Discouraged

[Onemomof2]

This weekend marks my fourth week. I haven't cheated one time and was so proud of myself. I weigh everything I eat. And this last week I haven't lost 1 pound. I don't get it. The first 3 weeks I lost 5 pounds each week. This week not even 1, I am heart broken.

[PhyllisRis]

Do NOT give up the ship! We ALL go through these plateau periods. It doesn't mean that there's something wrong....it means that your body has shifted to losing inches right now instead of mass....do not fret....the scale will begin to move really soon! Patience, my friend, patience!
You've already lost about half your weight and the rest will come off, too. If you think about it, when we're at our largest weight and eating about 800 calories each day that's a very small amount of food for that weight. As we lose weight and still eat the same amount of calories it's not quite the same difference....those calories are now better meeting the demands of our skinnier bodies and our body doesn't work so hard on those calories. Does that make sense??? Plus, when we're large our bodies burn more calories just to move us around!! When I was twice the size I am now, just walking up and down our stairway probably used up most of my daily 1PD caloric intake!!! LOL
It is soooo wonderful how much more energy I have now that I'm not lugging that extra person around on my back!!!!
Phyllis

[jporter513]

I know you are discouraged, but keep going. Your still doing the right thing for you body, and it will come off. Sometimes weight falls off in chunks. So you'll wake up one day soon and the weight will be down.

[sara7]

I think maybe this is why we aren't encouraged to weigh ourselves every week- because you could just be holding a little extra water weight right now, it could be hormonal, tomorrow might be a totally different story on the scale. But now you are disheartened, and it would be such a shame for that to impact your incredible work!

Keep going, and maybe ignore the scale for a while?

You're doing GREAT! You're an INSPIRATION!!!!

[Aqua Eyes]

When my mother started out on this program, she experienced the same thing in her first month. I had to keep telling her to stay 100% and to not get discouraged because even though the weight is not shifting on the scale, your body is losing inches that you don't see right now. She found that to be true. She had lost inches. She stayed true to the diet and the weight started to shed even quicker! Sometimes it is water weight that keeps us from seeing the weight move down on the scales.

Try a week of eating asparagus at least a couple times. Asparagus is a natural diauretic. Apples are suppose to also help. Make sure you aren't salting anything too much or at all. Are the crackers you are eating salted? Drink more than the required 2 liters of water. Look to see if there is any starch of any kind in the cheese or supplements you might be taking. Having mostly fish and chicken and staying away from cheese for a week seems to help me. Try these for just a week and I bet you will see some results.

[Dayanira]

I agree with all of the above. Your body is getting "compacted". Don't worry! It'll pass. If this little hiccup has made you feel discouraged, then it's better to stop weighing yourself every week.

Keep going!

[Onemomof2]

OK, OK - I get it.... I have not faltered, I'm still here.... just impatient I guess. All this fat didn't happen overnight I know I shouldn't expect it to just leave when I want it to. Thank you to everyone!! I truly appreciate the encouragement. God bless all of you!

[L-cat]

I am also so discouraged and ready to eat whatever... I am now having more trouble to stay on track then I did the first month. I also don’t think I have lost much weight these last three weeks, which in itself is discouraging. My blood test results were satisfactory but ... I guess I will try to hang in there!:weights2:

[sara7]

L-cat---

You can do it!!!! It sounds like you're bummed out, but have you weighed yourself?? I'm sure you are losing!!!!

Stay strong, this is going to be a rocky ride, but well worth it!!!

[Dayanira]

L-cat,
Don't you ever go there...
I am now having more trouble to stay on track then I did the first month. I know it's hard, but try all the tricks given by others in this forum: Drink your water, if you can drink 1 extra litre; chew sugar free gum, eat your fruit, your crackers, have heaps of tea, drink diet sodas and read all the threads in this forum.

If you haven't lost any weight, you are most likely "shrinking" in other ways. If the scales haven't moved, get your measuring tape and measure yourself or try some of your old clothes.

Don't give up! Give yourself a chance!

Dayanira

[L-cat]

I’m afraid I caved in at diner yesterday-Sunday. I figured that I might as well get it out of my system. Today I have been doing fine. If it takes me another 12/24 weeks so be it. I just don’t want to quit. Thanks for your posts, they are an inspiration. I bought some rice crackers and I think I had too many (miscalculated). And as we all should know the more carb we eat the more we crave it.
Dayanira, I am going to try very hard to stay on track. As for clothes I have so many different sizes and was away from work when I started this, and changed to summer clothes from last year which I can’t even remember if they were super tight or not. I have a Capri pant suit that I am pretty sure was tight and now it’s loose, the pants anyways. I have tried a pair of pants from the other diet and no way can I fit it, yet.
Sara, you talk like you’ve been through this before. I tend to be impatient and I really don’t like cooking. I ate way too much restaurant food and I can’t find a reason to like cooking, but I am trying.
Lastly, I have an issue with my scale – it’s electronic dating back 10 years probably. It changes my weight by as much as 15lbs if I am centered or on the edge. I had never noticed that detail. It doesn’t do that for my son or husband the fluctuation is only about 5lbs, so what’s with that?:sadeyes: We all agreed we should get a new scale. So as far as I know I’m still only 20lbs down – those I confirmed at the doc’s office.
Luce:weights:

[Dayanira]

Hi Luce,
Try not to dwell too much on your deviation. Learn from it! You need to plan when going to a restaurant with others. Eat before hand, take an apple and the crackers with you, while in the restaurant drink diet sodas and water. Planning is very important in this diet. At the beginning it feels that we do a lot of planning, but then we become experts and planning becomes a piece of cake!

And I agree with your family: get a new digital scale!!!