Monday New Member!

MissAmeliaPond

Hi everyone! I am new to the Getting in Shape board, but am not new to TK. I have been trying to start losing weight since the new year after FI and I packed on a few holiday pounds. I lost a few lbs on my own but found I lacked motivation, so I joined weight watchers online a week and a half ago. I have not lost a single pound and am really discouraged. I only have about 6 lbs I want to lose to be in fighting shape for my wedding, so I don't know if that's the problem. I've been going to the gym 3 times a week (as opposed to zero) and we take the dogs on 30-40 min walk 2-4 times per week, weather permitting. I am just not sure what else I can do! Anyway, I'm looking forward to being part of this board! You seem like a really great group

saharnshard

Have you changed your eating habits?

dogsandfrogs

Welcome!

Sometimes when you start a new diet and/or workout regimen, it can take a few weeks to start seeing results.  If it's not something your body is used to, it essentially gets confused and will hold onto more of the energy (read: calories) it takes in than it usually does.  After it figures out that this is intentional and it's not going to start starving, it stops creating those extra stores, and the weight will start to come off.  When my parents and I started a diet and exercise program together, it took me about 3 weeks before I started seeing any change, whereas it took them about 6 weeks since they were less active than I was prior to the new regimen.

Keep good track of your calories.  The typical female body needs 1200 calories to maintain basic functions.  If you go too far below that your body enters "starvation mode" (tricky name, because you sometimes won't actually feel like you're starving) and will hold onto everything you put into it because it's afraid you're going to, well, stop putting things into it.  There are people who realize they're only taking in about 900 calories, start to eat MORE, and then weight starts coming off.  Eating more to lose weight sounds counterproductive, but it's a case of the body feeling like it's starving.

If you've only been on the Weight Watchers thing for a week and a half, I wouldn't be too discouraged about the lack of results just yet.  Between the whole regimen being new and normal body fluctuations, not seeing a change yet is normal!  Stick with it for a couple of weeks, and if you're still not seeing any progress (say by the end of February), then it's time to re-evaluate your methods.

Good luck!

tiffanyagraham

I do weight watchers too. I started out in July, before I got engaged, doing the actual meetings. Recently I switched to online, just for time purposes (location of the meetings were further away).

A couple things with weight watchers: make sure you are drinking enough water! Weeks when I didnt drink enough water, I gained weight, which was very discouraging.
Another thing to try is to eat better foods in general. I know with weight watchers, technically you can have whatever you want as long as you stay in the points. Lastly--are you using all of your weekly extra's and work out points? If so, try to scale back on those. I try to only use the weekly and not the exercise points at all. If I don't exercise much that week, then I try to not even use all of the weekly's.

eeforbes

I am currently doing WW, and also lost about 40 pounds two years ago doing WW.  The first time around, I only lost .2 the first week.  I was discouraged, but kept with it, and ended up losing 40!!!  Just give yourself time to get used to the program and stick with it - it does work.  Focus on being very careful with measurements, drink tons of water and track everything in your mouth.  Good luck!!

sparkles776

I agree with the PP's. It does take time for your body to realize what you are doing. For me personally, I dont start to see significant weight loss for about 6 weeks into any routine, it is discouraging but just stick with it, if you are making good changes and sticking to them, the weight will come off eventually.