need some encouragment

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ominousdusk
ominousdusk Posts: 62 Member
What do you tell yourself, or what do you do when you are doing everything "right" but your weight and measurements haven't budged in weeks?
nothing has happened in a month and im trying not to let it get to me but just having a down day and i dont want to quit yet.

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  • Brigit723
    Brigit723 Posts: 58 Member
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    I constantly remind myself that the "vanity effects" may be slowing down but the health benefits are still adding up. Also, that eventually there will be a day when there is a drastic difference in the numbers but that giving up now means that difference will be in the wrong direction. I hope your day improves!
  • jassnip
    jassnip Posts: 116 Member
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    Then don't quit. Think of the reverse, if you quit, what will that get you? If you eat a bunch of carbs is that going to move you closer to your goals? Do you feel good? Ignoring the whole scale and measurement thing for a moment, can you honestly say you'd feel better if you went of the rails? I'm guessing prolly not.

    You got this! I'm looking at your pic and you look adorable.
  • KenSmith108
    KenSmith108 Posts: 1,966 Member
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  • tcunbeliever
    tcunbeliever Posts: 8,219 Member
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    I usually take photos or a good hard look in the mirror - most of the time I can see improvements in the way my muscles and fluff look even if nothing is changing on the measurements or scale...or, keep a fit test log and do another fit test - seeing improvements there is also very encouraging.
  • ProCoffeenator
    ProCoffeenator Posts: 523 Member
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    Don't quit!
    Everyone has pretty much said what I could say.
    You've got this! You have come this far, nobody likes to came back later with regrets of stopping !
  • VictoriaEllis1984
    VictoriaEllis1984 Posts: 45 Member
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    I am where you are at at the moment. The scales haven't budged for 3 weeks now. But do not worry!! It is likely your body is changing composition. I am assuming you are exercising so are developing muscle mass. The same weight of muscle will occupy less physical mass than the same weight of fat, however, the scales will not reflect this. You could take some measurements of your waist, hips, bum, bust etc. and then do it again in a months time as this will reflect where your body composition is changing. So here it is likely you are physically smaller, but have the same weight. Look at yourself in the mirror and if you feel you are slimming up, then chances are you have!

    Also, you need to consider where you are at with your period as you can put on 5-10lb in body water on the run up to that wonderful week. It comes off again when everything is done, so perhaps wait until you are mid cycle before you weigh yourself again. I have personally put on about 4lb pre period and then mid cycle dropped 2lb lower than what I was before all that water weight appeared.

    Make sure you are getting enough sleep as this is when your body repairs itself. Also, if you are going through a stressful time, your body releases a whole concoction of nasties that put you in fight or flight which increases hunger to replenish energy and will store more of your intake (as fat) to deal with the 'threat'. Go to bed a bit early with a cup of fruity tea and have a read, or a nice hot bath with your fav essential oil to soothe away the stress works a treat!

    One more thing to consider is where you are at with your diet. When you first start, it seems to fall off, particularly on a low carb diet, however, once it has reached the point where it is fat burning, things start to slow up. This does not mean you are doing anything wrong, is just that progress doesn't seem so spectacular. What worked at the beginning might not be as effective now you are leaner and meaner. Take a look at your macros and have a tinker with your ratios as your body might need a different combo now your composition is different.

    Above all, if you feel good within yourself, then you have already reached a goal that so many people do not reach. Maintaining that feeling is so important!

    Good luck, and do not give up!!

    Victoria
  • toadqueen
    toadqueen Posts: 592 Member
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    You can do it!!

    Maybe stay off the scales for a little while?

    I'm doing this for my health and not just vanity though that is a factor. Sometimes it is very difficult but then I remember how awful I feel when I don't eat this way or I transgress and then have a very real reminder. If I falter, I remind myself about how I was successful in eating this way in the past and lost 98 lbs in 10 months and that I felt so much better, that I no longer need to shoot insulin 3 x's per day, and that I love the food that I am eating...
  • sarahthes
    sarahthes Posts: 3,252 Member
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    I take a good, long hard look at how I've been eating. If I'm sure that I've been sticking to my plan (or at least close enough to it that I should still be losing, if maybe at a slower rate), I just keep going. I yo-yo'd in about a 3 lb range for most of the last half of July and first half of August, but now I'm 10 lbs down from my mid-July weight, and down 20 lbs since June 1. I'd never really had 'whoosh'ing before, but it does happen and it's creepy when it does. I was just retaining a ton of water (in my case, I went over on carbs while traveling in mid-July, and combined with new birth control and hot weather that was all she wrote). The bloat even masked any lost inches, it was crazy.
  • kpk54
    kpk54 Posts: 4,474 Member
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    Remember why you started.
  • sammyliftsandeats
    sammyliftsandeats Posts: 2,421 Member
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    Don't stop believing...hold on to that feeling!
  • kmn118
    kmn118 Posts: 313 Member
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    I try to think of those slow loss or no loss periods as good practice for lifelong maintenance. That helps me stay positive. And I look at the parts of my body that I like now instead of thinking about all the parts that still frustrate me.

    Hang in there! Don't give up on yourself. Weight loss is a long game, you're not sprinting to the finish line.

    Very well said. The scale and the tape are only 2 measurements of healing our bodies. Knowing that my food is healing rather than harming empowers me to stay the course.
  • supergal3
    supergal3 Posts: 523 Member
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    I think everyone on this forum has felt that way at some point in their journey. Just hang in there for the long run, it is a marathon and not a sprint.
  • cstehansen
    cstehansen Posts: 1,984 Member
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    Think about it like an earthquake. You don't see the pressure/tension below the surface, but then all of a sudden you see a big change. Much of life is like that. How often when you were in school or work and learning something but not quite getting it and then had that "ah-ha" moment where all of a sudden it made sense?

    Right now, you are building that foundation doing the right things. You have to stick with it and, at some point, you will look back and say, "wow" at the improvement you see.

    I don't remember the exact timelines, but there is a saying of something like, change begins to happen in 4 weeks, others start noticing at 6 weeks but the you don't notice it on yourself for 10 weeks.
  • RalfLott
    RalfLott Posts: 5,036 Member
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    1. Eat nothing but Twinkies for 2 days; "if" that doesn't do the trick,

    2. Add Doritos for the next 5 days; then

    3. Ruminate on how much you'd give to be back where you'd been just a week earlier!
  • ominousdusk
    ominousdusk Posts: 62 Member
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    Thank you all! I feel a lot better today. I think maybe it might be sugar alcohols like someone mentioned. I look a good look at my diet and the only thing different the last 2 weeks was that I bought a Carb Smart Ice Cream that had only 4g of net carbs but it had a lot of sugar alcohols in it. I was only having 1 serving a night, but maybe that might have been enough? Things were going ok up until then, so im not going to buy that again i'll watch my sugar alcohols from now on.
  • treehugnmama
    treehugnmama Posts: 816 Member
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    I look at progress pics...read success stories...remind myself weight loss is a happy side affect but the woe is for my health BP is normal insulin getting g there just keep going....that's what I tell me