How do stay motivated with a zero loss for the week?
 

This has been a huge lifestyle change for me. I'm diligently counting calories, eating more veggies (even though I hate them), quit drinking pop, drastically reduced my processed sugars/carbs and working out hard 4-5 days/week.

I lost 8lbs in the first two weeks, and even though I knew it would slow down considerably after that, I was still all :carrot: and it made me feel like I really could do it this time.

Now, today was my official weigh-in day, and I lost nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. :( I'm feeling seriously deflated. Even a 1/2 lb would have been something.

I'm going to re-evaluate my calories in/out and make sure I'm not doing/eating too much or not enough. As far as that deflated, defeated feeling goes, though... how do you push through that to make it through the next week? All I want is some ice cream, darnit! :dizzy:

When I have weeks like this, I remind myself that this is a journey and that I didn't gain all this weight in one day.

This could just your body getting used to your new healthier habits. One week is not a plateau. Sometimes I have this before my period and then afterwards WHOOSH! If you are doing everything right, your body will reflect it so don't be disheartened after only one week!

:D 8 lbs already is great progress! Congratulations.

Think of it this way--had you not changed your eating habits you might have gained a pound instead of losing none right?

Losing 8 lbs. in 2 weeks is VERY unusual (in a good way, of course). I have been losing 10 lbs. a month and I have had plenty of experiences like you. This battle is very psychological. I think it is very likely that most people fail at their diets because they get so upset by their scale not meeting their own expectations. However, I would venture to guess that just about everyone who has succeeded in weight loss has had more than one week where they weren't satisfied with what they saw on the scale. They just moved on. There is so much going on with your body that is much more than what the scale has to report. Trust in the process and trust in yourself that if you continue, things will start to show more and more. Even on the Biggest Loser show, where they work out hours upon hours a day, there are weeks where they lose very little...especially after a big loss. You just had two very big losses so your body is not going to continue dropping without a bit of a battle. Hang in there and stay positive and you will persevere!

That's totally normal. ;) Annoying, but normal. It may even have nothing to do with your eating and exercise this week. I often find that my best weeks are the weeks I stay the same and last night I had pizza for dinner and lost a pound over night! :dizzy: And then, of course, there are other times I am on plan and my body does exactly what I think it should. It's definitely the trend we're after.

As to how I deal with it, I'm better this time around. In the past I got so aggravated I quit. This time I'm trying to take it all in stride. I also handle by doing active things such as changing things up. I'll increase my calories, decrease my calories, change the foods I'm eating, go low carb for a week, low fat for a week, do more exercise, do different exercise, do less exercise, drink more water, etc., etc. There are so many things to "do" it make it a little more tolerable. I find I am a "doer" and this passive losing weight stuff is for the birds as far as I'm concerned. When something frustrates me I have DO something about it.

I'm not saying any of that works or that it's even necessary. I think if I were patient everything would eventually work itself out. But I am not patient! And that's how I've learned to deal with it.

I'm going to direct you to this thread
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/weig...er-weight.html
Our bodies are complex machines and ... yes ... unfortunately ... our scale weights do weird things.

I lose weight very slow so seeing the scale stay the same or go up a pound is what I see as normal. Its discouraging sometimes but I tell myself that it will probably take me about a year or more to lose 50 lbs but thats fine to me. I was never one to lose it fast and honestly Im still tweaking my calories and cutting out certain things like coffee and alcohol but doing that has made me feel better. Just keep going and maybe realize the fact that it might take longer then expected but for some reason I just keep going. This is coming from a person who has lost a total of 3 lbs in 2.5 months but I don't let it get me down.

I try to gauge my success more by on the positive changes I'm making, rather than what the scale is telling me. Sometimes, I can do everything right, but scale won't move. In the past, this would lead to, "This is too hard and the scale didn't do what I wanted, so I quit."

Now, I think about what will happen in a week's or month's time if I give up.

Just keep going! Make the positive changes, and the weight loss will follow. Easier said than done I know, but it will lead to much better results in the end.

For so many people weight loss isn't a straight line, even the most diligent people have weeks when they stay the same or even put on a couple of pounds. Keep at it and you will see a downward trend.

