Need Motivation

[rlynn456]

I started a low fat 1500 calorie a day diet about three weeks ago and exercise 3 days a week. My starting weight was 215 and ive been weighing in weekly. The first week I lost 5 lbs but then the following week nothing lost, and now this week nothing lost. It is very discouraging im working really hard and doing good on the diet, I just dont understand. I thought the way im cutting out most fat and keeping the calories a lot lower then I did before the diet I would be losing at least 2 lbs a week. Anyone else experience anything like this?

[fletch8502]

Hi rlynn and welcome to the FitDay forums. Congratulations on starting your healthy eating and exercise! Good for you!

That's so frustrating when the scale doesn't move! I'm sure we all feel your pain.

Here are a few thoughts I had after reading your post:
- Is it "that time of the month" for you? That can bring weight loss to a screeching halt for a week or two.
- How much fat are you getting? If you cut out too much fat, your body might go into "starvation mode" and cling to every calorie you put in your mouth. I heard somewhere that you shouldn't drop below 15% of your calories from fat. Check out your graphs on FitDay and make sure you're getting healthy fats from things like almonds, avocado, olive oil, seeds, etc. From the large drop you had the first week and the lack of weight loss after that, it sounds like "starvation mode" might be the culprit.
- How much protein are you getting? Try upping your protein to 30-40% of your calories. The decrease in carbs might make the scale move.
- Are you drinking enough water? For me, if I don't get at least eight 8oz glasses of water per day, the scale won't budge.

I'm sure others will have some thoughts and ideas for you. Try not to get discouraged! Your efforts will pay off eventually, you just have to figure out how to get past this little sticking point. You can do it!

[rlynn456]

Thanks for the encouragment. It was "that time of month" last week. I know I need to drink more water too. I'm going to try to work out more too maybe 5-6 times a week. Usually with a diet I would just give up after not seeing any weight loss but Im not giving up this time!

[almeeker]

You know the more I think about it, the more I realize my body is just like one of my kids. The more I ignore it, the worse it gets.... Yeah, unfortunately quitting your diet will not make you thinner, well at least not in my case anyhoo. Hey, if last week was "that" week, and you didn't go up the scale, well that my sister is good news. You should see some loss now here any day, wait it out.