100 lb. Club - 6 weeks and NO change in photo's :(

I'm sorry if you guys are getting tired of hearing me whine and complain... I just need to get it out :(

I started taking photo's of myself in my underwear (don't worry... won't be posting them)...

Each time, I have taken front, back, and both sides.

They were taken on Oct, 31st, Nov. 13th, and Dec. 1st.

I have lost 24 pounds (and I'm STUCK) and everybody says well the scale isn't giving it to you but I'm sure you can tell... well I CAN'T tell.

My pictures make it worse... I think I look even bigger now than I did before I started losing....

I feel dangerously close to giving up :(

I don't want to give up... I want to succeed like so many on this website. You all inspire me, and make me feel like it can be done... but my body is fighting me every step of the way apparently. I just am not sure I have the will and strength to keep fighting with absolutely no results :(

Sorry for the whining and rambling...

It took me about 50 pounds before I (or anyone else) could really see a difference, though I could notice a difference in how my clothes fit before then.

One thing that we all have to get used to is that are body isn't a completely predictable machine. I've read several accounts of people working for weeks with no apparent progress, then a sudden "whoosh" of weight loss. This can depend on lots of things such as water retention, exercise, recovery from exercise, and lots of unknown factors.

The only certainty is that giving up is *bad*. There's nothing wrong with analyzing your plan to see if it needs to be "tweaked", but, at some point, you need to be patient and wait for your body to respond.

Even when I started at 260 pounds on December 29, 2008, I only lost 2 pounds a week for the first 15 weeks, and it has been slower since then. But it adds up if you stick with it.

Don't give up--hang in there!

Unfortunately, the heavier we are, the longer it takes to notice a difference, even in ourselves. :( I'm sorry you're experiencing this. Know that soon, very soon now, you WILL start to see a difference and the smaller you get the more noticeable those differences are. Many women report that it has taken 30, 40, 50, 75 pounds before they noticed any real difference.

This is where you have to make a choice about what is most important to you, losing the weight or being quick about it? If you stick to your program no matter what, the weight WILL come off. It will most certainly probably not come off in your time frame though. ;) Weight loss is so much about patience and perseverance.

Try making a commitment to yourself that you will see this through. Aren't you curious about where you could be one year from today if you just didn't give up, no matter what? If you stuck with the program when the scale sticks, when the scale whooshes, when you're craving something, when you're hungry, when you're frustrated, when you're elated...through it all, where could you be in one year?

This advice comes to you from one who has lost 80 pounds and who plateaus all. the. time. :D

Don't give up, please don't.
You cannot possibly be any bigger but equally, yup, 24lbs off the 159 you want to lose might not be that noticeable.

For me, even from my re-start at 215 this May, I'd say it was over 30lbs before I could see any difference, over 40 before anyone else really noticed.

At least keep going for another 24, and re-photo. I bet you see the difference then!
:hug:

Thanks guys... I'm gonna keep going... even if I have to cry, scream, yell... and whine through it ;) Thanks for listening to me whine :)

People tend to notice more when you GAIN than when you LOSE....but be assured...the SCALE doesn't lie!;) Keep up the good work!:hug:

Hopefully, my thoughts on the other thread helped abit :)

i'm actually going through some mental drama about my body now. I KNOW I'VE LOST WEIGHT. Actually, i've lost some inches, according to my measuring tape( if you don't have some yet, get it asap), BUT i don't feel thinner. my waist is smaller, but i can't tell by looking, i'm sure people can't tell by looking at me dressed. but since my hips are now 12, yes i said 12 inches bigger than my waist, it feels like they are bigger. but my hips and whole lower body are the same size.

so anyway, we all go through periods where we feel like we aren't changing, or are getting even worse, even though clearly we are. Like i was saying before we just have to focus on those good habits. look at it longer term. a month, a year, 2 years from now. you will be glad you exercised, drank that water instead of soda, ate veggies instead of chips, you WILL be glad you stuck with it. try to build up that momentum. how many days in a row you can do x and so on. set up a reward system, challenges that are exercise related or whatever works for you.

i don't mind reading people whining, because i almost always related at some point to what they are saying/feeling. 150, 200, 400, doesn't matter. Almost all of us have those same feelings of feeling defeated, fat, like it's going to take forever. But that's why we come here. blog about it. comfort each other. get it out, so we don't smother our feelings in needless food or cover our feelings untill we explode. i think as long as it makes you feel better, getting the whining out helps you. now if you're the kind of person that the moer you complain, the more you think about how bad it is, maybe find a different outlet.

