Question for you

Ok so I had my first measurements (other than the initial on April 12th) at the gym on May 1st and lost a total of 12.5 inches (I am so excited). Here is my question though...my clothes do not seem any looser and I myself see no results. My parents, kids and husband (along with my trainer) say they see it everyday, but just sitting here now my clothes feel way too snug (like always) and absolutely no looser which makes me feel that people are just telling me what I want to hear. Shouldn't I be seeing some loosening in my clothes now? I lost 1/2 inch on my arm, 1 1/2 on my midrff, 2 on my waist, 3 on my abdomen, 2 on my hips, 2 on my thigh, and 1 1/2 on my calf for a total of 12 1/2 inches.

I have been there!  I don't know what to tell you, because it is really frustrating, isn't it!?  All I can think of is, maybe your clothes were reallllllly tight before, and even though they're not loose on you yet, they may be LESS tight??  Are you drinking enough water?It sounds like you are doing a great job :-)  Keep it up, your body will catch up in no time!  Just think of it this way, you feel better than when you were 12 inches bigger, right?  Healthy always feels better than unhealthy (to me, at least). 

Good luck!

Yeah that's the thing I feel great. I work out Tuesdays Thursdays and Saturdays and I know health wise I am so much better because I can work harder without having trouble keeping my heart rate in tow. When I started in April I was lucky to get 15 slow minutes on the eliptical and even that was raising my heart rate in the red zone, but now I can do 45-60 min more vigorously and not go in the red zone at all. I do believe my butt has shrunk some, but maybe my clothes were tighter than they are now...maybe I just think they weren't I just thought that with 3 inches off my tummy I would have baggy pants, but we'll hold off and see on the 1st of June.

I love seeing improvements like that on the elliptical!  I know when I'm at my heaviest, I tend to be in denial about how tight my clothes really are, and when I lose weight, I think I'm fatter than I really am.  Kinda a twisted way to think, but it happens.  Well, keep us informed about your progress! 

I've lost around 4 inches (off my stomach alone) or so in the last 3 or 4 weeks on this diet.  I'm wearing the same size pants.   Infact my pants don't go up and over my stomach so I'm not expecting a drop in pants size for a while.

Infact 30 pounds after I started seriously working out and trying to figure out how to lose weight and I'm wearing the exact same size cloths.   The do now feel a bit looser... my gut isn't popping out front quite as bad anymore... but still... it would have been nice to see more of a change.

So, keep in mind the individual measurements.   Stomach for me was super important... so watching that decrease by even half an inch when relaxed is great... and seeing when I suck in I can pull it in quite a bit more is a good feeling.

It's like the scale... concentrate on the small loses in weight, not the actual number itself.   Keep your brain in the "I'm a work in progress" rather than thinking about your results and why you don't look more complete.

I am at a very similar place!  I have been "changing my lifestyle" for a month and 8 days.  When I had measurements taken, I lost 10.5" and 10 lbs. , but have seen NO changes in my clothes! 

It's discouraging, but the sizes will start going down soon, I'm sure!! Don't give up!

Well I feel like I should say this...last night when I went to the gym I was working out in front of the big mirror and I noticed that right below my breasts I have really lost, it looks very good. My lower tummy isn't as hangy (gross I know) as it was, but is far from tighter and I think thats where the trouble comes in. I think I was so overweight that my tummy hung over itself and now even though I am losing it is just bringing up the hang there more that it is shrinking the circumfrence so that's why my pants still arent loose around the tummy. Also it was a pleasent surprise that I noticed my workout t-shirt looked loose (but I have L, XL and 2XL and ususally wear XL) and I thought I had actually grabbed a 2X, but when I had my husaband check the tag he said it was an XL...Now I know a month ago the XL's were quite snug. So I guess I do see results when I really look. I think I was in denial of how large I really was.

Now as far as the scales go...my weight goes from my starting weight as low as 4 or 5 pounds then back up...I weigh myself two times a week, but it always seems to return. I think it's from the weight training and building muscle because those inches had to go somewhere and the weight has to come off at some point right? Today for instance I was 222 down from my starting weight of 225, but then on Wednesday I could be back up to 225...irritating :) but I know that inches are more important right now than the pounds so I feel good about it.

Hi jhuntlo1, I was wondering, what are you eating? Calories, kinds of foods and all that? Cause even with excercise you should be losing something and keeping it off if your calories are in the right area and you are eating the right kind of foods. Just curious. Great on your workouts! I have found out that excercise is just as important as calories when losing weight. take care linda

Well I have dropped pop and other empty calories and chips out of my diet...fast food I track the calories and usually have a grilled salad around 400 for a meal when we eat out which is usually once a week. I have tracked my calories...according to this site I use 2800 calories and need to drop it to 2050 to hit my goal. I try to stay between 1800 and 2000 a day and at the gym I burn 350-400 on the elliptical then about 150 in strength training.

