Hi everyone, (warning, might be long rant)

I'm new to LAWL and this site and need a little help. I've been on LAWL since May 21st and have lost 9 lbs. 6 of those coming off my 1st week. I'm following the plan to the Tee, exercising regularly (walking 2 miles a day and playing 2 hours of singles Tennis on Sunday's) and the weight is not budging. I don't get it. I weighed in yesterday and was up .6 lbs and I think the COD felt sorry for me because she said "you've got a heavy skirt on, I'm going to give you a pound". Well.....it's the same skirt I had on when I weighed on Friday.

The only thing the gain could have been due to was on Saturday we drove up to TN and went to the Jack Daniel's distillery. Spur of the moment trip but I did what I thought was right. Brought along cantelope and my LA lite bars. For breakfast we stopped at Mickey D's and I had an egg mcMuffin and I threw away 1/2 the bread. Ate cantelope and drank a bottle of water with it. I had my LA lite mid-morning 'ish with another bottle of water. For dinner coming back we stopped at Ruby Tuesday's and I had a chicken breast, with steamed broccoli and the salad bar. No cheese, ham, croutons, etc. Lite italian dressing, grapes for dessert and water to drink. The chicken was salty though but I figured since I hadn't eaten my salt that day and I knew I had a tennis match on Sunday, I would be fine.

Sunday I had a meal replacement shake and a LA lite before the match. Played for 2 hours and drank 64 oz of water during the match alone because it was so hot. Came home and had watermelon, 4 oz of turkey breast, 1 slice of cheese and 1/2 english muffin. Had an apple before dinner, then for dinner I had grilled fish, cauliflower and carrots and a slice of diet bread. For dessert, a plum and a LA Lite bar.

And then to come in to weigh yesterday and gain????!!!!??? I just don't get it. My COD said it was probably because I didn't eat all my starches on Saturday as well as the salt in the chicken. My question is.....how is LAWL supposed to be a long term thing if I can gain .6 lbs. just like that by eating one single piece of restaurant chicken. If that's the case, I'm going to put everything I lose right back on when (and if) I do ever get to my ideal weight. I don't understand how the program works I guess. It's so much stinkin' food I have to eat that I don't possibly see how I'm going to lose weight and eat so much. Well, quite frankly....I haven't seen it since I've only lost 9 lbs. LOL. I'm on the red with lites plan.

I started another TO today, basically out of desperation to see some sort of loss. I'm afraid if I don't I'm going to get even more discouraged and then I'm just going to get p*ssed because I threw all this money away! I know it works because I've seen it happen to friends and family who have been on the plan. Then I look at them now though and they have all gained all the weight back. This weekend got me wondering if it's because they ate Ruby Tuesday's chicken breasts one to many times. I don't know. UGH. Thanks for listening (reading). I guess I'm just discouraged big time after thinking I did so good over the weekend and having my hopes trashed like that.


Casie

Cassie...

There are no hard and fast answers... Every diet has its ups and downs.. My wife is the queen of plateaus when it comes to getting the weight off..

You need to make sure you're not falling in a rut with your menu choices.. Stay away from Micky D's.. Even though it's on plan, if you're having a tough time, it's murder.. Try to eat out as little as possible.. Pre-plan your meals for the week and make sure you get in your water.. It sounds preachy, but this plan WILL WORK, if you make the right adjustments..

The simple truth is that one piece of restaurant chicken WON'T make you gain a pound.. but combined with other things you ate that day, combined with any portions you missed can add up.

Also, being a woman, you retain water more than men (Thank God I'm a guy!)... Make sure you get in at least 64 oz. of water, but more is better.. Hot lemon water helps a lot to flush the retained H2O...

There are tricks to this plan, but it will work if you keep at it and keep a good attitude.. It's normal for us all to get really frustrated when we don't see movement in the scale.. But give it time.. It really is a mental game.. You have to be in the right place, mentally, to make it happen. Otherwise, when you see small gains or very little loss, you'll give into the frustration...

