Just got back from my WW meeting, and for the first time in 4 months, I didn't lose any weight... I gained .4 pounds. Not that bad, I know, but I knew it was coming, I've been slacking off this past week. I think it's because I got my 10% award at WW last week, and I've finally, finally gone down a size... I can see the difference when I look in the mirror, and I feel great about it. Unfortunately, that really makes me feel like I can be a little more "casual" about my food and exercise. In the last week, I haven't gone to the gym or gone running at all, but I've been eating like I have been, an extra 300 or 400 calories a day. I still have a deficit every day, but I'm slacking. I'm also not drinking nearly enough water, and that's the cause of the gain this week, I think.

I know exactly what I need to do to lose 2 pounds a week, and I *want* to... I've still got 20 pounds to go till I'm in a "healthy" range, and 33 to goal... so why do I keep telling myself it's not a big deal, I can be a little lazy/eat a little more?

I've SO been there! You are feeling great, you are looking great, you've made a change in your life, and so far, you've lost every. single. week. Probably even in those weeks when you were perhaps just a bit off your usual game. So what is going on?
First of all, are you afraid of success? This sounds odd, but is a reasonable thing to think. Have you been at 155 before? Was it a long time ago? Is it a bit scary to be there because you might think things/relationships might change? Are you at risk of self-sabotaging?
Second of all, are you a very goal oriented person? Have you "planned" for two pounds a week? It is tiring to maintain enthusiasm over the long term for a specific goal. Perhaps a better goal would be to focus on nutritional and exercise goals as opposed to a scale-numbers approach. If you can switch focus, you may find it easier in the long run to maintain your enthusiasm. If your new way of living is seen as a lifestyle switch and not a "diet", then the numbers on the scale won't matter so much, and you can take the pressure off.
Lastly, since you have lost consistently since January but are losing motivation, you might view this as an emotional plateau vice a physical plateau. How would you manage a physical (i.e. weight loss numbers) plateau? Would you power through it and stay on plan? Or would you fall off the wagon? This is the exact same point that you may be at right now.
Just some thoughts!
Keep with it!
Kira

Those were excellent questions and points that Kira made! I would also like to point out that when you reach your final goal, you're going to have to maintain. You really can't afford the mindset of being able to stop all the healthy eating and exercise just because you got there, and that's basically what you did when you reached 10 percent. That's a surefire recipe for gaining all your weight back. Anyway, you know what you need to do, so count that slip-up as a little bump in the road and move past it.

Wow, thanks so much, this is some great stuff to think about. And really good to come home to after dinner at a friend's house where I ate way too much. I didn't even hit a deficit today, for the first time since January 1st, I'm only breaking even for the day. Man.

Emotional plateau, that's a really good point. I'm not at a physical plateau, I can tell from the numbers I'm plugging in to The Daily Plate that I "deserved" to have a disappointing week (especially since I stopped making sure I got my water in). But the idea of an emotional plateau really rings true. I guess I kind of feel like, I've done all this work for so long, and now I'm finally seeing some success.... so here and there I'm a little more relaxed about food, a little more willing to have "fun" stuff when we're eating out, a lot less likely to put on my sneakers and head outside... sigh. I know I'm still overweight, still bigger than all my friends, still higher than I should be before we start thinking about having kids, still slower and more tired than I could be... I just have to remember these things when I think about having a second helping, or going out to eat without a solid plan.

So when people are on a physical plateau, the advice is to make sure you're counting every bite (I am, btw), and if you're still not losing, to eat more calories to shake up your system, right? So what's the equivalent for a mental plateau? Get more mental calories? I think my brain needs a shake-up just as much as a plateauing body does.

Hmm... hopefully you learned a lesson here... calories in/calories out. If you relax the rules without taking caloric intake into consideration, then you're going to see weight gains

Suggestion: instead of food rewards, choose something non-edible as a reward for losing all that weight to date. Say a facial or a pedicure or a good book/movie??

Keep going, you're doing great!

~ tea

Hey Jajabee!
Don't beat yourself up over hitting an emotional plateau! We all do, and how we deal with it is different. For me, I decided to change my focus from weight loss and how much I had to lose and where I was now and why wasn't I there yet, to focusing on a healthy lifestyle. I started writing down my exercise points and tried something TOTALLY different for me to shake things up, enjoyment wise.
So maybe try something new, that you wouldn't have been able to do when you were bigger. Something that may be completely out of character for you, like, I don't know, indoor rock climbing, or circus training class or adult trampoline lessons, or belly dancing, or that Pilates class that you've always wanted to do, or outdoor Boot camp, just so that you can experience something NEW and AMAZING and will set you apart from your friends. Something that makes you go WOW, I did that!!! You don't have to be good at it, because that isn't the point! It is to shake up your routine and open your eyes to the new possibilities that your smaller size offers you now. And you might find an activity that just grabs your interest, too. I tried hot Yoga. My SIL (God love her) says I am crazy. My friends think I am nuts because it is HOT. And it is STRENUOUS. And you SWEAT. I am the most inflexible person in the world, but I don't care. I'm THERE. I'm trying. I feel great. And I will only get better. Especially when I get rid of this spare tire around my middle, which is motivating me to stay on plan!
The reason for choosing something physical is important because it will let you make that body-mind connection between losing weight and being smaller (body) and experiencing the results of your determination and drive (mind).
The BORING thing I had to do was to just. keep. on. plan. Even if I didn't want to. Even if I didn't want to count points. Even if I didn't feel like cooking. Even if I didn't want to have to account for everything. It is like medicine for me -- I'm sure there are days when insulin-dependent diabetics just don't want to measure their sugar levels, or inject insulin, or count carb grams and calculate the amount of insulin they need, or exercise regularly. But they do it because they want to live as healthy a life as possible. And so do I. I am in no way equating diabetes with what I go through, but the concept is the same. Some times you just have to close your eyes (so to speak), suck it up, and just DO it. Even if you don't want to...
Enough!
Hope this helps! PM me any time, and let us know how things are going for you. You can do it!
Kira

Thanks so much. Kira, you're amazing. I just emailed a women's soccer league here in town, fingers crossed that they'll have room for me on the beginner's team. If not, I found a couple of other adult sports leagues that I should be able to join. And I'm going to walk the 5 miles to and from our dinner plans tonight. There's no point wearing this thing on my arm if I'm just going to sit on the couch all day!

You so TOTALLY rock! Let us know if you're on the team. It sounds like it'll be really, really fun. And if it doesn't work out right now, the other leagues sound great too.
You'll be back into the enthusiasm in no time at all.
Keep on posting!
Kira

I haven't been posting here much because I too reached an emotional plateau, where I stopped "dieting". But that doesn't mean I started back to my old eating patterns that let me put on the weight. And I'm still losing...just more slowly, and I'm OK with that, because I got enough of the critical weight off quickly to start feeling better and more able to be physical...and now the more active I am (and the weather is improving so I can get outside and get more done)...I will lose weight naturally, as I am right now, just from eating right and being physically active.

I don't need to diet anymore. I'm going to proceed on "maintenance" from here on out, even if it takes me another year to lose the rest of my weight. Because...BECAUSE!!! The slower I lose it now, the less of a torment it will be for me (no deprivation) and the easier it will be to keep it off. As long as every two weeks I see at least a pound or two off...I'm OK with that. Because that means I'm still winning. Because winning in this race is learning how to stay on track...not on how fast you reach your goal.