I know I think I should be losing, but I'm not. Oh and I stay away from junk food 99% of the time, I eat a 200 to 300 calorie breakfat and watch my dinner portions. Any other suggestions?

Take this into consideration (because I had this same complaint).

Just how TIGHT were those clothes before?  It's hard to remember, but I remember having to literally do lunges and stretches and stretch my clothes -- I was even afraid to put them in the dryer and would wear pants two or three times for the sake of them stretching out.

So think about that... :)  That might help.  Just keep on keepin' on and don't give up.  That's what I have to keep telling myself.  It might take a longer amount of time for some than others, but...*sigh*...it's a lifestyle change for me.  So I just take it in stride.

"and would wear pants two or three times for the sake of them stretching out."

As long as they aren't dirty I wear pants two or three times for the sake of having to wash cloths so much

Lol

Not to drag this too off topic.

jhuntl01,

I think you need to be eating more.  You eat around 1800 then burn 550 at the gym... that means for the day you really had only 1250 calories... which 2800 - 1250 gives you a deficit of 1550... which is way too high.

So when you do work out eat your 1800 but also eat what you burn exercising.   Sure you are atleast getting the bare minimum your body needs for you to breathe and so on... but if you just ate some more you'd probably see the weight drop off a lot faster.   Also if for some reason you were losing those 3 pounds a week (which is what a 1550 deficit would bring)... if you lose the weight too fast you'll end up with seriously saggy skin and then you'll face surgury to get that corrected.   Taking it slow, you will find that there's a greater chance your skin will adjust in it's elasticity.

Also, I'm not sure what you repaced softdrinks with.   I went through the same thing though... I went to kool-aid for a long time... then tapered of the sugar in it till I could stand to drink just water.   Now on water I notice my weightloss is pretty steady week to week.

You seem to be doing everything right with the diet... just up the calories to include what you burn exercising and you'll be fine.    Also keep in mind that week to week you can eat about 12 less calories per pound you lose.   So this will make all the numbers drop little by little.

Best of luck to you.  It's great you are trying so hard to make a serious life change!

Jhunt, I have to say that's absolutely bizarre that your clothes are still snug, with all those inches lost. Unless what's happening is that you lost enough inches in the waist to make your pants ride down lower than they did before, so it just seems they are still snug?? Or did they shrink in the wash?

You might also need some shopping therapy! Perhaps it's something about the style of clothes? Why not hit the mall and try on some different styles?

Thanks everyone, I must say that you are all so supportive and helpful it is great.

See there is one pair of pants in particular that have me stumped. They are pants that I fit in and yes they were snug, but I was able to button and zip them difficultly and they would stretch a bit to a snug comfortable, however since I started working out I have found them hard to zip...that just is strange to me. I'm wondering if maybe the zipper has issues from all my weeks of wearing them so snug. Also I think many of my pants dug in especially when I sat down and now I can get my finger in the waist when I am sitting and I don't seem to be getting those stupid red marks your pants leave when they are tight. So I think other than that pair I am ok.

As far as calories go I will try upping them and see what happens...how long should I give it?

Give it as long as it takes to see some difference.  Don't add a huge amount at a time, just a little bit here and there...and handful of nuts'll (sorry, 14 yr old boy must've just rubbed off on me HAHAHA) give you a 100+ calories.  Macadamia's are super high calorie in the nut category. 

Be patient...see...judging by your last post, you ARE making progress!  Besides..think of how maleable fat, especially tummy fat, is.  Those pants may have been making you look a bit like a sausage then (I had that look for quite a while -- boo) and now you're looking more hour-glass.  Give it time...you're doing this the healthy way instead of crash dieting and that's the good thing.  It'll come off.

Well my thought is that I am doing it to be healthier honestly, not to say I don't want to look great too, but health is #1 and I see those results by how I feel so I'm happy with that...I would like to get rid of my weight, but really that's innevitable.

Good!

That's been my motivation.  I wish I could say I've lost 15 or 20 lbs since March, but hell...I'm just glad I'm losing any at all.  And I'm glad I'm working out...I'm glad I'm getting healthier and I'm glad I'm FEELING healthier.

No woman should ever wear pants that leave red marks. :-(

Sometime in my 30s I decided to refuse to wear clothes that hurt me or are too uncomfortable to sit and move in. That rules out most jeans (except for my DKNY Soho's with stretch!!). Why torture ourselves like that? In high school I recall wearing pants so tight, I'd lose circulation and not be able to feel the skin on top of my thighs. LOL. Why oh why....fashion is not worth that price!

Not saying you have to resign yourself to a lifetime of elastic waists - a good tailor can do wonders!

I'm still working on the shoe thing though... sigh... I love high heels but they don't love me.