Also.. Don't use TO as a crutch.. It's can be used as an occassional "system flush" or kick start, but you have to be careful...

Make sure you eat all your portions.. If you don't, because this diet is finely tuned, your body will go into starvation mode and cause you to retain the fats and other stuff that make you gain weight..

Keep it up and keep posting...

I agree with Dan :-)
You need to eat all of the food you're allowed in the day. It does sound like a lot, and it is - BUT it's primarily fruits & veggies - which are good for ya!

It will come off. Stick to it and eat all of your food for the day. You've only been on plan for 3 weeks - you're averaging 3lbs PER WEEK. That's huge, a good safe weight loss is 1-2 lbs per week - so you're ahead of the game. Look at the big picture :-)

Honestly a binge like you had will NOT make you gain .5 lbs - there's more to it than that. 1lb is 3,500 calories. For what you had to make deal with - you made good choices - but try to stay away from prepared foods at places like that. Lots of hiddens.

Are you weighing at the same time every day? That makes a big difference - can be up to 2-3 lbs difference. I weigh approx. 2 lbs heavier in the evening than I do about 6:30 AM. So to stop myself from going NUTZ, I only step on the scale in the morning - wearing the SAME thing as I always do etc. Plus I ONLY step on it Mon-Weds-Fri.
And honestly- it all works out the same in the end - but like I said in another post weight loss is SO MENTAL ! :-) So we do things that make us feel good about what we're doing to keep going.

Heads up! You CAN do this !

I have to agree that you are doing great! I wouldn't let one weigh in throw you off. Compare last Friday to this Friday, and that's a better gauge of your success. With your activity over the weekend, your body may have needed more water than the usual 64 oz, and you may have been a bit dehydrated. I normally aim for the 'half my body weight' in water target. So if you're 200lbs, drink 100oz of water each day. It really doesn't make sense that 64 oz would work for everyone, regardless of size and activity.

Also, I'm chiming in on the exchanges, make sure you eat them all. I swear, you will lose bigger and better when you eat all your food.

Good luck! I hope you are able to turn it around and feel better about what you've already accomplished!

Oh.. and I meant to mention that it helps to do a WI first thing during the day, if possible.. That way you get the most accurate weight possible... Don't forget, what you eat during the day will add "physical" weight. So if you had a piece of chicken for lunch one day before WI, but then the next time around you had steak, it's going to show up more... The emptier the stomach, the better...

Thanks everyone for the insight. I know it works, it just drives me crazy that it takes patience (of which I have very little of) . I wish there was a magic pill! LOL.

I weigh in on my lunch hour so it's usually the same time every time. Well, give or take 10 minutes or so. On my weigh in days I usually just do a meal replacement shake and some fruit for breakfast, then don't eat lunch until after I weigh in so I always have an empty stomach during WI. One of the COD's put me on a 3 week meal plan where I can't have any steak or pork. All chicken, turkey and fish so that's what I've been having too. She said it takes 3 days for steak to get out of your system. I haven't WANTED steak since then! LOL

Does your eating times having anything to do with it? On my WI days, since I eat a small breakfast and then a late lunch, I find myself eating in the afternoon and PM trying to get all my food in. I've actually been at the table at 9:00 at night eating a fruit and a LA lite bar because I still had it to eat. Last night the DF and I were watching Hells Kitchen after dinner and I got up to go get a bar. I came in the living room and he goes "You're eating again???". I said "I have to but I don't see how I'm going to keep it down. I'm as full as a tick already from dinner." When we went to bed at 10:00 my stomach was so full I felt nauseous. But going at lunch to WI is really the only time I can go since my center doesn't open until 9:00 and I have to be at work at 8:00 so I'm sort of stuck there.

On the days I don't weigh in I seem to time everything perfectly. 8:00 - breakfast, 10:00 - snack, 12:30 - lunch, 3:00 - snack, 6:00 - dinner, 7:30 - walk.

