Did you lose weight the first week you counted calories?

I started using this site last week. I ate btw 1200-1500 calories for 7 days and exercised as well. I did not lose anything.. Is that normal? I thought I would have lost something.. Should I stick with what I'm doing, or do I need to eat less.. If I do I will be starving...

First week I lost about 5 pounds, thought it was mainly water weight, I was sticking to a 1300 calorie diet plus 3-4x a week excercise, check your body fat %- sometimes that .5-1 pound of fat could have been replaced by muscle if you are weight training, make sure to catch me up when you find out! Also, what is the quality of your calories? Because I cut out all gluten, dairy, red meat, processed food, and processed sugars. So I was/am eating only fruits, veggies, lean meat, and milk alternatives with the occasional quinoa pasta- you could try improving the quality of calorie. Good Luck :)

Usually your body needs to get used to whats happening to it before you see any real results. I'd go another week and see what happens. If you don't lose any you might want to tweak what you're doing.

I was eating healthy cereals, low fat string cheese, yogurt, fish, chicken, veggies and fruit. I have been trying to cut down on breads and sugars.. I will give it another week and see how it goes. I am breastfeeding, so my sister suggested that my body may be holding onto the fat it needs to produce milk.. everything I see online though says breastfeeding helps promote weight loss.

You could be clinging to some water, and I wouldn't worry about not seeing a loss the first week. Too, you're breastfeeding, and that can play a role.  I did lose my first week, but I think it wasn't more than like 2 pounds? hard to say..I started before I came to this site, and lost around 20 pounds in about 3 months give or take. It's stayed off even though the bulk of it was dropped pretty quickly.

I think you'll start to see results after a time...bodies can just be stubborn sometimes and need a few weeks to get with the program.

Everyone's body is different, so hang in there, and you'll do well. Look at it this way..there is no chance you're *gaining* weight with what you're doing!

jbergy - if you're breastfeeding I wouldn't cut my calories too much because you won't produce enough milk.  Also have you tried weighing yourself after you've emptied your breasts?  I loss weight while breastfeeding but not much but never figured that was the important part, keep exercising, eat healthy and worry about the weight after the baby stops breast feeding.

the first week or two I didn't lose anything, but then I dropped 10 pounds suddenly.

I was 229 and the first week I cut my cals to 1650/day. BUT I jumped right in with both feet on this one and straight away went to the gym 6x a week for the first month. I lost 8lbs that first week, 4 the next, then it trickled around 1-2 lbs per week. To be fair, I was probably consuming about 3K cals a day prior, so cutting cals like I did, there's no wonder I lost so fast in the beginning.

Make sure to drink plenty of water. I usually get an average of 15 8oz glasses a day in. (And then try to fit room for some green tea as it has a small affect with slightly increasing your metabolism)

Keep in mind, you aren't really supposed to be dieting right now with breastfeeding! And your breastfeeding will burn fat like you wouldn't believe. I lost TONS of baby weight after my girls just by breastfeeding and not doing any exercise. Give it time. If you've recently had this baby you're body will likely need to heal before it's very interested in letting you lose too much weight. I know you are supposed to be eating about as if you were pregnant while you are breastfeeding.....I just ate normally, but breastfeeding burns many calories. Don't get discouraged. (Easier said than done, I know. I, too,  have had my times being discouraged and currently stuck in a plateau so I want to lose more weight right now too!)

I did but everyone's different. Also, if you're breastfeeding you should speak to your health visitor/doctor/whatever and ask how many cals you should be eating whilst doing so. Make sure you get lots of calcium and protein etc. Your baby is more important atm than weight loss :)