Candy6900's Journal, 05 Feb 16

I sometimes suffer from what I call the 'knock on effect' My body seems to be about 2 weeks behind my diet curve. Looking at your diet chart your intake was higher til the 26th Jan, then you got serious! Keep going and give your body the chance to 'catch up' Then, hopefully, it will respond in real time. Don't eat too little either, keep the metabolism going. The lack of alcohol is a huge (but boring!) help 

Candy, I agree with Bunty, just hang on in there. A few years ago I got really serious and stuck to a strict diet and went to the gym four times a week. I almost gave up at the beginning though because in the first four weeks I only lost 31b and I was genuinely sticking to it and exercising hard. An instructor at the gym persuaded me to carry on, apparently this 'slow burn' (that's how he described it) is quite common in people who have sluggish metabolisms. Then after the fourth week something seemed to click and I was averaging a loss of about 2lb a week after that, and that lasted a good 10 weeks, before it slowed down a little. So don't be disheartened, as long as you're doing what's best for your body it will notice in the end, and reward you! 

Oh thanks you two, no yes I did only recently get deadly serious about reducing intake, so it's very informative to know that there may be a 'lag' before the second phase of weight loss begins. I'm precisely recording everything I eat, and accurate daily weighings with no fudging! 

Also, just a thought, maybe you're eating TOO little? I was told by my advisor at the gym that our metabolism won't work to burn off calories if it's trying to conserve your energy, usually as a result of us eating too little(ie crash dieting). I was advised to aim for the recommended calorie intake (the one on here is the same as my gym, so they must use the same principals in calculating it)and not try and undercut it by too much, best to eat the advised calories and try and exercise more to get a deficit than to try and cut them too drastically. It does seem to work for me, when I stick with it! 

Yes thanks so much for the info, you may well be right about eating too little, I'll try and up my intake to match the daily calories. Steak tonight then! 

I find I get a better weight loss when I eat within the RDI band, recommended here, than below it. 

Yes I'll amend my diet, problem is I caught flu and don't feel like eating anything at all sometimes! 

Candy, if you're ill then the diet should really go out the window anyway, just eat the good stuff, a little and often, get lots of water and sleep and start afresh when you're better, hopefully that'll be soon. 

I'm feeling much better now, and I did sleep an awful lot when the flu hit, didn't have any appetite, so I look on the flu as a kick start to the diet! 

I have had a cold for the last 7-10 days and it has played havoc with my appetite, exercise regime and diet. I can't wait to get back into the swing of things properly again! 

Yes it seems to take ages to completely get over it, but it did have the benefit of reducing my appetite! 

Could be muscle gain. Muscle weighs more than fat, so for a relatively small change in muscle mass you gain a disproportionate amount of weight. 

Oh I didn't know that, so I may become stronger!