Not losing any weight

[overly beige]

I've been doing this since 6/5/07 and haven't lost any weight. It is not a mystery to me why I haven't lost weight.
I haven't focused at all on nutritional quality (many of my meals have been very rich). I have cheated a lot. I have not been exercising as regularly as I should. I realize if any one of these were different I may have seen some weight loss.
So I guess I am looking for some encouragement to take this to the next level. I am also interested in hearing how others have approached this. Do people feel that it would be best to just focus on eliminating the cheating before working on the other aspects?
I want to add that one thing that has been nice is that I haven't been obsessing about food nearly as much I did in the past. However, I feel the need to see some progress with my weight.

[want2bhealthy]

if you have read any of my posts in the daily check in, you would know why you shouldnt quit. i have been yo yo dieting(well i call it diet hopping) for 11 yrs. that is how old my daughter is. this plan, has the best rules. i have literally been on every diet out there. wwpts. rs foodmover, cad, atkins, slimmingworld, and finally the no s. oh sure i was losing wt on it, cause i cut out snacking , it was working, then the first time i went for seconds on a no s day, i felt like i failed and another plan i cant follow.

but all the support you get on here, is great!! i am a binge/ compulsive eater. self diagnosed. i wanted to be anorexic, but couldnt listen to my stomach growl. i binge , but dont purge, i tried that too. just to icky for me. this is the best plan ever. i got scared cause you dont have to measure portions, and i thought i can never start eating less. but people who are successful on here felt the same as me when they started and reasurred me that in time you will be able to cut down on eating ,cause you really will feel you dont need to eat as much. i didnt believe this in the beginning and i kept wanting to quit. but as people pointed out to me that i have made progress, despite some failures.

i do realize this is the plan for me. i cant ever , ever, quit. please stay, and read some of my posts and the responses i have gotten from people , that tell me not to quit. it is very powerful. if they can keep me here, they can keep you here.

[rose]

I want to add that one thing that has been nice is that I haven't been obsessing about food nearly as much I did in the past.

Hi overly beige,

not obsessing about food _is_ already a great benefit of noSdiet. I suggest you start experimenting with light changes to your routine. For instance, climb even only 2 (more) flights of stairs daily. Have at least three "healthy" meals a week. Make two N days of the week really cheat-free.

You have to start somewhere but it doesn't really matter where. It doesn't have to be perfect from the start. Examine your daily routine. Select one or two easy steps you can take to change it for the better. When it looks like you are getting more consistent with them, increase your expectations by one more little step at a time.

I hope this helps

Rose

[Charis]

I really liked Rose's advice. I think one other thing to mentally adjust to is that this may/probably will be a very slow journey to your healthy weight. I have a lot of weight to lose and would like it off last Friday. And when I have stepped on the scale and seen my slow progress I can panic and feel desperate but then I get ahold of myself and reminde myself of the peace of mind that I am gaining through nos. The habits have become comforting and not constraining. Temptations will come my way during N days and I will say to myself "I don't eat like that anymore" It isn't really as strong as a temptation to me anymore. For me being really strick with the rules as been the most helpful. That is what I am working on first. Of course I would like to be exercising more, eating smaller healthier portions and having saner weekends and s days, but I am focusing on what for me is the most important. For you that might be different. I think even from your own message you have some idea of where you should look to start. I am even seening hope for those other areas also. Keep going, the freedom from dieting and food obsession at the end I think will be well worth it even if the road is a bit longer than other restrictive, can't-live-on-this-diet-forever plans.

[overly beige]

Thank you all for your encouragement and suggestions. There was a lot of really helpful advice/information in your posts.
I think I will start with working hard to eliminate cheating, trying to get more exercise and encouraging myself (but not forcing myself) to eat healthier meals.
I really need to accept that this is a new way of life and to think in terms of making small adjustments to my new lifestyle. I really want something that I will stick with for the rest of my life. I do not want to lose weight only to regain it again.
Thanks again for the replies they really helped me.