Nobody noticed until I had lost over 60 pounds. Even my best friend couldn't tell much of a difference, except in my face, until I had lost over 50. Now that I lost over 100, people are saying something. Now, when I lose just 10 pounds, people say they can see it. I've taken pics, and really, I don't notice much of a difference in the pics from 325 down to 280.

You lost 24 pounds, believe me, there's a difference! That's a good chunk of fat you lost from somewhere on your body! Keep up the good work. Don't get discouraged, don't quit. The weight WILL come off.

and a week with no significant changes in the scale is totally normal. even 2 weeks for many of us.

If you're anything like most of us on this site, you might be the last one to really see your weight loss. I only noticed it a couple weeks ago after I had lost about 24% of my body weight.

Everyone else started really noticing after I'd lost about 15-16% of my body weight. Before that, nada.

Don't freak out - just keep doing what works and the weight/inches will come off in time.

150, 200, 400, doesn't matter. Almost all of us have those same feelings of feeling defeated, fat, like it's going to take forever.

This is a lesson I have had to learn. :o I admit! I used to think mean things about women in the 150's who complained about how slow weight loss was. :o "Poor baby." LOL! Now I'm here...maybe that's why I'm on a plateau. Darn karma. :D

About losing and not seeing...our feet might be the answer. I am down 40 and people just started noticing. But something you don't really see is how your feet change. I had some shoes the just were annoying to me before I lost...I tried them on 2 days ago and now they fit perfect. I didn't realize I had lost weight in my feet...but I did! Maybe you just can't see it now, but keep pressing on...the changes will come as long as you don't give up on you. Take it slow and steady. Chin up and good choices.

One thing I try to remind myself when I can't see a difference is...I remember watching an episode of Dr.Oz,where he mentioned internal fat surrounding our organs and that as we lose,the fat surrounding the organs lose too.While we may want to see the difference on the outside...the inside is important as well..even more so.Don't give up!!! :hug:

Hopefully, my thoughts on the other thread helped abit :)

i'm actually going through some mental drama about my body now. I KNOW I'VE LOST WEIGHT. Actually, i've lost some inches, according to my measuring tape( if you don't have some yet, get it asap), BUT i don't feel thinner. my waist is smaller, but i can't tell by looking, i'm sure people can't tell by looking at me dressed. but since my hips are now 12, yes i said 12 inches bigger than my waist, it feels like they are bigger. but my hips and whole lower body are the same size.



Yes @ the bolded! My hips and thighs? They like being this size, they really do (which makes me think I have a pear-shape, which wouldn't be so bad except I don't have any booty!) but my waist is losing in leaps and bounds...I say this because we are all frustrated at some point (****, I'm always on the verge of quitting) but what's the alternative? Just quit? Go back to your high weight and still be unhappy and not be doing anything about it? At least now, you are taking active steps to changing your life! Trust me, it will pay off and I'm not saying this because I'm one of the ladies who have made goal or even a mini goal...I'm saying this because I have faith in you, me and everybody here who is doing their best to lose weight! You can do it girl!!!!:carrot:

Noticing changes at 24 pounds at our starting weight? No, no, no. The heavier we are, the longer it takes to show up.

It was about 50 pounds lost till I got that first comment and it wasn't even that I lost weight, just that I looked "good". They couldn't quite figure out what was different about me. It was still *subtle*.

Someone here once had a great analogy.You've got two rolls of paper towels. One roll has 100 sheets, the other 50 sheets. You take 10 sheets off of that 100 sheet roll - ummm, not so noticeable, if at all. But you take 10 sheets off that 50 sheet roll - oh yeah, it's noticeable.

