monday will be three weeks since i started counting calories, the first week i lost 4lbs and the second week i only lost 1lb.

the first two weeks were a breeze and i was fueled by the new sparkpeople app i downloaded on my phone and by the 5lb loss but this past week has been hard.

i orginally started off eating a bowl of special k in the morning and evening with a regular lunch and three snacks a day. but i've since tried to tweak it when i was told i didn't have to have a bowl of cereal in the evening jus as long as i didn't go over my calories (which according to the spark should be between 1540 and 1890 if i wanna lose 2lb a week and have a 53lb weightlost by march 31st 2011).

i've really only had one day where i actually went over my calories and it was only by 75cals. TOM is next week and i'm scared to get on the scale sat(my official weigh in day). this week has been good caloric intake wise but they weren't all 'healthy foods' and i'm afraid if i see a gain i'm gonna wanna give up as i have in the past.

i also tried on a pair of jeans i was hoping would fit a little better but they are still way tight. i'm not seeing the progress i wanna see and it's making me get discouraged.

thanks for listening to my rant 3FC fam, it feel good to get that out.

Hey Jana,
I've been working out at least three to five days a week since 9/13/10 and I hadn't seen any movement. So I get the frustration. But don't give up. Some days I hit 250 and I say "yes tomorrow I'll be 249" but then I'm back up to 253. I think some days we just hold in more water on some days. Also I read special K isn't all that great as far as nutrition. It's like wasted calories, but I can't counsel on food. That's the one thing I'll never get right.
Today a whole month later I finally saw the scale go lower than 250 so I know it can be done. What are you doing for exercise? Whatever it is, maybe add an extra few minutes or push a little harder. I don't know. I'm exercising three times a day now...I'm getting desperate. I don't want to be in the 200 when I reach 40 which is next year.
So don't give up. Keep us posted.
Kat

thanks for the reply kat.

i'm trying my best to get in 30 mins of wii boxing 3x a week, which according to the spark i burn 324cals in 30min and dat puts me at 37cals more burned than they ask which is 287 but this week i didn't get any of that in.

this past week has been hard in more ways than one but i have yet to give up.

Don't get discouraged. I am in the same place. I lost a few and my weight went way up for TOM. (I have put on as much as 8#s of water weight during a cycle before but it all come off within the week after.) I just weighed this morning and though I am at the same calorie average I only posted a 1# loss. It happens like that sometimes. Keep doing what you're doing and the weight really has no choice but to go bye-bye.

When I restarted this time I committed to doing this for 100 days. Then I joined the biggest loser challenge here on the site to give me extra accountability. I don't know why I told myself 100 days but I just knew that it would be enough to see an appreciable difference and build new habits. So when I feel discouraged, I tell myself that I need to wait out that 100 days and see what the long view will be. I have lost weight before so I know I don't have any sort of metabolic disorder that prohibits weight loss(those are extremely rare although lots of people who struggle with weight swear they have a metabolic disorder).

I thing I know what you mean anajjana! I had hit critical mass at the end of Sep. (again) when all my clothes were so uncomfortable and the new jeans I'd just bought this fall were so tight I couldn't even wear them. So I changed my routine, again... Anyways its funny that just when I get feeling good about things again sometimes my body doesn't reflect that right away and I'm inclined to give up. But don't! I was going to stay home today and read but I got up and went to the gym. We can do it!

thanks to all you ladies for the awesome advice and encouragement!

hi there!
You may need to revise your food. The cereal diet thing is convenient, but doesn't set you up for a good life plan of eating.
I was doing Special K as breakfast and was completely stalled. A gf of mine pointed out the amount of sugar in it and old me that the way to sustained weight loss was cutting out as much unnecessary sugar as possible. Since then I've been eating a lean protein, a vegetable and a carb for my breakfast (like an egg scrambled with spinach and a bowl of oatmeal or whole grain toast) and trying to follow a similar plan for my other meals. I've been dropping steadily since then and I don't feel tired... no more crashes and very few cravings.

Drink lots of water or unsweetened tea and watch your salt for your TOM and you will not see a significant gain and feel a lot better too.

Good luck! I'm sure you will start to see those numbers drop very soon!

Awwww - hang in there! It is still early days. For me, the weight would come first, and the clothes second. Meaning, I would see the results on the scale before I would see a change in how my clothes fit.

Maybe look at the mix of foods you are eating? I'm always encouraging folks to increase their lean protein intake and watch carbs & sugars (even natural sugars from dairy & fruit). Sometimes it takes awhile to find the "sweet spot" for losing...but you CAN and you WILL.

Just keep on for awhile longer & track what you are doing. It will be easiesr to see patterns after another week or two.

Ana, if you've stayed within your calorie limit with only one day of going slightly over, I really doubt that you've gained. Yes, maybe from your period you'll gain some water weight, but you know that goes away.

If you are concerned about seeing a higher number on the scale tomorrow making you want to give up, then wait until next Saturday to weigh in.

