Extremely Disappointed!

MrsBozz1

Yay!! You've lost 15 pounds! Congrats! I would suggest measuring. I measure every two weeks. I had a week I only lost .6 pounds (bummer! At latest it wasn't a gain but still bummer! ) I measured and WOW I lost 3 inches off my waist and about 5 inches over all, from all the exercise! What a boost! Don't get discouraged. Keep up the good work and this will happen! Don't focus on the big picture, just focus on eating right and exercise and weight will come off :flowerforyou: Good luck!

kittiechaos

Definitely keep up the good work! Try to weigh yourself at the same time of day under the same conditions as well. I've just restarted again after a slip, I've started watching zumba classes on youtube as I love to dance and after all more chores I have the day to myself. It's free and a good laugh, and you could have a friend round to do a mini-zumba class in your house for moral support and a bit of fun! It's good cos you can pause it when you need a break, and I rarely ache after.

Eleanorjanethinner

Lots of good advice above - you've done great, keep it up!

Just one thought - don't be fooled by fad diets and shows like The Biggest Loser into thinking you should be dropping masses of weight really quickly. I know it's frustrating and hard and tiring, but the slow way is the only sustainable, healthy way.

Keep up the good work and be encouraged!

Vailara

I weigh every day, but I look at my weight change over the month (or longer) rather than over the week. This keeps my motivation up because I never gain over the month and so far, I've always lost, even though it might be a small lose (2 pounds). It wouldn't work for everybody (you have to not let yourself get bothered if you put on weight from day to day because that always happens), but it works for me. I don't feel a week is a long enough time to see real progress.

ApexLeader

15 lbs for a month is amazing. setting goals that are going to be next to impossible to meet is going to be your biggest enemy, so make goals that aren't impossible.

Maris_Swan

If I have a bad week, I regroup and stay OFF of the scale for a week, maybe two! Continue working hard, and do not let those numbers define you. You will have some weeks better than others but please don't let that 1lb loss knock you off of your game! Keep moving forward. Best of luck!

CathyBarnett2012

Great job on loosing 15 pounds! It is hard when you have that great success and see the scale going downwards to then come to what you think is a "BRICK WALL" ( been there done this myself) BUT as my sister in law told me one day! Take a pound of butter with you and walk with it all day that is what you lost WHICH is very reasonable for a weeks worth of time. Better to loose it slowly as you will keep it off easier. If you take weight off to fast it doesn't stay off as well ( in my theory anyways) I was discouraged last tow weeks ago ( I started my journey with MFP January 7) I had lost 17 pounds from Jan 7- feb 16 then the next week I lost 1 pound. I wanted to bang my head on the wall. I had even cut down on what I was eating more and repaling things with even healtheir snacks and on top all that I was walking 4 kms 5 days a week. Then came the end of February where I could measure myself ( as I do this once a month) I was done 2.5 inches on my waist! I was so excieted. So all of it was worth it. So never give up don't think loosing one pound is anything to sneeze at! a loss on the scales is worth celebrating! I have read some other comments after your post and they say small mini goals. They are great. Set yourself some mini goals like loosing 10 pounds a month. 50 pounds in 4 months, your big goal at the end of the year. My goal is to be 100 pounds lighter by the end of 2013 I have now lost 18 of them only 82 more to go. This month goal is 10 pounds. Then I am off for a manicure and pedicure that is my 3 month goal met. if I loose 50 pounds in 5 months I think its a mini vacation with my husband or maybe a shopping day with my girlfriends ( i will need some new clothes by then) Make this journey fun! GOOD LUCK and just remember a pound of butter put one in your hands that is what you lost! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

tarinsuchandsuch01

Hi!
I had almost the same post a couple of weeks ago. First off let me congratulate you for a month well done! 15 pds in one month is AMAZING!! I have been doing fitness pal for about a month also and my results are No where close to yours. When going through this process I have to remind myself that my weight didn't come in a months time and neither will it leave as soon as I want it to. When the scale disappoints I look for other avenues to see results. For instance measurements say a lot. The way my clothes fit is also a motivator. Then I also tell myself that my body is appreciating the time that I am putting into it. I have more energy, my flexibility is getting better. Or I can actually see and feel the beginning of a muscle remembering that it once existed on my body! I do hope that you stay encouraged to keep at it and to know that in the long run it will be well worth it. We can do this!!:drinker:

ShellyBell999

So you're more than 10% to your goal, in only one month. That's pretty frickin' amazing and you should be proud.