Last year I weighed in the afternoon, after a breakfast and a snack. Sure the scale was up a little - BUT - if I weighed at the same time, same circumstances everytime - well it all was a wash- if that makes sense.

To me it's more important to eat well and on time rather than starve myself for a low weigh in. It'll all catch up with you anyways.

So I say - keep doing what you're doing, the weight will come off. Eat normally on WI days and the first few times you might be up a little from eating - but it will all work out in the end.

You've got to find a better way to eat on WI days... Your body does a good job of processing things while you sleep, but if you give it too much to do, it will bog down..

Eat earlier in the afternoon and get in more of your starches early. If you MUST eat dinner that late, avoid starches...

It's trial and error, but eventually, you'll get it down!

I do two of my weigh ins during the week, then on Saturday morning I weigh in whatever time I decide to get up and go. I don't eat first, I bring my fruit and high protein yogurt smoothie with me. That way I weigh in on an empty stomach weekly to gauge my real loss with.

Robin

That's the way we used to do it too, Robin.. That early saturday morning WI is the most accurate if you're not doing it at home..

Hi
Just wanted to wanted to let you know I noticed you are not getting all your servings in ..not to pick apart your food you have listed but...for example the chicken you had was probably only 4 to 5 oz you needed 7 oz cooked..your turkey you had 4 oz it also needed to be 6 oz ..your getting in all your fruit but not you veggies...question the cheese you had was it low fat and what did it weigh.....I'm also on red and the protein sizes are soooooo large it's had to get them in, with all the exercise your getting you need that protein to burn the fat...I also did the same thing as you and was not getting all my protein in and didn't lose as much when I did this...hope this helps and I hope I didn't affend you with picking your food apart..funny the COD didn't pick up on the protein sizes being so small

I was doing this same thing--I've been on it 3 weeks and have only lost 5lbs at this point--but I am looking forward to seeing how many inches are gone because I can definitely tell those are disappearing. I've ranted and cried and everything else--I'm on excell because the weight wasn't coming off fast. Now I'm finally down those 5 but had been losing and gaining 4 since I started. I even called the main LAWL # yesterday. They all say the same thing. Make sure you get ALL your food--I'm on purple and eating 8 oz of chicken at one time is stinkin hard--but I've got to do it. I wasn't eating all of my food like I should have. I'm also walking about 3 miles a day which between not getting my food and exercising--much like you--they say I'm putting my body in starvation mode. Yesterday was the first day I got all my food in and woohoo this morning I finally got out of the 190s! It's crazy how much you have to eat--you definitely don't get hungry. Anyway from someone who was thisclose to giving up, make sure you get all your food in especially with the exercise you are doing. If it still doesn't work make sure to let your counselor know that you are getting in a lot of exercise and you may have to switch plans and get this, eat even more food. Try excell too if it doesn't budge--make sure you aren't eating a lot of heavy fruits and proteins close together--that's what I was doing.
I'm hoping with my weight stall for so long I hit an early plateau and now I can lose fast! ha! Maybe wishful thinking but I'll take it!

i'm sorry but i have to disagree about not going hungry. i started lawl 1 week ago (gold w/lites) and i have been starving from the beginning! 5oz of cooked chicken or 3 oz of cooked pork/beef only twice a day is not a whole lot of protein. and to boot, i gained a 1lb and then lost it, so after 1 week ZERO weightloss.

g35 - I've been eating Greek Yogurt for breakfast as my dairy and that certainly has helped me not be so hungry. It has 15g of protein (some brands even more!). Also - be sure you're eating your Lites. They are packed with protein too.

In a couple of weeks (as your body adjusts) if you are still super hungry, make sure your counselor knows. You really shouldn't stay hungry on this plan.

Best of luck!

thanks racegrl ! i appreciate your suggestion - i will definitely try it!