Losing inches, not weight

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meeppeepneep
meeppeepneep Posts: 56 Member
edited May 2021 in Getting Started
I'm not claiming to be a medical marvel, but I am a bit puzzled.

I started doing light exercise two weeks ago in addition to counting calories. And now my weight have been at a standstill, fluctuating a bit depending on the day for the last week.

But I know something is happening, because my "these will fit" pants have gone from not being close to be able to close to uncomfortable to wear, but fully closeable. There's also a few other places I can see that there's less of me.

Planning to start taking measurements as well, but are anyone else experiencing this? It's just been a week, and I am not panicking. It's just the difference in the scale and other metrics is so stark.

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  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
    edited May 2021
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    All the time. I only lose scale weight a week or 10 days a month. This period is always at the same point in my monthly cycle (bit after my period starts) and always after I've seen physical changes/gotten smaller. Basically I lose the fat pretty consistently but I only drop the weight (ie: water that seems to replace the fat) when my hormones are cooperating. For me scale weight is a lagging indicator of how well things are going.

    For example, I started April at 153lbs and I wore a size 14 a bit loosely but 12 was tight. End of April I was still 153 and the size 12 was comfortable/fit right. Beginning of May (and 3 days after the start of my period) I woke up, peed, weighed myself and my weight dropped 6lbs from the previous morning and stayed there. Pretty typical for me.

    I imagine I'll be 147 for the next month and then drops 4-6lbs overnight (or over a couple of days) sometime in June :P
  • penguinmama87
    penguinmama87 Posts: 1,158 Member
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    Not quite that quickly, but yep, it's definitely happened to me.

    I weigh weekly and measure every other week, because I just don't get much noticeable change with more frequency. On one occasion the scale didn't budge at all but I suddenly had to tighten my watch. For me the fat has been going from my arms and legs first, so in addition to measuring my torso I have been measuring my thigh, ankle, upper arm, forearm, and wrist. It can be really motivating to observe and record that, knowing that water weight or whatever other fluctuations means the scale doesn't move. :)
  • meeppeepneep
    meeppeepneep Posts: 56 Member
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    @wunderkindking

    This makes a lot of sense. first month I weighed myself day 1 and day 30, saw a significant weight loss and now I wanted to see the trend. But I see that it's not doing me any good. Will stash the scale away for now and go by measurements instead.
  • meeppeepneep
    meeppeepneep Posts: 56 Member
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    @penguinmama87

    I was feeling sorry for myself that the weight hadn't gone down, and then I remembered the pants and thought I'd at least try them on to have a picture of my failure/progress. And then they actually closed. It looked like it was going to burst, but it was much better than how it was.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,266 Member
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    May I suggest that you read this article, if you haven't already?

    https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations

    You may find it helpful. (I did. Very.)

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