Progress will be slow, and it will probably get slower. But every step, every pound is going to get you closer to your goal. Plus, you're in this for the long haul. It's a way of life, like brushing your teeth. You don't brush your teeth for one month and think, "Oh, man... I have to keep this up for DECADES???" You just do it, because it's what you need to do to live the kind of life you want to live.

^^^This

And YAY!! for the great start to a healthier lifestyle. Have patience and try to focus more on the new choices rather than the daily/weekly loss. Before you know it, you'll be there. Congratulations!

2design

I have 63 lbs to lose and have been doing this since September. I've started slower than you but remained relatively consistent (37 lbs to date). In the beginning it was hard to keep motivated knowing I had a long journey but the numbers do add up. You are doing fantastic and I hope you will continue. As we get closer to goal the pounds will go off slower but they will go off! All the exercise probably gave you muscle which is what we want and weighs more than fat.

As others have said, this is a long journey. However you are not alone, we're here to encourage each other! Set mini goals and hang in there

anewlife1980

I have set myself up with a short term goal of 20lbs & my reward for this will be a long over due hair cut & color. I am very much looking forward to this & really had hoped to do this before my family visits mid April, but now I am not so sure.

Seajolly

Congrats on the 15 lbs so far! That's AMAZING! I don't think you understand how amazing that is? Be proud!

As so many others have said, just keep going. I'd suggest making lots of small goals, not just seeing the big picture of the total amount of weight you want to lose. Start in 5-10 pound increments.

Also, don't be discouraged that when you have a lot to lose, it'll come off fast and then slow down. Know that that's natural and what everyone goes through, and keep at it! :flowerforyou:

misscristie

A day at a time. It will happen. Just be patient. You'll fall off the wagon, but it's a dang WAGON! Just jog a little bit, catch up to that slow moving SOB and hop back on. Sometimes you'll have an extra horse on there and it will be faster, but those ponies get tired and they need a break sometimes too. Ya feel me?

vjrose

Holy smokes, 15 lbs in a month, that is an amazing change. However, reality is, 1lb a week is realistic and safe and will be more likely to result in a healthy metabolism, weight that stays gone, and your skin will be more likely to keep up with you as you lose. Rapid weight loss like that over several months will slow your metabolism, end up with a lot of loose skin that is not very pretty, and get in the way of your fitness goals, you do have fitness goals right? Well pat yourself on the back for your quick start, eat right, exercise, and let your body get the job done. You'll be much healthier and happier with the end result.

Smackemdanno

It took me 17 years of fat and happy marriage to get to 320 lbs. I am not going to be disappointed if it takes the next 10 years of skinny and happy marriage to lose 100 lbs. Along the way I am going to enjoy life, eat well, exercise with my wife by lifting weights and go on walks together. Impatience and suffering is the killer. You have lost half of what I lost in a year and 2 months within your first month. Be happy. Be satisfied. Enjoy the journey

anewlife1980

Thank you! I am not willing just yet to share my food journal publicly however I do have alot of "real life" friends that I found out are also using MFP so we chat regularly & I am ok with talking food with them. I have gone back over my meals from last week & undoubtedly found the culprit in my disappointment. Not to say its the only reason but I know it def has something to do with the scale not showing my hard work. Lesson learned big time!

SlimSumday

Any day that I step on the scale and it is down (no matter how much) is a good day to me! You have done AMAZING so far! Don't give up now. I lost 8 lbs in one month and that was it for a whole other month, but finally it started doing down again. Water retention has a lot to do with it. Just having your period could add another 5 lbs. for a week. You are gonna be so greatful you didn't give up 6 months down the road. )

Juliejustsaying

what are you NUTS????? :noway: seriously??? 15lbs gone in one month and you're disappointed? smh...it will take me 8 months to lose 15lbs...now I know we are comparing apples and oranges here...but seriously, is there anything reasonable that wouldn't have disappointed you? Suck it up, keep working hard and in 6 months you'll be even farther toward your goal...that is the only way to make lasting change...and bear in mind this is a lifetime, lifestyle change, since I assume you aren't putting yourself thru this just to gain it back.

