I'm sorry.. this is going to be a total rant:

I really hate complaining and I've been trying not to dwell on it but I'm working so darn hard and the results are just not matching my effort.

I started in September on 1200 healthy calories a day, exercising 1 hour/day. I lost the first 70 fairly quickly and without complications. Since the end of January (the week my grandmother passed away actually) I've been creeping along, going sloooower and sloooooooooower. At first, when I noticed in January/February it was just a little slower, but it's been declining since and now I'm lucky if I lose a pound every 2 weeks. I feel as though it is finally all together stopping. Where is my deficit going??? I just don't know what to do. I've played around with changing so many things:

Currently I wake up every morning and work out HARD for 1 hour. This is a switch I made from working out at night. I also tried working out for 1.5 hours a day, but I felt like I was totally doing it for nothing. People often suggest not enough calories which I don't think makes sense, since it worked before and now I require less calories, but I reluctantly went up to 1500 for a little while: nothing. I tried zig zagging: nothing. I tried fewer carbs/more protein: nothing. More fiber: nothing. More water: nothing. More magical/wishful thinking lol: Yup, still nothing. It's just going SLOWER and SLOOOWER. I am NOT cheating. I'm measuring everything. I'm starting to think there's something wrong with my body. Especially since I thought I'd look better by now. I probably have a large fat % because there's still SO much fat covering the muscle. But that's hard to understand because I do a lot of strength training, so I figured that at this weight, with all the strength training, I would look better than the "average" not working out person, but I don't.

And what really gets to me the most, and I know it shouldn't, is when people talk about cheating on their eating plans and neglecting their exercise, but they still lose weight consistently. I know it shouldn't make me mad and I'm not mad toward them, just toward myself It really puts me over the edge. I wouldn't care whatsoever about it if I myself was actually losing, but seeing that just completely defeats me when I work so hard to have a healthy menu everyday and work my butt off everyday for 1 measly little pound.

I realize I sound like a whiny brat but I just don't know what to do with myself...

help!


end rant

First - congratulations on your wonderful weight loss that you've already accomplished! 70 lbs is a LOT!

Secondly - I don't think you need to apologize for ranting. If people don't want to read your rant, they don't have to click on this thread. Weight loss is hard, and frustrating at times, and we're all on this board for the same basic reason - to lose weight, be healthier, change our lifestyle - something along those lines. So we can relate.

Third - I don't have any magical advice for you. It sounds like you're trying a lot of different tactics. But even though it's slow weight loss - which at this stage, isn't surprising since you're close to goal, and it's good to lose slowly - it's still a loss, right? Maybe slow and steady is just how it's going to be.

Fourth - Can you find a picture of you when you started this journey? And compare it to a recent picture (don't look in the mirror, use a real picture) and see the differences? It's not always easy to see the changes our bodies make, and while you feel that you don't look as good as you'd like, maybe you're not getting a clear view of yourself.

Fifth - good luck, and stick with it.

Thank you ladies so much! It really does help to have a dose of reality!

Charliebaby: The pictures do help, and I have some that I look at, but the problem for me is how I look under my clothes :/ I love the way I look in clothes now, but I have the same body I started with (just smaller) underneath. I don't know what I was expecting lol, but I probably thought I wouldn't look prego at 160. I carry sooo much weight in my tummy.

Robin: You're absolutely right. Nothing will change once I get to goal. And I honestly DO enjoy eating the way I do and working out. I really DO! It's totally maintainable and I know I'm an impatient person, but I wanted to be able to start my internship this May being a different person, having a different image. I'm just starting my career and I wanted to project a certain look. I wanted to be able to buy clothing for this particular look but I don't think I'll be able to. I know it seems sort of trivial, but it was really something I was looking forward to. I'm sure I can buy some things that will fit now and later, but I really wanted to just be known as thin, not as a work in progress lol. Oh and btw I may have made those people up in my head lol, the ones that lose weight while cheating. I don't know.. I feel like I hear it all of the time, not just on this forum but in real life. However, I don't REALLY know what these people do behind closed doors and I think I may be subconsciously exaggerating lol

Anyway I know you ladies are right, and I'm proud of myself. I just want to move on with my healthy life and not obsess over the scale, but I can't make myself not obsess lol! I think I just need a hug...

I pretty much agree with that rockinrobin said.

