3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

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-   -   do former fatties weigh more? (https://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/100-lb-club/195561-do-former-fatties-weigh-more.html)

ubergirl 02-28-2010 08:47 PM

do former fatties weigh more?
 
I know this is probably a weird question, but I've been wondering about something. I sometimes hear stories about people who lose a lot of weight and then have ten to fifteen pounds of loose skin...

I also see pix of people who look very thin to me, but are saying that their weights are higher than I might have expected.

I'm just wondering if former fatties actually weigh more because of extra skin, muscle etc, or if that's just rubbish.

Shmead 02-28-2010 09:16 PM

I have a theory that every woman in America thinks she "carries her weight well" because every woman in America lies about her weight. So you know you look about like all these women who say they weigh X, and you know dang well you weigh X+10%, so you think "Man, I must carry my weight better than they do", except they actually weigh X+10% as well.

Perhaps women who have lost a lot of weight are more likely to post their true weight, so they too look like they "carry their weight well".

eratosthanes 02-28-2010 09:59 PM

I knew a woman who started out at 5'4 weighing around 300 lbs. After getting gastric bypass, and then coming down with cancer, she got all the way down to 109 lbs. She was actually much thinner, at least 10 lbs of that being excess skin. Yes, that skin can add several pounds to your weight.

Also, when I weighed 208 I was a size 12. Many people who are at that weight to begin with are size 16+. It was extra muscle, in that case, but the point is still the same. You can weigh a lot more than you look if you have been heavy before.

PeanutsMom704 02-28-2010 10:03 PM

lolol @ Shmead!!

as for the original question, I can say that I am heavier now at the same weight than I have been in the past. Meaning I am not as toned plus being older and having been through a pregnancy, so and I wear a larger size at the same number on the scale. And in the past, I would have claimed to be one of those women who carried her weight well but I would not say the same now.

19Deltawifey 02-28-2010 11:25 PM

Back when I was in high school I was a size 12 weighing 150 lbs and I was a size 10 when I weighed 140 lbs. After having 2 kids I got down to 180 and was a size 12/14. I think when you get over weight or obese and then lose the weight you tend to weigh more even though you can fit into smaller sizes. I wonder why that is but for me I noticed that I can be heavier and fit into smaller sizes. Its weird how I lost 3 lbs but my dress size went down since I was exercising.

BeachBreeze2010 03-01-2010 10:22 AM

Maybe because those of us that started out overweight had to exercise to lose the weight so as a result have more lean body mass? I would be interested in seeing some sort of body fat data.

Eliana 03-01-2010 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carlyjordon2002 (Post 3177623)
Back when I was in high school I was a size 12 weighing 150 lbs and I was a size 10 when I weighed 140 lbs. After having 2 kids I got down to 180 and was a size 12/14. I think when you get over weight or obese and then lose the weight you tend to weigh more even though you can fit into smaller sizes. I wonder why that is but for me I noticed that I can be heavier and fit into smaller sizes. Its weird how I lost 3 lbs but my dress size went down since I was exercising.

I was identical to you in weight and sizes in high school. Perhaps it's because we didn't exercise?? I'm not sure. Now I'm exercising as I lose this weight and I swear it makes me heavier! :dizzy:

PeanutsMom704 03-01-2010 10:39 AM

clothing sizes have changed a lot too, though. Maybe I'm enough older, but what gets called a 12 now isn't even close to what it would have been when I was in high school. Today's 8 is probably closer to what a 12 was back then.

Lori Bell 03-01-2010 10:43 AM

I'm not sure I understand the question....lol ;)

I don't know if I weigh more than a person of the same height and pant size who has never had a weight problem or not. I've never had the guts to ask a person their weight. The only person I know in real life that is a normal weigh and my height is my SIL. She has always been a normal weight and in my mind I thought I was smaller than her now, but when I asked my 17 year old (autistic)son who was bigger, he said MOM without hesitation. I asked my 11 year old son the same question and he said he never noticed and had no clue. I then asked my husband and he said I was smaller, (I think he might have been trying to get lucky that night...lol)

I always thought I carried my weight well until I look back at pictures that at one time I thought looked pretty good. I was just fooling myself. Fat doesn't lie.

Meg 03-01-2010 10:49 AM

I've never seen any science to back it up, but I totally believe that former fat chicks have heavier infrastructures that normal weight persons. Our bones are dense and we have higher muscle masses due to all the weight bearing exercise we did while we were heavy. Every step we took when we were heavy was strength training -- like a normal weight person doing our daily activities with a 100 pound backpack on (for instance).

