The biggest loser talks about how week 2 is notorious for small losses. I know many on us have been on this journey longer than a week, but I just refocused my efforts Jan 1st (yeah yeah I know, me and 1/2 the country) but after a 2.8lb loss week one, I'm stalled...

And opinions on the week 2 phenonmenon...??

I think you need to put the scale away and just focus on what you *can* control - which is your adherence to your plan. It doesn't matter why you stall in week two, the solution is not to change a single thing but recognize that stressing about it and tweaking will likely to no good and a fair bit of harm, especially with a disordered eating history or difficulty with yoyoing.

Just plow on and do your best, then pat yourself on the back for a job well done and don't check the scale for another month or two. I guarantee that, with an appropriately formulated plan that you stick to, a few months will show weight loss. Daily checking is less than helpful if you cannot divorce yourself and your actions from the numbers - we're looking for a general downward trend over months and years, not consistent losses every day or week and then declaring yourself a failure when it doesn't happen

As for why week two frequently stalls? Water balance. There's a great sticky at the top of this forum on that very subject, actually

A true stall consists of the same weight WEEKS in a row. Not just one day. Or one week. I weight 226 one week, the rest of the week I weight 228, 227, 231, 227, and the next week 226. This was mostly all fluid retention from higher sodium foods. Heck, I've been the same weight for two days. Do I worry? No.

Also, do you know where you are in your month? I have 5 days of complete stalling no matter what and/or slight gain and then WOOOOSH. I could eat 500 calories a day during this time and still lose nothing.


Focus on following your food plan, exercise and being healthy. Don't worry about the scale!

You're not in a stall, you're just not a robot. Good news, right?!

Keep up the good work!

It's one of two things.

You need to mix up your exercise routine and confuse those muscles or you need to eat more because you're in starvation mode.

Or click the link on the side because it's telling me I can burn off every bit of stomach fat every day by never eating these 5 foods. Yep - I'm sure that's it.

Thank you all. ArticMama, sometimes I like to think I'm all better, but truthfully I'm not. I have been keeping a calorie count for the day(900), except dinner. The idea was that if I can't "count" dinner, I can't get so crazy that I'm removing a carrot piece because it puts me over by 3 calories for that day, because I get that insane about it. But I cook only healthy, low cal version dinners, and I must follow portion recommendations (and aim for about 400-500cals estimated. But being a calorie veteran, I know my dinners haven't been making that amount lately.

I noticed the past day or two I feel drained, and yesterday I felt too drained to run, I just walked on the treadmill and I barely felt enough energy to do that...I know this feeling, BTDT, and I know I have been cutting back on my daily cals (700-800)because I'm starting to think I'm eating too much at dinner. And of course, cutting back at dinner. John, I think you are right. I don't think I'm eating enough. Actually running has helped me in the past with relieving some guilt with "eating too much" (i.e. healthy amount) when I start undereating, because I think of it as fueling my body so I can run. I know in the past that my runs suffer within a few days of restricting intake too much.

Daimere & MrsSnark, thank you for the encouragement!

Its kind of crazy but my binging balanced out my undereating. Actually I binged more, since I usually maintain about 160 lbs which is still overweight (the high weights are all pregnancy gains, a time when I did not restrict at all). In the past when I remove sugar/processed foods from my diet, after about a week, my urge to binge decreases drastically. I've been away from sugar etc for about 3 weeks now, but for the first week I didn't count cals just focused on breaking the sugar addiction. I supposed if I continued to eat less and less, I would want to binge for simple caloric needs, but I'm going to address this now.

Articmama, I do need to step away from the scale. It seems so simple, but everday I weigh. I'm going to start small. I think I will weigh every other day, then every 3 days and so on. I did weigh today, still stuck at the same weight, but I'm going to focus on eating enough (healthy whole food of course) and my small goal is not to weigh tomorrow.

Thank you all. This website has been the main sourse of recovery for me for many years. I dont know what I'd do without you all.

And John, I see that ad often too!! There's usually a banana picture, but I've never clicked it...I wonder what the other 4 foods are?? lol

Besides undereating things that slow weight loss down for me is mot eating enough protein and also a bit of good fats.

There's some good advice here! I agree with the water weight and the general downward trend (day to day losses/gains aren't fat - they're almost all water).

Also, remember that if you're eating at any calorie deficit, you're not going to gain fat. Even if the scale ticks up, it isn't fat. That helps me sometimes when I'm tempted to say "why bother?" and just pig out when I stick at a weight for a week or gain two pounds inexplicably.

I also tend to lost in a wacky patter. My weight goes down, up, down up, down, down, up, up, up, way down, up, down, etc. If the overall trend is down, then I'm okay. It's just frustrating because it's not very fast a lot of times. But progress is progress.

EDIT: I wanted to add this quote because I think it's helpful.

"When weighing yourself and keeping a weight graph or table, however, remember that one day's diet and exercise patterns won't have a measurable effect on your weight the next day. Today's weight is not a true measure of how well you followed your program yesterday, because your body's water weight will change from day to day, and water changes are often the result of things that have nothing to do with your weight-management efforts.

I am far from perfect with weight loss. And I tweak things all the time and try to learn from my mistakes.

But one thing I am proud of and I really did embrace was that this time the journey was ALL about lifestyle changes for the rest of my life and not dieting. In that sense Week 2 or 3 or X becomes mostly irrelevant in terms of how much I lost. I know there will be plateaus and yes I weigh myself every day. For feedback and encouragement both ways. If I lost, good. If I didn't, let's get back to it.

But week 2 for me would be was I getting better at food choices. Was I drinking enough water. How did I do on exercise this week.

My journey now is all about figuring out more and more healthy ways to eat, new recipes, new combinations. And for me getting better and better at running.

There really isn't a week 2 or X anymore. As I said I can improve in a lot of ways but I am proud I have really adopted this as a lifestyle. And from that standpoint time becomes mostly irrelevant.