frustrated about my measurements (warning- whiny)
 

I just took my measurements and compared them with the old ones. Almost everything went down 0.5 to 1.5 inches except the thigh measurement which went UP an inch. I can't even be happy about the ones that went down, since that has to be water weight instead of fat. You can't lose an inch of fat in a week, can you? It's been like this forever, my torso shrinks, and the hips and thighs don't, or barely go down. I know it's all part of being a pear, but I really don't have much left to lose on the ribcage/waist area. I'm starting to picture myself at goal as being emaciated up top with the same lumpy thighs.:(

Oooh girl, don't EVEN get me started on thighs! Thus, my screenname! I don't know why yours would have gone UP an inch though with the rest of you shrinking. When my waist and hip generally will go down a full inch, my thighs will only go down .25 of an inch. I run everyday and still have this issue. I am at a perfect 22" right now for both thighs. :(

ETA: I think measurements also depend on where you are on your cycle. Charting is a good bet so you can see what it does monthly.

You know as soon as I read your post, I remembered something I read in the book "Body for Life". Basically, many people find themselves losing weight and having the exact same shape they had when they were overweight but in a smaller form. You can shape your body somewhat.

Are you exercising? Are you doing weight training?

It's sufficient to measure yourself once a month, then you can really tell if you've lost inches. If you don't exercise enough will losing, you lose fat and muscle. You don't want to lose muscle because it takes more calories to maintain so you will be able to eat more when you are at goal.

Lots of questions.

How much actual weight have you lost and in how much time?
How much more weight are you looking to lose?
Nelie's ? - Are you exercising? What kinds?

Another thing. Measurements are not an exact science. It's hard to measure in the same exact spot on any 2 given days. It's also difficult to determine just how tight you pulled the tape one time as opposed to the next.

Yea, I'm thinking that's why the others went down so much in such a short amount of time. I'm glad someone else out there feels my pain.

Nellie, I have a feeling that's what's going to happen to me. In the beginning, I was thinking one day I'd be able to buy clothes off the shelf that would fit in both the waist and the hip/thigh area. Ha! Never going to happen.

I was running, then it got slushy and slippery out, so now I go for a walk every day, and do these leg exercises I found on tv with someone named Tamilee. It's like a series of lunges. I guess it'd be considered aerobics. I don't have any weights but do push ups, and a Pilates exercise thing on TV. The tv exercise things are 10 minutes long, and I try to do two of those a day, and the push ups every other day.

How much actual weight have you lost and in how much time? About 35 lbs, and it probably took about two years. I took it really slow, and sometimes I was more serious about it than others, but my weight takes a really long time to change in either direction. I didn't really start out trying to lose weight - the new dog needed exercise, and I wanted to eat more vegetables. The weight loss was a side effect, then later I was counting calories for awhile and tracking carb/protein/fat percentages etc. So, I'm not 100% sure exactly how much time everything took.
How much more weight are you looking to lose? 15-20 more. I've been overweight since I was 18, so I don't know exactly where my healthy adult weight is.

I know measurements can never be 100% exact, but I did them over and over on both days and was very careful about trying to figure out how much tension to use, and choosing the largest part of me to measure, so I'm fairly comfortable with them.

Quilter, I've been measuring often because it's for a challenge where you check in once per week.

frieden,

I'd recommend looking at a couple of books that touch on weight lifting. Body for Life is pretty good and Body for Life for women is decent although a bit watered down version. The New Rules of Lifting for Women is really a good book. All of them should be at your local library. Those programs generally use dumbbells.

Weights can be costly but you can also work out with resistance bands which are inexpensive and portable.

Here is a sticky in the Weight/Resistance training forum about using resistance bands:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=96976

Since you've still got 15 - 20 lbs to go, and given your thighs are your worst part, there's a good chance that you will see BIG improvement in that area. Could be that's where bulk of the remainder of your fat is left. If you're pretty slim elsewhere it would stand to reason (hopefully) that the fat would have to leave that area, if there's no where else to turn to.

I agree with Nelie. Those resistance bands are inexpensive and are effective.

I sure hope so, and that my body doesn't completely drain the ahem, chest area for fat first.;)

I'll look into resistance bands. Unfortunately right now, cost is a factor so weights will be out of the question for the time being unless I found a major deal.