Oh, if she just had a baby it might well be true! I am 20 pounds lighter than I was when I was pregnant with Seth, and still wearing the same size pants. My hips spread about three inches. My ribs, boobs, and back have all lost fat, but the circumference around my hips is still the same despite a very different body composition. The more babies I have, the slower my pelvis seems to be in returning to its' original size.
Oh, no! I didn't just have a baby. DD is 2... I did have a miscarriage at the end of Feb (I was 3 months along) so since then I've really been struggling with any weight loss.
Ugh, today the scale was just cruel to me! First, it showed up at 189lbs (and I weighed myself twice to be sure!). Then I reset it just to be REALLY sure and it went up to 191lbs. I just don't get what it's problem is about going below 190! ARRRGGGHHH.
My thin sister doesn't own a scale. She does all of her self evaluation about weight based on her clothes and how she feels in them.
My suggestion is that you completely swear off weighing yourself for a month.
Something good is clearly happening to your body. You look terrific! For whatever reason right now the scale isn't reflecting that change, we can theorize forever why (heavier muscle, hanging on to fluid, even a broken scale or one that has been magically bewitched <grin>. Stop weighing yourself!
I suspect if you stay completely away from the scale for a month and keep doing what you are doing you will see a change in the number. (And lets face it, what matters more, how you look and feel or the number on the scale.)
I lost less than 30 lbs but lost 4 inches off my waist and 4 inches off my hips. I lost inches everywhere. I also lost 2-3 dress sizes... plus dress sizes, which are harder to drop than regular sizes. I love to see the scale go down (who doesn't?) but ultimately it's more important to lose fat and not muscle. Losing inches without losing too much weight is an indicator that you are losing fat and not muscle.
Thanks everyone for all the encouragement! I added in my measurements to my signature so I at least have SOMETHING to update to show to myself that I AM losing. I'm not sure if I'm ready to give up the scale, it really does keep me motivated (as long as I'm not gaining!) and anytime in the past that I've tried to stop I'm just not as careful about exercise and eating healthy So I've started adding in daily measurements and that seems to make me a lot happier.
I think what you're suffering from is "dieters' edema". It's water. You have been building muscle and losing fat, but you did not put on that many pounds of muscle so quickly. It takes time to build muscle. What the human body does is replace the fat that's been used up with water. It happens when we go on prolonged periods of calorie restriction. There are those who believe we just need to take a day or two of regular eating (like around your BMR), before the body will agree to release the water. I've experienced this on occasion, and it seems to work.
I think what you're suffering from is "dieters' edema". It's water. You have been building muscle and losing fat, but you did not put on that many pounds of muscle so quickly. It takes time to build muscle. What the human body does is replace the fat that's been used up with water. It happens when we go on prolonged periods of calorie restriction. There are those who believe we just need to take a day or two of regular eating (like around your BMR), before the body will agree to release the water. I've experienced this on occasion, and it seems to work.
Just wondering what time frame you are referencing here? The pictures I showed were from 3+ years ago and I've been running/doing the 30 Day Shred/lifting since June 2010 so there's a lot of time to build muscle in between there.
Or are you referring to the 2.5 months since the end of Feb that I haven't lost weight but have lost inches? In that case... I'm just trying to do the math here. In the New Rules of Lifting for Women it says you could build about 2lbs of muscle per month, so that would be about 4-5 lbs that I could've built during that time, right? So in theory I could've lost 5lbs of fat and gained 5lbs of muscle?
Now, I could certainly be carrying around some extra water but I'm just not sure how to get rid of it? I've tried eating more a few days/extra carbs everything but I definitely never saw a whoosh after that! Just the same old on the scale the next time. I even have a couple glasses of wine (spread out, not all on one night, I normally don't drink..) because I heard a few mention on here that that helps break a plateau too but again nothing.
I do go up some the day after a workout (I could weigh-in at 192-194 those days whereas my other days are about 190-192) but that goes down the next day.
I know you're looking for a definitive answer to why you're losing inches but not weight. I'm sorry, I can't give you that. I am not a fitness professional or medical expert. I only have my own experiences from which to share. I have a lot of those!
It is my experience that the scale will make me crazy if I put all my belief and hopes in that thing. I have been exercising like mad for over a year. I have lost inches, but not weight. All my clothes are falling off me, but the scale shows me the same number range, day after day after day. And this has gone on for nearly three years. I cannot wrap my brain around this.
I recently read about dieters' edema. I did things to address this. I dropped nearly 15 lbs in the last three weeks. The things I did...cut calories even more, cut carbs to below 100 gm/day, ate a lot more vegetables, specifically ate asparagus and dandelions, took cranberry capsules, drank more coffee and green tea, cut salt from my diet. And three weeks later, I've hit another plateau. I started to get more cavalier about counting calories so I'm probably eating a bit more than I have been the last three weeks and that's put me into a maintenance level. I'm still exercising.
Gaining 2 lbs of muscle per month sounds lovely, but is that what is really happening? I don't know. In the last year, as a woman, could I have put on 24 lbs of pure muscle in the last year from my workouts? From what I've read, I think that's doubtful. I think dedicated bodybuilders would kill for those kinds of results.
The reality is, like Pandora said, you're looking pretty fabulous in your pink shirt! You are doing awesome work! Don't let that scale plant seeds of doubt!
) and anytime in the past that I've tried to stop I'm just not as careful about exercise and eating healthy 
I even have a couple glasses of wine (spread out, not all on one night, I normally don't drink..) because I heard a few mention on here that that helps break a plateau too but again nothing. 
