29lbs loss but cant see a difference?

callumrayb
callumrayb Posts: 19 Member
edited March 2021 in Health and Weight Loss
I've been on a diet since November and slowly worked upto 29lbs(just over 2st)/13.2kg and I cant see a huge difference, maybe a bit less on my bum but my stomach still seems massive.
Here's a side by side from when I started (10th November at 264.5lbs) and 28th at 235.5lbs.

Added a front pic and a spoiler to both images
bu7wh2xl61th.jpg
trwmffdh26ar.jpg

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Replies

  • AndreaTamira
    AndreaTamira Posts: 272 Member
    edited March 2021
    Are the right pics the new ones? Because to me you look bit slimmer in them. You seem to be holding your arms and hands at pretty much the same position in both lower pictures, but there is distinctly more space between your arms and your body in the right pic.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,881 Member
    PS perhaps take measurements regularly? Sometimes our minds play tricks on us when comparing pictures 🙂
  • scarlett_k
    scarlett_k Posts: 812 Member
    Speaking as someone who was pretty much the same weight when I started, when you're that size it is a bit like a drop in the ocean but keep chipping away and it'll start to become more evident with looser fitting clothes and comfort.
  • Laughter_Girl
    Laughter_Girl Posts: 2,226 Member
    There's a big difference! Even if you don't see it yet, you're probably feeling the difference. Keep up the good work. Also, like already mentioned, take your measurements.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,984 Member
    edited March 2021
    man, that's a huge difference! And you don't need a bra anymore. I would say what you're doing is working. Go for it!
  • tiptoethruthetulips
    tiptoethruthetulips Posts: 3,371 Member
    We certainly are our own worse enemy aren't we. There is definitely a visable difference in your stomach, chest and neck/face. Keep up your great effort!
  • SouthWestLondon
    SouthWestLondon Posts: 134 Member
    I find it so hard to recognise drops even when I'm looking at pictures. But trust me, your tummy is much smaller in the newer pic. Good going! Whatever you are doing is working.
  • spyro88
    spyro88 Posts: 472 Member
    Are you kidding? You look much slimmer on the right! Keep it up, you're doing great :)
  • Iwannabeapunkrockmom
    Iwannabeapunkrockmom Posts: 61 Member
    You look smaller overall! I think you're doing great! I hope to have similar results. Keep it up!
  • PKM0515
    PKM0515 Posts: 3,089 Member
    You are doing a great job! There is NOTABLE progress! Keep up the good work! :)
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,492 Member
    HUGE DIFFERENCE!!!! Especially the side!
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,333 Member
    ummm you should be more worried about your eyesight ...because.. YES.. you are much smaller. How can you not see that? ha.
    Especially looking at the side view.. you've knocked off some weight. I understand that you've lost a lot and maybe your expectation is to look perfectly thin right now.. but you are on your way for sure. Just keep with it...I don't know what your goal weight is... but you'll reach it if you just keep doing what you've been doing!
  • lorjane
    lorjane Posts: 5 Member
    Take measurements in addition to progress pictures. IF you can't see the results in the photos (i can!) then the numbers will show you how far you have come.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,024 Member
    There's an obvious difference, but you do still have quite a bit to lose. Persevere on my man. You look to be about 5'9-5'10" so a good normal weight for you would likely be around 175lbs-180lbs.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png
  • WasteNotWench
    WasteNotWench Posts: 35 Member
    You're joking right? Look at the wider gap between your arms and your waist! Also look at the side pictures and use your arm as a reference point to how much your stomach has shrunk. Mate give yourself more credit - I can definitely see a 2 stone difference there!!
  • Poobah1972
    Poobah1972 Posts: 943 Member
    edited March 2021
    I tend to find that the initial 4 weeks of a diet are always the most exciting. You've decided to go for it, your mood and excitement for the future is invigorated. The Future seems bright.

    Add to that... Generally the immediate switch to a healthier life style, often brings with it immediate changes, that you can immediately point too. For instance low carbing, instantly vaporizes my back pain, knee pain, and other assorted aches and pains. (even just a reduced carb diet, will have the same effect to varying degree's) That just adds to the excitement and proof that what you doing is working, and the new you is just around the corner etc..

    By the time you get to week 5, any extra water weight you were carrying you probably dropped early.. So your likely seeing slower loss then you did initially (which is great, as it's now just fat loss). You probably feel good, but not substantially different then you did last week. So this could cause the illusion that not much is happening.

    I"m probably talking about myself here... The only way around it is... I have faith that what I'm doing is working, and I'm in this for the long haul. At the end of the day it's going to have to be a change of lifestyle, and that lifestyle won't be one of change, but of maintenance.

    I'm still wearing all the same clothes at the moment... But it's all definitely looser. My shirts are hanging lower in front me, and they are getting a little baggy. My fiancé actually picked me up a 4X shirt over the weekend, just something to shoot for, but it's definitely a little snug for comfort. But I can sit much more comfortably behind the steering wheel, My stomach doesn't' crush between my legs making it impossible to sit with my legs together. I can even easily lift my stomach up now, and put my legs together if I wish. I'm quicker to get up, and move. In time, things will only improve. It's the long game now.