Hi I am glad you posted this today. I wanted to toss my scale too. After a mean look at it, I studied my body. My stomach is smaller, my butt is coming back (woo hoo) and my back fat is going away. I try to keep this in mind and forget the scales. The problem with me is that I am a number girls. I so wished I measured my body instead of relying on the scale.

Lots of great advice in this thread. Thank you all!

8lb in 2 weeks is amazing. Enjoy it and congratulate yourself to have maintained this amazing result!

In addition to weighing in I also measure. Sometimes, even if I have not lost weight I have lost inches, so I still feel that I have achieved somethign that week!

Stella

Everyone has given great advice so far, I'll add my two cents.

First of all, it's a victory to just hang onto the wagon for a week. Seriously, I congratulate myself at every weigh in for sticking with it.

But I know the feeling. I've consistently lost at LEAST 1.5lbs every week since I've started. A couple weeks ago I was slightly off plan, nothing terrible, but I had drifted a bit. I had a loss of .3lbs for the week which was basically nothing since it could just be water weight fluctuations. The week before that, I'd had a huge loss of 2.6lbs. I was disappointed, bummed, and also kind of frightened that I had let myself drift that far. So I took all that energy and focused on buckling down again on plan. I had a 1.5lb loss for this week :)

Your body will stall, just how it works. I'm guessing this is near the beginning of your weight loss journey? Have you ever watched Biggest Loser when they talk about curse of the 2nd week? They always have amazing losses the first week (like your 8lbs), but then their bodies think "whoa, what's happening, I'm starving...conserve conserve conserve!" and weightloss slows in. Hence, a bad weigh ins.

It happens to all of us, try not to get too hung up on it and just keep sticking with your plan!

This was such a terrific thread to read today. I dropped 11.2 for the first two weeks of the biggest loser challenge. Week 3 I had a gain. Todays weigh in (week 4) I am still up form week 2 but down a tad from last week. UGH

I weighed today and thought I passed up birthday cake last night for this???!!!! I was so tempted to have cake and cookies for breakfast. I had to remind myself my pants are lose and my loss was in two weeks but it is still a good loss for the month. This is the point I usually give up! Not this time.

Hang in there!!

Hey, thanks SO much for all the encouragement, everyone. I know I just need to keep on hanging in there and sticking to the plan. This is the first time I've been really determined to get this weight off, it's so hard staying in that mindset all the time, you know? I'm discovering that a whole lifestyle change is really hard LOL

Originally Posted by tofulover:
I try to gauge my success more by on the positive changes I'm making, rather than what the scale is telling me. Sometimes, I can do everything right, but scale won't move. In the past, this would lead to, "This is too hard and the scale didn't do what I wanted, so I quit."

Now, I think about what will happen in a week's or month's time if I give up.

Just keep going! Make the positive changes, and the weight loss will follow. Easier said than done I know, but it will lead to much better results in the end.

I agree with this. Think about all the good things you've done overall, and all the good you have done this week. :) And know that you are just awesome in general!

1) I find a pair of non-stretchy jeans in a line that I know I can get a size lower in (you know like Levis or Lee) that will not lie to me. Lately I haven't even been BUYING the jeans - I just try them on at Kohl's because I have been zipping through sizes (Even though I have been in the 200s since Thanksgiving, I have gone from 16 in November, 14 in December, and 14 is loose but 12 is muffin-top ish in mid January - the scale is "lying" but the pants are telling me another story). I buy clearance or thrift jeans and pants in whatever size fits while I am on my journey and wear them until I feel like a clown but I use the particular line to gauge my "true size."

2) Taking measurements helps - there are 3 reasons that I've been "stuck" at 210-200 since Thanksgiving. 1. there has been some diet deviation. 2. I had an injury which sidelined me exercise wise and required me to go off my diet (dr said so for recovery reasons, needed carbs) 3. My body decided to re-shape itself in the meantime - it's like it said, "while we're on this plateau, let's be meaner and leaner." My measurements changed drastically. I have had to buy new bras (smaller), new pants, my shoes even fit loose (my injury was a foot burn so I did not wear shoes for 6 weeks, and slowly going back to my shoes, they are all "too big" now). That's a huge change EVEN THOUGH the scale says I've only lost 7 pounds over the past 3 months.