As for the cereal, I agree with the Special K having too much sugar, but I've been doing well eating 2 bowls of Kashi Go Lean (very low in sugar and high in protein and fiber) each day with a Lean Cousine for dinner (can you say lazy?) and 2 snacks a day. The Kashi is so much more filling than the Special K. One bowl of that, and I'm not only regular beyond belief (lol) but not hungry for a good 3 hours.

There are going to be good weeks on the scale and bad. We will all have those, but the trick is to not let those bad weeks discourage you...let them make your resolve even stronger. And, usually, those bad weeks are followed by a nice loss the following week.

Keep it up, Ana! You're doing great!!!

Jana please don't give up. Three weeks is not that long. And loosing 1 Lb. a week is very good...although I believe it will pick up to 2 Lbs. a week. The first week of dieting you always lose more and then it tapers off some.
I started the calorie cycling diet in June 2010.
I have lost 50 Lbs. in 4 months. Some weeks it is 1Lb. some weeks 2 Lbs. some weeks 0. There have been a few good weeks that showed a 3 Lb. loss.
But if you continue making good eating choices...Chicken, fish, veggies, fruit, etc. And exercise 3-4 day's a week the weight will come off. Every 10 Lbs. you go down one pants size. For all the hard work it feels fabulous to slip on those smaller jeans sizes and actually breathe and move in them. Hang in there the rewards are awesome!!



Smaller jeans is better than chocolate!!!

I am struggling too.. just now trying to get it together.

Need to change my eating plan and work in some better options. I have been drinking meal shakes for breakfast and i know those arent the best option.

P.S. I see you are from Texas.. me too! South East Texas! You know of Beaumont??

sandcar - i've kinda tired of the cereal but it's so easy to eat, i don't have to worry about cooking and it's low cost. i've tried to think of other things to eat in the morning and in the evening that are low cal but nothing is as easy as the cereal.

short&fluffy - yes! i know where beaumont is! i've got a few cousins and an aunt down there!

goal - thanks for the advice and exercising is something i really need to stay consistent with.

jay - i never even considered unsweetened tea! it doesn't taste that good but it's better than water sometimes.

cheryl - i love chicken breast but i'm single and it's soooo expensive!

thanks for all the support ladies!

There are lots of easy alternatives to the special k, one of my favorites is cream of mushroom soup with some bell peppers thrown in and some potatoe cubes, which can all be done in the microwave.
Salads are super easy and low calorie.
Oatmeal is low-cal and very filling so it's a popular breakfast for me. the instant packages are between 100-200 calories each and all they need is boiled water.
Also 2 boiled eggs is 160 calories, I'll have them plain or with a little salsa.
Rice with veg is easy- I'll make a few cups of rice and a few cups of veg to put in the fridge, then just throw it together and microwave it.
A slice of toast with peanut butter is 300 calories.
It's alot easier to keep up something with variety and interest.

Also if your afraid to get on the scale just put it away. Keep up your healthy life style, the longer you wait the more it will change! It's always fun to see bigger numbers.

Jana. What!!! Only 5 lbs in 3 weeks?

Okay, I was being silly. That's actually pretty good. Some weeks you'll lose more and some less. The only thing for sure is that if you give up, you won't lose at all and then next year you'll wish you had stuck with it. You can keep tweaking your diet, as others have suggested and eventually you will find what works best. Also, you might need to add more activity, more often. It doesn't have to be wicked cardio stuff, just get moving more and add a few steps a day to what you are already doing. And I'm never very confident about the calories that anything says you burn. How does it know you didn't burn more or less? So take those numbers with a grain of salt and know that if you wii longer, you burn more than if you wii less, but it may not really be accurate to the number of calories per unit of time. Does that make sense? What has been working for me is to do a certain distance or amount of time until it is not so difficult and then to add distance or time.

Please don't get discouraged so easily. If it helps, toss out the scales, and just make a goal of sticking with it for a given amount of time and then when you get to that, re-evaluate. You CAN do this!

Barb

p.s. I forgot to say that I can often find boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.99 lb. so I buy a bunch and then roast it in the oven and portion out 3 or 4 oz and then it's easy to grab and put with salad or whole grain or whatever. And my new favorite "breakfast" is 1 cup of eggbeaters with 1 oz. of feta cheese, which is a total of 190 calories. Sometimes instead of the cheese, I have salsa, which is only 135 calories. The feta I buy is cheaper and not a low fat or low salt version. I hate eggs, but I like the generic eggbeaters. Go figure. And 1 cup of eggbeaters is like 4 eggs, so it's pretty big and filling. And eggs would be 280 calories plus the cheese or salsa...

I think you should be excited, anajjana! Because this means that if you continue on the same track (Eating healthy + working out) you are sure to see a sudden drop soon!

I had to wait a considerable amount of time (about three weeks!) before seeing ANY change on the scale. And that was the time when I was the most frustrated, because I couldn't help thinking, "Well, what else can I possibly DO?"

But thankfully, since the past week, every time I step on the scale, I notice a slight drop.

So you're almost past that hump! I hope to see you post here in a few days time announcing that You're almost there - good luck! *hug*