Discouraged =(

NenaM812

I'm soooo discouraged :mad: . I know I'm not supposed to expect immediate results, but losing at least one pound would be nice! I've been at this for two weeks. Worked out at least 3-4 times both weeks, loged every single thing that I eat, and stayed under my calories every day for the exception of one cheat day. Is that one cheat day the one day that's bringing me down?? I've lost 0 lbs! Not a single one. One day I woke up and saw that I lost 4 lbs...but those came back within a matter of hours. Monday I weighed myself and I somehow went up 6 lbs! Now I'm back down to my starting weight. What's going on!

I know it's only been two weeks, but shouldn't I see *some* kind of improvement or something??? With all this work I'm doing just to stay at my current weight, I feel like I may as well not be doing anything at all!

Am I expecting too much?

foxxybrown

The cheat day could have done it especially if it was power packed with sodium.

iluvmine

oh man the story of my life, i know exactly how you feel and its driving me crazy. maybe you should elimate your cheat day for a week, and see how that goes. good luck.

aunt_hbomb

Do yourself a favor and only weigh in once a week (twice at the most). The scale is evil and can fluctuate greatly from day to day regardless of exercise and caloric input. Be sure to drink lots of water throughout the day and during your workout.

maleva720

Might be due to staying under your calories...your body could be in starvation mode and holding onto the weight....try to eat the recommended amount, especially if your exercising. Good luck!

vim_n_vigor

Without being able to see your diary, or anything about your size, it is hard to comment here. Have you tried tracking your measurements instead of weight? I see much more progress there.

ltf304

For some people it takes a while to see results. Think of it this way.....it didn't take 2 weeks to put on the weight, then no one should expect the weight to come off in 2 weeks. Also, your weight can fluctuate throughout the day, up to 4 pounds of more at at time. Always weigh in the morning after you went to the bathroom. I usually weigh once a week and thats it. Drink tons of water to flush out any extra salt that is in your diet because salt can cause water weight gain. My advice is to be consistent, eat clean, and ramp up your workouts. Hope this helps!

Julesfame

Are you eating healthy? Are you drinking your water and eating back your workout calories? I try to drink a lot of water and eat back at least half my workout calories. Eat lean protein and lots of fruit and veggies. Keep your sodium to a minimum. Keep at it. You are right, weight loss won't happen all at once. Remember, you didn't gain all the weight all at once. Good luck.

chelzmartinez

Don't give up! I started out the same way and it took about 3.5 weeks to actually see something move on the scale. It took that long to see the scale move down 3 pounds. I work out 6 days a week and I also have cheat days as well but I get back on the horse the next day. Too many people get discouraged too soon. Don't give up yet, keep on keepin' on and you'll be losing in no time. I'm down 30 pounds, if I can do it, so can you! :-)

Good luck!

kerriknox

Go get your body fat tested. I bet you have lost body fat but maybe gained a bit of muscle.

therealangd

If you are exercising and staying within your calorie limits then you are not, not making a difference. There could be lots of reasons why you are not seeing a difference in weight. Sodium, TOM, An unusually excessive workout will make your muscles retain water while they repair themselves. Did you take measurements? If not, you should.

fteale

I think it takes more than 2 weeks for some people. It did for me. It is discouraging when you see people dropping 8lbs in the first week, but it probably just means you didn't have water retention when you started. The first few weeks are just water weight.

melliebee

I have been at this for two months now and have only seen fluctuations in my weight. Two weeks isn't enough time for your body to realize that you are making changes!! You can't let yourself be discouraged by lack of weight loss. It could take months like me!

01elizabeth59

Also they say don't eat salad on a day you weigh. Don't get me wrong, eating salad is very, very good but it makes you retain water. Stick with it! One day soon, you'll weigh and the results will be amazing!!

TS65

Can you make your diary public so we can see what you're doing. Without seeing how you're eating, it's really hard to make any sort of guess.

Lula16

I'm soooo discouraged :mad: . I know I'm not supposed to expect immediate results, but losing at least one pound would be nice! I've been at this for two weeks. Worked out at least 3-4 times both weeks, loged every single thing that I eat, and stayed under my calories every day for the exception of one cheat day. Is that one cheat day the one day that's bringing me down?? I've lost 0 lbs! Not a single one. One day I woke up and saw that I lost 4 lbs...but those came back within a matter of hours. Monday I weighed myself and I somehow went up 6 lbs! Now I'm back down to my starting weight. What's going on!

I know it's only been two weeks, but shouldn't I see *some* kind of improvement or something??? With all this work I'm doing just to stay at my current weight, I feel like I may as well not be doing anything at all!

