How come I only lost 1 lb?

Weight loss is never linear. It's taken me 2 years to lose a little over 100 pounds. We all have a week here and there where you don't lose as much - if at all. Also, adding exercise into the mix can cause you to have water retention as muscles repair - especially if you've never been really active.

Are you weighing (with a food scale) and measuring every bite of food that goes in? Make sure your logging is as tight as it can be. Don't overestimate your exercise calories. Eat enough protein to keep you from feeling too hungry.

Most importantly? Have a lot of patience.

Yes! Whatthey say is true You will see ups and downs but if you look at the trend it should be, overall, slowly down Dont set yourself up for failure by high expectations It took me over two years to drop 80 plus pounds

weight loss isn't linear

Exactly! Just don't give up! If I gave up each time the scale didn't budge, or had showed a gain, I would not have lost what I have so far. Keep with it, keep doing what you are doing and you will see results. Best wishes to you on your road to getting healthy!

I'm sure you are doing all that you can, but, I noticed you didn't make you diary public. Do you make your diary public to your friends. It is a good way to be sure you keep honest. Since joining MFP, I often notice that those who complain about not losing enough admit that they aren't showing their diaries to anyone or they will admit that they aren't even logging. Or they admit they aren't trying any sort of exercise. Logging every bite and your exercise is probably the #1 tool to success. Letting others see it just makes you accountable. I show mine to my friends. They don't criticize, but they do give good feedback if asked and it keeps me honest knowing they can look.

If you go from no exercise and start exercising your muscles retain water. The get little tears in them and fill with water to repair them so that is why the weigh more, once the water is lost you'll see a big loss one week. Keep it up!

1 pound a week equals 4 pounds a month, which also equals 48 pounds in a year, so I have to say that is quite impressive if you can accomplish that. Just keep that in mind and keep up the good work. Never lose hope even if you see no changes on the scale for week or two. Never forget that.

Don't get discouraged by the scale. You could be building up muscle and as others have said when you start an exercise program your body has to adjust. Just keep doing what you are doing. I only lost 1 pound this week and I've been running on the treadmill 3 miles a day, but I know I lost something because my clothes are getting baggy.

Please don't get "Biggest Loser" syndrome. The timeline on their losses is not necessarily from week to week. You have done very well on the path to good sustainable weight loss. Don't get discouraged. This is never easy.

As long as you continue to follow a good plan, the weight will come off and in a way that will teach you how to keep it off by the time you get where you want to get.

I found that focusing on the average pounds lost rather then the weekly helps. It is easy to get frustrated when you know that you have a really long journey to get to your goal and it seems like you aren't moving fast enough. I started THIS journey by not concentrating on how much i had to lose, but on making changes and creating habits that i could live with long term. Some weeks the weight comes off fast for no reason and then gains for no reason. The scale can be frustrating, but you need to focus on your small successes that are not related to how many pounds came off.

It's very hard to not to get discouraged, but please do learn to set realistic goals. It took me awhile to learn that 2 lbs per week is really very high in weight loss terms and will not be achievable when I lose more. I had heard for years that 1-2 lbs was healthy, and also that larger people lose more (and then, yeah, Biggest Loser Syndrome) so it was a shock to me to learn that that is really higher end and most people can't lose that much sustainably.

I've also learned the hard way that changes to exercise can mean weight gain/less weight loss, as can eating meals heavy in sodium (even when they fit in my calories/macros for the day). Mostly, it's about learning that it is a process and that you are looking for overarching trends. The scale is only one measure of progress - and it is a frustrating one, because it is constantly in flux - it is only true for that moment that you are on it. An hour later, it will be different because you've eaten or not eaten or used the bathroom, or the moon is full.

Take measurements and pictures of yourself and give yourself a variety of means to measure progress. It's never going to be constant and direct, and it will often be frustrating and the opposite of immediate. When it comes to figuring things out, you just have to tweak and adjust, but you can't know if you are tweaking/adjusting correctly or not because you have to give it weeks. For years, I was in the mindset of wanting to see immediate, huge results and when I didn't, I was frustrated and often quit because things weren't working (and often were not sustainable anyway). Now it's realizing this is a lifelong process at which I'll hit various points (fewer calories, more calories, workouts, maintenance, hopefully another pregnancy or two) so patience is key. Which isn't to say I don't get frustrated! I was at 307 (306 on Tuesday) and today I'm at 308. But I just take the average and know I'm doing the right things and if it doesn't show up tomorrow, then it probably will next week.

And you know what? You lost a pound! That's FANTASTIC! That is one more pound GONE. It probably doesn't feel like much, especially with the effort you put it - but it is. Those 'small' losses add up. I was feeling down last week and my husband pointed out that I'd lost FORTY pounds. It snuck up on me. That's the most weight I've ever lost in my life. In a few weeks, you'll be saying the same thing. Hang in there, chin up, keep going!

Just keep going. Also, keep in mind that when you start a new exercise program, you will retain water to aid in repair.

Just give it time. You will have weeks where you lose a lot, weeks where you lose a little, weeks where you lose nothing, and weeks where you gain. It'll all trend downward if you just keep going.