Why Pant Sizes Don’t Matter
Here’s a question I got the other day:
“I’ve lost 30 pounds but I haven’t lost any pant sizes. What gives? I have some cute jeans that I want to wear but they still don’t fit!”
This is a tough question because everyone is different. There is no magic number of pounds that equates to one pant size. Speaking from personal experience, when I was 120 pounds in high school, I wore a size 10. And at my heaviest, 176 pounds, I still wore a size 10.
Not to mention if I laid out 10 pairs of jeans of different brands but all the same size, they would all be slightly different sizes and shapes. Sizes are not universal and different brands make up their own measurements when it comes to sizing.
But there are a couple of things that MIGHT be happening if you are in the same camp of losing pounds but not inches:
You could be losing visceral fat.
This is fat located around your organs and is very dangerous to your health. Visceral fat can cause inflammation that can damage your arteries, enter your liver, and negatively impact your ability to break down sugar and fat. However, you will not see a big drop in pant sizes by losing this fat.
You could be losing muscle.
Losing weight too quickly (more than 1-2 pounds per week) means you are probably losing more water and muscle than fat. Exercising but not lifting weights can also cause the body to lose muscle. We have to make sure to get a good balance of resistance training and cardio exercise.
You could be eating more fiber and sugar substitutes.
If you’re eating more fiber, that’s a good thing. Fiber is healthy for you, but it can cause water retention. The good news is that water retention will eventually go away, once your body adjusts. But if you are eating more sugar substitutes (sugar alcohols like sorbitol and xylitol) in an effort to cut calories, these can also cause water retention, which can lead to not losing inches.
You could be training abs ineffectively.
If you do millions of crunches but never focus on the deepest layer of abs, the transverse abdominis, then you need to re-examine your ab routine. Every time you crunch, hold a plank, or do anything ab intensive, you should be holding your belly button in towards your spine. If you’re just letting it all hang out, you’re not training right. When you work this deepest layer of abs, you pull all your muscles back into alignment which could help your posture, and make it look and feel like you’ve lost inches off your midsection.
Last but not least, you might not be pooping enough.
(Excuse the vulgarity, but it needs to be said.) Being regular can be anywhere from 3 times a day to 3 times a week, depending on the person. But if you are going much less than that, and losing weight but not inches, then it might be time to talk to your doctor about what’s going on.
Here’s the deal: There are much better ways to measure your progress than pant size. Are you stronger than when you started? Do you have more endurance? Are you making better choices? Are you proud of the example you are setting for others? If the answer Is yes, then forget your pant size and keep doing what you’re doing. You are much more than your pant size. Your pant size does not affect your worth as a person.
Final takeaway:
There are a few reasons that you might be losing pounds and not inches. But every healthy decision you make will get you closer and closer to your goal. Just keep doing what you’re doing and trust that eventually, you WILL be able to fit into your cute jeans.
