So I am three weeks into my life style change and I stepped on the scale today and I'm 20 pounds lighter then when I started!

I've been averaging about 5 pounds a week so far and I'm really excited about what I've lost so far. But the pessimist in me has no idea where it's coming from (the weight that is.) I have one pair of pants that I wear to work everyday (that's a lot of washing, i know) and they aren't getting any looser atleast not that i've noticed. And I'm not really SEEING a difference when I look in the mirror so I'm not sure where those 20 pounds came from. I know I should just shut my mouth and be happy but I'm just wondering if it's normal for the first 20 pounds or more to go away and not really be that noticeable? If so, when does it start getting noticeable? Feel free to smack me if I'm being to gloomy.

Congratulations on a fabulous start! 20 lbs in three weeks is amazing! Are you exercising regularly? I have also lost 20 lbs, but it has taken me 9 weeks to do that and unfortunately I don't see much difference either except my clothes aren't quite so tight. Which is a good thing! Keep this up and you'll start to see results, I know. Again--great job!

CONGRATS on the 20!!

I have no research to back this up, so take it with a grain of salt...

I think I read on this forum a long time ago that the first areas of fat targeted in weight loss tend to be visceral fat (fat that surrounds the organs). These changes are not as noticeable as losing fat that's underneath the skin (what you see in the mirror). They will reflect a drop on the scale, but unfortunately you might not be seeing the outside effects. However, I know there IS research that shows visceral fat is way more dangerous than subcutaneous fat, because it impacts organ function. In any case, unless your scale's broken, you know those 20 lbs are gone, so congratulate yourself and do a little dance!

Congratulations! A loss of 20 lbs in 3 weeks is amazing! I also have lost 20 lbs, but it has taken me 9 weeks, and I don't see much difference yet either. I have almost 150 lbs to lose. Are you exercising regularly? Keep this up and you'll see results soon, I'm sure. Again--great job!

Oops---I didn't mean to post the same message twice; I'm still new at all of this.
Sunnigummi--I didn't know that about the visceral fat vs. the subcutaneous fat, but it makes sense to me. It's better to have the fat around our organs gone, anyway. Thanks for the info.

thanks for this post! it's hard to really stay motivated when you don't see a change but the fact that this has such an impact on our health is so important. i haven't gone down very many sizes since i started losing but i am just pushing myself because i realize this is a committment to my health.

congrats on the loss

story of my life .... dont get discouraged eventually it must show !! i started @ 258 almost 40 pounds later i still dont see it although i am wearing a size smaller ( big friekcen deal )

congrats on your weight loss !!

Hi hon! Don't worry about not looking differently at this stage. It took me 44 lbs before I "saw" a difference. You weight is coming off all over, which means you won't see a huge difference yet cause you have a ways to go. Think of it this way...

If I take a new roll of paper towels and pull off 20 sheets, the roll looks pretty big and new still. But if I take an almost finished roll of paper towels and remove 20 sheets, there'd be nothing left!

Or this way: If I have a gallon of water and remove 2 cups it still looks like a gallon of water. If I have a pint of water and remove 2 cups, you don't have much left! It is all perspective...

So just be patient -- hang in there, and I'll bet you'll notice a huge difference when you are around 200lbs.



Kira

kiramira your the best ^^^

u made me feel better when i posted this queestion before ::hugs::

Thanks ladies! What Kira and Sunni said made a lot of sense to me. I'm psyched to be improving my health! I have been exercising almost every day either doing the c25k or my biggest loser dvd's and I'm feeling pretty dang good!

Wow, 20 pounds! I would think that with all your exercising that you are getting smaller overall, in different places on your body. I am sure that you and others will begin to see noticeable results very soon. Way to go on your weight loss~!

wow 20 lbs in 3 weeks is so great. You know I think we are all our own worst critics. I can never tell that I am getting smaller, but often times, people around me do notice.

Thanks girls! ::

It could be visceral fat. And that would be great. But if you're like me, you don't see the change in the mirror. Ever. It took photos before I could admit that I was in fact skinnier.

Here's a link to my 20lb pics, and my blog post on the subject. If you look closely, you'll see there's actually not that much difference in my upper thighs, hips and bum. My shorts fit looser over my belly, but not enough for me to notice a significant difference.

So the same thing may be happening to you. A combination of weight coming off certain areas and not others (yes to face and upper body, hips and thighs not so much!) coupled with a vision of your body through whatever the opposite to rose coloured glasses is.

Just keep going. You are doing an awesome job, and 20lb less fat makes you so much less susceptible to health problems.

Have you ever noticed that when you first have a bar of bath soap, it hardly looks different after you've showered once, but when the bar is small, it looks noticeably smaller after a shower. The same thing is true with weight loss.