"One measely pound" is equal to 4 sticks of butter!!!! That's alot

I am sorry your weight loss is slowing down. Don't give up.

Go ahead and rant....it feels good!

This thought, that I heard here before, has really helped me. Almost every time I am at the grocery store, I pick up a pound of butter and picture it on my body and then picture it leaving. It helps me realize that every pound is important.

Holey moley! You weigh 161 at 5'9"! I would bet money that you look better than you think you do.

You say you do strength training but aren't seeing the results you thought you would? You should try some heavier weights (not sure what kind of weight you are using now). Don't be afraid of big weights. Women don't tend to bulk up (not enough testosterone) but the added muscle will help you keep burning more calories. 5lb weights aren't going to get you the results you want - you need 10 - 15lb weights! I have been using 12lb weights and believe me when I say, I am not "bulking" up.

jkinboston - I am so proud of you for losing 96 pounds already! That is a major, major accomplishment and you are so close to your goal! Just because you haven't made it to this number that you decided was your goal (145), you have still accomplished incredible things, and are so much healthier than when you started. Think of all the things you can do now that you couldn't back then! Think of the non scale victories you own.

____________________________
Goal # 1 = Lose 10 pounds

You are so close to goal it's just going to be harder to get those last few pounds off.

I agree with what everyone has already said! You're doing wonderful- do not give up because you will get there one "measley" pound at a time!

I get this. It's very weird. How is it possible to make such dramatic changes dressed and revert back to pound 0 naked. I've heard several women observe the same thing about themselves. Our bodies do just seem to proportionately shrink. But come on now...how many people see you naked?

It seems to me you've hit those last stubborn pounds. Rant away! That's what we're here for!

I envy you for one! I just started this weightloss journey and only wish I had the determination you do. Sometimes our bodies determine our end weight. You may be losing slower because your body is saying "Hey Lady! I'm doig what I can, but we need to stay heathy here." You wouldn't want to lose these last few pounds fast anyway. your body needs to adjust to the new amount of calories needed. I would just be happy to continuously lose.
I lost my motivation in October when I injured my knee. I've gained almost 15 pounds since then. I need to get on the train you are on. Please don't lose hope! people like me need to hear your sucess stories so we can say to our selves. "I want to do that too".

You're doing great...

When I hit a plateau point, this helped me. I would suggest taking an entire week off and do the following:

Don't exercise for the whole week. Also, try to eat your maintenance calorie amount for the entire week as well.

After that week is over, start exercising again, and clash your calories by 500 per day, or whatever deficit you had before. For me at least, it was almost like a "reset" button to do this. Whether this works for everyone, I'm not sure, but it did for me.

I don't have much to add because I think robin pretty much hit on it, but I just wanted to tell you that I can relate. And yes, it is frustrating. I lost the first 50 fairly quickly and then.....? The last 25 came off very slowly. I figured that would happen when I had 10 lbs or something left to lose, but 25? Eek! To give you an idea, it took me 7 months to lose the first 50 and 6 months to lose the last 25. Some weeks, there was no loss, and yes..that is frustrating and can get disheartening. I also saw people who seemed to be losing much faster than I did... just kind of like salt in the wound.

But I looked at it this way: if I ended the month at a lower weight than when I started the month, then I succeeded. Even if it was just one pound! And what other option did I have but to keep going? It's not like I was going to just give up after losing 50 lbs just because things were moving more slowly.

Eventually I did get there. Yeah, it was later than I had anticipated, but I did get there, and the journey was worth it. Keep at it...you're doing the right thing.

Ah, I think I misread it. It sounded like she was basically just plateauing out, or basically heading towards that point, and not losing anymore, or very little at all.

I just said it did help me. I took a week off exercise, and instead of eating 2,000 calories per day I ate 2,500 (maintenance). Then after the week, I went back to exercising (which was more difficult because I had an entire week off), started to sweat a lot more, and got that "sore" feeling back that you get when you know you got a good workout. But like I said, it might not work for everyone! I think what happens is you're body adapts to your exercise routine and calorie intake overtime, so this seemed to have helped restart it.

Shenfan, I'm not certain it can happen that quickly, but I wonder if you lost some muscle during the week you did not exercise. I know as much as 40% of what is lost can be muscle loss while losing weight. That would explain why it was harder to get back to it.