hello everyone!
first i want to say thanks for everyons supporto n here because honestly this website is helping me alot! and everyone here is so kind and helpful!

well so to start... ive been doing great with my diet..im even at the point where i dont even crave fast foods anymore and it doesnt bother me when people eat it infront of me. and im doing great in the gym and sweating it out good! but i do a weigh in every night and every morning and my scale wont move out of 258-260. i feel like i can feel a little difference like inches wise but i cant see it in numbers. its kind of upsetting but i look past it cuz i feel great and starting to like working out! hehe

but anyways i hope everyone is having a great and productive day!

I know exactly how you feel and have been at that spot many many times before. I have to remind myself that the scale is just a number and focus on the fact that I am losing inches, I'm feeling so much better with the bit I've lost, and I've made such great strides in overall health, that giving up is not an option.

And I am addicted to the scale as well. Weigh in the buff first thing every morning and sometimes after work in the evenings. It'll go down when the body is good and ready! Sometimes working out more will cause water retention and building muscle can cause weight gain I bet you'll see a whoosh if you keep it up!

I'm hoping for one myself

And to second your words, this site is great. Everyone here has been super helpful and nice. I am so inspired by reading all the stories everyone shares. It's really made me believe I can be successful at this.

It's hard to know whether it's you or the scale, it really depends on what you are eating. You could definitely loose a fair amount to start with just by eliminating fast foods. But for ongoing weight loss, you need to be eating not just healthy foods, but the proper amounts. You can still gain or not lose, even on healthy foods, if you eat too many calories.

omgsasha, it might be that your expectations are overly optimistic.

For example, most sources will recommend a weight loss in the range of 0.5 to 2 lbs per week. I've read somewhere as well that one shouldn't lose more than 1% of their body weight per week. For you, that would be a max of 2.6 pounds in a week. Most sources also say that losing more than that is not healthy.

Even given the recommendation of 0.5 to 2 lbs per week, we all need to realize that our weight loss won't be consistent. That is, I might lose 2 lbs a week for a while, but that will slow down. I will have weeks where I don't lose any weight at all.I will definitely have days where the scale goes up instead of down--even though I'm following my plan perfectly. That's just how it works.

On top of that, everybody's body works differently--some people find they lose at the rate of 0.5 lbs/week and never go above that. Others find they can maintain 2 lbs/week for months. Many are in between.

For the Valentine's Day to April Fool's Day challenge, the goals range from 0.5 lbs/week to 5 lbs/week. When I read those, I talked to my husband about it. Those who are expecting to lose 25-35 lbs in 6-7 weeks are probably going to be disappointed. We all want to lose that fast--but it's not realistic to think it'll happen that way. We didn't put it on at the rate of 5 lbs/week--it's not coming off at that rate, either.

I hope this helps--it's hard to feel successful when the scale moves slowly--unless you expect for the scale to move slowly--and that's what it does.

There are few plans that work differently--I can't speak to that.

As a few people have mentioned everyone loses weight at a different speed, but generally the heavier you are the faster it may seem to come off at first. Plus at the beginning you are losing water weight, which can explain that first large drop on the scale. It took me losing 10 pounds before I really felt like I was actually losing weight and stopped worrying that I'd get on the scale to find myself back up at my start weight.

There are people that can lose 20-30 pounds in a couple of months, I've seen them on these boards, but it's rare, and while I don't think there is anything wrong with shooting for that, you have to make sure that whatever you are doing is something you can maintain over the long haul and that you won't spiral into despair if you don't make your targets.

So while you shouldn't work out like a crazy person 3 times a day because you want to drop 20 pounds in a month, there is nothing wrong with pushing yourself harder when you know you really want a piece of cake.

I'm not sure how long you've been working at this, but I did see how happy you were when you dropped your first 5 pounds. Congrats to that!

I think you should be aiming to lose about 2 pounds a week, knowing that some weeks will be less and some will be more. If a week goes by and you haven't dropped anything and are not seeing any other changes (clothes fitting better, going further on the treadmill) then I would take another look at what you are eating. Losing weight is 80% what you eat and 20% what you do (so I've read).

Maybe start tracking everything you eat (if you are not already) you might be surprised to how fast the calories add up.

Good luck!