discouraged

was today your weigh in?

Welcome to MFP and well wishes to you on your journey. You're making life style changes, these changes do take time, and patience and dilligence, and dedication, and motivation and so on. Keep on track and you will see success, each week you will probably see something different from the scale... that's okay! :flowerforyou:

I started this on Monday. Every day I wake up I don't want to do this. I hate it. It's so hard for me. It's a control issue. But everyday so far I've been so happy to report that I've hung on. Food is like an addiction for me and it consumes my every thought. Pathetic I know but it's the truth and I've got to face the truth in order to do this. Don't give up. Your having a down day/week but you will have ups too. Don't forget that!

Don't be discouraged! I didn't lost this week either! Everyone has bad weeks, and it seems like a lot of people had a bad week the past week!! Drink lots of water and keep up the healthy eating and exercising!


If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!!!

What would you weigh now if you hadn't started this? I've tried before on my own without any guidance. I find that MFP has given me the guidance and support I need. The messages on the message boards are from complete strangers, but yet hearing what they are feeling and thinking has helped me a lot. And when I have a question or want to check what the answer to someone else's question is, the message board is the place to be! I have learned a lot from fellow MFPers!! Don't put so much pressure on yourself (which I do too) because progress has not been what you would like that you want to just quit. Being discouraged is common because, at least to me, losing weight is HARD!! But I just keep reminding myself that the reward will be worth it.

For a lot of us who have had real long-term success here it's been a real lifestyle change. Patience is the most important thing here, and patience gets a lot easier once you accept one important thing and make your peace with it. And that is - - -:

This is not a "diet". This is not something that you will do for a while until the scale says a certain number, and then you can go back to your old ways. Well,,, Ok, you COULD do that, and then you'll probably yo-yo right back up to your start weight.

If you wish to be trim and healthy and take good care of yourself - this is how you will live the rest of your life. The first several months are the hardest, you'll be on really strict calorie control until you reach a weight/size/fitness level that you're satisfied with, and from there you'll go into "maintenance" where you don't have to be so strict and it's easier. But the days of just shoving whatever you want in your mouth are over. You'll always be conscious of your eating and your exercise and your activity level. This is just what some of us have to do if we wish to be healthy and look good and feel good. No - life isn't fair, but c'est la vie.

Once you accept that it's not going to end, it gets easier to be patient. The good news is that it gets easier. Once the habits get formed it all becomes 2nd nature and it's simple.

I promise you it's worth it. "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" is absolutely true. You're about to experience something amazing and it's fun and interesting and SO worthwhile.

Anywho, here's my standard welcome aboard post:

welcome aboard! You can do this,,, just choose to do it, and do it.

This is easy - here's all ya' gotta do:

Cook smart, lotsa good filling stuff. Some fruits, lotsa veggies, some grains-cereals, some starchy stuff, some lean meat. Almost nothing fried (and certainly nothing batter dipped & deep fried), and very very little pastry/cakey stuff.

Count your calories accurately with the food guide here, and stay as close to your calorie allowance as you reasonably can. If you cook properly you shouldn't be too uncomfortable on the calorie allowance MFP will give you.

Get some exercise - work that gym, walk a little every day, something - that's a huge help. Remember to log your exercise and eat at least some (I eat most) of your exercise calories. Exercise is a self-feeding phenomenon. If you push yourself to do just a little today (it's supposed to be hard,,, it's exercise ) then you'll feel better about it and it'll be easier to do it again tomorrow. Then in a week you'll be able to do more, and it'll start to get fun. In a year you might be running 10k's,,, it's up to you.

And drink your water!

That's it, piece o' cake. Wife and I have been doing it for about a year now and we've done well. Lost about 130 pounds between us, and we're in much better shape. You can do it too.

"Do - or do not. There is no 'try"
Yoda.

Yeah, keep it up. Weight loss is not linear. I was 212 lbs. 35 days ago but I lost the most weight in the first two weeks (12 lbs.). Then the next 3 weeks my scale stayed at 201! For THREE weeks of staying under my calories! This morning I weighed 197 for a total of 15 pounds in five weeks. But I DID NOT lose 3 pounds each week. It doesn't work that way, the weekly weight loss is an average over the course of staying on track with your calories.

So don't get discouraged! It will work. If you eat less calories than you burn you WILL lose weight. It's physics.

ARE YOU DOING CARDIO? IF YOU ARE DOING CARDIO YOU HAVE TO EXPECT SOME SLOW RESULTS AT 1ST, MAYBE EVEN A GAIN DUE TO FLUID RETENTION AND MUSCLE SWELLING BUT IF YOU KEEP AT IT IT WILL COME OFF. ALSO IF YOU ARE PMS-ING OR MENSTRUATING YOU WILL SHOW A GAIN OR ZERO LOSS. ALSO IF YOUR CALORIC INTAKE IS TO LOW YOUR BODY WILL GO INTO STARVATION AND YOU WILL NOT LOSE WEIGHT. KEEP TRYING AND ADJUSTING AND IT WILL COME OFF I PROMISE!!!
WHEN I 1ST STARTED TRYING TO DROP MY BABY WEIGHT I WAS GETTING NO-WHERE! BUT I MADE ADJUSTMENTS UNTIL MY BODY REPONDED AND NOW I HAVE LOST 8.5LBS! SO KEEP TRYING. KEEP LOGGING IN. KEEP DRINKING WATER! YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

Something you should remember as well. The first week you probably lost a lot of retained water weight. I did exactly that I lost about 3 lbs when I first started exercising (I was 235), then I joined this site at 232. I lost 1lb the next week, then I lost .4 lbs the week after that - might as well have been nothing. The next week I lost nothing. It was VERY discouraging. I cried and everything. My husband talked me into sticking with it. He reminded me of why I was doing this (I have a 2 year old son who needs a mommy that can play with him). I stuck with it and then.... last week I lost 4.8 lbs!!

It is a roller coaster... you are doing the right thing by reaching out for help and encouragement! I will add you as a friend. Feel free to accept if you would like. I am happy to encourage, advise, support, listen, or whatever else you need :O)

Just hang in there!! It will come. )