Hi, all,

Would not it be nice if the scale rewarded you with slowly inching down whenever you were good?

I started yet again the calorie counting thing about 2 weeks ago. I lost 2 lbs (on 12th and 13th day), and then Christmas came and I gained 2 lbs back also in 2 days! Rrrrr.... I've overeaten on Xmas day by about 200 calories, and day after x-mas I ate about what I burned. 200 calories over should not have made me gain 2 lbs! I actually felt slimmer x-mas eve, but now I feel so bloated and heavy again! Its probably the water that i've gained, but somehow the knowledge does not really make me feel any better. I wish I knew what is going on in my body, why it is doing such crazy fluctuations and why the hell it takes whole 2 weeks to show any progress at all.

BTW, I'm doing 1200 calorie/day thing, burning about 1500/day(I think), so "planning" on loosing 1 lb in 11 days. People on this forum are very encauraging, always telling each other to "stick with it", but how do you stick with it when you always have to be in the agony of frustration, constantly being down about lack of progress or lack of understanding what is going on in your own body?

Weight loss has been the most elusive thing for me. I learned a lot of things about it, but I still feel powerless and without any control over the loss. It all feels like majic. Sometimes I loose when I don't expect to, and sometimes I gain when I don't think I should. I know it should all be connected to how much one eats and exercises, but the timing with which your body gives feedback completely buffles me! I cannot draw a line between actions and consequences, I cannot say with any certainty that if I do X today, Y will result. It just does not happen that way with weight loss, and mentally it has been a HUGE challenge for me.

Anyone else feels that way?

You sound real frusterated hun, I'm sorry.

I guess what you can do is just focus on eating right. You will feel so much better b/c of it. Maybe you should just think of weight loss as a bonus.

This is a super hard time to loose weight, and 2 pds could be anything. Water, "waste" whatever.

You have to keep going even though its frusterating, if you don't keep going, you'll probably gain. Thats what I keep telling myself when I get upset, I have to keep going...what choice do I have??

You'll get through this, just keep your head up!

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, I was very frustrated when I wrote the post. Sometimes there is just nothing else left to do but vent it out.

You are right that I am focusing too much on the goal. Unfortunately that is one of my pitfalls. Yeah, giving up is not a choice for me either, but I would rather not say that to myself at that time, it just makes me feel even more powerless to change anything. It would be nice to know how to better handle those types of feelings when they come up during weight loss program. If/when those feelings come up, how do people deal with that?

First, when you get in those moods, don't think "I can't give up" Think "I am choosing not to give up...I am choosing to beat this" How powerful that is!

When I get in those moods, fortunately they dont' seem to last very long, I just get through the day. BUT if they do last more than a day or two, I just give myself a nice pep talk. I tell myself that I'm not going to let this beat me, that I"m going to kick some a$$!! Then I go for a nice long walk/jog. I get out and do something, anything!

Thanks, newbride! You do have some good advice here. I have to remember when the mood hits to do all of those things! Concentrating on a hobby or favorite thing to do can definitely help in getting out of rotten moods, especially if it involves physical activity. When you're having fun it is hard to be frustrated, right?

Thanks for your support. Counting calories tonight and realizing that I stayed under 1200 fairly easy, without major hunger pains or cravings gave me some more confidence that I'm on the right track.

With every passing day you'll get more cofidence in yourself and you'll be a skinner you in no time!

Is it possible you're eating too little? I think you need at least 1200, before exercise. YOu are only allowing your body 900 calories. I bet if you ate 1500 after going up for a few days, you'd lose faster.

Thats a good point sarah...if your really working out alot, you could be cal deficient and your body COULD BE in starvation mode???

when something isnt working after a couple weeks, you have to change something up. in your case like sara said it could be the calories. the important thing is not to give up! you will have periods of weeks, maybe even months where your weight might not budge no matter what you do but you still cant throw in the towel. i had many weeks since the summer where i thought i was barely losing but when i figured it out with a calculator a few weeks ago, it actually averaged out to 1.75 per week.

