A check in on my calorie/exercise goals--

criscollrj

Hello - thanks for this great board! I am a long-term dieter/yo-yo/non-dieting/binging/and all you can think of person! Ha ha! I have been everywhere from 111 pounds to 197 pounds in the last 38 years and I am 48.... so, yeah, just about a lifetime! Have also followed almost every kind of diet. Never tried pills/diet aids, thank God! But have done almost everything else.

So, today, I am here on MFP and love it! I have logged for about 102 days now. I walk, but at this point don't do other exercise. I have signed up for Tai Chi at the Y with my daughter and plan to go once a week, with my daughter, starting Monday through early June when my son will be home. After that I won't be able to do that class again until fall but hope to get Wii going in the meantime. I need to find all the parts and set it back up and start using it. I probably won't do tons more at this point due to hectic schedule with special needs children, my work, and my going to college again in the fall (on summer break right now just since Thursday).

I have read extensively on here and learned about TDEE and the comparisons between that and following the MFP guidelines for eating back exercise calories - so grateful for this new information as I never knew anything about it before. I would always when calorie counting before just try for 1200, fail, and give up, or I'd try South Beach for a while, do well a little bet, then start eating a lot of hot dogs thinking that was my protein (ha ha ha!) and give up again. [Note, those are NOT South Beach principles - South Beach is a very healthy diet!] I did lose 25 pounds twice on South Beach (gained it all back both times) and think that was novelty success... the second time, however, I kept it off longer.

Way back on the 90s I did Weigh Down. Eat only when hungry stop when full. I lost about 30 on that and it did last 2 - 3 years, even did when pregnant! But I was never able to stick to it again. When I realized what I was doing (especially after reading here recently) I can see why. As you go you'd cut your food in half over and over when you'd hit a plateau and I'm sure my metabolism was stopped dead in starvation mode. Luckily I got pregnant and was hungry when pregnant and did eat enough and had a healthy baby, and after he was born and I was nursing I kind of slid off - again a good thing. However it was bad that I went from 165 (my prepregnancy weight that I attained pretty quickly) to 197 in the next several years.

So the present, I just count calories, and I am 5'3", now 175 pounds (have lost 10! + 12 a few years ago when I counted calories another time and actually kept them off) and am on a 7 week plateau (but had lost 3" while ON the plateau, so people keep telling me I'm gaining muscle.). I did the MFP 1/2 pound loss goal for 6 of those weeks, eating back all of my exercise calories, so was having between about 1700 and 2000 a day. Then I switched over to the TDEE of 1800, not eating back exercise calories hoping to get off the plateau, which change I made one week ago. I did this because I was concerned maybe I was overestimating my exercise.

I am NOT eating clean, though I will pursue trying to be a little more clean as I go. I try and eat moderately of all food groups but I still have a little ice cream every day, drink 2-3 ounces of cola, and will occasionally have a hot dog (but only one where I used to regularly have two!), along with "good" foods such as salad, vegetables, cereal, etc. When I eliminate food groups I tend to binge so I am happy to eat moderately, seeing the most success in weight loss that I've had in about 8 years (yay!). My most immediate goals now are to make a habit of the tai chi class with my daughter, get back to Wii, keep walking, and drink more water - I would like to double my water intake. I would like to lose another 10 pounds by June. My eventual weight goal after that is to reach 125 or so which will be 50 pounds off my current weight.

So with all that, I just wondered if anyone saw any flaws in my calorie goals with my weight and height, as to whether that figure needing to go up, or down, could get me off this plateau, or do you agree that since I've lost 3" am I not even on a plateau? I don't really want to eat a lot less, as I have seemingly had success at this amount. It just is getting discouraged to get on the scale 7 weeks in a row and have no change. Although, I did lose the 10 pounds in 7 weeks... maybe it's just taking 7 more weeks to adjust.

Thanks for listening to my rambling post!