I lost only four pounds the first month.

It all really depends on calories in vs calories out. If your "cheat meals" are taking you way over your calories then that could be a problem. if you aren't logging and weighing everything you eat then you might be eating more than you realize. One pound per week is a very good accomplishment. Don't get so down on yourself. Just know that some weeks you'll lose more and some weeks less. This is a journey and not a sprint. Sorry

How many calories are you eating in a day? Weighing and measuring everything? Are weekends a free for all or do you keep an eye on your cheat meals? A lb a week is successful, though so be proud of this.
I don't usually do "cheat" meals or weekend's because it derails me, I can easily undo my week's work. I plan for meals to fit I to my weekly goal.
Also, your exercise schedule is similar to mine ...newbie gains? Pay attention how your clothes fit, take body measurements. I have times where I think I stall out but my clothes are loose and I have lost inches.

Four pounds in a month is terrific and right in line with healthy weight loss. My advice is the following:

1) Weigh, measure and track all of your food everyday. This includes your "cheat meals." If you consistently operate at a caloric deficit, you'll lose weight over time.

2) I think the concept of "cheat meals" can sabotage an otherwise good plan. The implication of "cheating" is that you're doing something sneaky. Your body doesn't recognize sneaky behavior from deliberate behavior. It just responds to calories in and calories out no matter how much you enjoyed those calories. Ask yourself if you're undoing your weekly efforts on the weekend.

3) Weight loss isn't linear, so trying to figure out how much weight you can lose by July will likely lead to frustration and disappointment. Forty pounds in five months is aggressive for someone your size. My advice is to change your expectations and to focus on consistent eating behaviors that lead to weight loss versus the number on the scale.

4) Take measurements. The number on the scale is only one indication that you're changing your appearance.

5) Be nice to yourself while you're losing. Persistence not perfection.

Good luck!

1 pound a week is a healthy rate to lose weight. There's nothing wrong with losing 4lbs in the first month. It's still 4 pounds down from your starting weight. It's still progress. Having high expectations isn't always a good thing and rushing things isn't a good thing either

Weight loss just takes time

Great job! Keep at it!

It’s working. Can you see yourself living like you are long term? If you can, allow for some time and you’ve made it.

I urge you to drop the time oriented goal. Time wrecks people here by the bus load. July? Yeah, you may want to be at goal for a trip or something. Just focus on a sustainable downward trend, you’ll have other trips. If you do this right you need only do it once.

you did pretty good.. when you shock your body with diet and exercise you will lose more slowly at first. The body retains a lot of fluid when you work out ..sometimes holding on to it for up to six weeks or more. Google.. 'does exercise make me gain weight.' read the articles.

way better than gaining 4 lbs

bluebell90 wrote: »

Thank you all for your replies. I think I will need to eliminate my cheat meals altogether or keep it within my calorie limit. Weekends revolve around lunches and dinners out with my husband or our friends, and it's so hard to see them all tuck into everything without a care while I count calories, so I end up eating without keeping calories in mind, even though I restrict myself to a maximum of two such cheat meals.

I just hope the 4 pounds I lost is not just water weight and that I have lost some fat too. Will keep going at it, and maybe March will be a better month.

As somebody else said, depending on how hard you're going in the gym, it's actually possible that you've got a bit of water RETENTION rather than loss, so don't count yourself out yet. it's entirely possible you're due for a heck of a water weight 'whoosh'. If you hadn't been going to the gym at all before you started your weight loss effort there's a chance that as your body repairs itself it's holding on to water. I can empathise with how discouraging it might be if you put in a month of hardcore effort, don't see the results you hope for, then foresee months and months ahead of you with that huge effort for small gains consistently. Don't lose heart quite yet; it's early days.

One other thing to think about, though, is that in order for this 'diet' (or whatever you are calling it) to be successful for the long term, you do still have to enjoy your life. If your life's routine is that you go out with family and friends, I personally would call that a life enrichment tradeoff for a couple of pounds 'not lost' per month. When we think of diets in terms of 'I have to lose X pounds in Y months' then the flip side of that mindset is that, upon reaching that goal one thinks to themselves, 'Well I'm done now, I can go back to eating normally.' But it doesn't really work that way. In fact, from what I've seen and heard both on MFP and in life in general, this seems to be a recipe for gaining it all back.

Instead, if you think of all this as a long-term lifestyle change, then I suspect it would mean leaving in the lunches and dinners with husband and friends because those kinds of interactions are what make life worth living in the first place. Each time you go significantly over your allotted calories, it means you hit your ultimate goal weight a day or so later, right? So in the longview, does it matter that much? But anyway, if you leave your weekends as is, instead of thinking of them as 'cheats' and simply not tracking the calories at all, think of them as moments of emotional fulfilment that you're 'buying' with your gym workouts. And also, even if you eat and/or drink a lot on those days, just do your best to track whatever you've consumed accurately. That way, even if you don't lose as quickly as you'd hoped, at least you lose at close to an expected rate according to what is recorded in your log instead of being surprised that you lost more and less than hoped without actually knowing much about how much you've consumed.

If this is a lifestyle change then don't exile yourself from the most meaningful parts of your life in the process (unless there is some medical reason why you need to lose a certain amount within a certain window of time).