Want to cry :(

Charger440

All I can say is I eat about 1500 - 2000 cals a day and I try to do enough exercise per day so that I have between 1,000 and 1,500 cals left. I been doing this since the middle of January this year and am down more than 45 pounds in total. I've heard all kinds of stories about how to lose weight but for me it's simple, just make sure you have a 1,000 cal deficit at the end of the day and you will lose weight. I know I do and that's how my plan works.

Thexplodingirl

Your diary looks mostly great to me, I just have a few tips.
I couldn't see your potassium intake in your diary. I didn't give an ish about potassium until I started having a real bad hormonal imbalance that made me retain water like a mad woman. Then I looked at how much sodium I was consuming, and a lot of other women posted on here it should probably be more like 15k rather than the mfp suggestion of 25k. I also found out that potassium m us integral to your body being able to utilize sodium. Your body needs sodium, but it shouldn't work alone, you need more potassium than sodium for your body to use it correctly. mfp recommends 35k of potassium a day, but I didn't think I could possibly meet all of the goals exactly, I usually just try to keep my potassium about 1k above my sodium intake (~15k or less and call it good. I've noticed an OUTSTANDING difference in my energy level since I started a week and a half ago, I'm more energetic and alert, I don't even drink much caffeine if any on most days. I get my potassium with my v8, coconut water or avocados, also there's vitamin water zer.o rhythm which I tried for the first time today.
Also I've been trying to incorporate more naturally diuretic foods into my diet like asparagus. NOW I just retain water like a silly woman. And however counter intuitive it is, drink more water when you're noticing more water weight.
I'm a big fan of cutthefatpodcast.com, and blythe recommended a couple of times just cutting out one condiment from your diet completely- hers was butter. She said after a few weeks she didn't even miss it, and mostly stopped eating bread because she didn't want it without the butter. I don't use butter at all. Once I added I can't believe it's not butter spray to my veggies and it tasted good, for no extra calories... I don't know if you would use it with your diet but it worked for me. Cutting out butter might save you some calories.
Also, if you haven't already, invest in a heart rate monitor. I got my new balance n4 at target for about $70, and I love it, it helps me more accurately keep track of my work out calories.
take it or leave it, it's working for me.

NoAdditives

You shouldn't have a calorie deficit at the end of the day. MFP already gives you a deficit, that's why you need to meet your calorie goal and eat your exercise calories.

As far as craving chocolate goes, you need to get yourself off of it completely, including not eating substitutes. I had a lifelong sugar addiction that I finally beat in January. Since I cut refined sugar out of my diet completely I can now eat one or two small pieces and be satisfied. (Which is great since I have Easter candy in the house right now.) What I did was gradually wean myself off and it only took a week. In all honesty, considering how addicted I was, I'm surprised it was so easy! The first couple of days I made myself wait until after lunch to have my first piece of chocolate. When that was easy I made myself wait until my afternoon snack. After a couple of days that was no problem so I made myself wait until after dinner. After just a couple of days of waiting until after dinner I found I didn't care if I had the chocolate or not. That was it. After that I didn't crave it anymore.

You don't need to cut out grains, they can be very good for you. Just make sure you're eating whole grains instead of refined grains. Whole grains aren't your problem, sugar is. Get refined sugar out of your diet and you won't crave carbs.

You also need a lot more protein. If you won't eat meat you should look into a good protein shake made with natural ingredients. Go to a health food store and you can find a great selection of powders made with natural/organic ingredients, no GMOs, and no artificial sweeteners. But, I would take a good look at your reasons for becoming vegetarian. I lived that life for 10 years and was vegan for two. Morally, I felt great because I wasn't eating animals, but it was really hard to get enough protein in my diet. I wasn't able to eat a very balanced diet because most vegetarian forms of protein are also high in carbs. It's no surprise that I gained weight while I wasn't eating meat, I was eating way too many carbs and because I wasn't active enough they got stored as fat. Organic meats are healthy and the animals are generally free range, so they live better lives.

VegGrrl

Stick with it girlfriend - it will happen! I'm the same height and close to same weight as you. And about 15 years older. I lost 18 lbs. quickly but have been on a plateau number wise for a while. However, my clothes keep getting baggier so I'm not stressing over it. Have you lost inches? Sometimes our work doesn't show up the scale for a while but the fat IS going away!

Please don't let anyone try to tell you that being veg isn't healthy or is making you fat. Nonsense! It's the best way to prevent disease, especially heart disease, diabetes, and cancers. Just like any other way of eating, eating too much or eating crap will make you fat. If you haven't read the China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell, check it out. There are also tons of great books - and cookbooks! - by Dr. Neal Barnard and Dr. MacDougall. But I think you know all that since you've chosen to go veg. I won't preach to the choir!

I'm vegan (been so for about 9 years now and was veg before that) AND have a wheat intolerance. So I guess some folks would say I have a lot of "restrictions" on what I eat. I don't think of it that way. I want to feel good and be healthy - so I don't eat stuff that doesn't make me feel good (physically or ethically) - I focus on the positive (all the zillions of wonderful foods nature provides us with) not the negative (What I "can't" - more like "won't" - eat). I have never eaten such a varied diet as I do now. Nor felt as good physically and spiritually.

But I digress! Have you talked to your dr. about all this? Do you have any hidden food allergies? (they can manifest in ways you would never guess). Are you getting enough sleep? Do you do tons of cardio but not much strength training on a regular basis? How about your emotional life - are there issues or stress going on? Could you be sliding into perimenopause? Your diary looks pretty good but there isn't much variety within a day or from day to day. I'm certainly no paragon of clean eating all the time, not do I stay within my "limits" all the time, but I do eat a wide variety of foods. (And I'm vegan and wheat free! lol) I wish I had a magic answer for you, but I don't. All I can say is hang in there. I feel your frustration - BEEN THERE! Change things up with your diet and exercise until you have a breakthrough. What else can you do? It'll happen. Stressing only makes it worse.

Oh, and check this out: www.fatfreevegan.com TONS of low cal recipes! Variety is the spice of life!

HUGS - :flowerforyou:

live2dream

Thanks VegGrrl- Gives me hope! I do read A LOT of nutrition books- and a whole bunch of vegan/vegetarian cookbooks now. It's just finding the time to plan/cook. I'm SO busy working full-time away from home and then I run a photography business part-time. I used to love to cook, but that was when I wasn't so damn busy!