[London Mum]

For me it was really important to eliminate (or cut right down) cheating before concentrating on eating healthy meals. My temptation was snacks. If you are still regularly failing on no snacks, the tempation after a smaller/healthier meal is to compensate by having a snack later "because I've been good".

Now that snacks are not really a consideration for me, any healthy meal stands alone as a good choice. Over time the choices add up into a gradual weight loss, even if you only eat the sort of meal you really think you should once or twice a week.

LM

[joasia]

When you say "cheating", do you mean on N days? Maybe if you just stick to the 3 plates you will have success. Save your "cheating" for S days. I know easier said than done. Also, if you are maintaining, that is great in and of itself!

[ThomsonsPier]

Given the transatlantic nature of this board, I'm not sure if the date you gave for starting means the fifth of June or the sixth of May. Either way, you haven't been doing this for long. I've been here this for about a year and have lost, on average, a pound a month. Consistently. It's not fast, but it does work.

I think you've identified the problem yourself. Stick to the rules. Don't worry about 'the next level' (I hate that phrase) until you've reached the first. It sounds as though you've made progress in your attitude to food, at least, so take your victory in that and look forward to another when you succeed in building the new habits you need.

[chentegt]

I agree with the other users. I would like to add "my own words" lol:

Before anything: only weigh every 15 days or mothly, do not obsess every day. Weight will fluctuate a lot.
First, the priority is to make the "3 meals and no snack" thing an habit.
Then, I suggest to start limiting the sweets to weekends (you won't crave them after it becomes an habit).
If you drink a lot, reduce your alcohol (check out glass ceiling concept).
After a couple of weeks, you should start to have a basic weight training routine like shovelglove or something you can stick to without too much time and/or space.
Then, when all of the above is in check, the cardio /aerobic stuff should be easier to start. Urban ranger, running, swimming, etc. For me, rumping jope 15 mins daily has worked wonderful, and it is something I can stick to, I put my favorite tunes, and jump around happy. Do you like to dance? it can help too!

I believe that if you consider these suggestions and what the other users have already told, it is a matter of time until you start to see success. Just don't obsess with a specific schedule, just keep going, it will come. For the first 4 months or so, I wasn't really "losing" anything significant, until I did the "habit make over" mentioned above, then in 2 months I lost almost 20 pounds. Good luck mate!

[reinhard]

Overly Beige,

I also vote to keep the focus on no cheating. You'll get the most bang for your buck by keeping your efforts there. It'll probably be slow, but sure, and without undesirable side effects. As for rich foods, I think it's dangerous to target them systematically. Besides being more complicated, it's easy for that to slide into real deprivation, resentment and binging. And if you stick with the literal rules, I can almost guarantee you that your meals will get healthier without any extra conscious intervention -- the gentle pressure of limiting input opportunities is a powerful thing.

While you don't want to overwhelm yourself by attempting too many things in at once, fitting in a little exercise is important. So maybe focus on getting your diet compliance up over the next month and once you feel reasonably comfortable with how you're doing there, add some moderate regular exercise. "No cheating" should be your focus with exercise, too -- a consistent minimum of compliance. It really doesn't take much, just minutes a day. In fact, I'd suggest, if you don't know precisely what exercise you'd like to do, to start with a "time based" rather than "movement based" routine. In other words, decide on a set, small amount of time to exercise every day (or every N-day). You know, 14 minutesish -- though half that would do to start. Set the timer every day and figure out what you're going to do then then. You can give yourself a truly ass kicking workout in an astonishingly short amount of time without any special equipment or techniques. A few minutes of good old fashioned pushups, squats, and jumping jacks will leave you so sore you'll wonder why anyone ever felt the need to go to the gym. The problem with such a workout is not that it isn't effective -- only that it's not as fun as some other things I could think of (and so harder to stick with). But it'll do just fine to start building the habit of carving out the time every day. And it'll force you to explore until you find something better.

Best wishes and keep posting if you run into more trouble,

Reinhard

[overly beige]

I want to thank everyone for your responses. Each one of you had very helpful things to say, thank you for taking the time to respond to me.

I will continue to stick with it and make some gentle changes.