I feel really depressed right now... I've been trying to lose weight for a very long time now. My last attempt started in November 2009 and I haven't dropped out since. I started exercising, I now work out 4 times a week and started jogging. I downsized my portions as well, and don't eat any fast food, processed foods or anything deep fried.

And yes I have a problem.
I've been weighing myself once a week on Sunday mornings since I started this journey. And I keep losing and gaining the same 5 pounds over and over!! One week I'll be 189, then 187, then 189 again, then 185, then 186, then 190... it's so frustrating!! What am I doing wrong!??

I feel like giving up once again... I've been putting some real effort in what I'm doing, for months now, and I still have to even FEEL any result. That's right, I haven't gone down even half a dress size since November.

Has anyone ever had that problem too? How can I jumpstart this weight loss before I decide that it's not worth all the sweating and the soreness, and the crying I do when I see that I STILL haven't lost anything despite all my hard work.

It's driving me insane please help me if you know what I should do...

Are you having any "cheat" meals or days? Are you consistently eating healthy? 7 days in a row? 10? 21?, etc.. Are you tracking your calories? Do you know how many you're consuming.

Exercise is great, as is downsizing your portions and staying away from fried foods - BUT - if you're still taking in more calories than needed, if you're not creating a calorie DEFICIT there's no way on earth you can consistently lose weight. I suspect that's why you're bouncing around with those 5 lbs. You're probably creating that deficit for one week and then creating an overage the next week.

So don't give up, that's certainly not going to help your effort. But kick it up a notch.

I would journal my foods - each and every, bite, lick, taste, crumb and sip. I'd adhere to a calorie budget - faithfully - and watch those pounds melt off of you.

I would suggest that you measure your portions and track your calories/what you eat...Good luck and don't give up!

Thanks for the advice...
I've always been journalling but I don't think my calorie-counting is accurate.
I've decided to start over new, I could only think about failure whenever I thought about how long I've been counting my calories and making sure every little thing I eat isn't going to make me balloon up the next day, and I feel so obsessed with all this it's now hindering my weight loss because all I do is think and calculate and separate and I don't enjoy anything I do anymore.
So tomorrow I'm starting over. I'll weigh myself again, measure myself again, calculate my BMI and my BMR again, and start losing weight again.
Hopefully.

Digital food scales, measuring cups and spoons are your friends. Eyeballing calories is a sure way to be way off on your estimates and may account for the fluctuation. Eventually once you have a good grasp on serving sizes you might not need to measure, but it's a good idea in the beginning...

Be sure not to over estimate what you may burn exercising as well.

the counting calories is good advice (though I have trouble doing it myself) -- I would also ask if you have checked with your doctor...you might have a thryoid (or other issue) that is making things harder on you.

Good luck and don't give up!! :-)

I know I should have a food scale... I just never got one.
And I've been to my doctor in December and discussed my weight-loss attempt; he did some blood work checked my thyroid, blood sugar, cholesterol, etc, and everything came back perfectly normal.
To be honest I was kinda hoping there would be something wrong, at least it would've given me an excuse for why I haven't been losing more than a couple pounds over the last 5 years. But since everything is normal, I guess at least it means I have no reason not to be able to succeed.

Phase 1 of the South Beach diet can often times be a good jump start too, to shead a few pounds quickly. It lasts 2 weeks. Of course, the diet is set up so that you move to phase 2 after phase 1, so I'm not sure if you could keep off that initial weight if you go right back to eating how you were previously.

I feel your frustration though I lose weight SO SLOWLY. But that's no reason to give up! If you throw in the towel now, you're going to be kicking yourself in the behind a few months from now!! (Trust me. That's where I'm at )

I am the same height as you, and my starting weight was the same.

For the first month, my calorie intake averaged right around 1370. I use FitDay as a tracker. I was exercising 5-6 times a week for an hour & a half a day (walking for 30 minutes in the morning, aerobic machines and weights in the afternoon). I dropped 7 pounds the first month, and overall I lost 4 pounds a month until goal. Sometimes it looked like my weight had suddenly gone up and I'd had no loss, but those times turned out to be blips. I didn't give up my plan no matter what the scale said. I didn't weigh every day.

Don't give up. Start tracking.

Your results may vary, of course. Weight loss is hard work--you feel obsessed now, but in the past probably you just ate whatever you felt like, whenever. Anyway, I did. What feels like obsession may just be learning to pay attention.

Jay

This is very good advice. I've experimented with "guessing" before and iIve found that my weightloss guess is around 2000 cals. Fine for maintaining but I want to lose! Once you get into the swing of weighing food and calorie counting it's really quick and easy. As Idealmuse says, these things are your friends.

Why yes. It just means you have the power to change this! It's within your hands. You don't want to be overweight - you don't have to be. This is a good thing. This is your choice. You have the ability to lose the pounds.

Now go out there and gather up the tools. DECIDE to do this. COMMIT to do this. BEING WILLING TO PUT FORTH THE EFFORT REQUIRED TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.

It's not obsessive to care for you body. It's not obsessive to be mindful of your food intake.

It's mature, rational and reasonable. I'm certain you make mature, rational, reasonable decisions all day long. You get out of bed in the morning, you wear your seatbelt while driving, look both ways before crossing, etc, etc, etc. Your food intake is no different. It is worthy of consciousness, pre-thought, planning and effort.

I like this, I've never thought about food in this way before.

I really think that lots of people *think* that weight loss and weight management should be an *easy* thing to do. Well that's not necessarily the case. We are surrounded by an overabundance of not so healthy foods - everywhere we turn. It DOES take a concerted effort to manage ones weight. Who in the world ever said it WOULD be easy? Who? Like raising a family, running a household, holding down a job, money management - these are all things that bring lots of joy and are important, and they require a contentious continual effort to ensure that they run smoothly. You can't just leave it up to chance. Why oh why is it so hard for people to realize that our health - therefore our food inake - is no different? No different at all.

No one ever said that it would be ez-shmeazy all the time. There ARE easier times and there ARE harder times. The circumstances change, but the requirements never do. You don't throw in the towel and give up during the more challenging times - you work HARDER and push through it. Imagine if we gave up on our families, our jobs, just because of the occasional rough patch - that would be ludicrous - same thing goes for maintaining a healthy weight.

I got a FitDay account today and it already looks like it's going to help a lot. Today was the first time I ever checked it out, and wow it's really helpful!
I tracked everything I ate since I woke up. I ate 1438 calories, and burned 2537, but I didn't work out so no real exercise for me today besides walking a bit and taking out the rubbish.
I also bought a pedometer. I walked over 11,000 steps, or more than 5 km. That's not bad considering all I did all day was walk around the house, cleaning.

I wanna say thanks to everyone... I'm back on track because of you.
If I wasn't a member of this board this could've been Failed Attempt #9.
Thank you!

OH YEAH I'M BACK ON TRACK.

I started using FitDay and counting my calories... not estimating... and I realized I was still eating way too much. I stuck to my budget (between 1147-1300 calories depending on my exercise). It's been one week now, and so I weighed myself to see...

I'M DOWN 2.2 POUNDS!!

I am so thankful, I've never gone any lower than 186 in this whole year I've been trying to lose weight, now I'm breaking out of it, and if all goes well I'll be out of the 180's in 2 weeks!!