I can't talk about this in the real world! So I thought I'd bring it here.

When I first started this journey at 235 pounds I was wearing a comfortable 20, not tight, a little big, but couldn't fit an 18 no-how. Once I started coming here I was shocked to see women my height and weight wearing 18's and even 16's. I honestly thought they were lieing or wearing clothes too tight. I started losing weight pretty fast without exercise, but I remained on the high end of the weight/height/size ratio.

As I have been losing but also lifting and doing some pretty intense cardio, I have been losing really, really slowly. But I lose inches like mad and have been known to drop a full dress size with a one pound loss! I am now 177 and wearing a size 12 and those 12's are comfy! I could wear a 10 if I wanted to be indecent. They do button and zip.

At fireworks last night my SIL shared that she weighs 155. My eyes are horrible, but I think we are the same size! She's got a few inches in height on me. Anyway, it shocks me to think she weighs 155 because really, I don't think she and I are so far apart now. I could be wrong.

In any case, I've been reading through size threads and I think I am now on the smaller side of that weight/height/size ratio and it blows my mind.

Exercise really does make us heavy but smaller, doesn't it? That 135 goal I have in mind might just have me smokin' hot!

Muscle takes up less volume than an equal weight in fat. So yes, a person with more muscle, is more compact.

The difference can be unbelievable. A friend recently disclosed her weight after I asked her why she (thin in my eyes) was always referring to herself as a "big girl." She's the same height as I am, so when she said she weighed 225 lbs, I couldn't believe it. I was so flabergasted that I dug out a photo of myself at that same weight (225 is one of my milestone goals, because of that photo - which I now I think I looked great at. But as great as I think I looked at that size, it's still a lot bigger than this friend).

But the difference is pretty easily explained. I was active at that weight, but not athletic. My friend at 225 lbs is not just active, she's athletic. She runs, hikes, kickboxes. Her upper arms are toned with muscle definition, and not the least bit wiggly. Her hips are trim, even her curves are more curvy than fat (more like the figure that the "booty pop" underwear infomercials are trying to achieve).

My guess is she would sink like a stone (fat people float, muscular people sink).

My body must be SO dense! (IDK how, but I think since I was very heavy even as a child, my body just developed more muscular to compensate?). I am 5'2" and started to wear a size 10 in the high 180's! I complain a lot, but I am lucky for that. I also lose weight very slowly.

This thread makes me happy

I just started working out consistently 2 weeks ago. Today, the scale jumped back up a little, BUT I felt (and looked, I think) a LOT smaller today than I had in a while. (Like, some rather large overnight change!) I'm so happy about that that I could shrug off the scale number.

Honestly? I do want to lose weight. Like, numbers. I want to be light so I can tackle someone and not feel bad if they fumble. But... I'm starting to care less about that, and more about the inches. So there is some mental progress going on....