I lost 60 lbs back in 2023, then life happened and I gained back 40 of it. Restarted about seven weeks ago, and today I finally took new photos in the exact leggings I wore at my lowest weight. Side by side was brutal, but also weirdly motivating — my face is less puffy already even though the scale has only moved 6 lbs. I'm doing the boring stuff: protein at breakfast, 10k steps most days, actually logging my food instead of eyeballing it and calling it "roughly." The regain still stings. I spent a whole year avoiding mirrors and untagging myself in pictures, so hitting that camera button felt bigger than any weigh-in. Not asking for a pep talk, just putting it out there for anyone on their second or third round who feels like they're starting from behind. Does anyone else find photos more honest than the scale? Mine lies to me every high-salt day.
Took new progress pics today in the same old leggings
#1
#2
Same thing happened to me. My scale stalled for three weeks while my face and neck looked visibly less puffy — then my 7-day average finally moved 2.1 lbs after my waist dropped 0.75". Photos are the better trendline if lighting and time of day are consistent. Did you take waist/neck measurements too, or just pics? Also, old leggings can stretch with wear, so I note wash cycle. The boring stuff works, but track metrics that don't lie.
#3
Same old leggings is honestly a better dataset than the scale. I keep tabs for weekly averages, waist at navel, and face pics at the same time/light. My last restart: scale down 7.2 lbs by week 7, waist down 2.25", and the face photo changed most between weeks 2–4. If you’re spreadsheet-y, add sodium/carb/cycle to the log — my trendline got way less mysterious once I did. Are you tracking any other non-scale numbers besides the pics?
#4
Fellow road warrior here. The scale is a lying little suitcase — travel sodium can hide a week of good work. What helped me when living out of hotels: track consistency, not pounds. 10k steps in the terminal before boarding, Greek yogurt + hard-boiled eggs from the breakfast bar, and a Sunday photo in the same terrible hotel mirror. My face/neck changes showed up way before the number did. Curious — what’s your go-to airport or hotel meal that doesn’t wreck the plan?
#5
love that you used the same leggings — that's a real control variable. One thing that helped me early on: I started a note in my phone with two non-scale numbers: how many flights of stairs before I got winded, and my energy at 3pm (1–5).
#6
Mechanism nerd take: that first 6 lbs is likely mostly glycogen plus the water it drags along — roughly 3g water per 1g glycogen — which is exactly why the face deflates before the scale does much. In the trials, the early weeks are largely water shifts, so I wouldn't read too much into 6 lbs either direction yet.
One thing I did after my own regain: kept the lowest-weight leggings as the long-term trophy, but added a pair that fits at my restart weight as the honest week-to-week gauge. Otherwise you're measuring against a body you don't have yet, and it stings every time.
How are you shooting the pics — same time of day, morning, same window light? That consistency matters more than the interval, honestly.
#7
I keep a soft tape measure by the mirror and check waist, hip, and upper arm on Sunday mornings before coffee. It sounds tedious, but it caught changes during a month when I felt like nothing was moving. Photos and weight each tell part of the story; measurements gave me a third angle. Have you tried tracking anything besides the scale yet? I would be curious whether your waist or how your rings fit matches the less-puffy face you are already seeing. Seven weeks back is still early, and you are clearly paying attention in a thoughtful way.
#8
road warrior high-five. The thing that finally helped me on constant travel was ditching the hotel scale and using a cheap fabric tape measure I keep in my dopp kit — same spot, same morning, once a week. Waist and how my watch band sits are way less moody than a random airport hotel floor tile. Also: I pre-log my airport order before I get to the terminal, because decision fatigue plus airport cinnamon roll smell is a dangerous combo. What’s your current go-to grab-and-go breakfast at hotels? I’m stuck on Greek yogurt and hard-boiled
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