I swear I post too much, but I am SO frustrated.

This week, I didn't lose anything.  In fact, I GAINED a pound.  It's been about 5 weeks of dieting and I've lost 20 pounds in total.. I weigh myself 2-3 times a week and after weighing myself a couple days ago I decided to start eating maintenance for a few days after reading a few other posts.  I did yesterday, I ate just about 2,000 calories, which is still about 500 calories less than I need to truly maintain apparently.. but I ate so much I was just stuffed, I couldn't eat a calorie more.

Does anyone have any advice?  I'm currently 260, 5'7, 19, and a female :)  I don't drink regular soda, but over the last few days I've been drinking diet while at work because the water there does not taste good..  Could the diet soda have something to do with it?  I also plan on eating between 1500-1800 calories after I start losing again.. I had been eating 1500 calories a day pretty consistently for a while now before.

Thanks!

I just want to say that 20 pounds is a lot of weight...in 5 weeks. Some people take 3-4 months to do that. I think it would be difficult to keep that up, so don't be so hard on yourself. This is a life long process by the way. And you should feel estatic over that amount of weight loss. I look forward to hitting my 20 pound mark. I will know tomorrow how close I am. Shoudl be 5-10 lb away :)

I agree with the previous poster, it IS a lot of weight and when I did that not too long ago, I got to a plateau much earlier than the one people said id experience after losing 10% of my body weight. 

Have you been sticking to the same fitness regime for a while? If so, try changing it up as the body tends to get used to activities fairly quickly. Even if you walk on pavement instead of the treadmill or increase the speed, that could work too. Or try eating smaller more frequent meals to steady your metabolism. But eating maintenance for a week or so could help level off the plateau. 

Make sure you have no greater than a 1000 cal deficit afterwards though! Good luck(: 

My fitness regime usually is.. well, I work at McDonald's so that's a workout in itself, and I usually go for a walk in the afternoon if I'm not too tired from work and do a cardio video from the library.. usually a different one every few days. 

I'll keep eating maintenance for another 3-4 days probably and then I'm going to start eating less again.

Thanks for oyur advice :)  I'm just very frustrated.. I've always lost weight quickly and this is the first time I've ever hit a real plateau.

I'd just like to add that 1 week is not a plateau! You have lost a lot of weight in just 5 weeks, and your body is probably just adjusting.

Also, (please correct me if I'm wrong..) For people who have said that you're losing too much, 20 pounds in 5 weeks is about 4 pound loss per week. Experts say that you're supposed to lose 1-2% of your body weight a week... and for you 4 pounds is a 1.5% weightloss. Which is perfectly acceptable. As you continue to lose weight, however, your weightloss will slow down, and that's normal.

salmander, thanks.. You are right, I think I will eat maintenance for another day and then go back to normal.. I guess to just give my body a bit of a boost.  Hopefully my body is just adjusting.  I am just at a very unhealthy weight still and I'm truly concerned about my health, especially with all of the stress I'm going through right now (getting rid of a lying, cheating, 220 pound body mass).. I just am determined to eat healthy and be healthier in general.

Diet soda contains a lot of sodium. You could have "gained" a pound in water weight because of the increased sodium intake. Maybe think about bringing bottled water (or water from home) rather than hitting the diet soda.

That's possible as well.  Is it bad that I'm eating maintenance for a couple of days in that case?

Original Post by jenbarry:

Diet soda contains a lot of sodium. You could have "gained" a pound in water weight because of the increased sodium intake. Maybe think about bringing bottled water (or water from home) rather than hitting the diet soda.

This is so true,i had 1 whole bottle of diet coke and checked the scale and gained 1 pound,DO NOT WORRY!,as long as your not gaining "fat" then you should be happy,also don't always trust the scale,since it's based on so many factors like the fact i could drink 8 gallons of water hop on a scale and it would say i gained "1 pound",just keep doing regular running and you'll get to where you want to be!

I think you're losing weight too quickly. This could cause dramatic fluctuations in your weight, gaining, losing, gaining, losing etc.

Yep, the diet drinks are definitely no good for weight loss, in fact they are detrimental to health in general.

Original Post by katesorad:

My fitness regime usually is.. well, I work at McDonald's so that's a workout in itself, and I usually go for a walk in the afternoon if I'm not too tired from work and do a cardio video from the library.. usually a different one every few days.

I'll keep eating maintenance for another 3-4 days probably and then I'm going to start eating less again.

Thanks for oyur advice :) I'm just very frustrated.. I've always lost weight quickly and this is the first time I've ever hit a real plateau.

 

If you've hit a plateau like me,then here is some advice:

Do weight training,gain more metobolic tissue to burn fat.

Don't eat less,because all your going to do is put your body in stravtion mode and defeat yourself,just eat like what you've been doing.

Do even more cardio then before.

Hope this helps.

Actually most soda- diet included is low in sodium, but it does contain some.  The way it is detremental is it acts as a dieuretic like tea and coffee.  So despite the fact it "runs" right through you, this may be dehydrating you, causing you to retain water to stay hydrated.

There are also theories about how people react to artificial sweeteners, such as not being able to metabolize them.  But those still exist only as theories.

Please please please, do not fret over 1lb.  We go through multiple lbs of water throughout the day.  Especially, remember, the larger you are the more water your body can retain or flush, the more you might see weight changes throughout the day.  Also your cycle can effect water retention as well. 

20lbs is great, be proud!

Everyone has already given you fabulous advice. I just wanted to congratulate you on the 20 lbs weight loss---that's nothing to be ashamed of and really---be proud!!  That's awsome!