In direct response to your post, I think that most people have a lull the 3rd week into a diet. It's like your body starts to freak out thinking "woah, we're having a famine here! what will we do!" and it goes into panic mode. It seems that if you keep on track, your body eventually gives up and then you start losing again--but that's where the determination is required on your part.

Good thread, some good thoughts/comments.

Only comment I'll add is that I think there is some value in preparing for a 0 or a gain before it happens. I've really been focusing on this recently. I know looking at the pattern I've had for the last several months that I will hit a 0 some week. Could be on an hour when I go do my weekly official weigh-in.

I agree it's hard to think about all that hard work not providing "results". But I've really been preparing myself to think about it differently. 0 or + weeks are going to happen sooner or later. We are making our bodies undergo significant change that was often years in the making. So I'm trying to think of it as something that is just going to happen so might as well get it out of the way.

We'll see if that strategy works when it happens;)

I'm right there with ya - stepped on the scale this morning feeling great, and got stuck with a big fat nothing loss. I'm not letting it get me down - I'm just looking at it as a challenge to keep really, really focused this week. Here's hoping I can do it.

Like others have said, in the past when I tried losing weight and saw no loss whatsoever or perhaps even a gain, I'd get really frustrated and defeated and go off track for a few days/weeks/months or just give up entirely. This time around I'm prepared for seeing that on the scale. When it happens, sure I'll be frustrated but I know now that this is a marathon and not just a race.

Great job on the loss so far, btw! Keep going, you can't turn back now!

I am so happy to have just read this thread. I had the exact same problem on my WI day (Monday). I was actually UP 1.5 lbs! I had zero cheating over the week...I count every calorie and exercise religiously. The one thing I could think of was that I had more carbs than usual on Sunday...but then again, I was very safely in my calorie range. I just wanted to throw the darn scale at the mirror. I weighed in again yesterday and saw a 1.5 lb loss...and this morning, was up .5 again (after 2 days of veggies, veggies and more veggies and lean proteins!). It's enough to make me go mad!!! Reading the responses in this forum made me feel so much better. We have to just hang in there.

I have a reply in this thread somewhere saying I was plateau for a week and a half now. Well today I weigh myself and I'm down 2lbs :D That's along with minor loss with my measurements too. I'm actually almost down 3lbs because it was 228.8.

All I did was stick to my usual exercise but used a new machine, ate a bit less calories on my zig-zag days, and drank a ton of water.

I look at it this way, even if I don't always see the changes on the scale the changes are happening on the inside with the healthy eating and exercising. It's a long process but hang in there!

A zero loss isn't demotivating unless you expect a loss every week. It's a bit like saying "how do I stay motivated to go to work, if I don't get a paycheck every friday?"

Some jobs do pay every friday and the same amount every week. Other jobs pay more variably and/or on a different schedule. You might get paid every two weeks, or every month. You might get pretty much the same "salary" every week, or it might vary quite a bit. If you work for yourself, when and how much you get paid may vary a lot more.

Weight loss is a lot like owning your own business, and working for yourself. Ideally, the harder you work, the better and more reliably you get paid (and it usually works out that way - at least for the weight loss), but there are still might be slow weeks, or even weeks you don't get paid. You stay motivated by understanding that, and having confidence that your efforts will be rewarded in the long run.

It's taken me more than a couple years to lose my 80 lbs, the slowest I have ever lost weight (a lot of reasons behind it, many of my own choosing). I'm not working very hard (and that's ok with me), and I stay motivated by not seeing a no loss week (or month) as a tragedy. The main difference between this successful attempt (more weight than I've ever lost, and the longest I've ever gone without regaining) is my choosing not to be traumatized by stalls and slow progress.

It's mostly a matter of perspective, how you choose to look at it. Is a zero loss proof that you're a failure and that there's no use continuing - or is it just part of the normal course of weight loss. What you choose to believe has a huge impact on what you choose to do, make both kinds of choices count.

Hey I know the feeling.I tell myself as long as I keep at the weight will come off.Its hard because I still have a good amount 2 lose.