Look how far you've come in a mere 6 weeks. 6 weeks. That's nothing. It took you a lifetime to get to your starting weight, and now, just 6 weeks later, you've shaved off 25 lbs. That's pretty spectacular if you ask me.

Provided you keep on forging ahead - NO QUITTING - there is no way for the weight to NOT come off of you. You chip away and chip away at it and the losses keep piling up and before you know it

You mentioned a stall; maybe we can help you out.

How long has your stall been? What plan are you following? How consistent have you been with it? Any cheat meals or days - Thanksgiving perhaps? Even one day off can wreak absolutely stall your weight loss. How's your activity level?

I'm going through something very similar right now myself. I've lost 20 pounds, can't tell one bit of difference at all and for the last three weeks I've been stalled. I've been losing and gaining the same 2-3 pounds over and over again. UGH!

However, we need to remember that giving up is NOT an option. Even if the scales, our eyes and our clothes don't tell us we're different we ARE different. We're healthier because we're feeding our body healthier foods and making healthier choices!!

Eventually the rest of us will catch up and before we know it we'll be seeing a huge difference in the way we look.

Oh yes, especially t higher weights the changes can be so hard to see... Five pounds off of 260 is a very small percentage change.... Off of 125, on the other hand? Massive visual difference.

You'll get to where you want to be, so long d you don't give up :)

Just wanted to add that pictures are not the best to use as a measure of success. Even on our best of days where we KNOW we look good, we'll see a picture and think *YUCK*. :p Not because we look bad, it's just our extra-critical mind.

As another poster said, I would start taking accurate measurements (have someone help). That way, you can see week after week what your losses are added together. Instead of looking at a picture, you could look at your journal and see that you've lost x inches. No gray area there.

When I had lost 40 lbs I thought I could tell, but no one else really could. I actually excitedly showed a before and during pic to a friend and she said "I don't see a difference." Which was devastating.

Anyhow, I'm back and this week I'm slightly frustrated to not have seen a loss, but it is TOM, so, there's there. BUT: if we keep at what we are doing it WILL come off, probably not as fast as ANY of us would like, ha, but if you do what you're doing you're not going to gain, so what' the point in giving up?

I have always had a similar attitude of, "Oh, I"m not losing fast enough, I might as well gain it all back." And now looking back I'm like, WHAT was I thinking? ha.

We just need to stick to it and come here and whine, we'll always be happier to see you whine, than to not see you at all because You've given up and left. ;) Trust me. :)

Celebrate your small successes. Increasing your exercise by 5 mins, or skipping an unhealthy meal or treat offered by someone. Staying On Plan for x amount of days in a row. It's not JUST about the number on the scale.

You didn't just lose 24 lbs, you gained health and you probably feel way better doing what you're doing than you did before, and why give that up? You can measure success in many ways. The scale is not your friend! Even when it is. ;)

I've lost 21/50 pounds and you can barely tell in my pictures. Seriously, I am the fattest looking 169 pound person ever and it is depressing. I am afraid I will get to goal and still look the same.

Since you and I are of similar height/current and starting weight, I can tell you that I am having a problem with thinking I actually look fatter. It's because my upper body is changing and getting smaller, but it seems to have a trickle down effect where I'm losing from the head down. One area that looks smaller is going to make the other areas look even bigger. It may just be an illusion caused by losing weight in certain areas first

Thanks everybody... I know what you mean moon safari... except I'm fatter on top than on bottome... uggh...

Not giving up.. and thanks for all the comments :)

Here's the thing. We often have a hard time seeing changes in ourselves. I take pictures of myself (side and front views) every ten pounds and post them on my blog. EVERY SINGLE TIME I freak out and think, "omg I look the same!! Maybe even fatter!" I show them to my close friend and she says no, you look good! But I cannot see it. I always think I look the same or bigger.

However, after 100 pounds you can bet the pictures look very different. So keep going, it WILL show eventually even if you personally cannot see it yet.

I am also a big advocate of taking measurements every ten pounds. It's hard to argue with 3" off your waist!

