Plateued, discouraged, frustrated, want to quit

And remember, that is a weight loss that people can take 3 months to acheive. Let your body even out and just keep on going, if you do, there is no way you will stay on a plateau forever!

If you've been keeping your diaries (honestly) review them and see what's going on. Are you consuming over 1200 calories a day? If your keeping your diary accurately do you estimate high or low? If you're not tracking your intake, try it. Try a different kind of workout, sometimes your body comes to expect the norm, change it up a bit. I think you just need to reevaluate what you're doing and tweak it accordingly. Good luck.

I know the feeling. I've had weeks like that, but you just have to hang in there and know that the weight will "eventually" melt away. And it does...but just never as fast as we want it to. So don't give up...99% commitment will kill you. It's gotta be 100% or nothing.

Don't quit! You can totally do this. I'd say check a few things. 1) Are you being totally honest with your diary? 2) Are you consuming too much sodium? 3) Are you consuming too little water? 4) When was the last time you changed your workout? Even something as simple as switching to intervals instead of straight jogging can help. 5) Is it possible that you've added some muscle? Make sure you're getting adequate protein after your workouts.

the OP is a Male so I hope he is eating more than 1200 Kcals

It seems when I get to the round numbers....240, 230 I tend to stop losing for a couple weeks. I am sure I did lose inches this time even without weight loss but it is so frustrating to not see that scale move.

Don't give up! Try some different eating, different exercise, confuse your body for a bit and see if it works.

http://i.imgur.com/JkipF.jpg

Great story!

I've done enough "dieting" to finally realize that if you look at it as something you can "quit," you are looking at it wrong. The changes you've made to your eating habits thus far ARE going to make you thinner and healthier, no matter what. It will not occur overnight. It will take many many months before you are where you want to be. When you say you are going to quit.... you realy mean you want to go back to eating the way someone 21 lbs heavier than you are right now would eat. Would that make things better for you? Would it make you happier? I doubt it.

A plateau means nothing in the grand scheme of things... think about it. So you didn't lose some weight for a couple weeks. You do want to be thinner at some point in the future, right? You know that if you keep doing what you're doing, you will lose weight. You do plan on being around in a year or whenever you finally meet your goal. Then there is really no hurry... the only important thing is that you stick with the changes you've made as much as possible... you will lose weight.... its as simple as that.

When you decided you wanted to lose weight, you really decided you are going to make a lifestyle change. No longer will you live like you have been living. You will eat like a much thinner person... you will lose the weight you want to lose. This is a lifestyle change.... not a diet... its not something you can start doing and then stop doing later because you are "done". If you look at it this way, you are setting yourself up for failure. You must be ready to stick with it for the rest of your life, otherwise, you will go back to the way you were.... which, judging by the fact that you're on MFP with the rest of us, is probably not who you want to be.

Enough preaching....

Best of luck.... and keep your head up.... if you're anything like me, a large weight drop is just around the corner.

My first guess/recommendation is to up your calories by at least 200-300 net/day. My no-BS experience:

1st 6wks on MFP: successfully lost 1lb/wk, set for various net intakes, but the average for all those weeks came out to 1500/day

Wks 7-12: big fat plateau, set for various net intakes, but the average for all those weeks came out to 1450/day.

Conclusion: Less is not more, the "eat more to lose" people were right. So right in fact, that even a decrease in just 50 net calories caused my body to hang onto fat anticipating the next decrease.

Wks 12-15: started losing again at about 1lb/wk: set and averaged 1700 net calories/day.

Wk 15 (now): after new body composition results and speaking with trainer, I've just upped again to 1950 net/day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZVfHoTROgQ&feature=related

Whenever I'm discouraged I watch this video and remember this is not something to quit. It is something I am doing for life. I know some people have a problem with the term Lifestyle change, but thats what it is for my wife and I. We eat very clean now. Very little processed food (protein bars and powder, almond milk, salad dressing and seltzer) but everything else we make ourselves. Take a serious look at your diary. if you are eating low calories made up of sugar, carbs and processed food it is pretty much starving if there is no nutritional value. You've lost 21lbs thats incredible. I don't know how much you are overweight, but I know I can fluctuate by ten lbs in a day and if I don't watch the sodium I blow up and can hold buckets of water weight. Take a deep breath and hang in there. I'm guessing from your name you are male. If so join the Men on a mission forum. It's a great group of guys and we motivate each other and the competition is helpful. We are going to have stalls, just hang in there and I seriously watch the video Nick is amazing and makes our journey so doable. I've lost 46 so far and 35 since finding MFP. You can do this if you need cheerleaders friend me and my wife (hootsmamma) She is an awesome cheerleader and motivator. She has MS, but kicks my butt in gear everyday and never gives up.