2 months ago yesterday I begin my lifestyle change. I quickly shed 28 lbs. Nearly 3 weeks ago, my weight loss ceased. Let me share where I am.....

1200 to 1400 calories a day. Over the months I built up my exercise routine. Literally went from 10 minutes to 60 minutes, 4 or 5 times a week. It includes cardio, weights, and calisthenics. I also wear a fitbit flex.

Fast forward to about a week ago. I noticed I was more hungry than I had been. Since my weight lose was stalled I figured I'd increase my calories a little bit and relax a little on the exercise. To my surprise I had a whoosh and 3 lbs flew off. I assumed this meant I wasn't eating enough before. I did a little research about my fitbit and realized that I still had the calorie burned estimator on, so I disabled that. The next morning I woke up and fitbit had recalculated (based on data from the last two months) that I burn on average 2600 calories a day. Great! I can and should eat 1600 calories a day, and that would still allow the 1000 calorie deficit to lose 2 lbs per week. Right?!?!?!

Wrong. Over the past 4 days I've gained back those 3 lbs I had lost in the whoosh. To add insult to injury, I ate 1275 calories last night, and fit bit told me I OVER ATE! I am so confused. I cannot figure this out. I don't know if I am eating to much or not enough......

What I can tell you is that I am 100% without a doubt eating healthy and balanced. I don't eat much if any sugar. I limit sodium. I only drink water and plenty of it, most days nearly 80 oz. I don't drink alcohol. I have one free meal a week and its never over the top.

I feel clueless and am starting to feel like a failure. Any ideas? 2 months in and I don't even know if I am eating to much or to little. I feel like based on the food I am eating I should be losing weight even if I don't exercise, right? So what is going on?

What's going on? I don't know the answer to that anymore than I have the answer for why I lost 2lbs eating cake all weekend. Weightloss is not a numbers game, only to a certain point. The rest is a mystery.

You're doing a great job. And boy are you hard on yourself! Weightloss is not a linear process, if it was as simple as plugging a few numbers into a computer and spitting out a result we'd have this dilemma solved. There are a lot of factors playing into this, TOM, hormones, water weight, a whole gamut of reasons why the scale is not moving. Remember that you are a human, and much more logical than a combination of machines. You are eating healthy and balanced meals, you're making excellent choices, are you really going to wait for a scale to affirm what you know?? Scales don't do that. Pay attention to what you are doing to yourself, and ease up on waiting for external number gratification. There's a good reason to hold ourselves accountable for our actions but sometimes the numbers don't match. We hit plateaus that seem unexplainable but the more we stress out about them the more they hinder us.

There are other ways to track your process. How do you feel? How do you look? How do your jeans fit? Did you receive a compliment lately? Did you run a little further yesterday? Do you have more energy today? Are these all not as important if not important as that secret little number on a machine? Keep track of the good stuff, the fun stuff, the stuff that makes you feel good. They don't have to match a number on a scale. How can you be feeling good and doing amazing things and then call yourself a failure? How cruel of you.

Don't be result-driven, trust the process, have confidence in what you're doing.

You should definitely be able to eat ~1600 calories every day. 1200 calories should be too low for you. I'd suggest that you keep eating 1600 calories for a few days and see what happens.

I started eating more a few weeks ago and I also lost quite a bit of weight right away only to gain it back. But it was just water. So, just give it some time.

And you definitely shouldn't feel like you're clueless or like you're a failure. I was too hard on myself for too long, too and now I feel stupid for it. I get embarrassed when I think of the things I used to say to myself. Learning to treat myself better was probably the best thing that happened during this process. The weight loss was a result of that, actually because if I stayed so convinced that I'm a useless failure, I would've given up long ago. It might take a while to figure out what works for you. Just be patient and be good to yourself.

Wannabeskinny, Thank you for replying and the encouragement. I feel like I need to be hard on myself because this is the longest I've stuck with changing my life. I don't want to accept this stall. I thought I was feeling better, but depression quickly takes reign on those good feelings (yes I see someone and am treated for this). I don't like not knowing or understanding which way I should be leaning. Eat more or less. Truthfully, I am ok with either answer, I just want to know which way I need to go!! That stupid number on that stupid scale means so much to me, probably because its been so high for such a long time. As much as I wish it didn't matter. It does. Does it define who I am? Sure it does. I haven't learned yet to read other cues. I don't feel like I look better. Nobody has complimented me. My clothes are bigger yes but I've been a regular shape shifter thru out my monthly cycle.

Somedays I wish I was strong enough to hide the scale for a week. But then a little voice says I need it to stay on track. Enter more cluelessness! UGH! I am my own worst enemy by far!

Thank you. I know I am hard on myself. I feel like I need to be. I don't want to quit. I just want to understand. What helped you be kind to yourself, was there a trigger or was it a learned process. Congrats on your success by the way. I hope to get there someday!

