[Fran M]

Geez,
i can't believe i am saying this after the out pour i received on my last post but this is the case. i didn't go to my meeting because when I stepped on my scale before I weighed in (which is how I determine how I did for the week) I stayed the same or gained some ounces.. something like that. i am so out of it. I know i should have gone to my meeting but I am struggling with failure. It is so hard to continue on program when you do everything right and you don't get results. It is like studying for a test and putting in your all but getting back a 50%. This is how I feel. i tried everyone's suggestions. I exercise 4-5x a week for 30-40 min so I ate toward the higher range of my points. Nothing!! I feel like screaming. I will remain as strong as I can but I feel like I am slipping. I can not go back to the old me. How do you break this?
Fran

[WeighToGo]

Fran- I know this must be incredibly frustrating. If you have really tried "everything", I'm not sure what advice I can give. Showing your journal to your leader, weighing and measuring everything, changing how you spend your points, drink your water, etc. I can tell you what worked for me. When I joined the last time, I decided that I really want to focus on the program and not get so hung up on what the scale said from week to week. I knew that this was a healthier way of living and eating than I had been involved with. I determined that I was going to eat like this the rest of my life because it was the healthy thing to do. Since I was committed to the rest of my life, I didn't really care how quickly the weight came off. I asked the receptionists not to write my weight in my book or make any comment about my weight loss/gain for about the first six weeks on program. After that, I just paid attention to the weight about once a month. I was looking at the big picture. What are you going to weigh a year from now? That is the important number, not what the scale shows on any particular week.

P.S.-I lost 60 lbs over a 60 week time frame and became a leader. Taking control of my eating was the best thing I've ever done for myself. Good luck to you.

[Scuttle]

I can totally sympathize with you! I used to weigh daily, and it was driving me nuts. I'd eat well for a few days, but see my weight go up by a pound. And then I'd think, what's the point? So I'd eat poorly for a day or two. Then I'd kick myself and go back to eating well, and... well, it was awful. I was measuring my success by the scale, not how well I felt, or how nutritiously I was eating.

Anyway, I kinda follow WW still, but not really. The point ranges just don't work for me, they're too low. But I still convert foods to points, mentally, just to get an idea of things -- I guess mostly I count calories, but sometimes points, too. It's just my range is a lot higher than the books say it should be.

But that's sort of besides the point. The thing I'm trying now to help me is weighing just once a month. I'm not sure how one could do this while attending meetings, though, if they'd record the weight in your book and not tell you. And then you'd have to have enough willpower not to peek.

Anyway, this is the first time I've tried it, and today is the day I'll weigh myself. I bet I'm a few pounds down for last month. I'm not trying to lose fast, and I'm not even trying to lose right now, per se (though I'm definitely still about 40 pounds over what I should weigh). I'm concentrating on eating healthy and exercising. And I've found that, for me at least, by not looking at the scale so often I don't get discouraged by doing the right thing and not losing weight. It all evens out over the course of a month.

At first it was hard not to weigh. I guess I'm so used to it, or else I worry that without weighing my weight's going to skyrocket into the atmosphere without me catching it. But, realistically, this won't happen over the course of one month, and even if it did, the fit of my clothing should be guide enough.

Oh, and it helped putting the scale up on the top shelf of the closet.

[tryin']

I am new, so this is an amateur's comments, but I find that sometimes when I plateau the scale isn't showing me anything, but my body is catching up to the numbers. It is then that people start asking if I have lost weight, and my clothes start to be looser. The weight will start to come off again in numbers if you keep at it, but I now welcome plateaus!

[REC]

I don't have many suggestions to add to the above great posts, but wanted to give you my support.

You know that it can sometimes take months to lose those last 10 pounds as your body is catching up to what you're doing, so that means that some weeks you will stay the same (a few oz to me is staying the same). Plateaus are OK becuase you aren't gaining! When I thought I was losing it (I think I gained back about 8 pounds), I changed my goal from losing weight to just staying the same. Once I was able to stop gaining and started staying the same, I readjusted to lose again. Even at pleateau, you are still soooooo much better today than when you started!

If you are truely doing everything right, then keep it up because it will work in the long run.

Please read Frankie35's thread about going to meetings. Missing meetings can be disastrous.

I understand your analogy about tests, but let me improvise. You're having a mid term test. You study a day, really hard. You probably will only get a C. You study 3 days--you get a B. You study 7 days--you get an A+. If you keep on your WW plan for this week, you may stay the same. If you keep on it for many week, ah, then you'll see the difference.

You CAN do it.

[Fran M]

I woke up this morning after a night of eating poorly and feeling sorr for myself, and gained perspective through a pair of pants. I tried on my pants that would never look like they do if I hadn't lost the weight I have and I said to myself "Do you like the way these fit?"
Through all your support how could i throw in the towel. i hate that f***@*n scale but I refuse to give in to it. I think what I am going to do is get rid of my scale at home and just get weighed in at WW. I can't miss my meetings because then I wind up feeling sorry for myself.
Thank you all for your support. I will take what you have all said to heart and focus on a beeter week.

