Unexpected downsides of losing weight
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Can one lose weight from the nose? I just had to readjust my glasses to stop them slipping off!11
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I've had to get my wedding and engagement rings resized twice. Better than losing them off my finger though.4
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Can one lose weight from the nose? I just had to readjust my glasses to stop them slipping off!
I have had to get my glasses adjusted a number of times but I don't think it is just because of the nose. Your whole face is smaller and it doesn't take much loss for things like glasses to sit differently.
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I buy clothes that are too big on me, I still don't understand my size.6
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dhiammarath wrote: »Often, perceived "batwings", in women, are at least partly relaxed triceps muscles.
Do your best bodybuilder flex, and be sure to curl your fingers/fist and elevate your elbow well above your shoulder. Focus section by section, and consciously tighten every piece, especially upper arm. If it firms up, it wasn't fat/skin. (Grab it with the opposite hand before flexing, fingertips close to the bone, if you're not sure.) Even quite fit can women have slightly wobbly triceps, when they're relaxed.
Don't be misidentifying nice relaxed muscles as ugly fat or loose sin, and hating on them!
:drinker:
@AnnPT77 Woah. This is a game-changer for me. I thought I might have some "batwing" action (didn't bother me, really, because it's better than what it was), but doing this I realize that that bad boy swinging around is really mostly muscle. Hot diggity dog!
I mean, there's some fat I need to lose, too, but. muscle
Yay: Good news!
Literally, every single time I've walked a woman through this in real life, at least part of what she was identifying as "batwings", "chicken wings", "bingo wings", or some other lamentable thing, was actually relaxed triceps muscles. And the fact that it's somewhat slack or mobile doesn't mean it's necessarily weak, either, just relaxed.
Clearly, some of us have some loose skin or fat there, too . . . but we need to celebrate the muscle part, not lament it.
A (male) powerlifter who taught my first women's weight training class first showed me this.
If they are relaxed muscle, will working them more tighten them ?2 -
the bummer was I found out I was lowering my metabolism,... i'm on refeed now and not watching the scale. Have already lost 100lbs which I expect to pick up some while my metab resets. I was only around 1,100-1,200 calories intake and didn't realize what I was doing to myself. On the upswing now and redo after my body adjusts metab back up some. BTW: How long will it take to readjust back up? I was on around 1,000 for about 6 months - whereas, my Cutting was supposed to be between 1,184-1,600 depending on which ap you use. Thanks!11
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I think the hardest thing for me this time around has been people not noticing. I mean I am losing for myself, but it is pretty dispiriting to have people not notice (except for family and health professionals) when I’m down 23.5kg already.
It's a familiarity thing I've found.
People that I see frequently like co-workers etc really didn't notice or comment at all. People I saw fairly often but not every day kind of noticed and make off-hand comments but didn't make a big deal out of it. However, people that I saw infrequently like friends and family that I haven't seen for extended periods of time flipped out and gave me VERY satisfying reactions.8 -
dhiammarath wrote: »Often, perceived "batwings", in women, are at least partly relaxed triceps muscles.
Do your best bodybuilder flex, and be sure to curl your fingers/fist and elevate your elbow well above your shoulder. Focus section by section, and consciously tighten every piece, especially upper arm. If it firms up, it wasn't fat/skin. (Grab it with the opposite hand before flexing, fingertips close to the bone, if you're not sure.) Even quite fit can women have slightly wobbly triceps, when they're relaxed.
Don't be misidentifying nice relaxed muscles as ugly fat or loose sin, and hating on them!
:drinker:
@AnnPT77 Woah. This is a game-changer for me. I thought I might have some "batwing" action (didn't bother me, really, because it's better than what it was), but doing this I realize that that bad boy swinging around is really mostly muscle. Hot diggity dog!
I mean, there's some fat I need to lose, too, but. muscle
Yay: Good news!
Literally, every single time I've walked a woman through this in real life, at least part of what she was identifying as "batwings", "chicken wings", "bingo wings", or some other lamentable thing, was actually relaxed triceps muscles. And the fact that it's somewhat slack or mobile doesn't mean it's necessarily weak, either, just relaxed.
Clearly, some of us have some loose skin or fat there, too . . . but we need to celebrate the muscle part, not lament it
A (male) powerlifter who taught my first women's weight training class first showed me this.
If they are relaxed muscle, will working them more tighten them ?
I'm not sure how to answer that. Can some women's arms get more firm than they are now, through some combination of fat loss, skin shrinkage, strength improvement and/or added muscle mass? Probably.
But some amount of mobility is normal, even in most quite-fit women, if the arm is held out horizontally so that gravity acts on the long relaxed muscle of the upper arm. Think about it: The muscles need to contract (get shorter/tighter) in order to function. If they're fully contracted when relaxed, how are they going to function?
The same thing tends to happen with leg muscles, if you sit on the edge of a chair and extend your leg so the back of the thigh is relaxed (your knee will be bent a little, in order to keep the back of the thigh relaxed - it's hard to get into the right position). There is some mobility at the back of the thigh. Fully extend the lower leg, and much of that tightens up. But most of us rarely do anything like that with our leg; we hold our arm out horizontally and move it often, doing normal activities, so we notice it.
For most women, improving strength and muscle mass will improve appearance. The longer relaxed muscles will not be fully firm, especially in a position where the full length of the muscle is under the influence of gravity.
We women need to stop disliking our normal, healthy bodies. That's my main point.
