Hey hey,

Been strictly dieting, cycling, walking and stepping for 8 weeks now. Had a okay loss so far but over the weekend i put on 3 pounds and now i am finding it so hard. Also getting a bit of the 'why bother' feelings :[. I'm also feeling so hungry lately and i don't know why....

Joined so i can get help and encouragement from you guys!

Tell me it can be done

xxxx

Hello! I know what you mean, I've been there before. I'm starting over after having gained a ton of weight during pregnancy. But just hang in there. Believe it or not, just browsing some of the success stories here usually gives me a boost. Having the weight tracker helps, too, just seeing it move even just a little really makes me feel like what I'm doing is making a difference.

And you've done well so far, almost 20 pounds are gone! Sometimes it's that 200 mark that is hard to get past, but once you get into the 100's (and for you that's just ONE POUND!) you find yourself in a different mindset and it's like you've turned the corner.

Good luck to you, you can do it!

And three lbs over the weekend? That sounds like water weight? I don't think you could put on weight that fast unless you ate like 3500 calories more than you burned each day. Would be hard. So don't be discouraged, it'll come back off again. Sounds like you do need to shake things up though. Are you getting enough calories? If you are hungry all the time check into that - if you eat too few you end up getting stuck because your metabolism slows down thinking you are in starvation mode. I'm shorter than you and I'm doing fairly consistently at around 1350 a day with a "sedentary" lifestyle. You probably need more.

But yes, sadly seems like getting stalled is a fairly regular happenstance. I agree with the poster above - check out all the before and afters! They had the same thing happen but look how worth it was to keep going!!

Good luck! YES YOU CAN!

Im new here..In fact I havent even introduced myself...but I know how you feel. I am on 8 weeks of busthing my tail so to speak and I have recently been STARVING! I was not eating enough, I have started eating more often (proteins and veggies) and in smaller quantities. I am hoping that helps. Keep up the good work. It is worth it in the end.

We all bother because we're worth it and deep down somewhere you have to believe it and want it because it sure isn't easy but it rest assured it can be done. Take a look at the maintainers forum, I always think if you need to know how to do something or what kind of mindsetmight work, you have learn from the people that have done it and succeded long term.

The pracitcal advice is defintely traking calories and making sure you're getting enough with excercise or your body will hold on to that weight. Lots of water, lots of sleep. Fitday, daily plate and sparkpeople all have helpful traking resources for food, exercise and can help see some deficiencies if you aren't already using them.

Goood luck!

Keep going! 20 lbs is a fantastic loss for only 8 weeks. A 3 lb gain sounds like a fluctuation.

Those little unexplained gains happen often- and they disappear just as quickly. It's hard not to let it get you down. I had a mystery 3 lbs. appear once last winter and then the next week- POOF! Minus 6 pounds! It was weird. I still have no idea if it was a water thing or something wrong with my scale.

The deal is this- you aren't only changing to lose weight to look better. The stuff you are doing is going to help you LIVE better even if you never lost another pound. Focus on that part of things.

Motivation comes and goes because it's an emotion. Commitment continues because it's a choice based on our own core values.

I personally subscribe to a 'Sprint and Coast' method. I'm losing weight slowly but I've now lost more than I ever have in my life before. When I'm feeling super motivated, I work hard and I'm fairly exacting and I see the weight come off. That's the obvious part that everyone does.

The 'secret' is that when I am just not feeling it- I have given myself PERMISSION to coast without viewing it as a failure or that I gave up. Lots of people lose, few of us (including me) maintain. The maintaining part is MORE important than how much is lost. As tough as it is to lose pound number 196, it's really sucky to keep having to lose it over, and over, and over.

In a coast phase, I try to do the MINIMUM I have to do to at least maintain the loss or lose just a little bit each week. It's good to know what your minimum commitment has to be in order to not lose ground.

Inevitably, the will to keep losing resurfaces and I get to move on rather than re-lose the same weight again. Make sense?

This method means it takes a lot longer to lose weight but I'm feeling pretty good about my chances of keeping it off because in the process I'm learning my own bodies true parameters rather than relying on some guru to tell me what to do so I can lose this weight as mindlessly as I found it.

Henri, well over a stone gone, don't give up now!

Take the emotion out of it. You don't have to be motivated to breathe, get dressed, take tablets if you're ill, you just do it; it's the same with the weight loss, you just do it and grit your teeth a bit if it's not what you want to do.

That said, you say you're strictly dieting - how strictly? have you gone way low on your calories? It took me a lot of disbelief before I finally risked trying the idea that I wasn't eating enough - I was stalling on 1200 and have been losing steadily on 1500. It might help if you posted a daily intake here, then some of the really experienced chicks could comment.

Don't stop, your health is too important.

Thanks for all your help and advice everyone!!

I feel more motivated all ready! thank you! x

Henri,

Glad you're feeling motivated again!!!!! 20 pounds is fantastic. Find something that weighs 20 pounds and hold it in your arms and totally connect with how much lighter you are. I tried to pick up a 50# weight. It was so heavy and I understood why I was always tired. Thats alot of extra baggage. Congrats on heading down.

I have recently gotten serious about getting rid of my other 50. I've hovered around 220 for 4 years now.
I have lost 10, and yesterday I just wanted to eat. My belly felt bigger than ever and it felt hopeless. I didn't! Instead, I read posts and said hi to newcomers. It worked, the urge left me and I had another day OP. I'm following South Beach.

Best Wishes! Hope to see you posting more.