Im wondering why I didn't lose anything this last week?? I followed diet except for having some diet coke...I know youre not supposed to have it but really dont understand why!! Is this part of why I didnt lose?? Also my period is here so my coach told me that was probably why. HELP I want to cry! I was doing so good!

Hey maggie ~ Wondered where you had been. Hadn't seen you posting for awhile. My coach told me that week 3 & 4 can sometimes be disappointing as your body is "adjusting". The diet coke has artificial sweeteners in them which could end in negative results. Plus TOM is always a weird thing. Hormones can be all over the place. My advice, for what its worth, would be to start anew tomorrow. Don't throw in the towel and know that this is a lifestyle change. You can get back 100% OP and watch the results. You are worth it!

you ARE doing good!

don't fret.... many women on IP have the same issue during their TOM (time of the month), including myself. it is normal to not lose a small amount of weight, no weight or even gain some weight during that time as your body deals with water fluctuations and hormone changes. hang in there, you will see the scale move next week!

As you get closer to your goal the losses definitely slow down.
Also, some weeks seem to be inches rather than pounds...

Finally, maybe you will get a good whoosh loss in the next few days to even things out.

Don't let one slow week get you off track!

Your body treats aspartame (diet coke) as sugar and spikes your insulin. I don't know how much you had, but could be the problem.

I know it's really difficult to work so hard and have nothing show up on the scale. However it's pretty common about this time in the program for the weight to slow down even if only for a week. I find I do great for several weeks in a row and then I have a week with only loosing around a pound. The next week things pick up again. Also once TOM is gone the scale should reflect that too. I remember one week I only lost a pound, but my lean muscle mass increased and I lost a bit of body fat. Now one could argue that that is even better then what the scale said as the scale often doesn't tell you the whole picture. Also stay away from diet coke. Between the aspartame and carbonation it's not good for loosing weight. Water and herbal tea are much healthier for you anyway.

Do you do the body fat and hydration scans at your weigh-ins? Could it be that you still had an acceptable fat loss but offset it with retaining water? That happened to me last week. I was dehydrated before from an out of town trip. Looking at only pounds last week I hardly lost anything but my hydration was coming back up. So looking at fat % it was actually a good week.
I think it's happening to me this week too. I've been up/down within 2 lbs on the home scale all week. But I'm still drinking a lot of water to keep getting the hydration up.

TOM is always bad on my body...I tend not to lose weight/as much that week.

Also, you've lost wonderfully so far; give your body a chance to catch up. I'm sure you'll see a loss next week

This happens to all of us on occassion. Dont let it upset you, just stay on track. Keep to the program.

Hang in there! My TOM has messed with me twice already. If you can stick with it and stay OP it WILL come off

Thank you everyone for the encouraging words!!! No more d coke for me! Back on track and hoping for my weight to drop by Monday!!!!!

I am wondering how much aspartame it would take to effect weight loss? I am asking because I recently quit smoking and have been chewing a lot of gum... I have now looked at the ingredients of "5" and "Stride S 2.0" (the 2 I have been using) and found that both contain aspartame... (Opps!) So - how much so too much? Or is any amount too much?

Also I believe that I read some where on here that Dentyne Fire was OK - anyone found any others that are IP approved? I am in Alberta, Canada. TIA!

I have been chewing the gum you speak of and the Extra polar ice one. I chew 2-3 slices a day usually between meals and it has not affected my losses. But this is just me and it works for me

Thanks Wuv! I gave up my diet coke addiction because of the aspartame but did manage to find a diet cola that meets the IP requirements of 0/0/0, it is called Diet Rite. I've made myself a deal - only if I finish ALL of my water requirements am I allowed to have one... never even thought about the gum. Hope it won't hinder me... and I still think not smoking is healthier than the little bit of aspartame from a stick or 2 of gum... just don't want it affecting my weight loss too much! Would hate to be spending the money on this diet and stalling due to a little stick of gum! LOL!

I don't think the issue is whether or not aspartame will affect the program. The issue is what it does to your health. You might want to do a little research. There is chewing gum without aspartame and IP recommends Spry, if you can find it. Your coach may have it.