whats more important to lose? pounds or inches?

[imgoingtodisney]

OK Im frustrated that after 4wks (well 26days) Ive only lost 4pounds. I did manage to loose 4.75 inches and my clothes feel looser. I need to loose almost 1lb/wk if Im going to loose another 16lbs in the next 21wks.
So whats more important? pounds or inches?

 

[nativetxn]

Sounds like you are losing at least a pound to me, Barb. 4 pounds in 26 days is a teeny bit more than one pound a week.

If your goal is to get smaller then it's better to lose inches. If you just want to have a certain number show up on the scale, then it's the pounds you want to lose.

My own personal goal is to be smaller and to stay smaller. I really don't care how much I weigh, I care what size I wear.

They are both significant indicators of success.

 

[imgoingtodisney]

ok as long as Im getting and feeling smaller it really doesnt matter how I measure it

 

[DixieDreamer]

People have NO IDEA what you weigh... but they sure notice how big or small you are. Size is really what it is all about.

 

[tiggerlover]

As a person who closely watches the scale, I know how you are feeling. But in the overall scheme of things the inches are what matter most because that is what everyone see's. If you are losing inches and your clothes are feeling loser than I would say you are on the right track.

 

[JOC]

Remember that muscle weighs more than fat! If you're toning up and gaining muscles, you're not going to see a weight loss but you'll definitely notice it in the way your clothes fit.

 

[rbuzzotta]

INCHES!!! That is why I don't go out and buy an accurate scale nor do I know exactly what I weighed when I began dieting nor what I weigh now. I can only GUESTIMATE!!!

Inches is good.......

 

[bicker]

Well, technically, what matters is body fat percentage. Generally, inches wil correlate, to some extent, with body fat percentage, but it is possible to lose inches while not losing as much body fat as your inch-loss would indicate, and indeed it is possible to lose inches while losing more body fat than your inch-loss would indicate. It's a rough estimate.

Remarkably, I've found weight correlates to body fat percentage just about as well as inches, for most of the people I've known going through weight-loss. The reason for this is that gaining muscle mass is a very slow process -- as a man I can dream of gaining a pound of muscle a month... maybe someday I'll achieve that rate, but it isn't assured. Women almost can be guaranteed to gain muscle mass slower than that, unless they're taking steroids (or testosterone ). So in the end, significant (more than a pound or so) short-term weight-gain (or lack of anticipated weight-loss) almost always translates to fat gain or water gain, not muscle gain.