How will I know my diet is working?

[CS07012]

I'm 5"1 and female, and my unhealthy lifestyle has led to my present weight of 273lbs. As of Monday, July 19, 2010, I implemented a change.  I traded my usual fast food lunch (two slices of pizza, or burgers, or fried food) for something less fattening (an apple, a head of anise, carrots), I stopped having my usual after work snack of 9-12 pieces of sliced cheese (at 90 calories per piece), I try not to go overboard at dinner.  I also gave up my two favorite after dinner snacks, ice cream and hard liquor (previously, I'd been drinking between 4 and 6 ounces of hard liquor a night, and I know, weight management maybe isn't my only concern if I've been drinking that heavily).

So I started this diet on Monday, after being told by a doctor that I'm in the "high risk group" for diabetes.  The doctor also said that weight loss would require "a lot of starvation".

So today is only Thursday. I've weighed myself, this morning, and, according to the scale, I now weigh 263......a full 10lbs lighter.  I think this must be some sort of a mistake, though, because I don't FEEL lighter, none of my size 24 pants fit any looser.

So I just wanted to know if, and when, I will start to have some visible, tangible, result of my new, restricted diet.

[Barb135]

I agree with tigerlilly that you don't have to starve; there are plenty of low calorie foods you can eat that will fill you up.  

I don't understand not eating meat unless there's something else wrong.  Lean meats are chock full of protein and vitamin B12.  

Can you not have ANY breads, or just not white bread?  Again, whole grains are generally considered part of a balanced diet unless you are allergic to them.  

I certainly can understand eliminating the sugar free cake - no, sugar free doesn't mean healthy......often when the sugar has been removed from a food, extra fat or something else has been added to make up the taste.  Also, foods that contain sugar substitutes can actually cause you to crave sugar even more.  

Are grapes and bananas the only fruits you can't eat?  Is that because of their sugar content?  

As tigerlilly said, it may take a 2-3 weeks to actually "see" results, as in the way your clothes fit, etc. The reading on the scale can depend on when you last drank water, ate and/or went to the bathroom.  

[CS07012]

tigerlily5909,

I know about cutting back on carbs....I got a list of things I'm not to eat at my doctor visit, and on that list is bread, rice, meat, sugar-free cake (apparently sugar-free doesn't mean healthy), grapes, bananas.

[tigerlilly5909]

You can't fully trust a scale. Measurements are more reliable because even if you don't lose weight for  few weeks you will lose inches. it is common to lose a lot of weight in the first two weeks but it will stop after that and should only be 1-2 pounds per week. Measure yourself every week.

Dieting does not take a lot of starving, it takes a lot of changes. Water, exercising, counting calories, light on the simple carbs, like white bread, white rice. Plenty of fruits and vegetables, lean meats. You can make these changes all at once or one at a time. Whichever is easier for you.

Give it at least three weeks to see your pants fit differently. You can do it. Do it for your health!