Week 2 and 3 are usually when people stall for a week or 2. It is very common just keep eating right stop studying the scale of it discourages you in this time. It will start dropping off again if your eating right trust me.

It sounds to me like you are doing everything right! 7 lbs is awesome...stay the course and all will be well. Ketostix are notoriously unreliable but if I remember, ANY signs of ketosis means that its working.

15 lbs would be a lot of weight to lose and probably a maximum loss - for a very overweight man as men lose weight more easily than women do..

As for the weight gain, if you are on plan it won't be fat gain...just water. I've been at this for 7 months and my weight goes up and down all the time, but the general trend is downward.

Check out the launch pad in the stickies at the top of the page - there's lots of good info in there that helps navigate the early phases.

You're doing great!

Don't get discouraged. There are tons of reasons for stalls and even small gains here and there along the way. I typically go down, hold my weight for a few days, then I go up a smidge, then back down to a new low weight. As long as the trend keeps going down I'm happy! Don't give up! Most likely you are doing everything right.

Congrats on losing 7 lbs your first week! That's very exciting I have a LOT of weight to lose and have been pretty darn strict with my eating habits and it took me 30 days to lose my first 15 lbs.

7lbs is awesome. Your only error may be unrealistic expectations. I can loose up to 12lb in a month or as little as 0 -0.5 lb. Wishing you success n patience to ride this roller coaster with us.

Dragonwolf wrote: »

I think weight loss reality shows have given people in general an unrealistic expectation of weight loss amounts. I see it so many times where people "only" lose 5, 7, 8 pounds in a week or two and wonder what they've done wrong. You've done nothing wrong! Losing that in a month is fantastic, let alone a week or two!

Exactly.
We have to remember that these people have trainers and pretty much do nothing but exercise and eat lowfat/lowcal diets. And a cadre of doctors are waiting in the wings for when (not if) they get sick or injured in the doing. Losing that much weight weekly, unless you have a lot more than 100lb to lose, isn't typical. And sometimes isn't safe.




Normal human beings can safely lose 1-3lb per week consistently in a healthy way. It's more realistically to expect the average to be 1lb/week though. Provided, of course, you are being consistent. If you only have 20lb to lose, expect a half lb loss.

I had 102lb to lose. I lost big in the first few months, but it slowed over time. The average ended up being 2.5lb/week in the first 6 months or so. It slowed down further after that. A lot.

Further, as has been mentioned, your body pauses, making changes in composition and/or retaining water. That's NORMAL to experience.

Unfortunately, weight loss requires time and patience. And it isn't going to be a straight line downward. There WILL be bumps and plateaus. It's the nature of the beast. And yeah, it's hard stuff. But it will happen. It's best to not get too upset about it. The key to that is to realize all that we have said as true and accept it. You'll get there. Time has to pass first though. How much time depends on how much you have to lose, genetics, your health, and your personal metabolism and metabolic history.