so i'm three months and seven days into this latest go of losing weight and i was feeling good, i can tell i'm losing, my waist is definitely smaller so i decided to try on jeans to see where i was. i have every size in my closet so i pulled out my 12's and i could at least pull them up but super tight everywhere and i have a major muffin top in them. i also tried on a pair of 10's i have in my closet that i used to wear easily cuz they had stretch in them and i thought they'd be tight but was hoping to get them on, well i couldn't even get them past my thighs/hips and now i am so depressed. i feel like even though i've made progress i still am nowhere near where i used to be. i am trying hard to say to myself ok, it's been three months since i started at 238.5, i refuse to weigh myself but would guess i've lost 20 or 30... if i can spend all of june, july, august and try them on again in 3 months they should be looser... but really i feel like omg how dumb was i to think i am getting better when i'm still huge?

just needed to vent. i feel like i'm losing no inches at all from hip/thigh area since i can't even pull them up. when i used to wear them even when they were starting to get tight i could at least pull them on and lay down on the bed and suck my stomach in and zip them

Well, it's still happening to me, too. My mom insisted I try on this cute little dress I bought years and years ago. She said it was big on her, so it should fit me. Ugh! Couldn't even zip the stupid thing up! It put me out a little. Anyway, just know that it happens to all of us. We just have to keep on keeping on. We will get there eventually.
Good luck!

I seem to be changing sizes every 20 lbs or so.

It also depends on how much you tighten up the muscles with exercise.

Instead of going straight for the smaller sizes, try on the 20's and then the 18's and then the 16's. You will be able to gauge your progress without getting bummed out too much.

As a matter of fact go do that now and come back with smiley faces for the sizes that are history!!!

repeat to yourself : I didn't gain this weight in a few months, it's not going to come off in a couple months!

Instead of thinking bad thoughts about yourself (calling yourself dumb), pat yourself on the back for losing the weight so far and coming so far from where you started. You chose to change make healthier choices. Give yourself credit for that

Give it time. Sizes are very frustrating at first because there are a lot more pounds between sizes at the large end than at the small end.

Search this forum for "paper towel theory" for an interesting insight into why that is that might make you feel better.

In my own process, my body didn't seem to change very much at all for the first 40-50 pounds. Only then did I start noticing my clothes getting very loose. Then between around 60-75 pounds gone, it was like a switch flipped. The changes started coming fast. (I also started stepping up my resistance training, which helped.) It started to seem like clothes I bought would be too big on me just a couple weeks later.

Be patient, you're doing great, I promise this will get better.

Hang in there and don't give up.
I have lost 30 pounds and I have just dropped one dress size.
I have lost very little in my waist.
It is coming off my face, arms and legs first.
That might be happening to you too.


Watch your hands and feet and see if your shoes are getting looser and your hands thinner.
My body is doing its own thing. I have to go with what it has planned for itself. But all the excess fat will come off eventually in my waist and hips.
Just have to be patient.

I feel exactly (EXACTLY!) the same way! It's only been a solid month (plus a week for me) with really watching what I'm eating and working with a personal trainer, so I know nothing should be drastically improved. However, I've been feeling really great and have a noticeable difference in my regular jeans! I decided to pull out my summer clothes from last year, which I always felt were my fat summer clothes, and low and behold, I don't even fit into them. It makes me sooo depressed- for a number of reasons. I can't believe how much I allowed myself to gain over the summer, and also because I may be feeling good, but I'm not even near fitting into clothes that were my staple last year that weren't even all that great anyways. I've got such and incredibly long way to go, and it's making me stay on track and work heard, but I agree, it really just feels like a smack in the (big) gut when you are feeling so accomplished and motivated, and then you get that reality check.

This is why we're all here, and it helps me to know I'm not alone. I'll be hanging in there, and I hope you will, too!

Hang in there, I know how frustrating this can be. I hate jean shopping (to the point where I didn't wear jeans for about 3 years). Jeans suck, especially if you are like me and carry all your weight in your thighs, legs, and butt (which is what is sounds like from what you are describing). Focus on the positive (how you feel, the difference you can notice, etc.) and do NOT focus on the size.

