[30 Fat Still Awesome]

Hello,

I started my diet on Feb. 7th. First 5 days, I lost 8lbs. Next week, I lost 4. This week, a measly .5 lbs. I feel like crap.

What's going on? I'm on about a 1200 cal diet, but I'm pretty sure I consume about 1400. I haven't exercised much this week, and have had problems going to the restroom (ahem). I'm guessing that's what's wrong, but only a .5lb lost. Wow, that really sucks.

I was hoping to lose about 20lbs a month. I know I still can make that goal, but I feel horrible. Also, 2 times I ate out, even tho I counted my calories - I think that could have contributed?

What you guys think? Thanks for your help.

[Heather]

First, you have to realize you can't control the scale. Weight loss is not linear and your weight will fluctuate for all kinds of reasons (see the sticky at the top of this forum!). Also, the scale is kind of a crappy tool to measure fat loss, as it measures all of us.

Second, 20 pounds a month is somewhat extreme weight loss at your starting point. That's 5 pounds a week and almost 2% of your current weight. As you lose, the number of pounds you can lose will also lower. And sure, maybe the first month, 20 pounds is possible, but less likely after that. I think it's more reasonable to expect .5-2% a week. With 2% at the high end.

Third, you've lost over 10 pounds in a few weeks! That's great! But weight loss the first couple of weeks is often more water weight. You have to expect it will slow.

I would encourage you to focus on all the things you can control, like your eating and exercise, and worry less about the scale. It's hard, very hard sometimes, to do that. But I sometimes think we let the scale rule us a lot more than we should. Take measurements, too, and try on clothes that you own that are a little tight - those are great ways to see progress.

[niafabo]

20lbs a month is crazy. you aren't 300-400 lbs. the first week you mostly lose water weight so that will be your highest loss month. it took me a month and a half to lose my first 20 and then i was losing 10lbs a month when i was completely on plan (fell off for a month in august because of a loss in the family and in december because of an injury). Now I'm losing between 6-10 pounds on a good month. Weight loss doesn't come easy just give it time and don't set your expectations too high.

you are doing great so far. you are probably retaining water right now and you will get a nice dip later. you can't expect the weight to go down every week like clock. you should be so proud of what you've already accomplished. stick with it!

[ncuneo]

Seriously???? Do you really expect to continue losing like that for the entire duration of your journey? I don't want to be rude, but this is a tough love wake up call. The 8 and 4 lbs you lost was likely water. A realistic expectation is 1-2 lbs per week, but don't be suprised if some weeks that number is a big fat 0, especially after weeks of large loss, and some weeks, especially during TOM or weight training you might gain. Weight loss isn't linear and it doesn't happen as fast as we'd like, so get on board and start the marathon and not the sprint.

[JohnP]

Yea - dieting sucks and takes a long time. Bottom line is that losing weight is not easy. It is, however, worth it. So hang in there!

[twinmommaplusone]

How was your sodium intake on those eat out days? You can be on point with cals but have no idea that you ate a ton of salt(sodium)

Plus if you dehydrated (or even lacking some water, you willl hold onto it, so up your water and keep moving forward.

I'm with everyone else expect with portion control/calorie counting and with exercise to lose 1-2 pounds a week. If you are uber luck you can break the odds and lose 3-4. Good Luck

[LandonsBaby]

I think you are beating yourself up for no reason. You lost 12lbs in two weeks? Great! Every week wont' be the same. Just keep going.

[seagirl]

You have just boarded a flight to Japan, going east from California. The long way.

Settle in. If you start feeling like crap and getting annoyed before the plane has even gone over the Continental Divide you'll be being escorted off the plan in New York.

Just keep doing what you are doing. You'll get there but you need to settle in and relax.

[QuilterInVA]

20 pounds a month is neither realistic or healthy. It is not healthy to lose more than .5 to 2 pounds a week. You will not lose the same amount every week. There is an individual pattern to weight loss and everyone has to identify theirs themselves.

[Lori Bell]

Just to give you a little perspective...I started out around 50 pounds more than you...and I ate 1200 calories a day. I didn't cheat. I never went "over 1200" for any reason for many months. I didn't eat out, and I stuck to my plan like glue...

