Hi. My husband and I started the 800 calorie per diet on Tuesday last week – just over 5 days ago. My husband has lost 4lbs, and I have lost nothing. I have been religious about keeping to 800 calories and my husband has treated wine as if it were water. In addition, I have had five exercise sessions; one hour long with a personal trainer, two HIIT sessions on a bike and two 40 minute sessions as prescribed by my trainer.

I am very disappointed not to have lost anything. I am at least four stone overweight and have been changing my diet/exercise regime for a year and a half, during which I have lost almost 2.5 stone. We have been following a low carb regime for all that time. We were previously following the High Fat, Low Carb diet by Zana Morris, but were getting tired of it, and the weight loss was slowing; we thought a change of diet might help the body restart the weight loss process. Clearly it has worked for my husband, but not for me.

Has this happened to anyone else? The forum is full of successful weight loss, but perhaps for some people it didn’t start as easily. I am prepared to keep going, but wondered if anyone else had experienced the same.

Hi Purlysu,
I think that most people who have huge losses the first week are people coming straight from unhealthy, hi carb, processed food diets etc. That means that most of that huge loss at first is water as you ditch the carbs. If you’re already eating low carb then you won’t lose the same at first. Having said that your body will adjust and the weight will start to come off. Lots of people on this diet ( including me) lose in fits and starts. I too have 4 stone to lose (6 originally!). I lost 7lbs the first week (water) then 1lbs then nothing for 5 days, 3lb then nothing for a week then 1lb a day over 4days etc… Fits and starts!! Give it time it WILL come off eventually. X

Sounds like you’ve been putting on muscle with all that fantastic exercise 🙂 Well done.

Clematis76 is right – if you have been dieting for some time you won’t have the big water loss. The good thing is that when you do drop a pound or ten, you will know it is fat! I have been on so many diets and have found that some times I don’t lose much or maybe nothing for a week or two then suddenly have a big drop.Have you monitored any weight fluctuations around your “cycle” ?

It seems to be a common thing that men seem to lose weight faster than women. Most diets I have seen always give men a bigger calorie allowance. Does your husband work out as much as you, or maybe more? Does he have a more active job than you? So many factors that could impact.

Despite this disappointment, and while it is a wonderful thing that you are doing it together, don’t compare your journey to his. I think you have done an amazing job to have lost 2.5 stone and to have kept going for all this time. You are very likely to be a long term success because you have made a big lifestyle change and stuck to it through thick and thin for a long period of time. You should congratulate yourself on the amazing success you have already achieved. Five days on a new regime when you have been reducing for so long is a huge expectation – you can’t beat yourself up after so little time. I am sure I will see a post here very soon with a new drop in weight and look forward to congratulating you! Hang in there! xx

Thank you all for your kind words. Today I weighed myself again and have now lost two pounds, so a little more encouraging.

One problem I experienced; at my Zumba class this morning, I twice had to stop because of light headedness. I normally have breakfast after class, now I think I need to have it before.

Good luck to all!

Hi PurlySu
I wouldn’t worry about it too much – not sure how the High Fat low Carb diet you were following previously differs from this, but as people have said, it sounds as if you’ve been following a healthy diet for a while.
I am nearing the end of week four, and haven’t lost as much as I hoped in terms of weight, but am finding that clothes I’ve not been able to wear for years are suddenly too loose.
The extra weight you are carrying probably took a while to get there – be patient and it will go – and don’t forget that with all that exercise, muscle is more dense than fat!