ok, i've been trying to eat right and all that stuff for a while now. My weight has stayed the same....anyway, the other day i noticed that my enagement ring slips very easily off my finger. I think to myself...great!!! I must finally be losing weight!!!! I eagerly weigh myself this morning and.....I GAINED 3 *&$&%^*# POUNDS!!! i wanted to throw that stupid scale out the window. I'm at a loss...i don't have the time to go to the gym as often as i would like, but i walk A LOT and i cut back my caloric intake to compensate for not going to the gym. I'm so frustrated, tired, and at this point uttterly hopeless. I suppose i could MAKE the time to go to the gym after my classes. ugh....so frustrating. How long did you guys have to diet before you started seeing results? cause i'm at my wits end.

/end rant

I'd say at least a month for me before results started showing... I finished up my grad school work in May '06 and finally had time to exercise, but my changes were pretty gradual (I started 30 min for 4 days) and I wasn't really calorie counting, just avoiding all the fast junk I was accustomed to. Wasn't till my birthday (July) that I saw some improvements.

Hopefully this isn't too discouraging for you and that you'd continue to sticking to your plan. By the way, what's your program (eating & activity), it may or may not need a lil tweaking.

I started exercising regularly (three times per week) in August 05. I began limiting my calories in the first week of November 05. I had lost my first five pounds by Dec 05. It wasn't until then that I really started noticing a difference in how my clothes fit and how I looked.

You don't say how long you've been restricting your calories. You have to give it time. You didn't gain the weight overnight, sadly, you aren't going to lose it overnight either. Also, are you measuring everything and writing down everything you eat? I resisted doing this and I didn't lose weight until I finally just gave in and did it.

What really helped me was to set a long-term goal. When I started restricting my calories in Nov 05, I told myself that I would do it until the end of Feb 06 (when I had a vacation planned) whether the scaled moved or not. If I hadn't lost any weight by Feb, I would try something different. Not sure what I would have tried but I never needed to figure it out because I was starting to look pretty darn good by February. Having that long-term date to focus on really helped me get past the short-term lack of progress in the beginning.

Hey nickname,

Let's see... are you tracking your calories? I don't know what "eating right and all that stuff" means exactly.

I saw my weight drop pretty quickly once I started tracking calories, exercising 5 times a week, and staying within limits on food. My rate of loss has been about 5 pounds per month.

I found that "winging it" didn't work for me because I had only a vague idea of how much I was eating.

Jay

Hi there!!! Okay first line off the bat? What DOES that mean - trying to eat right and all that stuff? Because there really is a big difference between trying and actually doing.. For me just cutting back on stuff didn't work. I needed to face reality and really, really count my calories. This forced me to really measure out my portions and set limits. Because if I didn't do that, it was all too easy to overeat. You'd be shocked to see how those calories add up. Also, just wondering exactly how long you're doing this for. You don't have a huge amount of weight to lose and could it be perhaps you're not cutting back as much as you think you are? Just a thought, I obviously have no way of knowing this for sure.

When I did finally start really and truly "eating the right stuff", meaning healthy foods, low fat proteins and lots of veggies, in normal sized portions through counting my calories and exercising the weight DID come off. But it does take some time and you must have a certain amount of patience and definitely a large dose of commitment to see it through.

Hi nickname!

I often lose inches without dropping even a pound! You may be the same! Go measure yourself right now (arms, neck, wrist, legs, bust, waist, hips, legs etc. )and write down your measurements. Measure again in a couple weeks. I'll bet you will notice you ARE dropping inches!

Check out the NSVs (Non-scale victories) in the 100 lb. club and the 300+ pound club sections. I LOVE that there are OTHER WAYS to measure progress besides the scale, and can tell you that these threads have helped me keep my head held high in progress when my pounds weren't budging!

Cheryl

I agree with some of the others-we need to know exactly what you are doing, diet and exercise-wise. I can "try" to count my calories, make healthy choices, and work out-but trying and doing aren't always the same thing.

Also, it is very common sometimes for me at least, to some months lose pounds on the scale, and other months lose inches. (I measure myself once a month.) Some months I might lose 4-6 pounds, and others nothing-but I might lose an inch in my waist that month-so its ALL good.

What kind of plan, dietwise, are you doing? How much exercise are you doing? I must also stress the importance of working out-it is the only thing that gets you FIT and FIRM. You can diet, diet, diet and lose however much you want to...but you won't ever get the firm thighs or abs that you might want without working out. There are lots of "skinny fat" people out there. (Thin people who still have flat butts, soft bellies, or jiggly arms/thighs.) They might be a size 4 or 6...but still don't look their best in shorts or swimwear. It takes both for good health, and a good body. Cutting calories even more than normal to make up for not working out isn't the best thing to be doing...