When I went jean shopping for the first time in years about a month ago I went to a really high end store, picked the first sales guy I saw, told him not to tell me how the European sizes equated to American sized and just find me a pair of jeans that looked worth the money I was about to spend on them...he did just that and then some even though I now know the size and it is seriously sort of a bummer...seriously, they are a 10 and I'm about the same height as you so you've got to feel my pain on that. Some of us are just built different, KWIM? I will forever have a big butt/thighs (I've been teeny tiny, about 15lbs lower than my current goal, and still had this problem so it ain't going away). Embrace the smaller parts of you as well as the more well-endowed ones.

I know how frustrating it can be. The jeans I was wearing when I started the diet were too big in a couple of weeks--won't stay up. However, when I was trying to find things to wear in a smaller size, many were still too tight. Take it one day at a time and you will get there.

I'm down 29 pounds, and my pants are falling off my butt! Seriously, I can take them off without unbuttoning them! The stuff that's falling off me are 20's and 22's, but when I went shopping this weekend, most of the 18's and 20's I was trying on were too small. Grrrr! I did finally find 1 pair of capris that fit, and they're size 18.
NSV - first pair of new pants that the size starts with a "1"!

Size 10 is likely the size you will be when you are at your goal weight, so why are you trying them on now and letting yourself get depressed and disappointed? You are estimating your weight to be somewhere around 210 to 220 pounds; that is not a size 10, and trying those jeans on will only make you upset. It takes time. You will get there. You have come a long way.

That is exactly why I do weigh and measure myself. I can't estimate how much I've lost. I just can't. I know that according to my perceived effort, I would guess too high. Unless I was having a down day, then I would guess too low. Either way, it's just a guess.

I also know how much I weighed last time I was a size 12 and it wasn't in the 200s - it was more like 150. I'm not going to try on 12s for a L O N G time. No use putting myself through that. Right now I wear a 24. If I'm feeling brave, I'll pull out some 22s. But not till my scale says I've lost 10 or 15 pounds, or my 24s look baggy. I just don't want to deal with the disappointment. I'd way WAY rather think about how far I've come instead of how far I have to go.

I've done this weight loss thing before. I'm trying to learn from my mistakes. Most of mistakes didn't come in the form of eating too many carbs or not drinking enough water or some of the teeny details that people fixate on, it came from feelings. I dieted just fine, but sometimes I let my emotions and feelings get the better of me and then I just couldn't recover. Pretty much every re-gain I've ever had didn't come from too much ice cream or fast food, it came from feeling bad about myself in some way and giving up.

Can I ask why you're refusing to weigh yourself? Is that something you decided or did someone else talk you into thinking it's a good thing? I know it's probably the way to go for some people, but if it doesn't work for you as a strategy - you can always abandon it. Or you can get a tape measure and keep track that way. Don't set yourself up to feel bad. A tape measure or scale will show your progress. Clothes that don't fit just show you how far you have left to go. ENJOY your success!

I am about your height, and I am in a size 14 at 185 pounds. Expecting to fit into size 10's right now is just unreasonable. I won't even begin to try a 10 until I'm below 160 pounds.

Try not to focus on the number so much. If you are having to squeeze into a pair of jeans by laying down and sucking in, then they don't really fit. Wearing clothes that are too tight only emphasizes unpleasant bulges and rolls that wouldn't be hangin out in clothes that fit properly. When people see you, they can't see the tag in your jeans to know the size. Choose clothes that make you look and feel good, the smaller number on the tag doesn't mean much if you look like you can't breathe in them.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to be smaller, we all do. I just think you are setting yourself up for disappointment by expecting to live up to unrealistic expectations.

Don't give up dear, let this stigma motivate you into pushing yourself hard so you will one day soon be able to fit into those 12's or even 10's! We all have our moments of weakness and doubt but get back up on that saddle and keep on going! Good luck!

Argh I do that too. It's really a depressing moment, you are not alone trust me. Just don't give up. I remember I could really see a difference when I got down to 145. Before that I always felt the same when I tried them.. Weird..