Discouraged Early on.....HELP!

I agree that you should be patient. You are developing new habits. Give it time. There are all kind of ways to measure progress other than a number on the scale.
Work on logging everything you eat and drink as accurately as possible. Only eat back half of the calories that you earn from exercise.
Plan your meals. I find it helpful to pre-log my whole day in advance so I can see how things fit and make better choices.

Adding my 2 cents, this is my third time around using mfp to lose the same 15 pounds (love my babies, hate this part!). I found for me that it's important that I weigh myself once a week, first thing in the morning - before I do *anything* else, I use the bathroom then strip down and weigh. I chose Friday because I'm much more diligent during the week and seeing the scale change gives me the motivation to stick with it through the weekend. My weight fluctuates a lot during the course of the day, but this method tends to show my true progress. Also my first time through I felt like I was always hungry so I upped my calories but then saw almost no change for almost 3 weeks (very discouraging!) so I lowered my calories back down to 1200 and focused on eating good nutrient dense food with the staying power to keep me full. My go-to include: Plains old fashioned oatmeal - made ahead and portioned for a quick fix, with 1/4 cup of almond milk, 1 serving of sf maple syrup and a dash of cinnamon. 2 eggs, cooked over easy, on a single people of multi-grain toast, 100 calorie Greek yogurt (if your taste buds are not accustomed to the taste of Greek yogurt start with the honey flavor - I found it the most 'mild'), roasted, seasoned broccoli, seasoned chicken breast over spinach with 2 tablespoons of shredded cheese and an oil based dressing. I make 4 or 5 chicken breasts up at a time - season with Mrs Dash or another salt-free seasoning, so they are be easy to grab. I also found spinach salad easier to eat when I chopped the spinach up so it's more the consistency of shredded lettuce. I let myself snack on as much veggies as I wanted. Buy and prep carrots, sweet bell peppers (yellow and orange), cucumbers, and celery. Cut up and put zip locks in the fridge so that when you feel the need to snack you can reach to them as easily as a bag of chips or handful of crackers. (keep cut cucumbers fresh by putting water in the zip lot and adding a squeeze of lemon juice). Allot yourself enough calories to have a filling dip/spread with your veggies at least once a day and have that when you need it most (for me it was that 230/300 window). It is also an easy thing to bring to work so that you don't end up at th vending machine when the hunger strikes. I am no expert, and I'm certainly not claiming to be, I just know what works for me! Keep at it, it's worth it.

I would suggest getting a food scale and weighing your food. There is an awesome thread in general weight loss and support called Calorie Counting 101. It's near the top. A great read! I thought I was tracking my calories accurately before, but boy was I wrong!

annam3627 wrote: »

ok, I'm going into week 4... I still have lost NO pounds. This is very discouraging. Especially when MFP says in 5 weeks you should weigh this... well "this" is like 10 lbs from now... my 5th week is a week away. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I follow my calorie count, I still having calories left at the end of the day. I've continued to exercise, not vigorously, but some. I'm currently on a losing 1lb per week... should I up it to 2lbs? Cut my calories down? *sigh* I'm needing motivation .... AGAIN. Any input please!

I just finished a week of being discouraged because I didn't see the results I was hoping for on the scale or in the measures. Are you also taking measuremments? Remember, muscle weighs more than fat. I'm on day 32 and am finally getting the hang of what foods to eat and what to eat in moderation. I weigh everything that goes into my mouth. I record everything right down to my coffee and what goes in it. Eventually this becomes routine. You will lose the weight if you this and stay within your calorie count. As Jillian Michaels says all the time, your body has to put out more than in puts in. Sometimes I cheat and step on the scale mid week to see how I'm doing. This gives me time to change things up before my weekly weigh in. I hope this helps some because I can totally understand where you are coming from.

I weigh every week and sometimes the scale is nice and other times very cruel, but guess what I weigh all my foods diligently and log everything so I KNOW I am eating in a deficit so regardless what the scale said, I will not let that stress me out. I can feel my clothes a bit looser, I look for non scale victories now after 5 weeks on this journey. I also took measurements so I know I am losing inches. Take pictures lots of pictures so you can compare. The scale is not 100% reliable it runs on batteries and our bodies sometimes retain water, as women our bodies are constantly working(menstrual, bloating, water retaining), whatever the case maybe. If you are doing what you need to be and having a caloric deficit you will lose weight and your body, as well as the scale will eventually show it. I say give it a few more weeks and you might be surprised. Good luck and dont give up, you are closer to your goal today then you was yesterday!!!!!!