Week 2- some questions
 

Hey there! So, I started the red plan a week from yesterday and lost around 2 pounds. It's weird though, because I kept weighing myself every day just out of curiosity. One day it would be 218.2, then 216.2, then back to somewhere around 218, then last night it was 219! This morning it's 218.5. I don't plan on weighing myself that often each week of course. Anyways, does that happen to anyone else? I was so happy when I saw 216 because I was that much further away from the 20's but now that's gone. I haven't made any time to exercise unfortunately, but I'd like to see how it will work just by changing my eating habits. I've been eating south beach diet bars instead of lites, but only one a day because that can get expensive. I'm kind of a perfectionist about things so I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong. I know 2 pounds for one week is good, but when someone goes from eating crap to all healthy foods, it seems like the first few pounds would come off quicker.

I started about where you did and I've slowly lost since September. To be fair, I just maintained from mid- Nov. through December but I'm proud to have simply maintained during that time of year.

2 pounds is a good loss. It's hard though when we want to see so much more. I get that. One thing I had to ask myself (also a perfectionist but thanks to my lovely ADD consistently fail at it), is "why am I in such a hurry?"

Being able to answer THAT question will really help you figure out what you need to do to MENTALLY prepare for weight loss. Sometimes we're in a hurry because we want to get the weight down before we lose our motivation. But it isn't about motivation- that will always wax and wane- it's about commitment (I learned that here). Whether we feel like it or not, this is what we have to do from here on out even AFTER we get the weight off.

Other times we want to hurry because we're tired of the commitment and want to get to the goal so we can 'get our life back' or 'eat normally again'. That, of course, is how we got fat in the first place.

I fall victim to these and many other pitfalls as I try to lose the weight. It took me 10 years to put it all on. In my case, it isn't going to all come off in 10 months. Since I'm going to have to eat this way forever, I've decided to school myself to accept small losses and small victories. I've decided to fight against my inner perfectionist who tells me that anything LESS than a 2 lb. loss or getting in all 5 days of exercise isn't good enough. When our perfectionist gets irritated that things aren't 'good enough', we quit. Even if I only lose 1/2 lb. per week, it's still 33 pounds by the end of the year which is more than I've ever lost in a year before.

Go read the maintainers forum here at 3fc. It's really helped me to see the attitude the succeeders have. I've decided I need to think more like them if I want to get where they are. It might help you too.

You're doing great! Just keep going. Oh- and I didn't start exercising until the first part of this year. Food is 80% of it so putting all your focus there in the beginning is just fine. Once you feel confident with that, add in some exercise. It's okay to do things in baby steps.