Hi, all,

Thanks for your support!

I don't think I'm eating too little. I'm eating 1200/day, not 900. I estimate my metabolism right now is at around 1500(almost no physical activity at this point), so I have only deficit of 300cal/day, meaning 11.5 days before I can even dream to loose a lb. The reason I'm not seeing it is probably because of water weight fluctuations, and who knows what else. I think my body likes status quo and doing everything in its power to leave it the way it is! LOL

I kind of gave up on the idea that scales will validate my plan immediately after 12 days(well, they did and then took it all back, bastards! ) so now I'm taking refuge in the idea that I can stick to 1200 without feeling overly deprived and hungry, and that fills me with confidence. I resolved to wait and see how many lbs I loose over a month, and then calculate based on that how many calories I really burn, and then target calorie counting thing based on that. I may also do metabolic rate measurement at my local gym.

I'm very much exact kind of person(math major, should I say more? ) and the fact that I don't have clear exact figures in the equation and many unknowns drives me absolutely crazy. In the long term it all evens out to calorie in vs. calorie out thing but on a weekly basis it is very hard to see the little bits of progress. And nothing like the progress to let you know you're on the right path!

Well, for now my plan is to stick with 1200 and manage frustration/out of control feelings that may periodically come up, and then re-evaluate my approach after a month.

Thanks again for your support. It sure helps to read all your posts!

"Well, for now my plan is to stick with 1200 and manage frustration/out of control feelings that may periodically come up, and then re-evaluate my approach after a month. "

as you say above - that is what will help - and yes, venting does definitely help, especially on posts like this. i was stuck at teh same weight for about 8 months. no joke. very frustrating. AND, i was doing the 'right things'. changed it up some and finally got off that plateau ( i guess that was one - longest ever). good luck to you. i'm sure your hard work will pay off.

Wow, Skyler, 8 months! I don't think I would be able to stick with it for that long if I did not see any progress! I'm glad you are seeing results now!
We are at similar places weight-wise: I'm at 145 and things just won't budge! Actually, I keep fluctuating within same 2 lbs, up and down.

Thanks for your support! If things moved for you, they will move for me too! BTW, what did you do to make them move?

Hope you have Happy New Year!

8 months! i think my longest was 4 months but i stuck it out and finally the scale budged!!

nothintolose, no activity? you need to do 30 minutes of cardio to get that metabolism going. diet changes alone wont do it for long.

Unfortunately, I'm very far away at this point from doing 30 minutes of cardio a day. I was sick for 7 month and still recovering from extreme fatigue. Until very recently I only had energy for work(light office/computer stuff), not even house chores! I'm starting doing some strength exercises to help me feel more energy, but I'm going very slowly, don't want to overdo it, so exercise for weight loss is out of the question for me probably at least for next 4-6 month.

yes, 8 months, so you would guess my frustration level was very HIGH. i think my body got 'used to' my weight even though it was not (and still is not) a healthy weight. it is very frustrating when you are doing the right things & it isn't working. i tried diet workshop (has worked in the past) - nada, then i paid for nutrisystem (lost 4 lbs in a LONG TIME, so pretty much didn't work either), then i tried to take a break from exercise (2 weeks is what i read) which didnt help...i have always ate healthy so i couldnt figure it out...then i tried small meals throughout the day - nada. anyways, finally, most recently, i've been using fitday.com and staying within the 1200-1300 calorie range and keep exercising while trying to increase cardio. i think what has finally helped in increasing the cardio & maybe i was eating too little before? i wasn't using fitday but i was eating good, lots of salads, etc, but now i'm thinking my body wasn't getting enought....not sure truly, just glad finally it is coming off (but very slowly). stick with it. when the scale doesn't move, i just tell myself that if i am doing the right things, it has got to move eventually!!!!! good luck. s