So frustrated i'm in tears!

Shariet0630

Just one tip after looking at your diary, try to avoid the Mountain Dew.

I love Mountain Dew, but it has an ungodly amount of sodium and always makes me gain weight. I have been off it for the month I have been here.

paigemarie93

6lbs in a week will be water weight, I looked at your diary, your goal may be too high for you to lose weight & you're probably not eating the right foods.

cclark1203

I would work on cutingt out the soda (alot of unnecessary sugar) and add more veggies. It seems as if your macros are sort of our of line. I am no expert but I have been told to use the rule of 40% carbs, 30% fats and 30% proteins. Good luck and know that most of us have struggles also. It is just a matter of finding what works for you and your body. If you do change up your diet give it at least 2 weeks to see if you see any changes before you try something else.

pokergal76

bump

Swizzle65

You CAN DO THIS! I would check your portions and see if they are accurate. Also water retention. You must remember that you are not failing- you are just taking the scenic route this week. Hang in there!!!!:happy:

grumpy2day

Keep doing exactly what you are doing. In the meantime take measurements of your arms, waist, hips and thighs. You may not notice a weight change but you may notice a measurement change. Remember muscle ways more than fat and is sleeker and leaner than fat. Even without a weight change just remember you are getting stronger and healthier, and probably more stamina too!

agibson0430

You could possibly change what you're eating, but honestly I'm not seeing much wrong. Your fast food is a bit more than it should be, but at the same time you're just starting out. Let yourself ease into it. Weight loss is calories in, calories out.

Really, truly? Did you look over her diary? The OP is regularly (like, nearly every day) getting 20-25% of her total daily calories from soda. And she admitted that Mt Dew is a huge weakness.

I do agree....baby steps. But I don't think sugar-coating (sorry, probably bad choice of words) things is going to help her.

I know soda is addicting. I drink a diet soda pretty much every.single.day. Working on that as it's nearly my last bad habit in a pretty clean diet and.

Going cold turkey is hard. And you don't need to make yourself miserable striving for perfection. How about setting SMALL weekly goals that you can stick to - also as a way to measure success even if the scale doesn't move much that week.

For example, you could choose 3 things to focus on one week like:

1) cut down to no more than 1 20oz Mt Dew per day (really, this would cut probably 800 calories a week from your current intake)
2) drink at least 8-10 glasses of water per day
3) replace 2-3 restaurant meals with meals at home

Again, not cutting out all the "bad" habits at once, but focusing on small reductions and replacing old behaviors with new. Pick 2-3 things for this week, then next week add another 1-2. Give yourself a month and you will have a whole host of new, good habits that you have built up.

I want for you to succeed and depriving yourself and being miserable will only lead to spiraling back to old habits.

Great advice!

jjavers24

Congratulations on an 8lb weight loss - that is amazing work. Although I get frustrated when the scale doesn't move, I just remind myself that I am 100% sure I'm being accurate in my food diary, I'm doing the workouts, I'm logging EVERYTHING...and then I wait. I wait for the scale to show the results.

It will. The key, in my opinion, is a healthful life and you are well on your way to that. I think patience is a really important part of this process. Best of luck!

pokergal76

I am also a "sodaholic". One way to make ditching soda easier is to eat a lot of natural sugar for a couple of days. (learned this at Diet Center) Natural sugar comes from fruit. For a couple a days eat as much fresh fruit as you want and ditch the soda. You may get a headache from the withdrawal. Drink flavored water, etc in its place. After about 3 days, you will not want the soda. Soda is particularly bad because it spikes your insilun and that in turn causes cravings. Try drinking only water for one week and see what happens. I think you will be amazed!!!

lindalou4850

First of all don't be so hard on yourself. You are doing good. We are not supposed to loose weight quickly. That's how we gain it back. Also I looked at your food diary, try diet Mt Dew instead. I don't like to drink my calories. Also I went for a while without loosing any weight, but I was loosing inches.Don't give up. Loosing weight is a struggle,but well worth it in the end.Feel free to add me as a friend.

nimue139

Do you know that working out will turn your fat into muscle mass, and that muscle mass is heavier than fat? That means that the same amount of weight has less volume.
The amount you are working out has probably just that effect, so even though you have not lost any weight for a week, you probably still got skinnier.
The way you check that, is by measuring your waist, hips, legs and neck at the same intervals as you weigh yourself and compare those too, you might be surprised how well you are doing.
Chin up and keep working.

