How likely is it for weight loss to stall on the 2nd week? Last week I lost 4 lbs. This week I have been doing everything I did last week, eating healthy and exercising...here it is wednesday and not one more pound has dropped.
I know how you feel. The 4th day of my diet I stalled! And my body is still fighting me. I have to restrict myself to absolutely no carbs to lose a pound. It is very frustrating when you set out to lose weight and as soon as you start, your body stops. If you NEED to see some movement on the scale, sometimes you gotta get creative.
I really, really, REALLY urge you to focus on the behaviors. Nail down your plan. Find wonderful foods to eat. Get strategies and coping mechanisms in place. Work on making the best choices. Get used to counting calories, or whatever method you are using to track your food intake. Get used to ALWAYS being mindful of what you eat. Get used to packing foods with you, on planning ahead, on being prepared, on having a well stocked home, on saying no to certain foods. Work on incorporating exercise and activity into your life. Become accustomed to this new healthy lifestyle. Focus, focus, FOCUS on these new behaviors. Let this become automatic and habitual for you. Focus on those behaviors and the scale WILL follow - in whatever time frame.
Because the truth is, you can do the same exact thing food wise and exercise wise 6 weeks in a row and get 6 completely different results. You absolutely CAN'T let it get to you. It would drive you batty.
Just know that as long as you stick with this, no stopping, just continuing, you can and WILL lose those excess pounds.
Keep at it. Just keep up the great work and you most definitely WILL be rewarded. In more ways that you can possibly imagine.
I'm having the same problem. (Sorry if it's bad etiquette to post this here. I wasn't sure if I should start another thread with the same topic)
I'm going a little crazy. I don't understand what's wrong! I've been counting calories for almost 3 weeks. The first week I had 800 a day and lost 11 pounds. I expected this since most of it was likely water weight.
Then I decided that 800 was not a smart number, so I picked it up to 1100-1200, and my weight has been bouncing around the same general point for the last week and a half. It's making me insane. I went off-plan ONCE, and I hit 1400 that day.
At my weight, I feel like I should be having much better results. It's so, so discouraging to be basically plateauing this early in the game.
Paradise - How did you arrive at the number of calories you're currently eating? Did you figure out how many you need to maintain your weight, and then subtract some? The numbers shouldn't just be random, because they vary according to your height and weight, right? I don't think (and I know someone will correct me if I'm wrong, thankfully) that it's okay to go below 1200 a day, because it'll really throw off your body. Maybe you need to try to count calories - really count them, write everything down - for a week, and try to stay around 1200 or 1300. If you starve your body (you may not think it's starving but your body could have a different opinion) it'll start storing energy. I imagine you already know all this. First make sure you're eating good stuff, and be honest with yourself about it, and then make sure you're eating enough of it. There are lots of tweaks that can be made to either diet or exercise, to kickstart your weight loss again. You might just need to play around with some factors to figure out what works.
A few goal calculators told me I need 1400/day until next May (going to be a bridesmaid) to reach my goal weight. So I shaved a couple hundred off that for safety.
With the exception of the day before yesterday, I'm keeping very strict record of everything I eat. I'm measuring and counting EVERYTHING. I just don't get it
The only things I can think of:
~Not eating my meals spread out enough (I have been eating about twice a day, so I go through 12-16 hour periods without eating and then get 500-600 calories each in those 2 meals)
~Not getting enough water (I get a good amount I think but I seem to be retaining it. Not peeing a whole lot)
It's just really frustrating because I don't have a problem with the low calories. I'm sticking perfectly below 1200, and it's just NOT coming off. It ruins my whole day to get on the scale the morning after I ate hardly anything and see that I've gained a pound.
Now...just a thought. Calorie calculators, good ones, often come up with the correct number. If you "shave numbers off", you're messin' with the system. That's why I wonder if you are eating enough. You might be! I don't know. But it's a thought.
I would be so, so hungry if I went 12 hours without eating. I think if you are in the habit of doing this, it's easy to continue, but you might want to think about trying to incorporate some snacks, just to rev up your metablism.
If you aren't peeing a lot, you need more water. I know everyone says your body will adjust - mine has yet to - but if you are drinking lots of water, you should be hitting the ladies' room a lot, and your pee should be the colour of light straw. Not clear (too much water in that case) but not dark at all.
If you are "hardly eating" anything, that's a problem. I am not trying to trick you into gaining weight. You really need to eat to lose. Eat the right things, and eat enough of them, and track it, and the weight should shift. I'm not saying you need to eat 1600 calories, but maybe go along with the number you found that would help you lose about a pound a week.
I would keep on keepin' on. It's WAY TOO SOON to start changing things up.
The first week of any reduced calorie plan almost always comes with a reduced food volume and reduced sodium. Your weight is lean body mass, fat, water, and waste (stored food in your intestines and excess water). The first week, it's super common to lose a lot of weight. You are losing that extra food volume and water most likely. And then, maybe a lb or two from your calorie restriction.
The next week, you don't get the big woosh because you have already reduced your waste volume in your body. You are seeing more the actual weight variations that come with the reduced calorie plan. Your weight will fluctuate with new exercises (beginners often store water for sore muscles) and just natural waste volume changes (on a less dramatic scale).
If you continue your plan for 2 or 3 weeks and see nothing, then it might be time to change things up. Typical fat loss occurs at no faster than 2lbs/week.
(People see this in reverse often as well - I had a "cheat" meal and OMG I "gained" 5lbs! No, you are just carrying that extra food/water volume from the meal and maybe .5lb of extra fat weight.)
Weightloss Stalled In The 2nd Week
Sometimes it takes a little while for the scale to catch up to your efforts. Try not to get discouraged...
