Sorry to be such a downer here, but I don't understand what's going on. I had been eating between 1600-1650 calories every day and I lost 3 pounds the first week and 3 pounds the second week, but then 2 pounds went back on. I then lowered my calories to 1450-1600, lost 4 more pounds and now 2 more pounds have come back on. I have been exercising and following my calorie range every single day and I don't understand why my weight will not stay off, instead of yo-yoing? I've been told before that I shouldn't lower my calorie range any lower yet, because I won't have anywhere to go and work with at a later time. I thought in the beginning, especially when someone is heavier like myself, that the weight comes off very quickly and then slows down. I don't know what else to do with my calories, because I would really like the pounds to stay off. Any suggestions or helpful tips that have helped you would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

You are not a downer. Nope ... don't even say it! There's probably a dozen folks here who have the same question. You just never know who you might help by voicing your thoughts.

Now ... about your situation ... 1600 cals sounds fine.
What kind of exercising? What kind of foods? Are you talking about a month or 6 weeks?

Sometimes we just have to tweak something smallish to make a difference. Let's brainstorm.

Susan...Thanks SO much for your kind words. It's been almost 4 weeks since I first started. For my exercise I do Walk Away The Pounds with Leslie Sansone. For the first week I did the 1 mile, then I kept doing the 1 mile but added in the 2 pound weights. I have been doing that every day and sometimes twice a day. Just Saturday I moved up to the 2 mile with no weights just yet. I eat either oatmeal or cheerios every morning and only use skim milk, wheat pita with oven roasted turkey breast, lots of green leaf lettuce with mustard and baby carrots at lunch, rice cakes, cheese stick or kavli crispy thins and a slice of cheese for my snack and usually chicken, double serving of veggies, cottage cheese and a little rice for dinner. Because I have never been able to eat sweets, I cannot eat any fruit. I never eat after dinner and I drink 8-10 glasses of water every day. This food menu is a sample, but it's what I eat a lot of the time. Thanks for your help!

I think you are probably just seeing fluctuations in the amount of water you are retaining. Drinking a lot of water and avoiding salty foods can help with this, but in the end, there's no way to completely control it. Water retention is impacted by so many factors other than salt and water intake: exercise, TOM, medications, stress, etc. etc. In your case, your body is still adjusting to a new diet and a new exercise routine; that is going to impact the amount of water it retains.

Weight loss isn't always linear; you can't expect that you are always going to lose the same amount every week and that once lost, lbs won't ever show up again. We all go up and down, all the time. But over the long term (and I'm talking months, not weeks), you'll see a downward trend. Sometimes I think the hardest part about losing weight is that it's GD fricking slow ; you have to be patient.

It sounds like you are off to a great start and I'd be hard-pressed to find fault with your diet; it's better than mine. My advice is to just keep doing what you are doing and I think you'll see the weight come off.

Here's the problme--there is SO much going on in your body that your scale can only tell you how much you weigh, not how much you've gained or lost in FAT. You very well could have lost some water weight and then readjusted, which could cause some fluctuation. You could have eaten more soiudm than usual and retained a bit of water (or less sodium than usual and retained too little water--it IS possible!). You said it was 4 weeks, so likely your lovely monthly female friend worked ita way in there somewhere, and hormones can definitely affect your weight throughout the month.

Also, keep in mind that weight loss is NOT linear. You can do EVERYTHING exactly the same for 2 weeks and have very different results each week. By the numbers you've provided, you are still DOWN overall from where you started, so be happy! I don't know of one single person who ever lost weight every single week from beginning to goal--there's lots of ups and downs in there, and don't think that just because you have a single up (or even 2 in a row) that your plan isn't working. These things take time There are plenty of fabulous women in the 300+ section who will attest to crazy things like that they gained weight for 3-4 weeks in a row and had no idea why, and the they suddenly had a 13-pound loss the next week. Our bodies are not machines, and we can't expect them to work as such. They won't fall into a perfect pattern, and that's okay--it's the long term, big picture that really counts, and over the course of the 4 weeks, you are DOWN from where you started! HURRAY!!

Hey, you've lost 32 pounds! That's awesome!
Do you find the 1 mile difficult?

I know it's calories that count but I do think some foods are better for happening, healthy weight loss ... ya know? Have you had a look at the Superfoods Rx lists? I think the Whole Foods threads talk about them. But, having said that, I don't think your foods too bad. Is there anything you've been considering?

Thank you ALL so much for your tips and advice. I don't get TOM because I had a hysterectomy two years ago. I am hypothyroid, but just had lab work done and still at the same normal range and dose as I've been for the past three years. My heaviest weight of 260 was back in January 2005, so I've been yo-yoing back and forth. Before my hysterectomy, I did LAWL and did lose 40 pounds, but now it seems that my body is different and doesn't want to lose it the same way, and I did gain back 23 of those pounds after my hysterectomy, and this time since restarting my weightloss, I started at 238 on 3/31/2007. I will check the whole foods list and see what I can find. I know some days I feel like I'm more swolen than others so I'm obviously retaining water. The 1 mile WATP was very hard for me to even get through it the first 2-3 times of doing it, and when it got easier is when I added in the 2 pound weights. Now that has gotten too easy for me, I have moved up to the 2 mile and it's again harder for me and I won't add any weights in until it gets too easy for me again.

Michelle, you are off to a great start. The scale can be very frustrating at times. Even if you do exactly the same thing week to week you are not going to have the same results week to week. That's just the way it is. No rhyme, no reason. The only thing you can do is stick to your plan. The weight will come off. If after 2 -3 weeks you see ZERO results then you might want to start tweaking things a bit. But I don't think that's the case with you. You are seeing results. Unfortunately weightloss is not an instant gratifacation type thing. It does take time and patience. But boy is it worth it. Keep up the amazing work. You're doing just fine.

I think you're on the right track and have a good head on your shoulders. The exercise and eating nice clean foods will probably help with the fluid.
It'll come Michelle, stick with us

Thank you Robin & Susan for your advice. I know patience is whats needed, and although I feel like I'm a pretty patient person, this is one area that's harder to control with the patience factor. I REFUSE to give up this time, no matter what!

Robin ~~ I have to admit that seeing your large weightloss in 7.5 months does make me want to get it off the same way. I know everyone is different, but it still doesn't change my feelings.

Michelle, I was waaaay heavier then you when I started out. Almost 50 pounds worth AND 4 inches shorter. Your starting BMI was 40.8, mine 56. That's just a huge, huge difference. The heavier you are the faster it comes off in the beginning. Believe me you too could have lost it as quickly had you started out at 326 pounds. That's right, when taking into account the differences in our heights you would need to be 326 lbs to have a BMI of 56, which was my starting point. So please, please don't feel badly. You just can not compare it.

Michelle, I think you're doing really well so far and you just need to keep up exactly what you're doing. I've been tracking my weight on a daily basis on a spreadsheet for 14 weeks. I see the daily pattern and EVERY SINGLE week I go up 2 pounds after just going down to my new lowest weight. The good news is that *usually* (right now I'm on a bit of a plateau..wah) each and every week the 2 pound increase would be lower than last week's 2 pound increase. So the point is, who really cares about the daily fluctuations if we're generally losing around 4 to 8 pounds per month (I've never lost more than 5 or so in a month). Am I making sense? Not sure how to explain it best.