Despondent Newbie :(

Don't rely on the scale - there are lots of factors coming into play on your weight. Put it away and don't weigh yourself again for another month.

Concentrate instead on those great positive changes you have already made, and the increase in your fitness already - that's brilliant, well done!

don't forget hormonal cycles too. you may only see a drop once a month, if it's a good drop then np

Hi All

Feeling quite low this morning. ...

No weight loss in 3 weeks. Started 4 weeks ago at 218lbs. Lost 8lbs the first week. I am using the treadmill and Rower. I couldn't manage 2km on the treadmill initially and now up to 6km (speed-walking) and 12km on the rowing machine. Down to 1 coffee with a sweetener a day (from 8 - 10 with 3 sugars!) No white bread, no pastries (my weakness!). Drinking 2 - 3 litres of water daily (never done this before!) Making sure I have breakfast daily ( major breakthrough!) .... and nothing

I have been looking through the topics and they are all truly inspirational. Reading the success stories is keeping me motivated. I have always been overweight/obese and I don't want to be ANYMORE!

Sorry for the moan ... if anyone can advise/support I would really appreciate it!

Three Issues here you rolled into one so let's break them apart for a moment:

1. Weight Loss - A complicated subject, no doubt. Let's simplify things for a moment. Initially your body needs energy. Depending on what you're doing (exercise, duration, intensity, no exercise) your body drawns energy from your food and your food stores. When you are on a calorie restricted diet you simply don't take in as much energy in the form of calories as your body needs to maintain that weight. So you start using stores of energy. Initially that's in part glycogen stores which are lipophilic (they love water) and as you burn carbs you lose the water that goes with it. Fat is lipophobic (does not attract water)...and thank goodness for that or we would all be significantly heavier than we are. All this is to say that in the beginning you're going to see big results initially as you lose some glycogen stores and the water that goes with them. As you start burning fat you'll still drop, just not as quickly because you're not losing water weight with it. Take in less calories or exercise more (burn more energy) and things will change faster yet again.

2. Nutritional Health - On top of the weight loss you've started making healthier choices. regardless of what your weight does, this is a good thing. Take out the "Extra or added" sugars and carbs. Now carbs are a touchy subject (like fat is to Adkins). Generally, if you are not exercising a lot (over an hour) extra carbs are not needed and cutting them - in most cases - is a good thing. Depends on your medical issues. Make your fats as heart healthy as possible (mono and polyunsaturated N-3/Omega 3). There is no recommended total on water - except don't over do it. Increase the fiber for non-digestable carbs and put that water to work.

3. Exercise - Slowly combine a little resistance training and aerobic training over time to get maximal benefit. The health benefits to people just doing 30 min a day 5 days a week is remarkable. Make sure to adjust your protein and carbs again as your situation calls for and your health permits. Remember that during a phase of resistance training or exercise your weight may be neutral, but your measurements will change and your appearance will change as well. Keep at it!

Best wishes and hope that helps.

definitely hang in there !

just saw that you wrote that too.

FR's always welcome.

Assuming you are eating at a deficit, you will be losing 'real weight'. The problem is, this 'real weight' is often masked by water weight fluctuations. Your first week loss would be primarily water weight. Since then, and aside for normal water weight cycles, you have added some exercise in. Exercise means that you retain water when your muscles are repairing. To be honest, it is very unlikely you have gained muscle, especially as you are not resistance training from the looks of it.

Give it a few more weeks to let the water weight fluctuations even out. If you still are stalled out, you need to have a long hard look at what you are eating - making sure you are measuring and logging everything as accuately as possible (well, you should do that anyway).

Hang in there.

ETA: I just looked at your diary - what you are eating is fine, you are just not eating enough, especially proteins and fats. This should not have negatively impact your weight loss so far (but actually may be causing more water retention) but upping these will be better for you in the long run in terms of sustainability and body composition.

Hi from Scotland, congratulations on making a decision to change.

This one looks easy, I don't think you are eating enough. Try eating at your BMR or only very slightly under it and certainly do not net under 1200, you should see things moving again.

A

I looked at your dairy and most days you are not eating enough...you need to eat at least the 1220 everyday or you will slow down your metablismwhich equals no weight lose.So eat all your 1220 and keep doing all the good things you've been doing and you'll start shrinking in no time good luck

I am a believe that you should not remove anything from your diet, just limit the intake of the "bad" things, and replace them with "good" things such as fiber & protein

use my fitness pal to do the calculations of your BMR and set the max weight reduction on the app on your iphone. After that minus 200 calories from there. The 200 calories is because different people cooks with different styles, especially seasoning which might just add another 200 calories for the day.

as for me Doc gave me an appitite suppressant, panbesy, but doesnt really work, so i used this programme to count my calories to try reduce weight. i started 16 days ago, my calories needed to run my body is 2200-2400, this programme (my fitnesspal) recommended 1700 calories, i started off with 1600 and just changed it to 1410 calories 4 days back, i lost from 123.7 to 117 kg now in about 15 days, but not diet alone, i climb my office stairs (5 floors) at least 5-6 times a day, up and down, + i on music and try to follow some dance in the video (e.g. party anthem rock) for 3-6 mins on alternate nights.... i havent excercise in years so i am kinda starting slow.