So frustrated i'm in tears!

OK, I'll admit I didn't read all the post in here so I don't know if this has been mentioned. But I"m going to ask a question.

That 20oz bottle of Mountain Dew you drink everyday. Would you fill that up with water and add 19 tsps of sugar to it?

If your answer is no then think again cuz that's what you are doing. The 1st thing I tell people to cut out of their diet is Soda and see what happens after a week.

I do hope I didn't come across as 'changing everything' overnight. I tried to make it general and suggest ideas that can be done overtime. My apologies if it came across differently than that. Changing our ways of eating is hard and takes time. Rushing that can cause us to get frustrated and fail miserably. Many of us came from eating crap and I do mean crap, chips, cookies, pizza everyday, lots and lots of simply carbs that were empty calories.

I hope my post came across as ideas tossed out to include the kids in the changes so you wouldn't be making extra meals for yourself vs. the rest of the family.

I think sometimes those of us that have been at this awhile forget how hard it was at the beginning for us when we starting changing up everything. As the poster above shared, making small changes can be a big deal! More energy and as you get one habit licked you can work on the next.

You're cool As someone who was eating so badly when I started and I still remember that week vividly. It's so hard. I have help by doing Jenny Craig, I give kudos to all the people who have done this without outside help. I couldn't do it.

You will stall once in a while. Don't worry, keep going at it- your weight will go down eventually!

It helps me to set short goals.
This time last year I weighed 87.5 Kilos (Sorry I work in Kilos) My first aim was 82 Kilos, my second aim was 80 Kilos, my third aim was 76.0 kilos, with my eventual aim of 68 Kilos.
A year on I had gone down to 78 Kilos by April (4 months to loose that weight) and by end December I put on 4 Kilos, getting back up to 82 Kilos. Today I finally weighed 77.7 Kilos- less than all I managed to loose last year. My aim now is to go down to 75 Kilos by the end of April (plenty of time for that) and 72 Kilos by the summer, for me to eventually weigh 68 Kilos.

Lots of numbers there, but what I am trying to say is:
* Set yourself small goals with realistic deadlines, and treat yourself if you achieve them (I used to buy a Wii exercise game everytime I achieved a goal)
* Be proud of what you acheived (as you should only loose 1 pound per week you are actually still above that target overall!)
* and stick at it.

I now weigh 10 Kilos (22 pounds) less than this time last year. It may have taken me a year, but it will stay off this way! If it takes me another year to loose another 10 Kilos, I will eventually be my target weight- and when I got there I won't care how long the journey has taken me!

Good luck! Stick at it, I am sure you will do it!!

I hear ya Sista!! It is so easy to put on and such torture to take off and it is a hateful feeling to be stalled! All I can say is hang in there baby and keep talking to supporters for the pep talks that are soooooo important. It can be a good thing to cry sometimes, it can put things into perspective & help us to find solutions. :flowerforyou:

HI there. first of all, i commend you on your exercise regime. that is impressive..stick with that, you will lose weight. now, if you don't mind a bit of feedback on it, i looked at your food diary..and i'll relate it back to me so you know, it's not like it's easy for me to get the results i have so far and what i needed to do.

i'm a big guy..6 ft tall, big frame. these calorie intake systems tell me that to lose 3 lb a week (that's as much as they will recommend you do) i put in about 1600 calories per day and will constantly encourage me to eat back my carbs. . i can tell you i wasn't losing 3 lb a week by eating 1600 calories a day, never mind say 2000 plus per day if i add back what i burned doing exercise! i only accelerated my weight loss to about 3 lb a week by dropping to about 1000 to 1100 calories per day. you can do what you want, i'm not an expert but i feel good, i'm getting results doing that.

i looked at your diary and i wonder if you're average 1700 calories per day is simply too much, to get the results you want as quickly as you want them?

i wonder about drinking mountain dew. for me..i've said too many friends who've asked me how i lost weight that one of the first things i did was gave up sugar aside from sweetener in my coffee. my rule of thumb is if it has over 5g of sugar, don't eat it.

i wonder about eating bagels. they are so heavy, dense and high calorie. when i diet i find generally staying way from breads aside from the rare occasion, even whole wheat, multi grains etc, is important for me.

i've lost 15 lb this time but i lost 80+ originally. i gained 40 lb back by first..eating sugar (i love blizzards in the summer time and gave myself the excuse i was working it off doing other stuff when i had one). eating sugar led to me eating other bad carbs...finally, i stopped strenuous exercise (convinced myself a leisurely 20 minute dog walk 5 days per week was enough)

i've lost 15 lb in 4 weeks and feel great. couldn't have done it without the tips i throw out above. i really do wish you all the best. i've been utterly depressed over weight many times, going back to when i was as young as 6 years old. it's hell on earth. take care.

First, I suggest you break down your weight loss goal into manageable numbers. I suggest 10 pounds at a time. That's not so overwhelming and the results are the same or better.

As for your weight loss, don't worry about how many pounds you lose. It always starts out with a lot. Usually it's all water. Then you drop a bit less and then it gets smaller. That's when you're losing fat and building muscle and that's a good thing. One pound a week is good. Two is also good. More than that is probably not too healthy.

