I'm not sure where to post this for the best response but I have a question that I hope someone can help me with. I have recently lost 30 pounds but my waist has grown in size by 1 inch. Does anyone know if this is absolutely abnormal or has this happened to anyone else? I didn't feel bloated or anything at the time I took my measurements and I hadn't ate or anything. I was just a bit surprised and wondered if this happened to anyone else or if I had a watermelon growing on the inside of me! It's a bit concerning.... I have lost inches in other parts of my body including my chest area? SO..... Just wondering if this seems weird or if anyone else has experienced this and.... Aaaaand, I am looking for help in finding ways to get rid of my stomach mass. I am insulin resistant which causes a lot of weight to settle to the middle, but I've been exercising my stomach muscles, etc. and doing cardio and weights.... If anyone has any tips on how to get rid of stomach fat please help!

This could possibly be your culprit. Your stomach muscles (I'm guessing abs) could have grown, or are retaining water due to being worked.
My waist measurement actually varies quite a lot day to day even when I haven't eaten and don't feel bloated. It's kind of odd.. I wouldn't worry about it too much if you're losing inches elsewhere, it'll even out eventually Your body just decided it doesn't want to shrink your waist yet!

My first bet would be that I somehow measured differently each time. I had some fluctuations in measurements, and the abdomen was the worst about this, but across 30 pounds, no.

I have heard somewhere before (don't know if it's fact or not but thought i'd throw it in hoping it might help) that if you use the 'weighted' ab machines in most gyms (like the sit up bench where you hold onto weight plates, or the one where you twist to lift up the weight stack) instead of just using your own body weight to do crunches, reverse crunches etc. that it will actually increase muscle mass in that area instead of just toning. Like I said I don't really know if this is true or not but it might just be like someone else said with water retention. But none the less congrats on losing 30 pounds!

My guess is you did not measure at the same spot. My "waist" moves up and down quite a bit as I gain/lose weight and this greatly affects the measurement. Even being off a little bit changes the waist dramatically. And I dont lose significant inches on my natural waist. I lost huge amounts off my abdomen, and hips and my waist stayed virtually the same.

This is not true. There is no such thing as "toning"...just building muscle mass. Using weighted machines might help you build muscle faster, and it could be that you've built some muscle there/are retaining water from working those muscles. If so, good job! Tho it is frustrating to lose 30lbs and gain an inch! The inches will come off there, too, if you stick with it

Weight is funny. As I lose, I feel especially squishy in some parts and uneven. Uneven as in one side of my belly is ever so slightly bigger then the other (too much self examination-i know).
My extremely unscientific answer is that as we lose weight the fat is less grounded and kinda floats around a bit. I hope things smooth/even out in the end.
Or...you coulda just measured wrong

You cannot spot reduce.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I think there's a lot of changing going on in my body as it loses the weight and I exercise. It's just hard to swallow a gain in size when all that work has been put into losing! I did have a Dr.'s appt. yesterday and she said that things shift (nice...) and not to worry. She was just really excited that I had lost that much since our last visit. *beams*

I'm sure it'll all work out

Measurements are tricky because your point of measurement can move

I'm glad your Dr is happy. That's important.

I just wanted to add that measuring can be fickle. Oh I suppose you could make ink marks to make sure you're in the right spot

Also ... a few foods can make my belly bloat. Too much dairy and potatoes ....

After I lost my first 8 pounds on this journey, my waist measurement showed 4 inches lost. I know some of it was legit because I could tell some of my stomach was gone (tmi to go into how I could tell). But then after the next 4-5 pounds were gone, my waist measurement went right back to the original.

The point is, I think the problem, as some have suggested above, is that I can't remember where I measured last time. I've given up on measurements altogether because of this.

I have lost 37 pounds but not many inches in my waist. I have actually only gone down one pant size and 2 dress sizes. However I have lost considerably in my thighs and hips. Everyones body is different and we all loose weight differently too. I have researched weight loss, exercise anything you can think of and I have found that most professionals say that the majority of women especially women who have had more than on child loose weight in their abs last and it is the hardest weight to loose. For myself I believe that to be true. I wish I knew a magic cure or something specific to help but I would just keep eating healthy and exercising and maybe focus on over all body exercising and less on abs and see if that helps. Also a tape measure/scale ect. vary so much it could just be some miss measuring?