Until today I have stuck to a very rigid diet and lost 8 pounds then everything just stopped and I couldn't loose a pound more although I was just eating 2 salads a day and a light coffee in the mornings. Today I totally blew it but was getting totally frustrated with my time and effort. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

Good Lord - you aren't eating enough!
FEED that body with healthy food - quick!

Seriously, you need to eat healthy foods and enough calories every day. Your body is rebelling. You need a plan that you can sustain for the rest of your life.

How tall are you? How much do you weigh currently? What is your activity level? We can help, but you need to get off this restrictive "diet" and start giving your body some food and nutrients!

CountingDown, Thank you for your thoughts. I am 5 5 and I will post my scale below. thanks for taking the time to respond to my post. Bless you.

I started at 188 a month ago and after some serious dieting and very little cheating I have only lost 8 pounds.

Hey grabec,

You don't say what plan you are following... It sounds like the "I'm only going to eat salads" plan. In my opinion, that's a really bad plan!

Counting calories is an easy way for some folks to keep track of their eating. But how do you know where to start? Here's a link to the 3FC Calorie Counters forum Sticky thread on frequently asked questions:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=120806

Keeping track is easy if you have a computer because there are many free sites that let you do it. FitDay, The Daily Plate, and many others.

If you don't eat enough, your body wants to hold on to what it has. You need to eat to lose! It sounds wrong, but it's not. You also need nutrients--proteins, carbs, even some fats. If you are eating at the right level, you can lose 1 to 2 pounds per week, average.

Or, if you don't like calorie counting, consider something like Weight Watchers or other plans where you can get menus to choose from. Look for a program that you can fit into your life, because you need something where you can sustain your efforts.

Jay

Sorry you are getting frustrated. I feel much the same as you. I've only lost 12 pounds in over 50 days. I keep thinking it isn't fast enough, but it's harder to lose the weight at 50+....
I've been gradually putting on pounds for the last 5 years despite dieting (WW)...so I'm grateful for any loss really. The low carb thing is working for me now, but goodness it sure is slow!
Oh well, the REALITY is that if I don't change my WOE I'll just continue to gain.....and at my age/weight it would be a ticket to morbid obesity and all the health risks that go along with it.
I keep picturing in my mind the folks you see when out and about....poor folks that are hundreds of pounds overweight....<-----that WILL BE ME if I don't stick with my WOE.....so I tell myself "Quit whining and get it done!".
Good luck! We are pulling for YOU!

ITA with all of the above, grabec. If I don't eat enough or don't eat a decent balance, my body hangs onto everything it can. And that's regardless of the exercise I do.

The temptation to just cut out meals is hard to resist and there are times when I'm just not wanting a meal, even something tiny. Plus it's really hard for me to eat in the morning and yet that's the most important meal of the day. Eating a small breakfast is what gets your system burning for the rest of the day. You have to make yourself eat those 4-5 tiny meals a day and keep remembering that you won't be putting on the weight for having done so, not as long as you eat a good balance, keep the meals palm-sized, drink lots of water and get some kind of exercise every day, even if it's only fifteen minutes.

For fun exercise that you don't have to leave home for, I can highly recommend any of Leslie Sansone's "Walk Away the Pounds" DVDs, and a stability ball. Gold's Gym makes the best one; it has a pound of sand inside it to keep it from rolling away and the exercises are fun. You can do them in your underwear, LOL. Well, if you don't want to bother with exercise gear! I can also recommend FitTv's "Body Sculpt with Gilad." That way, you get a nice half-hour fitness program that won't kill you, AND some eye candy, in the form of the very-handsome Gilad!

Good luck to us all, coming up on March!

farmgirl