Tara4boys

I don't lose in a steady 1-2 lbs per weeks. I do however tend to lose an AVERAGE of 1-2 lbs per week.

So in 3 weeks you've lost 13 pounds is that right. That's an average of 4+ lbs/week. I think that is a fantastic average. I think if you told any overweight person in America you had a simple, healthy plan that would allow them to average 4lb/wk weight loss they would sign up right. Keep that rate up (and I'm not saying you will - it will likely slow down) but if you keep at this rate of weight loss that you are saying you are dissatisfied with right now. 4lbs/week = over 200+ in a year.

Please don't be a slave to the scale - it often lags. Look at trends over time. My weightloss graph has always been an ugly thing with spikes and straight lines and them plummeting lines.

rileysowner

You are doing great. I know you would like to lose 6 pounds a week, but really you are better only losing an average of 2 pounds per week at this point. More than that, and you will be losing muscle mass and that will make it easier to put the weight back on later. Thus your weight loss at this point is great.

Second, realize there are a whole bunch of reasons weight loss can stall for a week. If that continues after another week, then there may be a problem.

Third, you stated that you are under your calorie goal. Your calorie goal is just that, a goal to be reached. Ideally you want to be between 100 calories over or under it every day, and that would include eating the calories you burn with exercise. Since you have a lot to lose it is not a vital to eat the exercise calories, but as you lose the weight it will become more important.

Fourth, YOU CAN DO THIS! It takes time. This is not the Biggest Loser, and even on that, with an ultra-low calorie diet and all day exercise, there are times when people don't lose anything from weigh in to weigh in. Realize the scale is only one way to measure success, and frankly it is not the best one, as weight will change throughout the day up to 4 or 5 pounds for various reasons other than gaining fat.

Fifth, as has been mentioned, if you haven't done it already take measurements (chest, waist and hip at least) and pictures. There will be times when you don't lose weight, but your measurements will change. I have one friend who didn't lose any weight for weeks, but whose measurements kept changing meaning she was losing fat.

Faye_Anderson

I have almost 150lbs to lose (i'm 5' 5.5"), seems so daunting. I've been going to the gym for 2 months now, 4 days a week, averaging an hour of cardio and recently i've started adding weight machines, alternating upper/lower body. I wasn't worrying about counting calories too much in the beginning as I was trying to just focus on consistency with my workouts.

For the last 3 weeks i've been tracking EVERYTHING I've eaten and staying under/at my calorie goals. The first week I lost 6lbs and the second week was 2 lbs, this week was NOTHING! I admit it, I cried like the frustrated girl I am!

I weigh so much that I figured in the beginning I should be consistenly losing. I am working so hard (ok here comes whining) I am eating better than I ever have, I've worked out more than I ever have, i'm taking time to focus on myself finally, and i'm just so mad. I have 4 kids plus 2 foster kids, I don't have time to take at the gym, but I know it's important for my health. Not seeing results is so hard, i'm not sure what I need to do differently.

Feel free to add me, I need all the help I can get. I'll open my diary and promise i'll take constructive criticism well!

you have been working out and the only thing to explain is that muscle weights more than fat so you probably didnt lose or gain because of it...

also, you need to weigh yourself as soon as u get up in the morning.. thats when you weigh the least..

no lie, i weigh myself naked..

REALLY? The ONLY explanation?
1. How much muscle do you think has been built in 3 weeks and
2. Did you read the OP's food diary??

