Im so discouraged..ive almost attained my first mini goal of losing 20 pounds which is the most i have ever lost in my lifetime of trying to diet..BUT..im so discourage because no one seems to notice and whats worse.. i dont notice so much either..Especially in my stomach i dont notice..and i know im a big girl and i am an hourglass that lost the glass shape...so how much weight will i have to lose before people notice? How much did you have to lose before you saw it in your face??

Not an expert opinion, just something I read somewhere that we lose the initial weight from our organs first, so that we feel better cos our organs find it easier to function with less fat around them. That said, celebrate the non scale victories like how great you feel, and that should motivate you to lose more. It's a great accomplishment you've made, losing 20lbs is huge!!! Just keep doing what you're doing, and an additional pound loss will make a huge diff. Don't be discouraged girl, it happens. I know conpliments are a great motivation, but it takes time for it to show physically esp if like me you have a lot to lose (I started at 117kg/257lbs) it wasn't until I'd lost about 40lbs that pple started noticing! But I'm sure you feel the diff in the way your clothes fit, the mirror isn't so reliable. Cheers!

Good morning.

Congratulations on losing almost 20 pounds. Way to go.

I think I should go find the post for you, lol. Someone recently had posted (I think I read it yesterday) that she has lost a lot but she was not seeing it. Then she took another set of pictures and compared them to her previous set and was amazed at the difference. Sometimes it is hard to see the difference in ourselves or people around us who see you every day. Hopefully you would run into someone who hasn’t seen you in a while and she would be able to tell you.

There is also the paper towel theory http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/2274030-post1.html

This is a tough one...

I know for myself, I have a problem noticing until 20 to 25 lbs lost. But once your clothes begin to feel roomy, I'm sure others will begin to notice.

It may be that others are noticing, but are not commenting because they don't want to say anything if they are not sure you want to acknowledge that your are working on losing.

Keep doing what you are doing. They will notice. At some tipping point, the compliments will come flying your way!

I have found that I have to lose about 15% of my body weight before other people start to notice. Many people do not want to say anything because they are afraid they are going to offend you in some way so they will never comment. I noticed that my face was thinning out within losing around 15 lbs but I gain weight in my face first. I can see the difference between pictures, not so much in the mirror. Take pictures of yourself and date then with your weight tagged too. It is rewarding to see the subtle changes as you go along. Congratulations on losing 20 lbs! 20 lbs lost is 20 lbs lost! It had to come off somewhere so you are looking great even if you cannot see it.

When I first starting losing weight (83 pounds ago) people didn't comment at first - especially those who saw me everyday (probably the papertowel theory). But after I lost about 40 pounds, the comments started. I have noticed that as I get closer to my goal weight, the losses are more prominant than when I had more to lose. I know it's discouraging when you feel you have done everything right and it doesn't appear that anything is happening, but be assured, it is. The longer you do this, the easier it is to do becaue you will see the pounds falling off. I had a rough go on week two. I was ready to give up because no one was noticing or saying anything; it's summer time so I wanted ice cream and fruit - you know the drill. But when I came to work after that aweful cheat weekend, one of my co-workers I hadn't seen in a couple weeks came to see me (she works in a different department) and said "Wow you look great! How are you losing your weight". So I knew it was working and knew that if I stuck with it, I would soon be over the "overweight" chapter in my life. I would bet that you will begin noticing the loss in the next week or so. Like many have siad, the initial weight is excess fluid in our body and not necessarially fat. Now that the fluid is gone, the fat will begin to melt off as well. You can do this Port!!! We are all here for you

Congrats Porthardygurl! 20lbs is awesome! I agree with Disgal that many people just don't offer compliments, mostly for selfish reasons. I also think the paper towel theory is a great analogy.

It might be hard for people who see you every day to notice a difference. I live with my boyfriend who hasn't noticed any change in me yet, but I saw my Mom (who lives in a different city) after only 2 weeks on IP, and she noticed right away.

Way to go on your first 20! My experiences have been similar to the other posters, no one really noticed until I was around 30 pounds in. I didn't see it myself for MUCH longer, except in photos. Keep plugging along, you can do it!

Well done on the first 20lbs. You did it!

In my opinion for me it was around the 20lb loss that people started to take notice and have comments , by 30lbs. even more people noticed and at 40lbs. everyone wanted to know what I was doing!
I myself didn't notice the first twenty either, but I did feel the difference in my clothes.

Way to go on the 20 pounds! I just hit that today and I've been OP for 6 weeks! People are starting to notice now. Not a lot comment. Only 2 have at work and they've both been men. The ones who know I'm doing it comment but I think it's because they want to keep me going. Or maybe they just aren't scared to make a comment about it. I don't think it will be long before more notice on me because I'm finally starting to see it myself a little.

It will all come off, don't worry. It will probably take some people longer to notice than others. Also, some people will notice LONG before they actually say something to you. In some cases, people have probably said something to someone and then found out that the person was very sick.

You are doing great, and they will notice... I think it also depends on how much you need to lose and your body frame... people didn't notice right away with me (except for one coworker he noticed after one week) but by the time you get to 50 lbs people are noticing and commenting... it is the greatest feeling for sure. Just be paitient Porty it will come... keep up the good work.

Honestly, it takes about 50% of what you want to lose before everyone notices. I wanted to lose 80-90 pounds....most compliments started around the 35-45 pound loss (but it only took about 7 weeks to lose 40 pounds). I really got tons of compliments once I was down about 55 pounds. I was down a total of 82, but after 2 months of maintenance I am up about 6 pounds, but the compliments keep rolling. Keep at it and you will get what you want.

We started at about the same weight Port...people didn't start to say anything until 40 lbs. Although my close friends would constantly pep me up, it wasn't until 55 lbs that someone actually 'gushed' over how great I looked, that was last week. He didn't know I as actually working at it.

It will happen, use your before picture to help you see it in yourself.