Annoyed! Losing weight in spots that are fine already!

OK so it has been a month since I started calorie counting and I can tell I am losing weight. the problem is I am losing it just in my butt and legs. I know I shouldn't complain. at least I am losing something. BUT this has happened to me ever since I had my baby January 2008. My legs and butt  are skinny and then everything from  my waist and up is huge. (hence my screen name) I pointed out that the biggest part is my arms.  My arms are huge and my waist and legs are skinny. It drives me crazy! It's not like this is the first time this has happened. A lot of the other times I tried to exercise and lose weight I would just lose it from the waist down. I DON'T WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT IN A PART THAT'S ALREADY SKINNY!

I'm sorry for complaining and whining . I'm just frusturated. I guess I'm just really afraid of continuing to lose in all the wrong places and getting smaller and smaller until all that's left are my fat arms. yeah I know I sound like freak. haha. I know that people are going to tell me to excercise and tone up. I have been trying to do it as much as possible with weights and everything. I guess I'll just have to see what happens.

I just need to know will I eventually lose weight every where or will I keep losing in my bottom half till I absolutely look even more ridiculous then I do now?

PS- I guess I should have mentioned that until 2008 I didn't have this problem at all. Before then I was skinny and well proportioned. the big arms appeared after I had my baby.  It was as if all the extra fat went straight to my arms (There are pictures of what I used to look like in my gallery)

Murphy's law of weight loss - you will lose fat from the places you like it and won't lose it from the places you hate.

then maybe I should just stay the way I am before I have bird legs. I'm not trying to sound rude but if that's really the way it is I already look ridiculous. I don't want to continue to lose in places that are skinny and look even worse!

Yup! You can't spot lose, I'm afraid. Also, are you sure your shoulders are not simply naturally broad? I'm up and down lacking in shape but my shoulders are broad and have always been quite so, even when I was at my very worst.

Weights will make so much of a difference, though. Have you tried the Fitness forum for ideas? If not, I'd take a peek.

it's not really my shoulders as much as it is my arms. I used to be skinny every where so I don't think that's it. If you want to see what I looked like a few years ago I have tons of pictures in my gallery. My arms and shoulders were perfect.

That's genetics for you!

Ouch.

I know how you feel . . .

When I started, I lost from my chest.  My already small girls shrunk to near nonexistance.  After 15 pounds, I went from a B cup to an a cup, but maintained a 39" waist and 41" hips.

All I can say is, at least if they're already skinny, your body can't yank from them for long, and if you kick the squats up a notch, you'll be the envy of every girl at the beach this summer with your fat-less nicely toned legs. Just buy one of those t-shirts with all the dangley beads to camouflage your arms.

I feel your pain, except in reverse.  My upper body is pretty skinny and then I have a huge butt and thighs.  I am losing weight in my tummy and arms.  I'm happy that I'm losing, but I just wish it would come off on the bottom half.  I've added the 30 day shred to eating healthier and I am finally seeing a difference in my thighs.  Just give it a little time and the weight should come off.

Thanks for your support I just need to hear things like that so I know it's not hopeless.

If my screen name was close to yours, it would be "jellybellygotohell."

My body has always been pretty well-proportioned overall, but this time around, I've noticed that my belly fat is really out of control.  Everything else- arms, legs, butt- is looking more toned, but my belly is this blob.  It's disgusting.

I just wanted you to know that I can relate and unfortunately, there is not really a solution since spot reduction is really not possible.  Weights will make a difference though.  Good luck.

I have the opposite problem.  I am very small on top with a big booty and thunder thighs (case in point...my wedding dress was a size six because of the fitted bodice but my pant size is a 10 or 12) and I ALWAYS lose weight in my stomach first. 

I know I've lost weight/inches because I went wedding/bridesmaid dress shopping with my best friend a couple of weeks ago and was fitting into size 4 tops but my pant size hasn't budged since I began working on losing weight.  I feel like if I keep losing I'm just going to end up being all skin and bones on top with a huge butt and thighs!  Not pretty.

