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!!!