Getting to where I was

Travis3232

I thought I'd post a quick getting started message and find out people's reccomendations and success tips... My weight journey started when I was in middle schoold and elementary. I was a big kid, and it culminated in middle school with being labelled "borderline diabetic". And having to see a nutritionist and having to deal with numerous sugar imbalances...

However, in high school, I dropped weight and slimmed up... almost too thin. When I graduated high school in '95, I was around 160 and 6 ft. Making a long story short, from 1999 to 2006 I gained 120 pounds. Went from my almost too thin of 160 to 283. In 2006 I made it a goal to really focus on losing weight. I tried a few things like everyone else, but, I started counting WW points, and going to the gym. Between 2006 and 2010 I went from 283 to 207. I stayed around 207 to 211 in 2010 - 2011. By end of 2011 I was holding steady at 215lbs. Which I was fairly happy with. I really would love to hit 199 even if just for 5 minutes to say I did it, but, I look really dam good at 207-210.

Well, I'm not sure if a major life change in matabolism hit or I let up on watching what I eat or both, plus, I had some major (o.k. seriously major) stress events in my life... My house burned down in April of this year... I lost everything. So, o.k. maybe some stress. LOL. I skyrocketed from my fairly well maintained 215 to my all time high 2 weeks ago of 232. I was feeling very disappointed in myself. The rest of my life is finally recovered, and here I am. Slowly climbing to where I had been 6 -7 years ago..

So, i decided to try new things including MFP and getting more serious about exercise.

My current status and my goal:
current weight: 227. 6 - Down around 3-4 pounds ( I started this thinking I was at my high of 230.4. That's what I logged, then hit 232 as I started exercising even more then dropped).

My goal: March 31st: be at 210 for a current net loss of: 17.6 pounds. Over 25 weeks.
Current methods: MFP says to meet this goal I need to be at around 2040 calories a day.
Exercise plan:
MON, Tues, Thurs, Frid: Hit the elliptical for a minimum of 33 minutes on a scale of 1-20 for resistance, I'm exercising the entire time at a resistance of 17 - maintaining and building strength in my legs.

Wed: I take intense tennis lessons for an hour with one other trainee. I've been doing this 2 years. It helps me change up the routine. I'm usually drenched in sweat by the end of the lesson!

Thursdays: Play tennis doubles for 1-2 hours in addition to the cardio.

Saturdays: Every other Saturday or so, I hit the elliptical up for an hour.

With that, I try to have 200-500 calories left over in case I miscalculated the exercise done or the food eaten.

In the past 7-8 days of doing this (Since October 8th), I have lost a combined total of 2.8 pounds. More than I expected.


However, I know my body, I might stay at this weight or go up the next time I weigh and fluctuate within a pound or two for the next 1-2 weeks, then, if I"m lucky another 1-2 pounds will disappear. Or, I'll stay fluctuating for 1-2 months. My body LOVES plateaus...

Any reccomendations on how to move past plateaus and make them not last a month or 3 months? My GF and I have a competition going that if we each lose 20 pounds total by March 31st, we get to go to Vegas in May. I can't afford a 4 month plateau.. LOL.