I feel your pain. I got down to 156 for one day then the next 156.6 now today I am 157. Boo. I barely ate anything yesterday (1200 cal), too.

I do not have the strength to resist (I'm a scale junkie) but I would recommend only weighing yourself once a week or once a month.

Ha! I feel your pain, allycat. I was 196.6 on Monday, 198.8 yesterday and back up to 196.6 today. I'm so confused!

I really need to hide my scale for good. Like outside underneath the snow.

uuuggghhh...i know what you mean. last year I was doing soooo good at losing at least 4 pounds a month. Now i can barely lose one pound a month. I am trying to get back to logging what i am eating on my fitday but it has been a challenge for me to do that for some reason. I have started excersizing about 4 times a week...hard. I take 4 hard fitness classes that also use weights. I am hoping after one month, even if the scales are not moving, I'm hoping i will see some measurement changes. My weight has been up and down all month. I go from 168.6 to 170.5 to 169.5 to 168.6. just up and down, up and down. it can be very depressing. just hang in there. if we just keep trying and writing it all down, eventually we will figure out what works for us and we will be on the way to a new, improved, healthy us. (i think i even saw a 167.something one day!!! hehehehe)

okay, so i was a little vague about my diet but it goes like this,

breakfast: a hard boiled egg or a cup of yorgurt
snack: about 15 cashews and almonds
lunch: salads with beans, small amount of meat, roman lettuce, no dressing
snack: banana, apple, mango (mmmmm....mango), or a nature's valley bar
dinner: 1 small scoop of rice and veggie and some more protein.
once in a while i have one piece of dark chocolate, either one square, kiss, or these little things that look like beef bouillion cubes. And if i feel like i might fall asleep in class, a cup of non-fat mocha or chai from starbucks (always a tall, no whip cream). I try to keep that habit to once or twice a month.
as for a workout: i work full time and go to grad school full time. I try to go to the gym 2 -3 times a week, however it is now near the end of the semester and EVERYTHING is due. I usually get to my campus about 1.5 hours before classes start and walk all over DC. I used to go snowboarding every Friday for at least 3 hours, now that the season ended, I climb. I'm usually there for 3 hours, mind you, i'm not climbing the whole time, i also belay my fiance. On the weekends i'm known to walk for at least 5 miles a day. Everynight i do sit ups, push ups, squats, and use my weights (10 lbs). Thats about it. I know i have to go to the gym more often and do more lifting. I don't think i'm reaching my optimal heart rate.

Back when i was a undergrad, i got to a point where i would eat half a bagel a day, no lunch, no breakfast. then i would be in the gym for at last 2 hours. Needless to say it wasn't a healthy time for me. But i can't help but think that i screwed myself royally with my metabolism. I had thyroid problems and my hair was falling out. thanks for the replies guys!

~If you are doing strength moves with your weights, abdominal crunches, squats, etc. you need to be sure that you are only working those body parts in strength training every other day-not every day. When you do strength moves, those body parts need 48 hours to recover/repair to build muscle properly. So, don't do crunches, or arm weights every night.

~Are you counting calories? From what I estimated, you could be eating 1000 a day, or you could be eating 1800-I don't know, because I don't know the exact portion sizes of the meat/salad, etc. in your lunch and dinner. (I do, in the breakfast/snacks.)

~Give it some time. Healthy weight loss takes a while. 1/2-2 pounds a week for most of us. For me, I don't lose every week. It is perfectly normal for me to lose 2 pounds one week, none the next, and so forth.

Yeah, what aphil said!

Also, you are under a LOT of stress, and that makes your body hold on to what it's got. Restricting calories TOO MUCH during a stressful time only makes things worse--it's MORE stress.

I'm glad you're not still doing the half a bagel a day thing! Good grief! "What were you thinking?"

It's really easy to track calories on Fitday. That's what's so neat about it.

How much longer do you have in grad school? Perhaps a more realistic goal would be not to gain weight during this time, instead of trying to lose it. Be sure you take a multivitamin every day...

Jay

I think the problem might be under eating for the amount of activity you're doing. Personally, I didn't eat myself to my current weight. I didn't eat and as a result I am at my current weight. By skipping too many meals, a habit since childhood, my metabolism slowed to a crawl and boom, I expanded faster than a helium filled balloon. It's a constant struggle for me to eat enough healthy food for body to decide to let go of some of that fat.

When I started to walk I gained 4lbs in a week, but then i did some measurements which is very important and saw I lost an inch in my stomach, and in my thighs.

I also found I gain 4-6lbs when it's close to that time of month. At first it through me for a loop but i got back in it.

Don't let it frustrate you if your ring doesn't fit that is a sign you are doing something right. Don't stress just keep going, make sure you are eating enough and drinking enough.