Confused & Discouraged...

Weight loss is not linear. You will fluctuate and have good weeks and bad weeks. If you get discouraged every time, it's just going to take that much longer to achieve your goal. Chin up and keep working hard. It will happen for you!

Try eating the calories that you burn during your workouts. You'll feel better and have more energy for your workouts.

You need to understand your body. You will fluctuate up and down, when you feel you should have lost you will gain. But know that your watching what goes in.. Good nutrition, your exercising, so your body is improving whether the scale says it or not. Your body will begin to tone and you will notice you can do things easier, breath easier, last longer doing certain activities. Don't expect to lose it fast and easy. You didn't gain it that way it happened over time. Be patient with your body, stick to your healthy program and exercise and you will start seeing good results. Good Luck...

Hi, JoAnn
I'm Shalla. Just want to say we weigh the same amount! Also, if your working out even 3 days a week you should go up in your intake. 1200 and weight loss only lasts so long. Your body needs more. You may be gaining muscle hence muscle weighs more than fat. You may be losing inches. Don't depend on the scale to make you feel better. Work hard and eat better. You'll see the results you want in due time. Keep at it! LOVE ZUMBA!

Most people fluctuate when they lose weight & it's not that they're doing anything wrong at all. I wouldn't be surprised if you lost 2lbs of fat & gained 2lbs of muscle that week - it would look on the scale like you didn't go anywhere, when you actually had more progress than the week before. Plus muscle burns more fat and makes your clothes fit better. My first 2-3 weeks working out I could tell my body was changing for the better, but it took almost 3 weeks before any loss showed up on the scale. Within the first week I didn't have to pull my stomach up to put on my pants anymore, so it was encouraging to stick with it. You HAVE to stick with it & not give up just because you had a bad day or week. Everyone has those. EVERYONE. It means you're human.

Stick with it

It was been a rough start for me too

what worked for me:

1) forget what the scale says (hide it if you have to)
2) take your measurements(gauge weight loss from measurements, what you feel in your clothes and see in the mirror)
3) eat back excercise calories if you are only eating 1200 and not your excercise cals you aren't netting the 1200 your body needs
4) calculate out your BMR and TDEE (know how much you should be eating)
5) have a support system (MFP friends are great!)
6) keep with it, it is not always gonna be easy you will get discouraged the hardest part is to KEEP GOING!

Good luck and if you need suppport motivation feel free to add me

Stay at it. It is like that for me. I am down 18.5 lbs since end of Feb now (started at 169 lbs and I am 5 ft 0). Just 2 or 3 days ago I thought I had hit a plateau because it had been a while since I lost anything then boom, 2 lbs down. I also have to credit drinking LOTS of water. ( I have a 27 oz bottle I fill at least 3x a day)

Also some weeks the scale shows no loss yet I FEEL lighter and my jeans got a little less tight. Hang in there.

( oh yeah, and I have also been married 20 years and have 4 children

Also the more you exercise you gain mussel which ways more than fat...bet you lost inches.

YES YES YES. this happened to me all the time. Don't get discouraged if you know you are doing everything right keep it up. I find that I show real loses two weeks out of the month...so the week that I ovulate and the week of my period I either gain 2-3lbs or stay the same (usually gain at least 2 lbs). I'm ovulating this week so I shouldnt have even weighed myself today but I did and I gained 4lbs in a day, I counted calories and know that's impossible to have gained 4 pounds of fat with the amount I ate. Take into consideration water retention and don't obsess about weight so much (I have to remind myself of this all the time)- there are so many other factors such as muscle gain, water retention and time of day you weigh yourself..... that's one pound you gained and three that you have kept off! that is great Healthy/reasonable loss is about 1-2 lbs a week. Try taking measurements and take pictures! I stay the same weight sometimes but when I measure I'm smaller and pants that used to fit me tight are now looser

It is really hard for me when I don't lose! I have learned on here from all these wonderful people, that it's normal to fluctuate. One night I weighed myself and I had gained 3 pounds. The next morning I weighed and I had lost 4..
This weight loss business is totally unpredictable and makes no logical sense to me!

I think i have given up in the past when I had a gain, especially if I was working hard and following the plan. The thing is to keep at it no matter what. That's what makes the difference. The only failure is to give up!! Don't give up if you overeat sometimes either. You are developing new, healthy, permanent eating habits so it may take a while to get into your routine, but as long as you keep at it, you will succeed!!

When I am having a really rough day, I go browse through the Success Stories. A lot of them will tell you that the journey wasn't a direct route, but see what they accomplished even with weight gain and fluctuating eating habits along the way. The common thread is that they all kept at it through all the ups and downs until they got what they wanted for themselves. You can do that too:drinker:

You gotta keep it up. I've been working out and dieting for 7 months... and I've only lost 12 lbs. That's not even 2 pounds a month. I got discouraged a lot, but I kept it up. I also can't weigh myself in the weeks before/during my menstrual cycle, because that makes my numbers look even worse.

But even though the scale hasn't changed much, I've gone from dress size 10-12 down to 6. My coworkers are noticing that I'm swimming in my now-too-big pants. So I know -something- is changing in me despite the results on the scale seeming minimal

Ignore the scale for a long while if you can! Keep going!

I fluctuate quite often. Remember that you are also new to logging in info on a daily basis. You have to log things for a few weeks and see what has worked and what does not. You also may need to do more that 1200 calories. I recently got on the Heart rate monitor kick. Try wearing one to Zumba and see what you burn. Then you can determine if you should eat more or less through the day. Congrats on what you have accomplished thus far. Keep on pushing!

Hey Everybody! My name is JoAnna. I am a 36 year old, mama of 4, married for 20 yrs. I'm new to MFP. I'm 5'1 168 lbs. Trying to lose 40lbs. My first week of counting my calories & staying within 1200 a day with some moderate exercise, I lost 4 lbs!!!!! The following week I worked just as hard, stuck to my 1200 cals. and did Zumba every other day...... I lost nothing, in fact I gained 1 lb.!!! I don't understand why this happened! Since Sunday I have been so discouraged that I threw myself off track and have been feeling really crappy. Has this happened to anyone else? Please help.....

JoAnna,
I sympathize with you, I've had similar experience. My suggestion for you is to contact your doctor so they can tell you how many calories you should be consuming per day. Once you get that information, try to stick to it as close as possible, and don't forget to log every thing you eat. It helps to be real honest when trying to lose weight. Also, when you weigh yourself, make sure it's at the same time each week, like MFP says, in the morning before breakfast. Then you have to keep in mind that women have days of the month when we bloat and crave, so don't let gaining a few pounds discourage you because it could just be PMS. I say stick with it, I've been through the disappointment and discouragement and not losing, however, I've been losing steadily now for 12 weeks, due to my work with my doctor, persistence and determination to get this weight off. If you like you can add me as a friend, we can experience this together. Losing weight is more than a notion. Keep us updated!