Don't be discouraged or frustrated. Try and make it simple. Watch your portions. Eat good food in moderate quantity. Drink plenty of water and green tea. Often if you cut out one thing from your daily food intake, you cut out anywhere from 100 to 500 calories per day.

First of all, well done on what you have lost already!!
It's usual to lose more in the first week or two, after that you should be aiming for max 2lb week as its unhealthy to have more than 1000 cal/ day deficit. I eat more than you with only 80lbs to lose and have lost 25lbs in 3 months. My diary is open if you want a look.
Cut out the soda you could have a nutritious meal with those calories - I used to drink huge amounts of diet coke, have totally cut out and now only drink water, milk, tea, coffee, pure juice.
Eat back your exercise cals - as I said before you need max 1000 cal day deficit. Mfp already includes this deficit in your cal allowance.
Start tracking sodium- too high can cause water retention. Try and make home cooked meals, try and limit eating out/fast food etc to one or two meals a week
It's too early for you to have built much muscle but exercise can cause water retention for muscle repair especially if you have just started.
Take measurements, sometimes the scale will stick but you will lose inches
Set smaller goals, eg 10, 20, 30lbs, it helps to have mini goals to aim for instead of just thinking *kitten* me I've got to lose xxxlbs!
If you want a 'cheat meal' or a treat like chocolate, don't worry just make sure it fits in your cals and eat healthy rest of the day.
Hope this helps :-)

This!

Please take into consideration that because you (and you admit this) are working out more that you ever have, you are probably putting on some muscle. That can have an effect on your weight loss because muscle weighs more than fat. Also, your weight can fluctuate up to 2 pounds in a single day, so if you aren't weighing yourself at the same time each time you weigh, that could even play a role in it.

If your Mountain Dew is a daily thing though, I agree with the previous posts that you may want to consider either switching to diet, or if you don't like the taste, maybe make it a once a week indulgence. It is definitely more important that you get actual food in you though so you will have enough energy for your workouts, so wasting calories on empty foods like soda aren't going to help you feel full. I know it can be overwhelming to make these changes though. If it seems like too much, maybe gradually decrease the soda consumption. Maybe every other day? And then when you're okay with that, every 3 days? And so on...

Take a week off from the diet but keep up with training and working out.
When eating at maintenance youll boost metabolism due to making the body work harder to process food.
You should always eat at maintenance several times on your weight loss journey.
Just simply add 20% to the 1700 calories in your diary and do it.

Youll thank me later!

^^^^^
THIS

OK, I'll admit I didn't read all the post in here so I don't know if this has been mentioned. But I"m going to ask a question.

That 20oz bottle of Mountain Dew you drink everyday. Would you fill that up with water and add 19 tsps of sugar to it?

If your answer is no then think again cuz that's what you are doing. The 1st thing I tell people to cut out of their diet is Soda and see what happens after a week.

Again, it's the little things.

Have you measured yourself? or tired to put on clothes that are normally tight? you might be surprised , I find that the numbers on the scale move incredibly slowly , but I am back to wearing pants that were super tight just a few months ago ...


Hugs , you can do this

If you've just added weight training that is likely the culprit. When you build muscle you retain more water. This is part of the process of the muscle repairing itself and making itself stronger. This is a good thing. Building more lean muscle mass is good for many many reasons and is MUCH more important than the scale moving. Try taking measurements. You'll see a difference I'm sure.

You're doing really well so don't give up - so long as the weight goes down some weeks, stays the same other weeks and doesn't go up it's all good news.

I, too, had been frustrated with losing NOTHING after 3 months on Weight Watchers. I worked out HARD. exhausting myself at the gym. Then I learned I was working out too hard! How can that be? You need to do cardio at your fat burning rate. Go to the Mayo Clinic website. They have a calculator there so that you can find out the heart beat range for your age to lose fat. Mine is 107 to 132 based on my age of 65. I was always working at 140 and above! So, stop killing yourself. When you are in the proper zone, you should be able to carry on a conversation. I got a heart rate monitor (one with a chest band), that tells me what my heart is beating at and how many calories I have burned. (This is handy if you do a DVD at home or walk with the family.) You will find that when you do the machines, you constantly fall out of the zone, which means your fat burn is slowed way down. If you take an aerobics class, you may find that your heart rate is too fast. The suggestion to measure yourself is good. You'll see results way before the clothes begin to feel looser. I do something that you're not supposed to do, and that is, I weigh myself everyday. I find that is motivating to me. That way, if my weigh-in day is Friday, and for most of the week my weight was headed down, if when I weigh in on Friday and don't get the results I had hoped for, I know I really did accomplish something. Remember, if you are not in menopause yet, weight can fluctuate a great deal. On exercise days, I eat back only about 200 of my calories. I think this is why I did not lose on WW. For my body, I need to keep the calorie count low. You have to find out what works for your body.

I can't believe I am only the second person to post this that I've seen. (The first was SUNKISSES)
I know it sounds hard to believe, and trust me, for a while I didn't get it either, but you need to eat MORE. I went back for a week to see how you eat, and you're eating 500-700 calories under what you should be eating. Eat closer to goal. You don't want to go over every day or anything, but 500-700 calories under is simply too much. I try to stay 100 or less under.
I know because I did the same exact thing. Then when I followed someone's advice and ate at or very close to goal, the weight started coming off again. If you don't want to do that, that's fine, but it's what I would definitely suggest.