    Congratulations on your success thus far! :smiley:
  • thelastnightingale
    thelastnightingale Posts: 725 Member
    You look considerably thinner and healthier; well done. Whatever you're doing, keep it up!

    Keep taking those progress photos. You might not be able to see the difference now or even in a few months, but at some point in your journey, when you look back at all of those photos, it'll suddenly hit you how much weight you have shifted. When your brain catches up with your weight loss, you will be so proud of yourself!
  • callumrayb
    callumrayb Posts: 19 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    There's an obvious difference, but you do still have quite a bit to lose. Persevere on my man. You look to be about 5'9-5'10" so a good normal weight for you would likely be around 175lbs-180lbs.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

    Indeed, I do. I am 173cm, my BMI is now 34.9. my target weight for now is 180lbs, I'm hoping for more in the future of course! But I'm also working on muscle too.
  • callumrayb
    callumrayb Posts: 19 Member
    I see a large difference.

    You do realize you’ve lost over 11% of your body weight so far?

    29 pounds is six bags of flour, several large bags of potatoes, or a giant bag of potting soil You used to carry that around, all day, every day.

    Take regular photos of yourself for comparison. I wish I’d done that earlier on.

    I used to laugh at the concept of Body Dysmorphia being a thing, until I experienced it myself. Many of us suffer from brains that, well, mess with our minds, if you’ll pardon a bad analogy. I still look for the widest gap to get through, apologize for being in the way of people I’m not, reach for clothes that are too big.

    Those progress photos will help.

    Good job!

    Thank you! I wouldn't go as far as to say I have body dysmorphia, (I do suffer with mental health issues) but I have extremely low confidence and extremely high anxiety, so I guess that doesn't help right?!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    callumrayb wrote: »
    I see a large difference.

    You do realize you’ve lost over 11% of your body weight so far?

    29 pounds is six bags of flour, several large bags of potatoes, or a giant bag of potting soil You used to carry that around, all day, every day.

    Take regular photos of yourself for comparison. I wish I’d done that earlier on.

    I used to laugh at the concept of Body Dysmorphia being a thing, until I experienced it myself. Many of us suffer from brains that, well, mess with our minds, if you’ll pardon a bad analogy. I still look for the widest gap to get through, apologize for being in the way of people I’m not, reach for clothes that are too big.

    Those progress photos will help.

    Good job!

    Thank you! I wouldn't go as far as to say I have body dysmorphia, (I do suffer with mental health issues) but I have extremely low confidence and extremely high anxiety, so I guess that doesn't help right?!

    Perhaps you were mostly sure there was a difference and just posted to get a reality check. Nothing wrong with that :)

    There was a point in time where I was going to the gym 2-3 times per week, looking in the mirror during a certain exercise, and not seeing a difference, not seeing a difference, not seeing a difference, and then BAM! My eyes finally caught up! I'd lost at least 20 pounds and possibly 30.
  • Theo166
    Theo166 Posts: 2,564 Member
    Callum, you and I carry our weight above our belt line, so losing a few lbs doesn't show up quickly in loose pants etc.

    I'd suggest taking multiple measurements on your middle, say @ belly button, 2in above belly button. If you had started with a belly button measurement, you'd see a couple inches drop.
  • nooshi713
    nooshi713 Posts: 4,877 Member
    You look noticeably slimmer to me. Good job!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,598 Member
    callumrayb wrote: »
    I see a large difference.

    You do realize you’ve lost over 11% of your body weight so far?

    29 pounds is six bags of flour, several large bags of potatoes, or a giant bag of potting soil You used to carry that around, all day, every day.

    Take regular photos of yourself for comparison. I wish I’d done that earlier on.

    I used to laugh at the concept of Body Dysmorphia being a thing, until I experienced it myself. Many of us suffer from brains that, well, mess with our minds, if you’ll pardon a bad analogy. I still look for the widest gap to get through, apologize for being in the way of people I’m not, reach for clothes that are too big.

    Those progress photos will help.

    Good job!

    Thank you! I wouldn't go as far as to say I have body dysmorphia, (I do suffer with mental health issues) but I have extremely low confidence and extremely high anxiety, so I guess that doesn't help right?!

    "Body dysmorphia" is a technical term in psychology, of course. But though an "anxiety disorder" is a serious thing psychologically, nonetheless most of us have some struggles with irrational anxiety from time to time.

    In that same way, it's absolutely common among well-adjusted people, in the midst of weight loss, to have a mental self-image that does not allow us to see changes that may be obvious to others (as your changes are - I agree with the others). So, we call that - casually - "body dysmorphia", just as we might use other technical terms casually to recognize minor instances of a similar thing in generally healthy people.

    I remember posting some photos on a thread here with before & after face photos, 60ish pounds apart, and writing that I didn't see much difference. Others swore there was an obvious difference, but I still couldn't see it. Now, 5 years on, looking back at those very same face photos, I can see that obvious difference, myself, too. "Body dysmorphia"!