Am I expecting too much?

you need to have PLENTY of patience!! dont lose the motivation. If your doing everything right, the weight will come off. The EXACT same thing happened to me when i started. I lost 4 lbs right away, then i gained 2, then 1 and then i was right back where i started. After 3 wks, i lost the 4 lbs and my weight stayed there for 6 wks! i worked out 5X wk, ate salads, plenty of fish, chicken, i cut out sodas completely and fast food. Finally after 6 wks, i spent the weekend out of town and enjoyed not logging in everything i ate. I considered it a free well deserved weekend and ate everything and anything i wanted. When i came back home and weighed in, i lost 1 lb!! and i have been losing regulary ever since, last wk i lost 2 lbs!! What im trying to say is dont deprive your body. you can eat anything just do it in moderation! good luck!

WowieGarcia

Every body is different, so I wouldn't worry about it. As long as you keep up with the exercise and portion control, you'll lose weight.
I personally did not weigh myself till 4 weeks after I started MFP. It was a nice surprise to see 9 lbs lost. I don't know if I lost any weight the 1st two weeks, but it doesn't really matter. What matters is that it works, and your hard work will pay off. Don't be discouraged.

ajostraat

I'm a big fan of measuring progress through inches vs. pounds. Take your hip & waist measurements, if you're so inclined, bust, thighs and bicep too. Get a friend to do it for you for the most accurate measurements.

I agree with other statements here - quit weighing yoursel fall the time! Your weight WILL fluctuate during the day. Also, drink PLENTY of water! My guage of "plenty" is half my weight in ounces of water should be consumed. So, at 190, I should be drinking 95 oz of water, or almost 12 glasses a day. If you're trying to lose weight you need to help your body "flush" it all out and stay hydrated.

Keep on keeping on! You can do it!

beckyinma

What kind of exercising are you doing? Even after two weeks, if you're doing cardio and weight, your pounds might be shedding from fat, but building lean muscle which is denser than fat. Concentrate on cardio for a couple weeks, then you might start to see results.. and DO be patient, it doesn't happen over night although we all wish it would. You should try to eat back some if not all of your exercise calories as well, to keep your body from going into starvation.

I know how discouraging it is, but not getting on the scale every day is an important part.. with our female bodies especially, since we can fluctuate day to day with hormones, water retention etc. lots of water.. scale every day=bad

If your aunt flo is on her way in the next week, try and lower your sodium intake, so you don't retain water, but don't cut back on water.

try2basunbeam

I would make sure you are drinking plenty--I mean PLENTY--of water. If you exercise and don't drink enough water, your body will hold onto water. Not saying that you don't drink enough water, because I don't know if you do or don't, but for me, I was NOT drinking nearly enough water...

sabrinag6005

trust me I feel you... we all deal with this. a few thoughts I have on this number one your weight can shift from day to day depending on if your holding onto water. I personally just as a rule do not weigh in more than once a month because it is sooo discouraging. At times the scale even goes up. HOWEVER I do take measurements and I'd recommend you do the same. Scales can be decieving but your measurements are not. So I'd start guaging your success more by your measurements and clothes vs the scale. The other thing is when your working out are you getting your heart rate up? Are you sweating? this makes a big difference in whether or not your working hard enough. Also how is your water consumption, and also are you eating enough, you don't want your metabolism to go backward or get even slower from not eating enough. You want your body to be a furnace/fire that needs to be stoked every few hours w something. I personally don't worry too much about a cheat day as long as your staying w/in the calore limits, you still have to live and if it gets too hard most ppl just give up. That is the worst thing to do. Hang in there it will happen just decide what is more important a number on a scale or how you look and feel? I work out 5-6days a week and track my calories, etc. and I've not lost hardly any weight on the scale, but I've lost 8.5 inches off my waist (mostly zumba) and 2.5inches from my arms, and hips... But I have better muscle tone, my clotes feel better, im more confident. But my trainor told me ignore the scale it can be your worst enemy. Also r u getting enough sleep? how old are you, hormones can play a factor too... hope this helps... good luck!!!

NenaM812

I cannot thank all of you enough! Each and every one of you all make so much sense!

I think my major issue (aside from being impatient! ) is I might be taking in too much sodium. Because I work a busy 8-5 I don't have much time to eat things that are fresh, so I eat a lot of Smart Ones, Lean Cuisines, and canned or frozen veggies, and usually don't eat too much fruit unless it's dried. The canned/frozen veggies are mostly because Fiance hates veggies and never eats them, so if I buy fresh, a lot of it goes bad! I buy groceries two weeks at a time, so I need stuff to last. For dinner, I make things from recipes from weight watchers sites and make sure to have one serving. I'm not drinking nearly as much water throughout the day as I should though. I definitely think I'm going to have to revamp my grocery list for my next shopping trip!

Thank you all so much! I can't wait to get home and get back on that wretched treadmill!

MinnieInMaine

Frozen veggies should be ok - unless you're talking about the ones that are in sauce, then there might be a problem.

