It isn't working as good as I thought it would...

[185-lbs-please]

Guys, I know this makes sense and I know it will work in due time, but 10 days into this and I've gone from 217 to 213.8 (3.2 loss)(I'm 6'1).

I also exercised intensely for 7 of those 10 days. I feel like all that loss was in my stomach which is a good thing, but I really thought I'd step on the scale today and have it say 210, so I'm kind of discouraged here.

[Blondie]

3 pounds in 10 days IS a lot. Because this is not a crash diet, you aren't going to see huge numbers in a short time (7 pounds in 10 days is huge numbers), but you will be able to sustain the way you eat indefinitely, once you establish the habit. Don't give up!

[la_loser]

Oh, my goodness---you've been doing No S for only 10 days and you've lost 3.2 pounds--that's awesome. . . No S is not a quick fix and scales usually don't tell the whole story anyway. There are several discussions about how you can weigh every day or several times in one morning and get different results. Reinhard really cautions against relying on the scale to see progress. Better than that, watch to see how your clothes are fitting and when you have to move up a notch in your belt, you know it's working. (And any safe weight loss plan would never have you lose more than 1-2 pounds a week anyway so you're right on target as far as medical advice goes.)

From the No S Diet homepage:

I've been on the diet a whole week and I'm not skinny yet!

Don't wig out if you don't lose ten pounds the first day. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Progress is slow, but maintainable. It's going to take a while but it's also going to last a while -- your whole life. Don't sabotage your efforts with quick-fix expectations.

Yes, occasionally someone will post a fairly significant quick loss but that is usually from someone who is just beginning. If you want quick weight loss, you won't find it here. . . but if you go to another program and achieve quick losses, it's a sure bet, it won't be sustainable and you'll end up right back where you started or even worse off.

So the moral of the story is. . . slow and steady wins the race, not that I'm comparing you to a tortoise! Hang in there and welcome to our world!

[185-lbs-please]

good advice guys...you are right, it's going to take some time...

I guess the reason I thought I would have lost more is because is because I didn't have really any sweets the whole 10 days, and many days I went to bed with hunger pangs....

[franxious]

I also think you are doing GREAT, but you may need to adjust your expectations a bit.

Some diets promise quick weight loss. This diet, however, doesn't promise that at all. Instead, its virtues are that it's not horrible to be on. There's no starvation, counting, or limiting foods (except sweets). Day-to-day, it's pretty livable. And it does work. The point of it is to train yourself to eat this way automatically forever.

In all probability, you will not continue to lose weight even at this rate. But if you are losing any weight, even if it's slowly, you will get where you're going. There really isn't any diet that allows you to lose all the weight quickly and doesn't leave you in the lurch after you've lost the weight because you haven't learned to eat in such a way as to keep it off.

I hope you won't get discouraged. Try it for a few months. You will continue to lose weight and you will find that it's relatively painless to do so.

[wosnes]

good advice guys...you are right, it's going to take some time...

I guess the reason I thought I would have lost more is because is because I didn't have really any sweets the whole 10 days, and many days I went to bed with hunger pangs....

You didn't get to 217 in just a few weeks -- and you're not going to get where you want to be in a few weeks either. Slower weight loss tends to be more sustainable. So keep on!

[kccc]

If you "didn't have sweets the whole 10 days" my question is this: are you taking your S-days?

I do advise you to. Yes, it will slow down weight loss... at first. But they will also sustain you so that you can keep going.

From your post, it doesn't quite sound like you're really doing No-S... more like a crash-diet version of No-S. (My apologies if I'm wrong -I am assuming a good bit from what you've written. The expectations sound like crash-diet expectations for rapid weight loss, and that combined with the "10 days" made me wonder.)

Don't treat this as a crash diet. Weight loss will NOT be fast. It will last, and the eating pattern is very liveable long-term (if you allow S-days).

Best wishes!

[185-lbs-please]

I guess you could say I took some S days...i had a couple of those pudding cups here and there because they were sitting in the fridge already...now they are gone...

[reinhard]

You're doing great, 185. That's MORE than I would expect.

As others here have pointed out, No-s is about building long term habits, not quick fixes. The only thing at all alarming about what you reported are your expectations -- they really do need adjustment, or you'll get impatient and quit.

Best of luck settling in for the long haul and keep us posted,

Reinhard

[Kathleen]

My personal opinion: No S is about curing disordered eating AND THEN it is about losing weight.
Kathleen

[Nichole]

Sounds like you're doing well. Healthy weight loss for ANY diet is 1-2 pounds per week, more if you have more to lose. But you're doing well - keep it up!

[gratefuldeb67]

Hi
A pound a day loss is a completely unrealistic amount to expect to lose in a healthy and sustainable way.
That is the kind of numbers we see touted on all the fad/bogus diets.
Don't be discouraged.
I think it's great you lost three pounds!
Keep it off and little by little you will lose more in time.
My own hope is that I'll be able to lose 2 pounds a week.
I am fairly sure this will only happen if I exercise at least four or five days a week as well.

Good luck and stick to it! You are very close to your goal relatively speaking.
I am 243 pounds and want to be 160. I know it will take more than a year.

Peace,
Debs