I posted this data back in April of 2007 to show what goes on with weight loss. Some of you newer folks might find it interesting!

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Week 1: -1/2 lb.
Week 2: - 1 lb.
Week 3: 0
Week 4: 0
Week 5: - 4-1/2 lbs. (whoa!)
Week 6: 0
Week 7: 0
Today [2 days later than week 7]: - 1 lb.

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These were my results from recording weight once a week on the same day each week, and as you can see, it came out to 7 pounds in 7 weeks. I did weigh more often, and in some of those weeks there was actually a GAIN in between recording dates.

So, don't be discouraged by weight stalls! If you stay with your program of weight loss, the scale WILL change. The only thing that will stop it is if you give up and choose to eat fattening foods or fattening amounts.

Jay

Thanks Jay

I really needed to see this. I'm losing at a very slow pace and it can be very discouraging to go day after day and not see a significant loss. It's the downside to weighing daily for me (which has actually really helped me, but that part of it sucks).

Thanks jay!! I really should get my journal out again and look at how i was losing weight. It really does take at least a week to lose a pound for the most part, doesn't it. I generally step on the scale every morning but i am trying to not do that so much this time. Like this morning, i decided to bypass it. I was afraid it would show a gain since i ate 2 servings of sheppards pie last night (although i made it with fat-free cheese and it was small servings). I am going to try to eat light weight meals today and drink lots of water and see if i have a loss of anything tomorrow. If it says 156.anything, i'll be happy. One pound doesn't seem like much, but when you stack each one of those little boogers up together, eventually, you have a substantial loss.

Thanks Jay! It does get incredibly frustrating, particularly when the scale goes up so you feel like you are losing the same 3 pounds over and over again but you're right, we just have to stick to it!!!

Thanks for the support!

Here's a set of my data from Sept-Nov last year, 10 pounds in 10 weeks.

Week 1: 1
Week 2: 1
Week 3: -3.5
Week 4: 3.5
Week 5: 0
Week 6: 1.5
Week 7: 0.5
Week 8: 2
Week 9: 0.5
Week 10: 3.5

It can be a bummer to see that zero, or 0.5 loss, or even a gain on the scale. So despite weighing daily or weekly, it's very important to take a long-term view of the actual numbers. Today's weight is simply a point in time on a long downward slope, and has little meaning in and of itself.

I, too, stall....and stall....and ...stall again...
But I refuse to think of it as a STOP. I have lost ~30 pounds in the ten months I've been calorie counting. I have stalled out since September (when I went back to driving the school bus, and stopped my morning 5k walk/jog), but got through the holidays with only a blip in the weight (+3). Now, I am focusing on better, accurate numbers and working out on the WiiFit nearly every day. It's only been a couple weeks, and I *think* things are starting to head in a downward trend.

But, if the stall continues, that's ok - it's better than an increase! Summer's coming, and with it comes the walking/gardening/outdoors stuff.

I keep losing and gaining the same 2 pounds. I'll be okay with one pound loss a week but I'd be happier with two...

*sigh*

I'll keep plodding on!

Yes the body works in funny ways!

I keep a gragh chart taped to my bedroom door. Its been just under one year. It zig zags up and down like a lightening bolt, But shows the big picture of a downward trend. This helps me so much. I dont even care any more about the up-zags, I have noticed that it is often TOM, and just keep trying.It also reminds me that slow and steady wins the race, because the times that I tried to speed things up a bit show a drop followed by a rise that tells me well, that was not worth it. I gained a couple of pounds over the holidays, so right now I am at -58lbs

Yeah you are right . Determination with commitment does everything. I have started weight loss schedule way back in Jan 2008. I just lost 20 pounds . I have been on vacation twice last year and it devastated all my plans on weight loss. I couldn't resist myself while on vacation . Instead I gained 10 pounds and later I had to rethink to workout little harder to get myself in line with the things.

You are right! Sticking with it is what matters.
We can do this!

Another thing for us women to keep in mind is during that "Ugly Week", our bodies are already busy burning calories doing what it is doing. Any extra work we put in is a bonus and will eventually show up on the scale once all is said and done.

Forming good habits not only helps us to shed pounds, but it also makes our hearts stronger, our muscles stronger, and builds our health and longevity. It's all worth it!

I really needed to read this!! It's usually about this point in my weight loss attempts that I just say screw it because things stall or even gain, so reading this reminds me that EVERY positive act towards weight loss WILL be rewarded eventually!!