Questions from a newbie

[cmariel]

Hello!

I have never posted on this site before but have come here many times for answers and inspiration.

While I have dieted many times in the past, I have never had a scale to track my progress....I know that sounds weird. However, I struggled a lot with body image when I was much younger, (I am now 35) and as a teenager I got rid of my scale because it was just not healthy for me to have one around. Consequently, I have not known my weight for about 20 years.
2 months ago I faced my fear and bought a scale, weighted myself, and began keeping track of my weight loss. This was a huge deal for me and it has been a (mostly) positive experience because it really keeps me accountable.
However, I am surprised by how little difference I can see in the mirror. In the past, when I wasn't weighing myself, I had to gauge ALL my progress by how my clothes fit, how I looked, etc. Now, after 2 months, I have lost 16 pounds, my favorite jeans are looser but that's about the only difference I can actually SEE.
I am feeling really down today, (I just went clothes shopping) because I feel really horrible about my body. I have a total of about 80 pounds to lose, so there are 64 pounds remaining.
My question is with that much weight to lose, how long before I will be able to see a change in my body and not just on the scale? Can some of you describe your own process and how long it took before you (and others) could see a change in the mirror?
I am just surprised that 16 pounds is pretty un-noticeable. I was feeling proud of myself, but today I just feel like crying.

Thank you in advance for your support!

C.

 

[amagheti]

its funny but after loosing 20 lbs i myself cant tell the difference at all (except for old clothes fitting looser like you said). but i think that i cant tell the difference because i SEE myself in the mirror every day and the day to day losses are not drastic. BUT people who have not seen me in a while all notice that i have lost the weight and i get tons of compliments which is great of course. so i guess its all a matter of perspective. anyway, dont despair! lol all is good, i think a lot of us have these concerns but the important thing is that you are loosing so good luck with the rest of your journey

 

[douknowjello]

Don't be discouraged, I think that's pretty common, at least for me and my husband. He's just gotten to 20lbs lost and he says he doesn't see it either. I'm only down ten and with so much to lose it's like a drop in a bucket. And here's another experience I had...last year I was able to drop 50lbs..we won't talk about the fact I gained most of it back from Nov. last year until May :X. Anyway up to 40lbs nobody noticed, and a few friends actually said they couldn't tell. When I lost the other ten EVERYONE was commenting. Don't know what the magic difference was but weight is just weird.

As far as how long it will take you to lose it, thats different for everyone. I have found out the hard way though that being too focused on losing the most amount of weight in the shortest amount of time has only ever gotten me temporary results, made it even harder the next time, and taken a toll on my health.