I'm trying to work a lot on tightening up my butt and thighs in hopes that things will start evening out but I'm not hopeful that it's going to happen as quickly as I want it to. 

You need to remember that you can't pick and choose from where you lose it, it comes off uniformly, you just notice it places with either a lot or a little bit of fat on them first. Like, I have absolutely no boobs (I wear a nearly A) and I always see weight missing there or my tummy (which is not as big as the lower part of me) first. Also, if you are strength training/weight lifting then your will start to bulg out a little before you notice the fat loss. So, I would work on weight training your legs/but and if you are really concentrating on your arms during your weight lifting then you could be pushing out the fat with nice muscles and just not be losing fast enough to notice it. How long did you say you've been working out and trying to lose weight?

I officially started calorie counting a month ago but I have always done exercise (aerobics)  like every other day. I can't do it everyday so I just do it when I can.

But as far as the comments that are saying I will most likely always be fat up there... how can that be when  up until 2008 I had skinny arms? I figure if I used to  be skinny up on top then one way or another I will lose up there right? I guess maybe I shouldn't work my arms out with weights. If they are gonna get bigger by doing that then I won't do it. I think I'll just keep on going on the calorie counting and hope that I'll eventually lose weight in my upper half.

For what it's worth, speaking as a pear, I'd love your bird legs! LOL I swear I could get down to the weight of a postage stamp and my thighs would still be the exact same size.

Original Post by amethystgirl:

Murphy's law of weight loss - you will lose fat from the places you like it and won't lose it from the places you hate.

amazing!!

my (already small) chest has shrunk to barely nothing, i've given up on bras and am wearing bikini tops instead.  "it's always summer on the inside!'

I know how frustrated you feel! I am an hourglass so I have weight to lose all over but I always lose first round my collar bone and chest, waist, upper belly etc. My lower body, although I can see improvements, loses really slowly and I end up looking a bit out of proportion. Although I do have massive boobs so that evens things out a bit! I despair when I look at my hips, thighs and bum.

But....I know that I can't spot reduce and if I keep at it things will eventually even out. Thats just the way our bodies work. Your arms WILL reduce it will just take time. Your body has its own game plan but it will get there in the end. I would definately keep up with the weight training, for one thing you will be able to build some nice, toned muscles in your legs which will fill them out a bit (and will probably make them the envy of the town) and also I used to have big, flabby arms when I first started out but weight training has really slimmed them down and I'm really starting to see some pretty good definition going on there! (and don't forget - muscle burns fat). I actually had a weight lifter guy check out my arm muscles in the sauna last night and he was pretty impressed :)

So basically what I'm trying to say is keep at it! You'll go through little victories and massive frustrations but you'll get there in the end, you just have to let your body do its thing.

Original Post by linz78:

But....I know that I can't spot reduce and if I keep at it things will eventually even out. Thats just the way our bodies work. Your arms WILL reduce it will just take time. Your body has its own game plan but it will get there in the end.

So basically what I'm trying to say is keep at it! You'll go through little victories and massive frustrations but you'll get there in the end, you just have to let your body do its thing.

 

very nicely put :) i completely agree

Argh, I know how you feel.  I've got an extremely slender upper body, but wide hips, and a larger thigh/bum area.  For a while I was strictly doing squats, doing elliptical and stair stepping to try and build muscle, but ended up losing fat in my upper body. 

With that in mind, I decided to get back to full body work outs (karate, judo, sparring, bo staff) and while I've yet to see a change in the wobbly bits, I'm at least enjoying the work out more.

fuglyduckling, "it's always summer on the inside!"

hilarious...

I know it's hard to accept. I absolutely HATE my arms, but recently (just between you and me and well whoever reads) I've been flexing them in the mirror.

Weights make a difference. I only use 5lb weights, but over the last 2 months I've noticed serious arm change. Add a good upper body hand weight routine and you'll see results too.

I looked at your pics, and I just want to say that I think your face looks *beautiful* in the first one.  I am not telling you that you shouldn't lose the weight, but I encourage you to see how beautiful you are right now and not to focus too much on the fact that you don't look like you did when you were a teenager.