don't be afraid to reassess goals as you go along to get yo were you are happy x0
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