    To this, I'd add specifically about your current stage: Remember that we may lose fat from all over our bodies. For that reason, it's a little like taking layers off a big onion, one at a time. The first layer we take off the outside of the onion, even if it's a pretty thick layer, the onion doesn't look all that much smaller. Each successive layer removed tends to make a more obvious difference than the previous one, not just compared to the original onion, but to the immediate previous one.

    In your photos, you have an obvious large reduction in belly size, but you also have lots of smaller changes in many spots: Your arms look smaller, your neck looks a bit smaller, your cheeks and other parts of your face have a slightly different look, even your fingers look a bit firmer. Those many pounds you've lost have come off a good bit from your stomach, but also in small bits from many parts of your body . . . kind of like that onion.

    Besides the weight loss, I'm seeing some improvement in your posture, too, which will help the appearance of body fat. Specifically, you have a bit of head-forward posture (near universal among all of us screen users these days) with the slightly rolled forward shoulders that usually accompany it; and a bit of anterior pelvic tilt (which happens for various reasons, but one is having carried a body fat store in the stomach area for a good while, which pulls that area forward and down). You have improvements in all of those, IMO, between your start and current pictures.

    Continuing to work on those postural things, as you get lighter and stronger, will not only help with the appearance improvements you're working so hard to achieve, but also the important health goals: Improved posture will help you to avoid some of the back problems that are unfortunately so common for many of us later in life. (At age 65, I'm sadly quite aware of this!).

    You're doing great!
  • PrincezzPri
    PrincezzPri Posts: 13 Member
    callumrayb wrote: »
    I've been on a diet since November and slowly worked upto 29lbs(just over 2st)/13.2kg and I cant see a huge difference, maybe a bit less on my bum but my stomach still seems massive.
    Here's a side by side from when I started (10th November at 264.5lbs) and 28th at 235.5lbs.

    Added a front pic and a spoiler to both images
    bu7wh2xl61th.jpg
    trwmffdh26ar.jpg

    I certainly see a difference. I'm sure those who know you see it as well. Keep up the hard work! We are often the last to see!
  • callumrayb
    callumrayb Posts: 19 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    callumrayb wrote: »
    I see a large difference.

    You do realize you’ve lost over 11% of your body weight so far?

    29 pounds is six bags of flour, several large bags of potatoes, or a giant bag of potting soil You used to carry that around, all day, every day.

    Take regular photos of yourself for comparison. I wish I’d done that earlier on.

    I used to laugh at the concept of Body Dysmorphia being a thing, until I experienced it myself. Many of us suffer from brains that, well, mess with our minds, if you’ll pardon a bad analogy. I still look for the widest gap to get through, apologize for being in the way of people I’m not, reach for clothes that are too big.

    Those progress photos will help.

    Good job!

    Thank you! I wouldn't go as far as to say I have body dysmorphia, (I do suffer with mental health issues) but I have extremely low confidence and extremely high anxiety, so I guess that doesn't help right?!

    "Body dysmorphia" is a technical term in psychology, of course. But though an "anxiety disorder" is a serious thing psychologically, nonetheless most of us have some struggles with irrational anxiety from time to time.

    In that same way, it's absolutely common among well-adjusted people, in the midst of weight loss, to have a mental self-image that does not allow us to see changes that may be obvious to others (as your changes are - I agree with the others). So, we call that - casually - "body dysmorphia", just as we might use other technical terms casually to recognize minor instances of a similar thing in generally healthy people.

    I remember posting some photos on a thread here with before & after face photos, 60ish pounds apart, and writing that I didn't see much difference. Others swore there was an obvious difference, but I still couldn't see it. Now, 5 years on, looking back at those very same face photos, I can see that obvious difference, myself, too. "Body dysmorphia"!

    To this, I'd add specifically about your current stage: Remember that we may lose fat from all over our bodies. For that reason, it's a little like taking layers off a big onion, one at a time. The first layer we take off the outside of the onion, even if it's a pretty thick layer, the onion doesn't look all that much smaller. Each successive layer removed tends to make a more obvious difference than the previous one, not just compared to the original onion, but to the immediate previous one.

    In your photos, you have an obvious large reduction in belly size, but you also have lots of smaller changes in many spots: Your arms look smaller, your neck looks a bit smaller, your cheeks and other parts of your face have a slightly different look, even your fingers look a bit firmer. Those many pounds you've lost have come off a good bit from your stomach, but also in small bits from many parts of your body . . . kind of like that onion.

    Besides the weight loss, I'm seeing some improvement in your posture, too, which will help the appearance of body fat. Specifically, you have a bit of head-forward posture (near universal among all of us screen users these days) with the slightly rolled forward shoulders that usually accompany it; and a bit of anterior pelvic tilt (which happens for various reasons, but one is having carried a body fat store in the stomach area for a good while, which pulls that area forward and down). You have improvements in all of those, IMO, between your start and current pictures.

    Continuing to work on those postural things, as you get lighter and stronger, will not only help with the appearance improvements you're working so hard to achieve, but also the important health goals: Improved posture will help you to avoid some of the back problems that are unfortunately so common for many of us later in life. (At age 65, I'm sadly quite aware of this!).

    You're doing great!

    Thank you for the comprehensive reply! I appreciate it. I'll continue!