Just venting

you have to realize that for the first couple weeks, its gonna be water weight coming off. following these plans correctly is only going to yield a pound or so loss per week because it is not a crash diet to drop pounds quickly only to put right back on. eating healthy amounts of healthy food will be more beneficial as a whole to your body and life. 9 pounds in three weeks is still 3lbs/week and that is an amazing loss that should not go uncelebrated! we live in a world where society is built on always wanting more, more, more! and we want it now, now, now! good things take time to work out. patience is key.

Ok it's weigh in day...and I only lost 1 lb. I have to admit I am a bit discouraged with that. This is my 3rd week in and I lost 4 lbs the first week and 4 lbs the second week. I know 1 lb is better than gaining or not losing any but ugh was just wanting more. Where in the world does all this sodium come from? There is no sense in food having so much sodium in it! I don't understand how people can add more and more to their food. It's just crazy. Anyway, even though I'm discouraged, it is NOT going to derail me from my goal. I did a mile walk before work this morning and going to try and do another after work and do as many 5 minute walks throughout the day as I can. We got our pedometers yesterday and that is GREAT motivation to walk more, to get those 10,000 steps a day. Of course when I set mine up yesterday and set the time, I didn't do the AM and PM correctly so just fixed that. Which means today's numbers are not going to be accurate. But going to keep on keeping on.

I have been taking pictures of my meals that helps me so much to "visualize" what I eat in a day. Does anyone else do this?

Above average weekly weightloss (ie anything between 0.5lbs to 2lbs per week) is normal for the first of second week, thereafter it goes to the normal amount as stated in brackets. Therefore, you are completely and utterly on course and doing well.

Yep, what everyone else said, when I read your post the first thing in my mind was that is still 3lbs per week!

you have to realize that for the first couple weeks, its gonna be water weight coming off. following these plans correctly is only going to yield a pound or so loss per week because it is not a crash diet to drop pounds quickly only to put right back on. eating healthy amounts of healthy food will be more beneficial as a whole to your body and life. 9 pounds in three weeks is still 3lbs/week and that is an amazing loss that should not go uncelebrated! we live in a world where society is built on always wanting more, more, more! and we want it now, now, now! good things take time to work out. patience is key.

I agree with this.... stick with it and remember that you are going the distance not just sprinting!

Yup! These guys know what they're talking about! Also, for the sodium, I can't see your diary, but a lot of pre-packaged food is really high in sodium. Eating out also yields a lot of sodium. If you can make more foods from scratch, or look for "low sodium" versions, it really helps, and it honestly doesn't taste all that different.

Also, regarding the sodium -- processed white table salt (we call it 'nasty salt' in our house) has all the good minerals removed from it, which makes you retain water (your body is looking for those other minerals to balance out the purely-sodiium-and-chloride found in table salt.)

For home use, buy a good sea salt. The best I've found is Redmond Trading Company's Real Salt (mined in Utah). Yes, it is more expensive, but we don't use that much salt, so it's not a huge bottom-line affect to the food budget. You can find it on line, or some grocery stores carry it, and almost any natural foods store will carry it. Using this, you will be amazed how you don't "swell up" even when you salt your food.

For pre-packaged stuff, it's pretty hard to avoid the nasty salt. Just about the only pre-packaged foods I've found that use sea salt are also organic, which is great, but again expensive. So cook at home as much as possible, with raw ingredients, and add your own sea salt. If I buy canned items (tomato products, vegetables, etc.) I look for "no" or "low" sodium, and then if necessary, I add my own HEALTHY sea salt at home.

Yeah, I know how you feel. You eat what you're supposed to, push yourself to meet your exercise quota and no results and you're just like.. .WHAT AM I DOING THIS FOR!??!

But then I think to myself, I'm not showing any weightloss, but what's my alternative? Go back to eating fast food? Stop exercising? That would just be spiting myself, if I regressed to that.

So now, when I feel like that, I just keep thinking "do it one more day, maybe tomorrow there might be changes". I do that daily, and it keeps me going.