I'm not an exercise physiologist, BTW.
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The clothing thing has been really interesting. At 10kg-15kg lost I really wasn't seeing a huge amount of difference except that my clothes were looser and far more comfortable. I didn't want to buy new clothes at that stage because I'd just bought a bunch of clothes so I had my favourite jeans taken in... plus I wasn't sure how long it would take me to get to goal - would I fall off the wagon?
When I hit 20kg lost, I finally dropped definitively from a size 18 to the smaller end of an Aussie size 16 and all of my resized jeans were now too large. I started getting a bunch of other clothes resized - because I didn't want to waste them but also because I liked them. I was weirdly between sizes ... Smaller than a size 16 but not quite at size 14 yet.
Now that I'm at 24-25kg lost but not yet at goal weight, I'm fluctuating between Australian sizes and am learning that there is very little consistency between the way the various clothing stores size their products. My top half teeters between an S to an XS (10-12) depending on which clothing line but my waist is still thickish at 75cm (I'm only 150cm tall) and my hips are still wide at 92cm, so from a lower half perspective I vary amongst a size 10-12-14 (small to medium).
Op shops like Salvos have proved to be a total godsend as I'm still in transition phase given that I can get a decent pair of trousers for $5 to $7 and I'll be redonating the clothes that don't fit anymore once I'm at goal weight. I am thrilled beyond belief that a few 'aspirational' items of clothing I bought at the Op shops when I was at the 10-15kg lost phase now fit nicely, so have bought a couple more aspirational items
I am relieved that someone told me to take measurements because seeing dimensions reduce has been almost as rewarding and illuminating as the weight loss itself.
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Hungry_Shopgirl wrote: »I'm practically gaunt in the face and upper body, but still fat in the lower body. People tell me you even out after a couple years but ugh ugh ugh.
I can also see why people comment and think you've lost too much weight when parts of you are all bones.
Yesss the struggle is real. My husband is slightly freaked out that he can see my ribs for the first time but I'm still not even at the lower end of the bmi. Every lb I have left to lose is from my ribs down... First on, last off.
It's a cruel joke. lol0 -
promisesstandin wrote: »the bummer was I found out I was lowering my metabolism,... i'm on refeed now and not watching the scale. Have already lost 100lbs which I expect to pick up some while my metab resets. I was only around 1,100-1,200 calories intake and didn't realize what I was doing to myself. On the upswing now and redo after my body adjusts metab back up some. BTW: How long will it take to readjust back up? I was on around 1,000 for about 6 months - whereas, my Cutting was supposed to be between 1,184-1,600 depending on which ap you use. Thanks!
If you are talking about adaptive thermogenesis you should start your own thread because it is a subject that only a few people here will have enough knowledge to try and answer your question. I am not one of them. I am aware of it but that is about it.2 -
First I will say that I am not an expert (obviously). I know that starvation mode isn't a thing. But I have a question.
If metabolism is how many calories our bodies burn at rest, and bigger muscles burn more calories at rest, and eating less than the minimum required calories can lower our muscle mass...does it not follow that extreme dieting can lower our "metabolism"?
The solution would obviously be spending time rebuilding our muscle but I just want to make sure my thought process isn't crazy...or maybe it is, who knows2 -
First I will say that I am not an expert (obviously). I know that starvation mode isn't a thing. But I have a question.
If metabolism is how many calories our bodies burn at rest, and bigger muscles burn more calories at rest, and eating less than the minimum required calories can lower our muscle mass...does it not follow that extreme dieting can lower our "metabolism"?
The solution would obviously be spending time rebuilding our muscle but I just want to make sure my thought process isn't crazy...or maybe it is, who knows
Bigger muscles do not burn a significantly higher amount of calories so I do not believe it is part of the equation when your metabolism adjusts down slightly.5 -
First I will say that I am not an expert (obviously). I know that starvation mode isn't a thing. But I have a question.
If metabolism is how many calories our bodies burn at rest, and bigger muscles burn more calories at rest, and eating less than the minimum required calories can lower our muscle mass...does it not follow that extreme dieting can lower our "metabolism"?
The solution would obviously be spending time rebuilding our muscle but I just want to make sure my thought process isn't crazy...or maybe it is, who knows
Bigger muscles do not burn a significantly higher amount of calories so I do not believe it is part of the equation when your metabolism adjusts down slightly.
Fair enough. I just googled it and for 10 pounds of extra muscle you only gain approximately 30 calories burned at rest...not enough for a significant difference. Oh well...it was worth a shot1 -
eringraczyk wrote: »Along with clothes after significant weight loss, there are also some friendships that no longer fit.
Yes, this happened to me when I quit drinking. Friendships, marriage...14 -
reversemigration wrote: »I've really noticed the cold thing, and it's a particularly issue with my hands and feet. It has gotten to the point of pain/numbness/blanching in what I wouldn't have thought of as particularly cold weather.
On the other hand, cold feet are my revenge on my wife, who has been using me for her personal foot warmer for the past nearly three decades.
@reversemigration have you seen your doctor about possible Reynauds?1 -
Some of us, especially those of us who live on little money, get tired of having to buy new clothes. I've dropped 14 sizes, and have gone through at least 3 wardrobes. Even thrift store prices get to become a burden. At this point, I'm scouring 25 cent clothing piles at yard sales, and even yard sale leftovers left outside for free because I can't afford even Community Aid's half-off day prices. I'm still working on my body, and I appreciate the positive changes, but they come with a price.23
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