OP there is a lot of good advice here, My first 2 weeks I lost 9lb and thought I was on a roll, then I maintained for a fortnight, then I tweaked certain things and the weight loss started again.
I have to agree, soda for breakfast is not a good idea, but I also know how much I rarely feel like eating in the morning. Lots of people here have open diary's for ideas if your stuck, and we're all here to support you

jmehere

I think you are doing great, 11 pounds is awesome in 3 weeks. But I know how frustrating it can be to not see the number go down when you are working so hard. When I first started out, I had weeks like that as well, but it was temporary. Usually the next week I'd be down again. I'm sure you've already heard that our muscles tend to hold on to water after a good work out, which can cause a temporary gain or stop in loss.
A couple of things to think about: are you getting enough sleep? Plenty of sleep helps the weight loss efforts because it actually burns some calories. And it will also help level out your cortisol levels which contributes to us holding on to fat. In general, it helps to lower that stress hormone. Don't stress about one not getting what you expected at one weigh in. Or even two. Congratulate yourself for all you've done. And keep in mind that even if you didn't lose weight this week, you were healthier this week. Every day that we eat right and exercise (or relax, destress---whatever it is you need); is a day you've given yourself the gift of health. Perfectionism is stressful. This is a long journey, set yourself up for the long hall and let go of the little things. One more thing, if you start consistently not losing in spite of your efforts and stress reduction, you might try staggering your calories throughout the week. I've been at this for a while and have been on a plateau for a loooong time. I looked at what I was doing when the weight was falling off and I was staggering and even allowing myself a day a week to go as high as maintenance calories.
Good luck! You can do this, one day at a time!

harleyluvva

I'm new to this as well and am in the same frustrating situation. Just to let you know that the average (healthy) weight loss is 2lb. per week so it seems to me that you are way ahead of the game!!! Don't be so hard on yourself. If you try to lose weight too fast, chances are that you will not be keeping it off. I'm speaking from experience. Good Luck!! Keep your head up and don't give up!!

thcri

If Nature didn't make it don't eat it. Also maybe try eating 6 times a day instead. I started that two weeks ago and it is like it re-kick started my losing again. I also take one day a week to eat what I want and as much as I want to shock my body. While I keep track of all of my food here in MFP I don't watch calories at all anymore but carbs and proteins. Make sure you are eating clean.

Amazongirl

Ditto to everything everyone on here said - your weight loss so far is phenomenal!!! You should congratulate yourself on making the decision to get healthy and be proud that you are sticking with it. I have been on here for one day shy of 3 weeks and have lost 5lbs - the first 4 of which was in the first week (I weigh in on Monday) and I work out AT LEAST 4 days a week for 60-90 minutes of cardio and circuit strength training. I was totally bummed last weigh-in when I saw only a 1lb drop - I was sad and felt like garbage the whole day...but I stuck to it and with the advice of some great people on here took my measurements - and realized that although the scale is slow moving - the inches are not! I can fit comfortably into jeans (even with a little slack in the back, if you know what i mean) that were uncomfortably tight and almost unwearable 3 weeks ago. Give yourself some credit for all the great things that you are doing - not just weight - but being a great mom and a great example for your children. Life is busy - and to be so committed with all of the things going on - you really deserve a thumbs up.
Keep going - stay positive - and put that scale away if it going to discourage you and make you feel bad. Find a 'goal' pair of jean that will allow you to see the changes in your body - the scale doesn't reflect this.
If you need more support - feel free to add me - I am more than open to all the help I can give and get! Good luck!

Helloitsdan

Take a week off from the diet but keep up with training and working out.
When eating at maintenance youll boost metabolism due to making the body work harder to process food.
You should always eat at maintenance several times on your weight loss journey.
Just simply add 20% to the 1700 calories in your diary and do it.

Youll thank me later!

kawanna941

I feel the same way at times. When the scale doesn't move I get extremely discouraged and I want to fall back to my old habits. But I keep reminding myself of my reasons for doing this in the first place. You should also try doing measurements because a lot of times we lose inches and not necessarily pounds. Also by doing strength training you are building muscle and losing fat at the same time, which lessens the amount loss for that week. So keep pushing and if what you're doing is not working after a while, change it up. Eat more, or less, change the actual exercises youre doing, take a rest day and do some relaxation, get more sleep. Just whatever you do, dont give up! We're in this together!!!

kriskaryl

I agree with those who have said to cut out the Mt Dew. Sodas in general are not a good chioce for weight loss. Replacing with water or flavored zero calorie water is a better choice. Starting your day with a protein shake made with almond milk or low fat/skim milk will help your muscles heal from workouts. The protein will also help you feel fuller and supress your cravings for sugary foods.