I'm not seeing any difference in my pictures yet either. When you have a lot of fat it's coming off from everywhere, not just where we want to see it leave. =) Keep going, you'll get there.

Gidget, PLEASE don't quit. Quitting means you will not get thinner, and you'll probably go back to your start weight, or even higher.

My "join date" here was in 2007. I stuck around for about two weeks. I think I lost a bit at the beginning, then stalled for a week, when I wrote this thread (http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/100-lb-club/117848-why-wont-scale-budge.html)

Sadly, I did not listen to all of the good advice. I finally showed up here again in June 2009, and I was 30 lbs heavier, two more miserable years of being morbidly obese, and thirty extra pounds to lose, just because I did not understand how important it was just to STICK WITH IT.

Every single one of the big losers here is PERSISTENT. We've all been frustrated, sad, uncomfortable, tired, bored, and a million different emotions. We are no better or worse than you. But we did not give up.

So PLEASE don't give up.... just stick with it for one more week and see what happens.

Glad to hear that your planning to keep working :D. I know a lot of people on this site swear by daily weighing, but I've found that during stalls the daily weighing just makes me feel like more of a failure. I just don't have the emotional capability of dealing with the fluctuations or stalls in weight loss in a reasonable, logical manner at this time (something I'll be working on). All I see when I look at the numbers is failure. Whenever I feel that the scale is becoming more of a hindrance to my weight loss goals than a help, I stop weighing myself daily. I monitor my calorie intake like a hawk, and when I feel emotionally able to deal with whatever number appears on the scale, then I start daily weighing again. This may not work for you - a lot of people seem to prefer the daily sense of accountability - but it does help me when I'm feeling down about my progress.

In addition, whenever I feel like giving up, I ask myself if I'd be happy at this weight (or heavier) a year from now, 5 years from now, 10 years from now. Of course, the answer is always "No," and that helps me realize that quitting just isn't an option. I can adjust, modify, rethink, or switch my plan, but going back to my old ways of eating just isn't going to hapen.

Best wishes to you-you are making wonderful progress even if it feels so much slower than you'd like :hug:

Noticing changes at 24 pounds at our starting weight? No, no, no. The heavier we are, the longer it takes to show up.

It was about 50 pounds lost till I got that first comment and it wasn't even that I lost weight, just that I looked "good". They couldn't quite figure out what was different about me. It was still *subtle*.

Someone here once had a great analogy.You've got two rolls of paper towels. One roll has 100 sheets, the other 50 sheets. You take 10 sheets off of that 100 sheet roll - ummm, not so noticeable, if at all. But you take 10 sheets off that 50 sheet roll - oh yeah, it's noticeable.

Look how far you've come in a mere 6 weeks. 6 weeks. That's nothing. It took you a lifetime to get to your starting weight, and now, just 6 weeks later, you've shaved off 25 lbs. That's pretty spectacular if you ask me.

Provided you keep on forging ahead - NO QUITTING - there is no way for the weight to NOT come off of you. You chip away and chip away at it and the losses keep piling up and before you know it

You mentioned a stall; maybe we can help you out.

How long has your stall been? What plan are you following? How consistent have you been with it? Any cheat meals or days - Thanksgiving perhaps? Even one day off can wreak absolutely stall your weight loss. How's your activity level?


Awesome advice! Priceless :hug:
Hang in there gidget...your doing a great job! I have been working on this 6 months. The time went by so fast. I have lost 57 pounds- I was wondering today what I will lose in another 6 months?
At least I'm not eating that late night ice cream followed by self loathing.
There are weeks that I will hit a stall and then day's I will lose several Lbs. in a row. And then stall again. I think my body is fighting it. To hang on to that extra weight. Keep working on it girl- you will see those results soon. Try and relax this stress can't be good for you :stars: Put those pictures in a file on your computer and don't look at them for a while. Later when you do look you will say WOW!
Do something fun for yourself this weekend. Go out and buy some perfume or new lipstick. :D
We all feel like this sometimes but pleeeaase don't give up ;)

Thanks girls.. not giving up, going to keep chuggin along. I want it ...even if it's 2 years from now. :)