I lost half of my weight fairly quickly at the beginning of the year then I joined the gym ... I started losing half the weights and almost seen the gym as a bad thing for that point of my journey but I'd taken a tip to do some measurements and like you the inches were off. This has made me very happy and personally I was happy for a slower loss on the scales while seeing the inches reduce and my whole body shape change through exercise.
Everyone hold weights differently. I've read people at 9 stone and a size 10, I am 10.6-10-10 stone and a size 10. I've taken measurements and regular photos... I get great motivation creating compare pictures!
My tip is to continue to eat healthy and carry on exercising
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