Just an intro...

Skoster1

Well, I haven't been on the forums but I've been dieting since June 2011. Started at 326 and lost about 117 so far. Got down to 195 a month of so ago but I went on a vacation to Thailand and bumped right back up to about 225. Yep, several ups and downs over the last couple years, but all I care about is that it's more down than up. My goal weight is 163, which will mean I've lost half of me, though I'll probably end up a bit higher than that in the end.

I didn't use MFP much throughout, but now I'm really trying to focus in on maintaining a good log of my target macros.

I started on Medifast, which was fine (heck, anything would have worked besides continuing to stuff myself with pizza every night), but somewhere around 40-50 lbs in I just couldn't take another lean and green. I was always breaking down and having that 6th meal replacement and I finally ditched it when I caught myself despondently just eating a hunk of raw cabbage and a dry cooked chicken breast for dinner. I had done some pretty nifty cooking with the MRPs before (those puff ball things make a great breading for chicken) but I was at the end of my rope.

After that I went to a variety of weird, self designed diets, which never lasted. Then I tried just limiting calories and eating what I wanted, but it was really tough to stick with it and I was always craving. Finally I did Dukan and even though I had quite a few off the wagon breakdowns I managed to get this far.

Recently I decided I needed a change. Dukan is so restrictive to me that I'd end up just binging every now and then and that's how I ended up gaining 30 lbs in 2 weeks in Thailand. Granted, since I went from a diet which left me with no water weight to eating massively salty foods, a lot of it was water weight, but still... 30 lbs in 2 weeks? That's only possible because I had absolutely no control over myself. I knew that I needed to figure something out which would allow me to not go completely insane with food every time I had a good enough excuse.

I found that low carb with Dukan really worked for me, so now I'm doing low carb still, but watching my macros and giving myself a reasonable mix instead of just eating all I want within a specific set of foods. My hope is that this way I'll learn moderation and portion control while having access to a wide enough variety of food that I don't go stir crazy.

I'll be honest, it's a tough bit I'm in right now. I'm hungry and tired and knowing how few calories I can still eat today is depressing me to no end. But today I learned that I like avocados. Imagine that, 40+ and never knew I liked avocados since I never ate one until today. I sure knew I liked pizza!

Anyway, good luck to all!

JenGemx8x9x

Hi
Im sorry for your recent struggles but I hope you are giving yourself credit for sticking it out! I could never do no or even low carb you seem really dedicated and have already made HUGE progress!

Skoster1

Thanks! Dukan low carb, for me, was awful for a week or so until I got adjusted and then I was fine. I actually stuffed myself and never felt hungry since I could have as much of the allowed foods as I wanted. The problem would come in every once in a while (a couple months between, usually) when I would have a cheat day (family birthday, holiday, you know, the easy excuses we all have) when my habit of eating as much as I wanted would turn into a terrible glutton-fest. ;-)

Counting cals is harder than Dukan, emotionally and in how hungry I feel, but I don't think low carb leaves me as crazy as counting cals while allowed to eat carbs.

Looks like you're about halfway to your goal. Good work, those last lbs are the toughest and I'm always impressed with people who get them off!