Very much need insight

abremner86

looking for insight from people. About 2 years ago I started to pay attention to my health and work towards a healthy weight. Prior to that I literally ate whatever I felt like eating and never exercised. Then one day my clothes didn't fit. I started counting calories and joined dietbet and it worked SO well. Within 6 months I had made healthy sustainable changes, and lost 30 pounds, putting me right at a healthy weight and feeling great. I transitioned from dieting to maintaining, still keeping up a lot of healthy habits, only to gain every pound back.
Now I'm starting dieting again, eating even healthier than I did the first time around. It's been 2 months. I haven't lost a single pound.

I feel like I'm doing everything right - I've mostly cut out processed foods, I focus on healthy alternatives, I cut out all soda and ice cream, and most foods made with cream and butter. Significantly reduced carbs. My husband is a personal trainer and is helping me make better fitness decisions. I don't go with fad diets, just looking at nutrients and making better decisions. I just can't figure out why it worked so effectively last time, and now it's not doing anything. Also I'm more active, sleeping better, drinking LOTS of water, and not taking any medications. And yet none of my clothes fit.

Any advice? I'm getting very discouraged.

Alluminati

Are you keeping track of how many calories you are consuming? If so, how are they being measured?

abremner86

yes, using the my fitness pal app, which I used last time as well (with great success before) I measure out servings as accurately as I can estimate them (I know a food scale would get me more exact, but I got very annoyed having to use one and stopped). I'm limiting myself to 1350 calories per day and I'm usually under by at least 100.

I also have one of those fitness bands which syncs up to myfitnesspal and rates the nutritional content of my meals - although I find that one is less accurate

rsclause

I don't really think about "going on a diet". The word diet is used by most people to indicate a temporary change and we all know what happens when the change stops and you slide back to old habits. I prefer to look at it as a lifestyle change. When you break it down into its simplest form deficit = reduction in weight. It also doesn't take much of an increase to maintain or even add weight. I don't sweat the butter but soda, baked potatoes, fries, sweets are a big fat no. I think you need to check your calorie intake & logging because they are sneaking in somewhere.

RunawayCurves

I would use a food scale again for a while at least just to make sure portions are what you think they are. Other than that i would consult a doctor just to exclude a thyroid problem or something like that.

TR0berts

Ask yourself what is more annoying/discouraging: using a food scale, or not losing weight.

If the latter, then you know what you (probably) need to do. If the former, oh well.

abremner86

@rsclause - I'm with you. I use the word "diet" because it is easier to understand. What it means to me is that I'm logging my food again and stopping myself from going over - where when I'm in "maintenance" I'm sticking to the same overall foods but not keeping track of them. Overall I have had a HUGE lifestyle change in my eating that has been consistent over the last 2 years. Most of them are little things like always having a water bottle with me, and eating off a salad plate instead of a dinner plate, or not getting a soda just because I'm at a restaurant. Those are changes I can commit to being consistent on as a permanent change.

Logging my food every day is a temporary change, so that is what I call "dieting". It's giving me a reality check that some of the habits I let drop during my "maintenance" phase were more important than I realized, (reducing the amount of cheese I eat, not eating the treats that magically appear in my office all the time, etc) so I'm incorporating them back in. Now I'm back to an even healthier version of what I was doing the first time around, but no results.

As for the logging, I track every bite of food I take. and when estimating I always round up.

I assumed that this time around my weight loss would be less dramatic than the first time around (the first time I lost 5 pounds the first week and the numbers just kept dropping from there). But since my diet change is much less drastic I knew the weight loss would be as well, but was hoping there would be some noticeable results.

Oh, and I'm keeping an eye out for thyroid conditions - Every woman in my family (mom, grandma, cousins) has hypothyroidism so I get my blood checked for it every few years. Was just checked 10 months ago and no concerns.

Neanbean13

You have to measure. Sorry. Even raying 'healthy' you can over eat. Everythings got calories right? You can over eat on broccoli as much as ice cream. Although youd have to eat load more. Esp if you want to keep to a low total! Get out of denial and start to measure!