The first month I lost 23 pounds. After the first month, I never lost 20 pounds in one month again, even though I was 100% dedicated and honest to my plan. I'd have to say, (and I'm being totally honest here)...if I couldn't do it, it's probably a pretty impossible goal to achieve.

[kaplods]

Reality check. You're losing at a cheetah's pace and you're feeling like a turtle. YOU ARE NOT A TURTLE!!!

I haven't been able to lose 12.5 lbs in three weeks in over 20 years (and even then it was usually a one-time deal).

[30 Fat Still Awesome]

Thanks guys. I was just disappointed because I'm on a strict diet, and then not losing any weight for a week, that is somewhat sad. But I'm still at it, so I just have to work harder I guess.

I really wish it would stop raining so I can head back to the track. O_o

[Fairy]

Any loss is a good loss!! Congrats! Plus, after losing so much in the last few weeks, it was inevitable you would have a plateau, just be glad you didn't gain

[marianne78]

I hope you're feeling better now. Just like what Fairy said, any loss is a good loss, and it's not gonna be the same week after week. The important thing is to hang in there and continue the journey.

[kaplods]

Originally Posted by 30 Fat Still Awesome

Thanks guys. I was just disappointed because I'm on a strict diet, and then not losing any weight for a week, that is somewhat sad.

No it really isn't. It's entirely normal. If you ate 500 calories, you still could have a no-loss or even a gain week (I've done it).

We're taught to be disappointed in any weight loss - it's the way we do it in this culture. It's a matter of pride to never be satisfied, to always expect better. But I don't think it's a virtue at all. I think it holds us back, because disappointment is deadly to weight loss. When you start seeing good losses and normal fluctuations as failures, at some point you start believing that you're failing, when you're actually succeeding far better than most. You feel like weight loss is a race, and you're trailing behind "everyone else" when you're really in the top 5%.

It's like running in the boston marathon and seeing the 1,000 people in front of you, and not the 19,000 behind you. Thinking you're behind "almost everyone else" when half the people behind you feel with certaintly that they're "failing" because they're not where you are.

I really think weight loss statistics would be far improved if we didn't mistake rapid wieght loss for normal or slow weight loss - and it's really a crying shame that we so often mistake rocket-fast weight loss for slow weight loss. We take our own personal best weight loss week (even if it was 20 years ago), and expect to achieve that every week. Or we see that someone our size or smaller lost twice what we have one week, and decide that we should be able to lose that too - every week.

You're still not seeing yourself as a cheetah. If you took 1,000 people your height and age, and put them on the exact same diet you are on, there would be people who lost more than you, but there would also be many (probably even more than half) who would lose less, but because you're not in the room with all of those people, hearing about their losses, you assume you're doing less well than you are in reality.

Who cares about anyone else, though right? But the problem is, as long as you see your weight losses as "disappointing" you're putting yourself at risk of feeling like you're failing when you're not. Give yourself enough disappointment, and you're going to feel that weight loss efforts aren't worth it, that you're failing so you might as well quit, but you'll be quitting while you're ahead, you just won't know it, because you're only looking at the failure (that isn't there) instead of the amazing success that is.

I was where you are now, thousands of times in my life. I quit not once, but thousands of times because I thought I was failing, when I was actually succeeding. I was a cheetah even at the failing point. As a succeeding turtle now, I wish I had realized I was a cheetah all those times. By all previous standards, I'm a dismal failure. My "success" this time is far, far slower weight loss than all my previous failures.

Don't allow yourself to see failure where there is tremendous success. I don't want anyone to make the mistake I did, even though I know I can't stop it. We're still being indoctrinated through our culture that any weight loss under 2 lbs or under 1-2% of our body weight is "slow" weight loss. When even 1/2 of 1% is cheetah-fast. We're taught to see failure where there is amazing success. And it's why so many people give up far before reaching goal. They think they've failed, when the only failure is giving up (but it's very hard not to give up when you're constantly disapppointing yourself).