I also agree that setting smaller, attainable, timely goals is much easier. Say...2 lbs a week is smaller, healthy, and do-able. Inches falling off and the way your clothes fit is a better sign of weight loss. Muscle does weigh more than fat. Put a lb of fat in a bowl of water and it will float. Put a lb of meat in a bowl of water and it will sink.

Stick with it! You will do it!

Hearts_2015

I'm sorry you're frustrated, but I think you need to take a good, honest look at what you are putting in your body. Yes, you might be staying under your calorie goals, but you are working out and fueling your body with a lot of processed food and eating out. You really aren't giving your body the nutrients it needs to function properly.

Do you track sodium? I'm guessing those #s are pretty high based on the amount of restaurant food you are eating. And the soda isn't helping either. That's a ton of empty calories and sugar/carbs.

What about replacing those 200-300 calories a day that you are drinking in soda and make them good, healthy foods that will fill you up and provide you with some nutrients.

I think you diary is lacking in good fats, protein and fiber and way too high in sodium and sugar. It's not just about staying under your calories - I mean that is important as well, but just as important is eating healthful, nourishing foods.

Lots of good points above..tracking sodium can be very important for many at the beginning. I still track it and I've been here awhile. As the poster above shared, really take another at your diary and notice how much sodium is taken in each day. Pizza Hut alone could be several days worth of sodium, soda, even Subway, it's all processed with tons of sodium, fat and sugars.

It's great that you are eating better than you ever have,:drinker: concentrating on home cooked meals that are healthier might be a first step to taking back control. There are lots of ways to eat chicken, shake and bake can be homemade in a healthy manner (Google will you tons in finding healthier versions of foods you love and that the kids will love as well!) with no sodium and far less chemicals. Some have given up soda completely and are amazed at how much weight they drop in a week or two alone.

Water, water, water, lots of that can make huge changes in your body and energy level:flowerforyou:

Also don't know what you're doing for workouts or how long but there is such thing as doing too much of it and not fueling your body enough (with healthy foods), cardio can be overdone just as strength training can. Not saying you are, as I don't know but simply bringing it up.

Perhaps it's time to focus on your foods you intake and not so much on how much workout for a bit to get the food on track. Many of us start out that way and then move over to focusing on workouts. Good healthy (unprocessed) foods can take you far on your lifestyle change.

Someone shared a comment on breaking down your goals, I do that myself, into 10 lbs. goals, it's exciting to see the mini goals get accomplished. If I focused on what I had to lose I'd be going bonkers.:sad:

Sounds like you have a TON of motivation and energy to make these changes you just needed some direction.:happy: It's great that you posted on the boards, it's a good place to get re-inspired and see what's worked for others that are down the road from you in all this just a bit.

Cheers for your desire to change!

btw... I have to agree, anything more than 2 lbs. a week is fabulous weigh loss and likely won't continue so try not to think of how the BL show works as that's not really reality for 99% of us.

ETA: With the kids food can still be fun, nutritious and enjoyable. Pizza can still be had but check out the Search feature for how to make healthy pizza at home. Pita Pockets, Flat Out Bread, Tortillas all these can make yummy pizzas and the kids can pick their favorite topping. Veggies taste great on Pizza as well, just remember to measure out what you're putting on them, like anything else.

Showing the kids and Hubs how healthy food can be fun, nutritious and adventurous is important since then they grown up learning how to make healthier choices themselves.

You've got a lot going on but you CAN do this Hon, I know you can!!!:flowerforyou:

kdmccauley

You are doing great! Really 6 lbs in a week is a great success. Keep on it. But i also did look at your diary as well and the sodas should be replaced with something more nutrients. For me, cheese is a pitfall, so i stay away from those. My recommendation that has worked for me, is sticking with lean proteins, vegetables, whole grains (complex carbs- in moderation) and staying clear of processed sugars. Remember everyone is different and things that work for me arent always going to work for you. You can add me if you would like. Keep your head up. Also remember when you add weights muscle weighs more so you may not see that kind of a difference right way. My trainer has told me that it takes at least 8 weeks to see a difference in measurements, so dont get discouraged!

