This has been a topic that I've had floating around for a while. I've seen the occasional post from someone who had lost 12 pounds in 2 weeks and then had "stalled" for a week. Why aren't they losing the big numbers? Or another one, where they were targeting to lose 10 pounds a month, and they keto calculator only had them eating 900 calories a day.

When I first started Low Carb - and then later, Keto - I saw all of these amazing stories of people who had lost huge amounts of weight in a short period of time. I was a lurker on the Keto subreddit.

Let's look at some of the current highlights over there.
Down 100 pounds since end of August 2012 (7 months!) --- 14 pounds a month!
30 pounds gone! (since January 24th -- 2 months) -- 15 pounds a month!
18 pounds gone ~ 1.5 months of keto! -- 12 pounds a month!!!

These are all from the last 24 hours.

And when I started my journey, I started mapping out my weight loss based on these reports. Wow! I can be down to goal weight by next summer (90 pounds in 9 months). I'll lose 10 pounds a month - that'll be great!

And then reality hit. Except for that first month, I didn't lose 10 pounds per month. I felt like a failure. I was losing a measly 1.5 pounds a week. My weight loss felt like a crawl. I kept hoping that it would start shifting into high gear like so many others experience, but that's not what happened to me. I think this is the stage for many people where they decide it's not worth it - they aren't losing like those other people, they feel down, and decide it's not worth it. They must be doing something wrong, and it's time to throw in the towel.

I was bummed. Again, I felt like I was failing on this. All I seemed to see were these super-awesome results with people losing at much faster rates. Then I stopped, and decided that maybe 1.5 pounds a week would be ok - still better then I did on Weight Watchers, after all (and I get bacon!). I started re-mapping my weight loss based on losing 10 pounds every 2 months. Nothing changed in my keto plans - just my expectations. And when I repeatedly hit that 10 pounds every 2 months (vs failing to hit 10 pounds every 1 month) it went from feeling like I was a failure to a huge success. Month after month has passed, and I've been able to maintain that.

Now it's 6 1/2 months later, and I'm still losing, on average 1.5 pounds per week. I'm down 43 pounds. I'm pretty damn proud of that, and I still feel so positive about keto -- I know I can sustain this all the way until I hit my goal.

What's the point? Well, we see a lot about the big numbers. A lot of times those big numbers are men, or those that are young (teens or twenties), or have a lot more to lose. Or maybe they are just more dedicated - who knows? Our bodies are different, and it just might be a slower journey for some of us. But if the program is working for you, don't feel like you're failing because you're not seeing those big numbers too; don't be tempted to quit because your numbers aren't as big. Reset those expectations based on what you are doing. For example, when I got to Onederland, I reset my spreadsheet (yes I have a spreadsheet that projects my weight loss into the future) so it showed a loss of 1.25 pounds a week instead of 1.5 pounds a week - just in case I started slowing as I lost. Make it so you will feel like a success on this journey, and not a failure. Because just taking the journey, you ARE a success.