Disappointed and demoralised

I see other people's threads where they say that they've lost 7 or 8 pounds in the first week, or else that they're consistently losing 3 or 4 lbs a week. I've been back on plan for about 5 or 6 weeks now and whilst I've lost about 10lbs, it's been a real struggle and a hard slog.

I'm calorie counting using My Fitness Pal, set to lose 2lbs a week and it's calculating my allowance as around 1500 cals a day. I've stuck to this rigidly apart from 3 days where I've gone ever so slightly over. I'm watching portion sizes and carefully studying cal content of any packaged foods. If anything I've underestimated the amount exercise I do and I'm consistently under my weekly allowance according to MFP. MFP claims I should weigh about 10lbs less by this stage then I do. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. :confused:

I have a Mirena IUD which I know can cause weight gain but I'm told this shouldn't hinder my weight loss.

I'm not giving in but it's soul destroying :(
 
Okay first of all, you're you! Your body is unique and works differently to other peoples. I too lose more slowly, sometimes down to me not sticking to plan, sometimes down to hormonal things. In the past, especially when I was part of a slimming club that gave out awards I would see it as a competition against other people who had about the same amount of weight to lose as me, that really had a detrimental effect and I would almost give up.

Can you give us an example of what you are eating day to day? Could it be that you have a small intolerance to anything? If I eat white bread I bloat up and retain water like crazy. Perhaps try splitting your calories over the week and have a couple of higher days and a couple of lower ones to kinda keep your metabolism on its toes. Some people have problems with eating too few calories and you say you are constantly under your allowance, how much by? Try eating the whole allowance.

I feel your pain, keep us updated and I am glad to see you're not going to give up :) x
 
Don't feel disheartened, everybody is different! I didn't lose a huge amount on the first week either, plus most of the weight that people lose in that first week is water and not so much fat.

Morgenmuffel has given you some really good advice. If I eat too much bread (can be either white or wholemeal) I bloat, I get some roll on my stomach too it's disgusting so I have cut bread out and only have it rarely as a slight treat, shame I do love bread - a lot of people experience this too, we was talking about it at my Slimming World meeting last week actually. Eat lots of speed foods, always have some fruit/veg with your meal.. drink plenty of water too. Are you also getting enough fibre into your diet? Lack of prune issue can have an effect on your losses too. Also another one is cereal, people are easily mislead into believing eating cereal is healthy (bran flakes etc.) when they contain as much sugar as a can of cola. I opt for fruit & yoghurt for breakfast, as the actual amount of cereal that is recommended is tiny and wasn't filling me up.

Post a meal plan on here and maybe people on here can give you advice to help point out where you have gone wrong. This is why I personally go to a slimming club, if I have a week where I am unsure what I did wrong.. my consultant and other group members can point out mistakes, as it is easily done and it is easy to get mislead!

xxx
 
10 lbs is a great loss, please don't knock your progress, its never good to try and compare your weight loss with another person, we all lose at different rates, depending on start / current weights, how much exercise we are doing, what we ate prior to going on plan, what we are eating now. I find this group so supportive as we are just there for each other regardless of how much any of us loses, we should only compete with ourselves, I have made friends with a number of people on here quite a few of whom are similar weight wise to me, we all lose it at different rates, one week one will lose more than the other and vice versa, one thing for sure its never a race, none of us put the weight on in one night and we can't expect to lose it mega quickly either.

I get so low all the time due to my weight just as so many on here also do and its hard when you think of how far you have to go but the best thing is to focus on just getting through a day at a time, many of us find it really hard work losing weight, I know I do, I enjoy my healthy eating plan and am loving having a much more varied diet but I constantly battle with my inner demons and the urge to starve or binge because of my eating disorder yet I am trying as hard as possible to do this moderation thingy which is not easy for sure. I think we all often have issues which haven't helped the weight situation, I know for me these issues have led to my weight gain in the past and is what makes it so hard to remain on my plan but I am doing it finally, its ruddy hard going as it is for everyone on this board but just knowing other people are able to do it motivates me to stay on track. I am on 1500-1700 calories a day yet the odd day I will end up going up to 2000 due to giving in to feeding the emotional hunger but when compared to the calories I consumed prior to this plan its nothing, I would have easily been eating god knows how many thousands of calories beforehand due to my binges.

You are doing well so just keep going, like I said a day at a time, the weight will come off, just make sure you are not trying too hard to make it into a strict diet as sometimes that can go against you, its good to have treats and reward yourself so you feel happy and more capable of staying on track the rest of the time, also we can eat too little as well, I find if I drop to 1200 calories a day I don't lose as much weight as when I'm on 1500 to 1700 which seems mad but is true, all our bodies are different.

Em xx
 
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