Keep it up and be patient. It takes a while to gain the weight its going to take a while to get it off.

speede12001

Keep Rockin out, scales don't matter, measurments do besides 8 pounds in 3 wks... awesome! ... Keep up the hard work it will pay off!

Lozze

Really, truly? Did you look over her diary? The OP is regularly (like, nearly every day) getting 20-25% of her total daily calories from soda. And she admitted that Mt Dew is a huge weakness.

I do agree....baby steps. But I don't think sugar-coating (sorry, probably bad choice of words) things is going to help her.

I'm not sugar coating things here. But I don't think telling someone who is three weeks into changing their food habits that they need to cut out all junk food and eat clean is going to help them. You need to crawl before you can walk, let alone run!

Going cold turkey is hard. And you don't need to make yourself miserable striving for perfection. How about setting SMALL weekly goals that you can stick to - also as a way to measure success even if the scale doesn't move much that week.

For example, you could choose 3 things to focus on one week like:

1) cut down to no more than 1 20oz Mt Dew per day (really, this would cut probably 800 calories a week from your current intake)
2) drink at least 8-10 glasses of water per day
3) replace 2-3 restaurant meals with meals at home

Again, need to crawl before they can run. Those are three BIG changes. One of them would be a good start for the first month.

Again, not cutting out all the "bad" habits at once, but focusing on small reductions and replacing old behaviors with new. Pick 2-3 things for this week, then next week add another 1-2. Give yourself a month and you will have a whole host of new, good habits that you have built up.

A week is too quick. It's too many changes, too quickly.

I want for you to succeed and depriving yourself and being miserable will only lead to spiraling back to old habits.

This I am firmly in agreement with you

christina0089

Have you measured yourself? or tired to put on clothes that are normally tight? you might be surprised , I find that the numbers on the scale move incredibly slowly , but I am back to wearing pants that were super tight just a few months ago ...


Hugs , you can do this

This is so true! You can definitley be losing inches and fat but be gaining lean muscle in its place, especially if you have added in weight training. Since a pound is a pound you won't see a weight decrease but you should be able to feel the difference maybe even see it in the mirror or in your measurements. AND because you have increased your excercise so much it could also be your muscles holding water as it is necessary for them to repair. Also making sure your body is getting enough fuel (calories in) is important. If you have too much of a deficency you can sabatoge your weight loss efforts unknowingly by slowing your metabolism. If the body feels it's not gettingthe right amount of fuel it will slow down the metabolic rate to compensate and sustain itself. I know it is hard to do but don't make yourself a slave to the scale, it will only leave you stressed and upset as well as making you feel your efforts are useless, as you can tell. I am willing to bet while you didn't see a weight decrease you are feeling healthier and stronger than you have in sometime. Sore with it I am sure! you are working hard don't let a scale make you feel defeated. One of my favorite quotes and my own interpretaion of it where weightloss is concerned: Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. ~Robert Louis Stevenson Thought this was a good one to be interpreted as: Don't judge each day by what the scale says but by the effort that you put in! ~

cthoma70

Watch your sodium, I was eating way under my calories but my sodium was thru the roof and it caused weight gain. Also believe it or not artificial sweetener will cause weight gain. I also hit a spot where I wasnt losing weight and I was eating oatmeal with splendia and read about this, cut out the splendia and dropped it. But the MOST IMPORTANT THING IS DO NOT GIVE UP!!!!!!!! Stay at it keep working out, keep moving and it will happen. I did 1200 calories a day for 6 months to drop my weight and thats a rough diet to be on. I did have a lot of foos to eat I researched the food with the lowest calories and I ate those. I did have a reward meal once a week but I ate low calories during the day so I could eat my meal. I had mexican and it was chicken fajita fixed with no oil, corn tortillas instead of flour, no sour cream or that green junk and I gave my beans and rice away. I had a bowl of salsa and no chips. I got a spoon and ate my bowl of salsa while everyone else ate the chips and salsa. No double dipping with your spoon with your own bowl. You can do this I promise just set your mind to it and want it more than anything else. If you got a bit of food in your mouth and you dont need it spit it out, I did that just about 5 minutes ago with a half a slice of bacon. If you are temped by food in a room, leave that room. If you have to run out of it do it, its your life on the line not their's. You can DO THIS!!!!! Hang in there

