Remember, very few people post about regaining their weight, until they come back to try to lose it again. Your slow steady loss may be more sustainable than the quicker losses others may have.
I get discouraged at times too, but my recent experience with going off plan with my dads critical illness reminds me that I haven't yet succeeded in changing my lifestyle habits for good. Thats ok, its only been a few months and I didn't do too much damage. But no sense in losing if I'm gonna regain a lot right? Think big plan, and the long term is looking very good for you.

Thanks for all your encouragement and good advice. You're just the best bunch of gals ever!

I'm down 2 pounds this morning. What the heck!??? I'm not complaining, believe me! I'm coming to find out that my body seems to be VERY susceptible to water retention from sodium. I think that my plan of having an official weigh-in day is kind of tripping me up, so from here on out I plan to record my daily weight and then on Friday, I will average out the week's weights and call that my official weight.

I agree that you should celebrate the fact that you've lost something. However, I think the daily plate and a lot of those sites like it will tell you to eat more than you should in order to lose 2lbs a week. I think they're counting on your exercising enough to burn all the extra calories they tell you to eat. I'm not as tall as you, by far, but when I was around 230, I was barely losing eating 1500. Now, around 200, I eat around 13-1400, but usually on the lower end. I think maybe a trip to your doctor is in order, to find out what you really should be eating to lose 2lbs/week. I would estimate 1500, however.

1500 is too low for me at 5'11" and over 200 pounds. I could probably soldier through it but I think I would be continually obsessed with my next meal at that rate. Some days I'm down that low, but not as a rule. It's not just TDP that says that; all the BMR calculators that I've seen seem to agree. So I'm comfortable with being around 1800 for now, with the understanding that will need to be adjusted downwards as I lose.

Kelly, something that you said triggered an idea for me, so I went back and checked my spreadsheet and I think I figured out what happened in February to cause the big stall. When you log your exercise in The Daily Plate, they subtract what they think you burned from your calories, thus allowing you that many more calories to eat. I was tracking my exercise that way in TDP, until someone here mentioned that it was NOT a good idea. And I was doing that....in February. So that was what the problem was--I was simply eating too much. I was probably up around 2100 on many days instead of the 1750-1800 that I was shooting for.

Sometimes it can be something small that creates the stall. I've been stalled for the last two weeks and I was getting really frustrated. Then on Thursday I said I am going to take this into my own hands and see where I was going wrong..

First thing I cut out was the diet foods, with aspartame. Sometimes that can hinder weight loss.. no more low fat no sugar added chocolate puddings, or skinny cow popsicles. The other thing for me was cutting down on the bread.. I have always found bread, even whole wheat bread bothers my system.. so instead of two pieces of the bodywise whole wheat bread (45 calories each), I am using probably 1 every two days.. and I also stopped eating cheese. I LOVE cheese, but I think it bothers my system too. I still eat other carbs like rice, and other dairy products like yogurt, but making different choices (ones that I was making when things were going well in the weight loss department).

So, maybe you can look back at your success, and look at the things you were eating when you were losing and what little things you may have added in the recent past that may contribute to your stall.

I know examining the amount of calories is important, but also looking at the composition of those calories is important too. We need to be balanced, and that includes including the good fats too. Oh and check the sodium content too..

Thanks, PaperSkin. Like you, I think that aspartame really bothers me. For one thing, I think it's responsible for most of my migraines which have been greatly reduced since I cut back. But I am still getting some aspartame, so that's a really good place for me to look to cut back. I would hate to give up the Skinny Cows, but I will if that's what it takes!

It's a good reminder to keep things balanced. I am veggie-challenged and I know there is a forum for that, so I should probably try to hang out there a little more and change my ways. I do love fruit, though, so I'm fortunate there. (Obviously I count calories for the fruit I do eat).

And sodium--yikes. That stuff is EVERYWHERE. I tried to really be conscious of it this week, especially the last few days before weigh-in, and it seems like they add it to everything!

OK chicks, I'm off to hit the elliptical. I need to exercise, shower, pack for my trip to my sister's house, and make a fruit salad in 3 hours! Yikes!

