Losing Weight But Scale Not Changing?

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SweetSouthernBreeze
SweetSouthernBreeze Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I lost 25 lbs early on, but for the last 3 weeks my scales haven't shown any weight loss. I was a bit discouraged, but I've been just sticking with it.

I noticed the other day that it looks like my face looks thinner, and other people have commented on it. It is possible I'm still losing and doing well despite my actual weight not shifting?

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  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations/p1
  • bobschmidt21
    bobschmidt21 Posts: 9 Member
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    You’re probably losing fat but retaining more water. Pretty common. It happened to me throughout my fat loss phase. That could be why your face looks thinner but the scale isn’t moving. As long as you’re eating at a calorie deficit you will lose fat. If another week goes by with no change, try dropping your daily calories by 250 for a week and see if that changes anything.
  • doreenolver
    doreenolver Posts: 2 Member
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    Yes. It’s called body recomp. You are losing fat. Good job. Take body measurements or pictures. The scale is a liar 🤥
  • cjbrown12323
    cjbrown12323 Posts: 15 Member
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    Do you measure yourself? The scale is one thing but it is also good to measure with measuring tape your body to see how many inches you lost. You could've plateaued but you could've also still be losing weight but just on overall body weight. I remember before when I lost weight, my body lost inches, I was thinner but my weight was high because I was lifting weights.
  • indi1003
    indi1003 Posts: 2 Member
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    Does weight lifting not assist with losing actual weight? I have gained alot of weight over the last year and have a calorie deficit eating around 1500-1600 calories, weight train 3 times a week and do at least 8k steps a day. But recently I have noticed I have put on 4 ibs which has been disappointing. If i was my original weight I would not be so bothered, but because I am that much heavier I do want to see the scales coming down.
  • Dougf09
    Dougf09 Posts: 10 Member
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    SweetSouthernBreeze wrote: »
    I lost 25 lbs early on, but for the last 3 weeks my scales haven't shown any weight loss. I was a bit discouraged, but I've been just sticking with it.

    I noticed the other day that it looks like my face looks thinner, and other people have commented on it. It is possible I'm still losing and doing well despite my actual weight not shifting?

    I think so. You could be retaining some extra water while also dropping lbs and it just cancels itself out on the scale. I actually love weeks like this, especially when you notice a difference in the mirror like you mentioned. Keep at it!
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,844 Member
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    indi1003 wrote: »
    Does weight lifting not assist with losing actual weight? I have gained alot of weight over the last year and have a calorie deficit eating around 1500-1600 calories, weight train 3 times a week and do at least 8k steps a day. But recently I have noticed I have put on 4 ibs which has been disappointing. If i was my original weight I would not be so bothered, but because I am that much heavier I do want to see the scales coming down.

    Weight training is a form of exercise, all exercise helps to lose weight by burning calories. Lifting tends to burn fewer calories than an equal amount of time doing cardio, but the calorie burn is really not why we lift in the first place. When we are trying to lose weight by being in a calorie deficit, the body has a habit of losing muscle along with fat unless we give it a reason to keep the muscle, ala exercise and especially weightlifting. During a lifting session, we create microscopic tears in the muscle, which rebuilds during our rest to become stronger. Part of this process involves adding water to the area, so it's very common for people to gain water weight when lifting. This is a natural part of the healing and recovery process, all's good.

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