When we lose fat, most of the muscle and bone are still there (hopefully, if we've been strength training!) so we tend to have higher Lean Body Masses (LBM) than never-overweight women of the same size. In a way, we're like the pro football players who always test out as obese on BMI charts because of their high LBMs.

That's one of the reasons that body composition is a much better indicator of fitness in former fat chicks than is BMI. We may test high on a BMI chart, when in fact, our body composition is perfectly healthy.

Most people guess I weigh about 20 pounds less than I actually do. Even maintaining between 135 and 140/145 pounds, I can comfortably wear size 4 pants. It's due to my muscle mass and what my doctor tells me are unusually dense bones.

So I'm absolutely convinced that you're right! :)

ubergirl 03-01-2010 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meg (Post 3178232)
I've never seen any science to back it up, but I totally believe that former fat chicks have heavier infrastructures that normal weight persons. Our bones are dense and we have higher muscle masses due to all the weight bearing exercise we did while we were heavy. Every step we took when we were heavy was strength training -- like a normal weight person doing our daily activities with a 100 pound backpack on (for instance).

When we lose fat, most of the muscle and bone are still there (hopefully, if we've been strength training!) so we tend to have higher Lean Body Masses (LBM) than never-overweight women of the same size. In a way, we're like the pro football players who always test out as obese on BMI charts because of their high LBMs.

That's one of the reasons that body composition is a much better indicator of fitness in former fat chicks than is BMI. We may test high on a BMI chart, when in fact, our body composition is perfectly healthy.

Most people guess I weigh about 20 pounds less than I actually do. Even maintaining between 135 and 140/145 pounds, I can comfortably wear size 4 pants. It's due to my muscle mass and what my doctor tells me are unusually dense bones.

So I'm absolutely convinced that you're right! :)

Yes. This is what I was wondering, I guess.

Because I'm a health care provider, I get to see people naked and find out what they weigh, so I guess I have a little advantage, LOL, but I've seen this in post WLS patients-- at a BMI or 26 or 27 they look skinny.

Eliana 03-01-2010 11:08 AM

Well...this makes staying at 198.4 a little more tolerable. :rofl:

19Deltawifey 03-01-2010 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eliana (Post 3178170)
I was identical to you in weight and sizes in high school. Perhaps it's because we didn't exercise?? I'm not sure. Now I'm exercising as I lose this weight and I swear it makes me heavier! :dizzy:

I exercised for sports while in high school but once I got on Deprovera (birth control shot) I gained 40 lbs in 2-4 months. It made me so hungry and i was working at McDonalds and could not resist the food while being on depo. But for me measuring my body is a lot better indicator on how Im doing fitness wise then the scale is. Thats why I measure now instead of weighing every week. Plus my goal is a size 8 and I have no idea what weight I would have to be to fit in a 8. To me personally it wouldn't matter if I was 160 and a size 8 or 175 and a size 8. To me a size 8 is my goal and thats all that matters, so in my opinion I say forget the number on the scale continue working out and losing inches and eventually the weight will come off.

marigrace 03-02-2010 05:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carlyjordon2002 (Post 3179135)
To me personally it wouldn't matter if I was 160 and a size 8 or 175 and a size 8. To me a size 8 is my goal and thats all that matters, so in my opinion I say forget the number on the scale continue working out and losing inches and eventually the weight will come off.

Sorry, I seem to be drifting off topic....In the past, when I was weight training, I wore a 14, and even squeezed into twelves. I stayed at 200 lbs for about a year, and the whole time, I was gaining muscle, and didn't understand why I couldn't lose weight. I know the goal should be to lose FAT, not WEIGHT, but I can't bear the idea of getting stuck like that again. I know it isn't logical, but I'm going to reduce my weight a little more, before I get serious about building muscle.

ubergirl 03-02-2010 09:51 AM

I guess I'm getting off topic myself, but I have a fancy body fat scale at home.

Since December, I've really upped my exercise level-- added running and lifting, and working with a PT. I'm strong and I lift quite heavy weights, and my weight loss has slowed considerably. However, according to my body fat scale, my body fat % (a charming 44%) hasn't budged. My weight has gone down about ten pounds over two months, but my body fat has not.

So, I always wonder when people say they are so worried about "gaining muscle..." are we really gaining as much as we think we are?


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