It's possible to gain muscle and reduce body fat without actually seeing a change in your weight. This happens when you lose body fat while gaining muscle. Your weight may stay the same, even as you lose inches, a sign that you're moving in the right direction.
If you feel like you are losing weight but look fatter, now may be the time for you to reconsider your slimming means. Such unsatisfactory results may occur due to lack of sleep, water retention, an extreme caloric deficit, lack of exercise, lack of patience, and others.
Losing weight will physically make our bodies smaller but if we have no underlying muscle, we could just end up being a smaller version of our old selves. Yes, you will be healthier and look slimmer but you may still have a layer of fat, stopping you from looking toned and athletic.
As you work out, you are building lean muscle which weighs exactly the same as fat but is leaner. if your clothes are looser but the scale is the same, this is because of the lean muscle you have built.
While it's a myth that muscle weighs more than fat—after all, a pound is a pound—it is denser, which means it takes up less space in the body. This may explain why you look slimmer but the scale hasn't budged. Water weight could also be a factor, according to strength and conditioning coach Brandon Mentore.
If you're trying to lose weight and better your health, don't let yourself be discouraged by the scale. If you're losing inches, you're making progress! Use the inches or the way you feel or other factors as a guide, and keep working toward better health and a better life for the future.
"By the time you hit 10 pounds, your jeans will feel differently, absolutely," Blum says. "Just a little looser. Theoretically, 10 pounds is considered one size." Once you get past that first couple pounds where you might not be able to tell, Blum says, you really do start to lose body fat.
You've gained muscle.
And here's an often overlooked fact: Muscle tissue is more dense than fat tissue. So as you gain more muscle and lose fat, you change your overall body composition, which can result in a higher weight, but a smaller figure and better health.
The first place men typically lose weight is the belly, while women tend to lose weight all over, but hold onto weight in their thighs and hips, Dr. Block explains.
Multiple regression tells us that on average, for every 8.5 pounds lost, people dropped an inch off their waist. (And for every 1.5 kilograms lost, people dropped a centimeter off their waist.) Every 10 pounds lost was accompanied by 1.18 inches of waistline reduction.
Your Metabolism Will Slow Down to Store Fat
The more you work out or manage your calorie intake to lose weight, the more your metabolism wants to compensate by slowing down to maintain your current weight, this is called metabolic compensation. It kicks in to preserve and store fat for future energy.
Why Is It So Hard to Lose Weight? Your body is designed to hold onto as much fat as possible to store for times when food may be scarce. That makes losing weight difficult for most people. Factors at play include genetics, age, race and ethnicity, diet, physical activity, hormones, and social factors.
Normal or healthy weight is indicated by a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9, overweight is between 25 and 29.9, and obese is 30 and above. For the majority of people who are less than 6 feet 4 inches tall, weighing more than 200 lbs would place them in the “overweight” or “obese” category, according to BMI calculations.
A 200 pound woman typically wears a dress size between 16 and 20, depending on her height and body shape. Dress sizes are based on a woman's bust, waist, and hip measurements.
In addition to an oily appearance, your urine might also have a milky white color. This is due to the presence of fat and protein in lymph fluid. Other symptoms of chyluria include: blood in your urine.
In terms of how your body looks, “it usually takes 4 weeks for your friends to notice weight loss, and 6–8 weeks for you to notice,” says Ramsey Bergeron, a certified personal trainer. “Your friends who don't see you every day are much more likely to see a change than someone you're around all the time,” he adds.
The first stage of weight loss is when you tend to lose the most weight and begin to notice changes in your appearance and how your clothes fit. It usually happens within the first 4–6 weeks ( 1 ). Most of the weight loss in this stage comes from carb stores, protein, and water — and to a lesser extent, body fat.
While everyone loses weight differently, dropping as little as 3 to 5 pounds can show up on your face first, Eboli says.
Body-weight loss is usually noticed around the belly, waistline, and thighs first. This is because your body stores fat in different locations. For instance, men hold more fat around their belly, while women store it on their thighs and hips. Weight loss gradually starts with a reduction in belly size.