LeeDahlen38

I'll make this short sweet and easy!! 1) 15 in a month AMAZING!!!!!! but don't expect it to trend. Ever see the Biggest Loser? Week One they kill it, and they warn them that week 2 will DUMP compared... Stay the course sweetie!! 2) things like "Female" stuff will play into the scale as well. Stay the course.... and 3) Weigh weekly. same clothes, same time, same scale. Measure monthly. Stay the course. When you set up your MFP account what did you set? 1 lb a week, 1.5?? 2?? Well your first month you blew it out at 4. Now you're right where you set it at.......Stay the course, Slow and steady means you won't roller coaster. You didnt get this way overnight.... Stay the course. and yell when you need us. 1 lb a week is 50 a year ya know. That's why I run the #OnePound Challenge. (Search the groups) and friend me if you want.

newdaydawning79

Please don't give up! I'm on here the 3rd time and realized that was a huge mistake! Take one day at a time. From past experience, know that you will have setbacks, but they are temporary.

I'm on my 3rd time too and trust me, there will be times where you want to throw in the towel and just give up. Either you won't feel like exercising or you just want to eat McDonalds twice that day or whatever. DO NOT DO IT! Trust me on this.

Fifteen pounds in a month may not seem like a lot, but go to the grocery store and pick up three 5-lb bags of flour and carry them around for awhile. Then remember that load used to be on your body. Someone gave me that idea once and it's amazing how it puts things in perspective. As for the scale, if you worked out extra hard your muscles are likely storing water for repair from the extra exertion. That's one of the reasons why the scale is sometimes our worst enemy.

You're doing a FANTASTIC job!

meredith1123

wow 15 pounds in one month is fantastic. Good job! I have had weeks where i have BUSTED my *kitten* and no results show but then the NEXT Week my results really show and I didnt do as much. sometimes it takes your body that long to adjust to what you are doing. don't fret over it, you are doing a great job and sticking to your guns.
Keep it up and dont look at how much you have to lose total. start setting up mini goals. So just say for now that your goal at this point is to lose 25 pounds. Once you lose those, set up another one - and so forth. it makes it easier.....

good luck!

AngieM76

15lbs in a month is AWESOME!!! The scale will disappoint you sometimes, I worked hard all week last week and the scale didnt budge. But then Sunday morning it had dropped 3lbs. You cant just go by the scale. We are becoming healthier and stronger every day!

SUZANAOLIVIA

I know how you feel. I have (ideally 100 lbs) to lose. I have exercised for three weeks straight,very hard. In two weeks lost 8lbs. Got on the scale today and have gained 4. I almost lost it.(mad). I thought with tracking my food and exercise, that would be the answer. So I understand your frustration. At this point not sure what to do..I guess back to the drawing board.

caroleannlight

The scale can be mean! Just tell it its mean then pick yourself up and keep at it it will even out over time. Dont expect the big losses you got at the beginning to last - they wont. You have had a fab start this is just a little bump on the road. Be strong!

helenbeee

Im not weighing myself this time I have a pair of jeans and a top I try these on every couple of weeks. The fit is getting better, I concentrate on my food diary and exercise meeting the targets and not going over. For me the worry of the scale no longer haunts me. Im just getting on with the job of improving by health by eating better and exercising more. Its not perfect yet and I have a long way to go but I feel its much easier and less stressful this time round.
i really hope that you find it in yourself to keep going and not to get hung up on what the scale is saying. Good Luck!

__Di__

Hey everyone, I know alot of you have been doing this for a while now & I am officially 1mth in today, how do you keep motivated when you kick *kitten*, have an amazing week & then the scale disappoints? I have 15lbs gone as of this morning which I know for a month is great, however when I look at the bigger (much bigger) picture, I still need to lose about 125lbs so compared to that, 15lbs seems so little! This morning, for the first time ever, my scale showed only a 1lb loss. I feel defeated. Last week was a rare exception & I got in more exercise then I normally can & I didn't allow myself a break mid week because I really wanted the scale to show it this week.

Now I feel like all that was for nothing! I know it might show in measurements but was only planning to do those monthly. My first measurements were done 2wks into this (Feb 25) so was planning to wait til Mar 25 to do them again. How often to you measure? If you have a bad week on the scales do you measure then to find encouragement?

