Two years in on this journey, and my old jeans finally fit again

For what it's worth, This made me a little misty — the “button was a lost cause” jeans are such a specific milestone. I run a cafe, so the last stretch for me has been all about the tasting-spoon tax.

I started putting every “just a bite” on a tiny saucer by the prep counter instead of in my mouth, and by close I’d see a whole snack’s worth I’d dodged. The last 20 came off so much slower for me too.

Did yours arrive in weird whooshes after long stalls, or more like a slow drip? Either way, 61 lbs is massive. Congrats.

congrats — the button closing without a fight is such a specific victory. I’m in a similar slog: scale hasn’t budged since April, but my belt went down two notches and a jacket I couldn’t zip now zips. That’s kept me from losing my mind.

Curious: did your last 20 come off in weird whooshes after long stalls, or was it a slow creep? I’m trying to decide whether to keep trusting the tape measure or change up my tracking. Either way, enjoy the jeans. You earned the annoying little happy dance in the mirror.

Brand-new here, only week one, so I’m mostly reading and taking notes. This gives me a concrete thing to hope for. Question: did you try the jeans on at milestones, or did you wait until you felt different?

I have a 2018 pair of Levi’s in a “someday” bin, and I can’t decide if keeping them is motivation or just guilt. Would you keep a whole bin, or pick one thing?

Hi and congratulations — stories like this are exactly why I finally joined. I’m only on week one, so I’m still in the nervous-questions phase, and the idea of clothes fitting again feels impossibly far off.

Do you remember when you first noticed non-scale changes, like rings or shoes, before the scale moved? I’ve been taking a photo every Sunday in the same outfit because measuring tape and I are not friends yet.

Also, that bit about the last 20 taking longer is oddly comforting — I keep expecting a straight line and your post reminds me it’s more like a weird staircase. Thanks for sharing it.

Congratulations — and the “last 20 took way longer” part really stood out to me. I’m in that slower stretch now, and the scale can go quiet while other things shift.

One concrete thing I do is keep a fit log: how a specific shirt sits at the shoulders, which belt notch I use, how stairs feel. Did you notice any non-scale signal before the jeans finally closed?

Also curious if you kept them out as a visual cue or buried them so they’d surprise you later. Either way, that button victory sounds so satisfying.

Not to rain on the parade, but the jeans closing is probably a better data point than the scale at this stage. My spreadsheet says my last 15 lbs took 4.5 months, but waist circumference dropped 2.9 inches in that same window while weight bounced in a 3-lb range. Did you log tape measurements or just weight?

I ask because my trendline got way less depressing once I started charting 7-day averages plus monthly waist. Curious if your last 20 did the same slow-whoosh thing or if it was more linear.

The jeans thing is so real. I track it like a restock: date, waist at navel, and which par in the closet officially fits. During a 7-week scale stall, the tape still dropped 2.25 inches, which kept me from spiraling. Did you keep any measurements, or was the jeans test your first clue?

Okay but closet archaeology is the real metric. Question: did you hit that awkward stretch where the old stuff was too big and the "someday" stuff was still too snug, so nothing in the closet actually worked?

I'm in that zone now and it's weirdly demoralizing even though I know it means progress. What made the slow last stretch tolerable for you?

For me it's been a walk after dinner and actually measuring my coffee creamer, which felt petty until it started showing up on the scale. Anyway — wear the jeans somewhere good, not just around the house.

The tag-still-on detail made me smile. I’m an empty nester too, and my weird milestone was fitting into an apron I bought at a vineyard in 2021; I wore it to make a giant batch of minestrone and felt ridiculous in the best way.

Did you do anything to mark the jeans moment, or just stand in the closet? I’m trying to collect non-scale wins lately—mine is taking the long loop with a podcast instead of the short one.

Nice work. The thing that keeps me sane in recomp is tracking a couple non-scale anchors: waist at navel, morning weight 7-day average, and whether my top set on squats/rows still moves.

If jeans close and lifts don’t crater, that’s a win. Curious—did your 4x/week sessions stay consistent through the slow last 20, or did you have to deload/reduce volume when appetite was weird?

I’m always trying to figure out how people keep training quality high while the scale stalls.

For what it's worth, i keep a spreadsheet column for “jeans button test” and one for thigh circumference. Mildly contrarian: scale stalls don’t predict clothing fit—my 6-week flatline had two pants-size drops