Frustrated? Please read!

I'm finally at the point where I feel incredibly good about myself and my progress, and I thought I would make this post for people who are as frustrated as I was a few weeks ago.

I've only lost 4 lbs, but I've lost 12 inches off my body and I'm wearing clothes that I wore when I was 10 lbs lighter.

But I was incredibly frustrated that I had ONLY lost 4 lbs! I couldn't seem to get past that number!

If you're frustrated with the fact that the scale shows a slow weight loss, I have a small challenge for you: put the scale away and don't weigh yourself for 10 days.

I created this mini challenge for a few of my friends here on MFP. We're currently on our 9th day. Every day, you have to post one NSV to your feed. Feeling better, making better choices, clothes fitting better, etc.

Do NOT trust the scale to tell you how much you've lost. The scale measures everything...water weight, muscle, bones, fat. I suspect the water weight is what causes a gain in most people, but it's difficult to realize that.

Instead, measure yourself. Try on some old/smaller clothes. Take pictures every week from the front, side, and back. Those are TRUE indicators that you're making progress. After all, our goal is to look better, right? To lose fat!

Stop letting the scale dictate how you feel. If you focus too much on it, you'll eventually give up, or start making bad choices because you figure you're not losing anyway, so what's the big deal?


ALSO: I just want to let other fellow shorties know (I'm 4'11), that I started at 1200 and thought that 1200 was WAY too much for me because my BMR was 1300. How could I possibly lose weight if I ate more than 1200? I exercised for an hour every day and did not eat my exercise calories back.

I did fine for 6 weeks, lost a steady 2 inches per week, and then it stalled. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I calculated my TDEE using this website (yes, I know it doesn't go below 5'0...but I used it anyway because it was more comprehensive than other calculators) : http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

It said I was supposed to eat 1500 for weight loss given how much I exercised every day. I thought that was crazy, but I was willing to try it. I put it to 1400 (just to try it at first and see how well it would work). My official measuring day is Tuesday, but I've been keeping track with the measuring tape and it looks like I've lost another inch and a half after a week of not losing anything.

So consider increasing your calories if you've hit a plateau. I'm very glad that I did. For the record...1200 DID work for me...up to a point. Then it was time to re-evaluate.


I hope this post helps some of you. Keep at it!