weird.

I started my unstrict diet & exercise (4-5 days a week 30+mins cardio, 20mins strength training) mid January and i was at a weight of 245lbs, now its May 9th and i'm about at 217.  Is this is a good pace?  I feel that I could of lost more and now i'm starting to lose focus and motivation, and another weird thing i noticed is after nights of going out and drinking alcohol my weight would drop a pound or 2 from the day before and it wouldn't climb back it was almost as the alcohol was aiding in my weight loss.

that is weird.  Usually after a night of drinking I weigh 5 pounds more the next day!!

That sounds like you've made great progress! If you call it about 4 months (roughly 16 weeks) then that works out to about 2lbs a week weight loss which is very healthy. You've probably even gained a few pounds of muscle weight in with that too. Don't lose your motivation, you're doing everything right, just keep on with what you've been doing and you'll have no trouble accomplishing your goal.

The ethanol in alcoholic drinks is extremely dehydrating, you may have noticed that you go to the bathroom a lot more whilst out drinking. The weight loss you've experienced could be due to losing water. Also it depends how drunk you get, if it's so bad that you be sick, you're getting less calories than you planned and it will dehydrate you further.

oops. double post

alcohol is a diuretic. (of course that doesn't make it recommended :P )

You make me look like a snail!  Congratulations on the loss.  I think your pace is fine.  If you want to lose faster, make a bigger deficit - do a little more aerobic exercise, maybe just 10 minutes extra each day. 

You may not see the loss, but you can feel it.  Strap on (hee,hee) about 30 lbs of weights (the amount you've lost so far) and carry it around for an hour or two.  You'll notice the difference.

Meet up with someone you haven't seen in a few months.  Preferably, they saw you shortly before you started your weight loss plan.  They'll notice your loss.  People who see you often tend not to notice.

Keep it up.  You've done great so far.

I started on January 18, and we've lost almost the same amount of weight.  (Started at 276, lost 27 pounds).  I feel like we're going at a great pace.  We've lost the weight of an average toddler.  I've had a few times when I felt like I was losing some of my initial motivation, but I've planned out a series of micro-goals for myself.  I try not to think about the long-term big number, but rather about my next mini goal.  Today I went below 250, which was a goal I was really excited about.  My next one is to hit 248.5, when I will have lost 10% of my start weight.  (You can see all my little goals on my profile if you're interested.)  Anyway, you might want to try to focus more on the short term.  It helps keep me and lots of other people on track without getting discouraged or overwhelmed.  Good luck!  You're doing an awesome job!

I started in the third week of February and have dropped about 55 pounds. I started at 265 and am now about 210. I hope I'm not shooting myself in the foot because of the huge loss.