I think we tend to assume that 1 to 3 lbs per week is "normal," or typical, and we don't realize how rare it is to acheive that amount of weight loss over time. If I average my weight loss from the point I started losing "this time," about 4 years ago, I've only lost 1 lb per MONTH. If I take the average for the last year (when I feel I found my "groove" and a plan I can follow indefinitely), it comes to a little over 3 lbs per month, still far from impressive (unless you know the truth about how rare it is to lose and maintain any weight loss, especially for anyone with more than 50 lbs to lose).

When I complained to my doctor not all that long ago about how slowly I was losing - he pointed out that even losing one pound per month consistently soon becomes more than "most" people do (whether you're talking about people with 15 lbs or 250 lbs to lose), because most people give up before getting very far. As a result, if we think of weight loss as a race, many of us assume we're trailing far behind, when we're really at the head of the pack.

Just being here puts you at the head of the pack.

That's almost EXACTLY my weight loss for Jan-March as well! I think it's great! It's gonna take time but slow and steady wins the race. Just keep doing these things - if the scale goes down, then you're on the right track. If your pants are loose, you're DEFINITELY doing something right.

15 pounds in 3 months is 5 pounds a month - think of it, in one year you'll be down 60 pounds at that rate. Even if you don't, you can still lose 50 pounds in a year or 40. That's a lot! But day by day, it's gonna go a little slow. I'm sitting at a very annoying "plateau" right now (weight yo-yoing like mad - water and swelling and forgetting to eat dinner playing a big part) and averaging right at 150, which is frustrating!

But I'm keeping at it... going to gym... being gentle with myself as I recover from injuries because this is for the rest of my life, not just to lose these 40-50 pounds... and if I lose slow right now, then at least I weigh SOMETHING less at the end of the month.

I try not to be jealous - instead, I just look at how far I've come and look forward to the road ahead. Think of how many people say they'll lose 15 pounds for their New Year's Resolution and never do it. You knocked it out in the first 3 months of the year! You're doing great

Probably the most important thing I learned on this journey is - that it is a journey. Time doesn't matter. Not in the long run. It really doesn't matter how long it takes - just that you don't give up and keep at it until you reach your goal.

Looking back, I felt that the weight came off very, very slowly. I often referred to myself as the "tortoise". It took me over a year to lose my weight.

Now - in hind sight - it wouldn't have mattered if it took 6 months or 2 years - the important thing is that I kept at it until I reached my goal.

The lessons I learned on the journey helped me once I hit my goal. Thus, I truly believe that maintenance has been easier BECAUSE I lost the weight slowly.

Agreed! I just posted my in the goal forum, since I hit my goal weight last week, and I realized I'm not afraid of trying to maintain anymore. There was a period of 5 months where I was trying to maintain (ensuring I was eating a healthy diet after becoming vegan) and ended up losing--so I know I can maintain if I try, and that to maintain I may have to consciously eat more than I think I need. If I had gone straight from losing to maintaining, I would have been scared and may have ended up sabotaging myself.

And the point others have made, about selective posting, is true too. My celebration post would have been titled, "Yay! 34 pounds in 16 months!" But that would be incredibly boring. And while there may be posts like, "4 pounds this week!" ...those same people won't post the weeks that they lose half a pound, when they gain, or when they fall off a perhaps too-restrictive diet that enabled them to lose fast initially.

As thay say, "Slow and steady wins the race." But there's no "win" or "lose" when it's your own weight loss journey--it's whether you are happy with yourself. Be happy with whatever you lose!

I would try to cut your calorie counting down to 1450. I think most sites go a little on the high side to avoid any lose weight fast cause health problems scare they may get themselves into. Anytime I used to follow Ediets, they would say 1700 cals a day, I could never lose, so I dropped to about 1400 and did much better. Just a thought.

I had the same problem with The Daily Plate before I got my Gowear armband, I was counting on it to tell me how many calories I burned during exercise, and then eating those calories. I'd stay on plan for a month or two, lose maybe 4 pounds, get frustrated and give up. Now that I have my armband, I know that TDP was over-estimating both my base "sedentary" calorie burn, and my activity burn, so I was eating between 500 and 800 calories too many each day. D'oh!

If you don't have an armband, I'd agree that the best way to use TDP would be to eat the base "sedentary" calories it tells you do, still work out or move around each day, but not actually count those calories towards what you can eat. That way you'll be much more likely to hit a good "burn" range for you.