Weight Loss Observation

[Baileymouse]

When I was much heavier (328) it took a long time before I (or anyone else) noticed that I was losing weight.

I stopped losing last summer, plateauing at 189. I guess I wasn't working as hard, although I did exercise consistently. Over the holidays I put on a few lbs and got back up to 198, so I knew I needed to do something. I joined Weight Watchers a little over a week ago.

Already I can see a difference. My collar bones are more prominent, and my pants fit better. A tight pair I was saving I can now wear. Even better, at least 3 people at work have told me I look like I'm losing weight, and I didn't tell any of them that I was dieting.

I guess the less you weigh the more noticeable the weight loss is. I mean, it took about 50 lbs. before my boss noticed that I had lost weight a year and a half ago.

 

[johde]

For me, it took losing about 35-40lbs before people started noticing. I am at almost 85lbs lost and there are people who are just now mentioning it. I wonder if when you are bigger, I started at 375, people want to make sure you are losing weight and not just bouncing up and down. Or, it could be that when I was bigger I wore baggier clothes so it was harder to see smaller changes. What's interesting is that while some people are just noticing, others are commenting that I must be getting close to my goal. I still have between 60 and 70 lbs to go.

 

[DisneyGirl]

It is *definitely* more noticeable the smaller you are. It took about 30 lbs the first time I lost weight for people to notice, and even to change sizes (from about 225 to about 195). After that, it seemed like I dropped another size every time I lost 10 lbs!!!

Of course, I am now re-losing those lbs again-- looking forward to those smaller sizes and hoping it works the same way!!

 

[MickeySP]

I have to agree, I have lost 87 pounds since last year, started at 347 and people are just now saying something.

I also notice that the more I lose the easier it is to keep going. Now that I am getting lots of positive feedback it is encouraging.

I know my WISH says 60, I began that count when I got very very serious about losing so I am counting from there.

 

[ZerasPride]

I agree with all of you. I didn't start to get a lot of compliments from people until I had lost about 40 pounds (unless the peson was close to me and knew I was losing). I started at 282 pounds.

What I have found is the closer I get to goal, the harder it is to take these pounds off. I weight 185 now and even though a lot of people are telling me I should stop where I am because I look great (sure, who wouldn't after losing almost 100 pounds?) I know I still want to take off another 40 pounds. People are absolutely shocked when I say that so now I just mumble something like, yes, I am close to goal, thank them for noticing and move on. But it's slow going now. I used to be able to drop 1-4 pounds per week. Now I'm fortunate if I lose 1/2 pound and 1 whole pound is almost unheard of for me. I exercise myself silly, eat OP and never EVER cheat and just can't get the dang scale to move.

On the bright side, I am dropping inches steadily and my size 12 slacks have that droopy booty thing going on so that makes me happy. I never thought I'd be wearing this small a size at this weight.

Anyway, I want to give a big WOOHOO to each of you for your success thus far. You are each an inspiration to us all!!

 

[SnackyStacky]

But it's slow going now. I used to be able to drop 1-4 pounds per week. Now I'm fortunate if I lose 1/2 pound and 1 whole pound is almost unheard of for me. I exercise myself silly, eat OP and never EVER cheat and just can't get the dang scale to move.

I think I saw in your signature that you're doing the South Beach Plan?

I'm not too familiar with it, but I can tell you that when folks at Weight Watchers start to get stagnant, there's a couple of things we look at.

1.) Are you being as careful as you think you are? We sometimes like to eat, and we don't even realize we're eating. If you're having too many BLTs (biting, licking, and tasting! ) that may be cause for your slowed weight loss.

2.) Are YOU too stagnant? Our bodies REALLY adjust with us. If you are eating the same things day in and day out, and doing the same type of exercise, at about the same time daily - your body knows it. We're programmed to maintain our weight, so once your metabolism figures out what's going on, it's going to do what it can to CONSERVE the weight. Try shaking things up. Eat something different for breakfast every morning. Don't eat exactly at 8:00. Eat earlier one morning.

If it's neither one of those two things, then you may just have your work cut out for you. But you have a great attitude. Congratulations on everything everybody has done so far!!!!

We're all losers!

 

[ZerasPride]

Dan - thanks so much for the advice. I have been giving a lot of thought to point 1 these past few weeks. South Beach is a "good carb" program so I'm not counting carbs but I wonder if as I get closer to goal I need to start watching them more. I try to watch out for my portion sizes for sure. I used to be able to eat as much food as I wanted and still lose, not so anymore. I love this way of eating and it's been very successful for me but I may be eating more maintenance levels and need to really re-evaluate the type and quantity of carbs I'm eating if I want to get to goal.

With point 2, I think I'm doing pretty well. I upped my weights recently with my strength training and have upped the level of cardio work outs I'm doing by adding a new series to my regular program and I rarely do the same program from week to week. Sometimes I take a rest day off during the week but more often than not I work out 7 days per week. Like I said, the inches are coming off well, it's just the pounds that are not cooperating. I know I look a lot smaller than I am and can wear smaller sized clothes than I should because of the muscle I've built up and I wonder sometimes if that keeps the scale from moving as fast as I'd like. I'm not exactly plateauing but just losing 1/2 pound a week is frustrating sometimes. Thank you so much for the advice, again, I appreciate it!