em9371

First of all, well done on what you have lost already!!
It's usual to lose more in the first week or two, after that you should be aiming for max 2lb week as its unhealthy to have more than 1000 cal/ day deficit. I eat more than you with only 80lbs to lose and have lost 25lbs in 3 months. My diary is open if you want a look.
Cut out the soda you could have a nutritious meal with those calories - I used to drink huge amounts of diet coke, have totally cut out and now only drink water, milk, tea, coffee, pure juice.
Eat back your exercise cals - as I said before you need max 1000 cal day deficit. Mfp already includes this deficit in your cal allowance.
Start tracking sodium- too high can cause water retention. Try and make home cooked meals, try and limit eating out/fast food etc to one or two meals a week
It's too early for you to have built much muscle but exercise can cause water retention for muscle repair especially if you have just started.
Take measurements, sometimes the scale will stick but you will lose inches
Set smaller goals, eg 10, 20, 30lbs, it helps to have mini goals to aim for instead of just thinking *kitten* me I've got to lose xxxlbs!
If you want a 'cheat meal' or a treat like chocolate, don't worry just make sure it fits in your cals and eat healthy rest of the day.
Hope this helps :-)

Hearts_2015

Really, truly? Did you look over her diary? The OP is regularly (like, nearly every day) getting 20-25% of her total daily calories from soda. And she admitted that Mt Dew is a huge weakness.

I do agree....baby steps. But I don't think sugar-coating (sorry, probably bad choice of words) things is going to help her.

I'm not sugar coating things here. But I don't think telling someone who is three weeks into changing their food habits that they need to cut out all junk food and eat clean is going to help them. You need to crawl before you can walk, let alone run!

Going cold turkey is hard. And you don't need to make yourself miserable striving for perfection. How about setting SMALL weekly goals that you can stick to - also as a way to measure success even if the scale doesn't move much that week.

For example, you could choose 3 things to focus on one week like:

1) cut down to no more than 1 20oz Mt Dew per day (really, this would cut probably 800 calories a week from your current intake)
2) drink at least 8-10 glasses of water per day
3) replace 2-3 restaurant meals with meals at home

Again, need to crawl before they can run. Those are three BIG changes. One of them would be a good start for the first month.

Again, not cutting out all the "bad" habits at once, but focusing on small reductions and replacing old behaviors with new. Pick 2-3 things for this week, then next week add another 1-2. Give yourself a month and you will have a whole host of new, good habits that you have built up.

A week is too quick. It's too many changes, too quickly.

I want for you to succeed and depriving yourself and being miserable will only lead to spiraling back to old habits.

This I am firmly in agreement with you

I do hope I didn't come across as 'changing everything' overnight. I tried to make it general and suggest ideas that can be done overtime. My apologies if it came across differently than that. Changing our ways of eating is hard and takes time. Rushing that can cause us to get frustrated and fail miserably. Many of us came from eating crap and I do mean crap, chips, cookies, pizza everyday, lots and lots of simply carbs that were empty calories.

I hope my post came across as ideas tossed out to include the kids in the changes so you wouldn't be making extra meals for yourself vs. the rest of the family.

I think sometimes those of us that have been at this awhile forget how hard it was at the beginning for us when we starting changing up everything. As the poster above shared, making small changes can be a big deal! More energy and as you get one habit licked you can work on the next. :flowerforyou:

mutt182

I think it is wonderful that you are trying to get healthier!

But you have to face a fact...you are addicted to sugar. In some ways it is no different than any other addiction. Find a way to get it out of your diet and you will be amazed how good you feel, and how bad it has been making you feel for so long.

Many of the other recommendations on here have been good as well, but the sugar is probably your single greatest limiting factor. Do some research on the bodies reaction to calories ingested when there is a high level of insulin response due to sugar intake...

Keep going! This does not happen overnight.