Usually if you're eating fairly healthy, if sodium's not the issue, it might be sugar or carbs. Be careful of any diet products, they're a bit tricky. Sure, it's low fat but then it's high in sugar or sodium and vice versa.

Good luck!

Mtsidad

It's about getting HEALTHY, not about losing weight. I know, that sounds like "but I came here to lose weight!"

It's a process. From what I read from nutritionists, if you've been on a very unhealthy diet for a while, your body can adjust to that abuse, slow down your metabolism, and wait for the binge so it can pack on the fat.

What you're trying to do now is to build a better life by modifying and improving your food intake to be healthier over all. As many will tell you, smaller meals and more of them will keep the food and energy flowing and your metabolism will shift from starvation to "normal." (I'm of course just speculating that this is what's happening, but it sounds like it to me. I'm not a doctor, so don't take this all as gospel.)

It is *great* when your body responds to more exercise and more water and less food and less sodium by dropping weight. THAT WILL COME. If you get your metabolism up and running and you eat less than you need daily, YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT.

It is not magic, and doesn't require a quest. It's rather boring and ordinary. Increase your metabolism, increase your water intake, lower your caloric intake, adjust what you eat from high-fat and high-salt to high-fiber and balanced carbs, proteins, and fats, and you WILL lose weight.

Now, if you continue on your hard work another few weeks and still no pounds lost - see a doctor or nutritionist, because there may be something else underlying the problem. I do know of one person who due to thyroid conditions could not lose weight even though she ate maybe 500-700 calories a day and did not appear to be starving at all. She has not gotten that condition treated and is not changing. So don't let something like that go.

You're doing this to get healthy and feel better. The weight loss, WHICH WILL HAPPEN, is a plus, but don't get discouraged by plateaus and zig-zags. They just happen because your body, while a metabolic machine, doesn't always do what you want every single day.

Good luck, and keep on keeping on.

EDITED: And as some others have pointed out - I'd stay away from "diet" foods. Really, you should (oh, I sound like my mother here) be eating as much as possible that as close to fresh as possible. I don't preach on the evils of preservatives and canning because it makes it so food is cheap and easy to get. But eating fresh means you have less of those preservatives and salt, and you might begin to see some progress.

Lula16

I cannot thank all of you enough! Each and every one of you all make so much sense!

I think my major issue (aside from being impatient! ) is I might be taking in too much sodium. Because I work a busy 8-5 I don't have much time to eat things that are fresh, so I eat a lot of Smart Ones, Lean Cuisines, and canned or frozen veggies, and usually don't eat too much fruit unless it's dried. The canned/frozen veggies are mostly because Fiance hates veggies and never eats them, so if I buy fresh, a lot of it goes bad! I buy groceries two weeks at a time, so I need stuff to last. For dinner, I make things from recipes from weight watchers sites and make sure to have one serving. I'm not drinking nearly as much water throughout the day as I should though. I definitely think I'm going to have to revamp my grocery list for my next shopping trip!

Thank you all so much! I can't wait to get home and get back on that wretched treadmill!

at work, buy you some protein bars. those are healthy snacks, they fill you up! i eat one everyday at exaclty 3pm and that holds me until i get home and make dinner. i buy the Cliff Energy mini bars. for breakfast, i eat whole wheat toast and 1/2 tspn reduced fat peanut butter.

Angela_MA

I'm a big fan of measuring progress through inches vs. pounds. Take your hip & waist measurements, if you're so inclined, bust, thighs and bicep too. Get a friend to do it for you for the most accurate measurements.

I am in complete agreement with this statement!!! I have lost a ton of inches but not a lot of pounds since using this site. Measure yourself and try not to weigh yourself so often. As many of the other posts have stated a persons weight flucuates trough out the week, thus leading to discouragement! I found that I need to put my scale up and away from sight. I am going to start weighing myself every other week and doing measurements once a month. I do not want to be a slave to a number. My goal is to be fit and healthy; change my lifestyle...the scale should change as well, but I just do not want that to be the soul motivation for me!

NenaM812

I might try those. I need something to munch on at work that will keep in my desk. I usually have lower sugar or weight control oatmeal in the morning with coffee (it's best for everyone that I have my coffee lol), for lunch a LC or Smart Ones, and for dinner something with chicken, lean beef, or lean ground turkey. It's tough to not eat junk at work, all everyone wants to do around here is eat!

I've also been thinking about taking my measurements, but I'm not exactly sure where I'm supposed to measure.

r0bin84

I started dieting in December (I should say made a life change), One week I'll lose 5lbs, another week I'll lose nothing and feel down. I feel better in general about myself, and although the scale may not change every week, I can feel my jeans starting to slip down. I agree with inches over pounds, and feeling healthier all around.