Thanks for listening (reading) & answering my questions :-)

15lbs in one month is terrific, 1lb loss per week is average after the few few weeks, so you just have to continue, continue, continue, keep logging, keep doing your exercise and recording your weigh-ins.

Don't concentrate on how much left you have to lose, take each week at a time and before you know it, you will be at your goal weight.

cryswest57

The scale doesn't tell the whole truth all the time because our weight fluctuates throughout the day. Maybe just check the scale once per month and do biweekly measurements. Once you see your size go down through measurements, you should feel a lot better.

twentyco

I started where you did -- with 140 pounds to lose -- last November. I've lost about 45 so far --- sort of. At the beginning, I lost pretty quickly. At around 38 pounds lost, I hit a sort of weird pattern that I'm still in -- I would show a dramatic loss (maybe 4 pounds) on the scale for a couple of days, record it, and then a couple of days later would be back to where I was before --- so I'd show a loss to 274, from 278, and then a couple days after that would be back up to 278, and then spend a couple weeks working my way back down. After that couple weeks, I'd have another dramatic loss all at once (say from 274 to 269) and then would be back to 274 and start working my way back down. So I'm still losing --- I definitely weigh about 3 or 4 pounds less than I did 3 weeks ago -- but it's hard to see it on the scale, because the numbers are confusing.

So, how do I keep going? One, I tell myself over and over that this is working. Overall I weigh about 45 pounds less than when I started. And what I was doing before I started this was causing me to gain, not lose. So looking at the bigger picture helps, and telling myself that even if I never lose another pound, at least I've lost 45 and am not gaining. Two, I think about how I feel better, rather than worrying so much about what the scale says. How I can walk further and do more, and how I don't need to use a CPAP machine (for sleep apnea) anymore. And three, I talk about it with supportive people in my life, who encourage me to keep going.

Weight loss isn't linear. The scale will move up and down. Overall, though, you are getting healthier and working your way to weighing less. I want it to be quicker than it is, too --- but I can't control that. The only thing I can control is how I react and whether or not I let the scale get me off track. You absolutely can do this --- you have already accomplished so much! Keep going, because you're worth it!

MinnieInMaine

So you're more than 10% to your goal, in only one month. That's pretty frickin' amazing and you should be proud.

Progress will be slow, and it will probably get slower. But every step, every pound is going to get you closer to your goal. Plus, you're in this for the long haul. It's a way of life, like brushing your teeth. You don't brush your teeth for one month and think, "Oh, man... I have to keep this up for DECADES???" You just do it, because it's what you need to do to live the kind of life you want to live.

THIS is a fantastic way to look at it!! (or course it is, Lorina is the *kitten*)

OP, you really do need to think about how what you're doing on a daily basis is not just for weight loss but steps toward developing healthy habits for life. This isn't just about getting to a certain weight or size, it's about reducing your risk of diabetes, heart disease, joint problems, cancer, fertility issues, sleep apnea, etc and staying healthy so that you hopefully won't have to worry about any of that for a long long time. And it shouldn't matter if it takes you a year or five years. Every healthy change is a step in the right direction.

You just have to retrain your brain to quit with the negative thinking. Every pound lost should be a celebration!! There should be no disappointment involved AT ALL! Maybe think about ways you can reward yourself...set aside money every week to get new clothes as you lose or mani/pedis or that collector's item you've been wanting forever...whatever it is that makes you happy.

Look, I know it's tough, I started out needing to lose 100 pounds and it almost gave me a panic attack to actually write down my weight loss goal knowing I had that much weight to lose. But I finally confronted it and then I moved on to smaller goals and was happy with every single loss. And as the weight loss slowed down, I started focusing more on being more physically fit and really tweaking my diet to get the proper nutrients in. It's a process but you will get there!

Best of luck to you!!

p.s. I also love the idea posted above about picking up 3 five-pound bags of flour and carrying them around to gain perspective! It really shows you how much of a difference that supposedly "small" loss really can make.

retiree2006

You do realize the "fat" wants you to give up...that's why it's making you feel discouraged! Are you sure you want it to win out? Don't get discouraged...get even! :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: