HELP!
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HELP!
| Fri, 04-20-2007 - 10:44am |
I don't know what to do! I've hit my first plateau. I've lost about 23 Lbs so far and am 5 pounds away from being UNDER 300 and I just can't seem to get the scale to budge. I've tried working out more and that didn't work. I've tried eating less calories, and that didn't work. What am I doing wrong?
328.8/307/170

I know how frustrating it can be when your body stops.
Annie
"We do not think ourselves into new ways of living. We live ourselves into new ways of thinking."  
Lyssa,
Repeat after me 'The scale is not my friend'...when it tells us what we want to hear, we get so excited, but when it doesn't, its so easy to get discouraged...but the scale is affected by many factors.
If you weigh every day, you have to get used to tolerating ups and downs. Your body will hold on to weight - water retention due to hormones, or eating high sodium foods, or who the heck knows why.
This is when you have to rememeber that 'the number' is only one measure of success. There are many others - how your clothes fit, how much longer/harder you can work out, what food you can resist more easily.
I have been at this for a long time, and one thing I learned is that some months my weight will move. Other months, I feel physically stronger. Other months I just feel better in my mind. The non-scale victories count just as much as the scale ones.
We are in this for the long haul, and if you stay on plan, it will all come together for you. Keep working to make your life more and more healthy and the 'number' will come around.
You can do this!
SJ
225-169-135
what worked for me was an increase in activity - different from normal routine. your body is craving change and fighting you. change what you are eating (if you eat a lot of chicken switch to fish-- try some new veggies--if you eat a big dinner and smaller lunch, reverse it) also add 1-2 extra glasses of water.
your body does this and the more you need to lose the more plateau's you hit. a plateau is also a body adjustment. when i was losing i hit 3 long plateaus and it was persistance and change that worked for me.
Sue
302/139/160
Sue
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Well I am dealing with a half broken scale. But I am struggling too lose weight too. I am finding it hard to lose weight cause I am on mental medicine. Well here I am after being on the site a year still at the beginning. I still seem to weigh about 320 lbs the lowest I been in the past 12 months was 313 back in September 06.
Maryanne
322/320/295
A lot depends on how often you weigh yourself and how long you been stuck. From my experience the best way is by not only increasing your cardio, but by also varying your exercise routine. for example if you normally walk on the treadmill for an hour, try doing 20 minutes of walking, 20 minutes on the bike and the last 20 minutes on the elliptical. I realize that this may be difficult with certain health conditions you may or may not have.
Also, diet wise you can still be well within your calorie limit, but if your are consuming more salt than normal, your body will retain more water. Try cutting back on your salt and see if that produces results.
I'm guessing you have already ruled out other reasons such as "the time of the month" and increase in muscle as being responsible?
I hope this helps, but most importantly don't get discouraged! You are doing all of the right things and your hard work will pay off.
I am not sure if you're doing anything "wrong". Being on a plateau is a normal thing with weight loss. The important thing is not take this a sign for giving up, and actually do someting to break the plateau and move forward.
For me, what personally worked was to do something radical with the food. Like, not eating any bread/rice with dinner. If I can survive doing this for a few days, then I'm usually off my plateau. Also what's working for me right now is to keep good focus on my eating. I usually start allowing a treat here and a treat there, and although
Hi Lyssa,
Woooooo, under 300 will be such an awesome achievement!