Fran

[BigFatBooty]

Fran M

I keep on coming back to this post, but don't have anything really profound to say except, keep at it no matter how tough it gets, and ditch the home scale. I weigh in once a week at WW and that is it. My only other bit of advice is, when you feel like you want to skip a meeting, that's the time you really should be going. Take it from one who in a former life skipped meetings because I didn't want to face up to the truth. This is my third (and final) time (getting to be my mantra) of joinning WW. Each time I have rejoined it has been at a higher weight because I skipped a meeting (or two or three, which stretched into six months).

Keep it up, even when you don't want to.

[quilting lady]

Fran,
From other post that I have read, it seems that the body needs to regulate itself now and then. One way to "tweek" your metobolism is to eat at your low point range and the next day eat at your high point range. I did this for two weeks when I struggled with a platue and it worked.

But what I most wanted to say was, why would you want to go back to unhealthy eating habits? You have probably felt better than you have in years and it is NOT all from losing the weight. You have not been poisening yourself with high fat - low fiber garbage, that lacks any nutional value whatsoever. What would make you want to "slip" and eat that crap?

Weight Watchers teaches a way towards a new life style that the results are weight loss! Don't go OP because you are not seeing results at this moment. You will. Trust me.

Just remember:

[ajpack]

I know exactly how you feel. I've been doing really well for 5 weeks and have only lost 2.5 pounds. My point range is 22-27. I stayed at 25 points and then my leader said to use the 27 points. It's down a pound and then up a pound. It's very frustrating. I feel so much better physically, but it gets depressing when you hear about everyone's 2 to 3 pound loss that week. Just hang in there. The weight will eventually come off.

[Megan1]

Hello-

My advice (what it's worth) is to definitely get rid of the home scale. If it is an emotional defeat every time that you step on, get it out of your house. It sounds like the scale is preventing you from thinking long-term about the program because you are weighing yourself too often.

You can do it!! Stay strong!

Megan
162.2/151.5/142

[Lauren H]

Fran, I hear you. I haven't lost an ounce since March 1. I've been OP, at the high end of my range (and eating some but not all of my exercise points). I've been exercising three times a week, and lately I've bumped that up to four and five times a week. Not one ounce have I lost.

BUT -- here's the good news -- during that same time period, I lost an inch off my waist, almost an inch off my abdomen (my two biggest problem areas), and a half inch off my upper arms and neck. My clothes fit better. People are commenting on my weight loss. (Finally!) And I have way more energy and stamina.

Have you been taking your measurements once a month? Are your clothes fitting better? Do you feel stronger, healthier? Are you in control?

We get so hung up on those metal monsters, and they're so pointless! Imagine if you had the opportunity to be a healthy, fit size 8 with one little catch -- you'd weigh 300 pounds. Would you do it? We put so much importance on something that's no more than a number. Personally, I believe WW encourages that by only recognizing success via the scales.

You're doing great, and your body is thanking you. Let's keep at this; we'll get there.

--Lauren

[LM]

Fran,

I can't really add anything because everyone has said what I wanted to say. So I will just add my wholehearted agreement to everything you've read so far.

Dump the damn scale! Haven't the WW scale and the home scale every disagreed? Mine do. And so what if you stay the same? You are heading in the right direction even if you're staying the same. Your body is adjusting to its new weight. Then if you continue OP (and carefully re-examine your portion sizes/assumptions about points etc.) all of a sudden the plateau will break. It really will.

What frustrated me during the last 6 months that it took to lose 10 pounds was paying every week for what seemed like non-weight loss. But my dear husband kept saying, "Oh try for another 6 weeks and see what happens." By then another small step down would have occurred. Little by little, it happened. And it will happen for you too. I'm sure of it!

So much for not having anything to add!

Good luck continuing on. You are worth it! You are worth the effort, the meeting fees, the attention to yourself, etc. etc. etc.

= Laurel

[LM]

Fran,

how far are you from goal? I mean the top of the weight range for your height? You might want to consider a doctor's note saying your current weight is okay and call that your goal. Wouldn't that be preferrable to beating yourself up and missing meetings (which carries with it the real risk of gaining back the weight)?

[LUVSUMMER]

Fran,

I know how you feel! I have been a member of WW since June 2000, and have lost 26 pounds. I have 3 pounds left to lose to get to my goal of 140. (I'm 5'8".) I have been struggling to lose the last 5 pounds since January, and still have 3 of those to go. I just keep telling myself that I've come this far, so I can't give up now! But I admit that it has been very frustrating!! Just keep trying - - - it will pay off!

[shelbel]

Fran-I know exactly how you feel. I have been with WW since Oct 1, 2000 and I have only lost 15 pounds. I too, do everything right and I still can't seem to lose weight. I have appreciated all the tips from this web site on how to break a plateau, but nothing seems to help. Every time I get within 1 pound of reaching my 10% goal I have a week where I gain weight. I have tried eating at the high end of my points, at the low end of my points and in the middle. I exercise every day and drink all my water. Yesterday, when I went to WW I had gained .8 lb, and I was so discouraged, I didn't even stay for the meeting. My husband is beginning to dread Sunday because I am so discouraged after weigh-in. I'm glad I am not the only one who is struggling. Whenever I go to WW, I see all these people who started the same time I did and the weight is dropping off them like crazy......it's not fair. Anyway, thanks for letting me vent....I too want to scream, but instead, I think I'll get out my journal and log another days worth of points. I will NOT give up.