Loving yourself in the process is SO important. I agree with what wannabeskinny and Marniadec have said. Just out of curiosity, do you consume a lot of bread/starchy food? (i.e. potatoes, pasta, etc) I have noticed with me that those foods stall/decrease my rate of weight loss. Not say it's a big deal eating them.....but it could be a possible factor.

Hi. Thanks for asking and sharing. I love to hear what others have uncovered that might help. But no, I really don't eat a lot of bread or starchy foods. I am not low carbs, but through out this change I've definitely cut back on them, not by choice really, mostly because I've become so aware of what I am eating and their calorie correlation. What I do eat a lot of is fiber.

One tidbit I can share, that just made me smile and thankful for this change, since I have started this my IBS is much better. I still have off days, but am so much better in that aspect.

CooCooCaChoo - I don't know if this will make you feel any better, but exactly the same thing happened (is happening!) to me. I started off last year, lost 20 or so pretty quickly and then it slowed right down.

Our stats are similar; I also eat 1500 calories a day or less, little sugar or refined carbs, don't drink anything but water and the occasional coffee/cocoa. I exercise every day (critical for my mental health really) - I walk outside or on the treadmill (or do yard work) most days or I do HIIT on my recumbent bike, I do occasional yoga and/or total gym resistance training, I do C25K on Tuesdays. I am now losing at the rate of about 1 pound per month which is agonizing!

All the calculators say I should be able to eat way more than 1500 calories per day and still lose 2 lbs per week, but I don't. I weigh, measure and track my food. I know what I'm eating and it is well within my "requirements to lose 2 lbs per week". I haven't yet figured out the why. All I have managed to do is keep going. I keep exercising. I keep making the best food choices I can. I weigh myself every morning and I take measurements on the first of the month. I remind myself often that I feel and look better and I also weigh less than I did a year ago, even if its not as much less as I would like.
I have also experienced the "overeat-lose weight" phenomenon. I think it has to do with lessening stress - you loosen up a little bit and your mind and body relax a little and let go a little bit of weight. But I don't really know.

I hope knowing you are not the only one is at least a little comfort. Keep at it and good luck to you!

i started a diet last year, was eating 1200 calories a day and lost about 10lb in the first month i thought great, then i lost nothing for 2 weeks and was wondering why! i upped the exercise and cut out all the carbs i was eating...3 weeks later i was in hospital getting my gallbladder out and when i mentioned it to the surgeon, he said the reason your not losing weight is because your body is not getting enough calories it needs to maintain basic functions! he said the minnimum i should eat is 1500 calories (but thats my maximum...dont tell him that lol) and ive noticed this time, im not as hungry..no headaches and in 8 days ive lost 9lbs! i walk everyday until ive burned 300 - 500 calories so maybe thats why your in the "stuck" zone

It started as a process. I kept reading that you can't shame someone into losing weight. I'd been shaming myself, thinking that it was motivating. I'd literally stand in front of the mirror and call me names. At some point, I realized that I was wrong and I tried to stop it.

Then I remembered something I'd read in a novel by Paulo Coelho as a child. I don't remember it well, just that the protagonist of the novel had to dig his nail right where the nail of his thumb every time he said something negative about himself. He kept doing that over and over and he caused a deep wound but eventually it worked. I'd never even think about trying that because it would hurt. If I couldn't even cause myself a tiny bit of physical pain of purpose, why could I hurt me emotionally so much?

That's when it clicked, sort of. I started reading about building confidence, etc and I kept trying things that seemed stupid. For example, I'd try to stop whenever I was about to say something negative and say something positive instead but I could never find anything good to say. It seemed ridiculous. But I did eventually stopped saying negative things for the most part. Then I started drawing confidence from achieving my weight loss and fitness goals. I applied this confidence elsewhere and it went from there.

I don't know that I love myself. But I'm in a place where I accept myself and I hardly ever find a reason to engage in the self-destructive behaviors I used to.

It takes me too long to write in english and I'm about to go to bed, so I can't really answer the way I wanted to. I hope this was a half-decent answer, though. And think about the trick with the nails. It really was an aha moment for me as Oprah would say.

I don't have time to read through all the posts, so I apologize if this has already been addressed. I think 1600 calories a day is fine but that cheat meal you have every week might not be helping you. The woosh you experience could have been on its way so increasing your calories didn't necessarily cause it.

You might also try calorie cycling to get things moving.

I hope you figure it out.

The whoosh could have come from the decrease in exercise. Exercise can cause fluid retention, so when you quit working out as hard, you probably got rid of some excess water weight.

Thank you everyone.

Have you thought about keeping the same diet principles but switching the protein, fat, and carb sources. iron diets . com has a whole list of 1600 calorie meal plans to use that could shock your system by switching the foods.