I meant to write something about "starvation response," but then a semi-tractor-trailer got stuck on the hill outside my building FOR AN HOUR, jockeying, backing, police, flaggers, yelling, squealing like dying dolphins... And this happens once or twice a year.
I don't want to talk about it. Seattle is a city of hills and valleys. Seven neighborhoods have "hill" in their names--Capitol Hill, First Hill... oh I'm too tired to list all of them.
I don't remember my nutritionist talking about the way my body would react to sudden large weight losses, and I lost 35# in the first month, 25# the second, 15# the third... etc. Then I stalled at -75# and though I wasn't overeating, I was often sedentary, so my body went into starvation mode to protect me.
I stalled for a few months, then started mountain-hiking training. I literally put in 7 miles on a treadmill six days a week and it was still hard to lose a pound. This wasn't a "muscle weighs more than fat" thing. I've always been very muscular. This was just a stall my body was using to protect me.
I know how hard it is to accept this and to stay calm and just live through it, following your new, sensible eating guidelines. But you must do exactly that.
People who give up are the ones who regain. People who continued, understanding that this is a long road, and they didn't get fat overnight, so they won't get thin overnight, are the ones who succeed for the rest of their lives.
And at the risk of repeating myself ad nauseam, I lost 115 lb, I gained a little back because my body wanted me to, and then I stabilized and have been at the same healthy weight for 14 years.
Don't worry about stalls and don't predict that you're going into one because you only lost 1 or 2 lb. If you lost one or two pounds for a year that would be 50 to 100 lb in a year. That is a huge weight loss that only seems small if you're morbidly obese. It's more likely, and more healthy, to lose this way then if you burned off 50 lb a month like some people do the first month.
