Sugar is keeping me from my goal weight. Sugar and booze.

Its only 12 pounds, if you are maintaining then enjoy your beer and sugar. When you start gaining, cut back.

Focus on getting sufficient protein & fat. Sugar (and carbs) will fall into place. You can stand to raise your protein, significantly. But honestly this is unlikely to be the issue. As long as you're in calorie deficit (but not extremely so) you should be losing weight. Could it be possibe that your exercise calories are overestimated?

Bud Select 55!

Decide on just one change rather than overwhelming yourself with several changes and then taking away everything you enjoy. Pick one thing to change or eliminate.. say change your morning smoothie to a veggie/fruit smoothie (I do carrots, spinach, blueberries, orange juice and greek yogurt), or if you are having a sugar-y dessert more than once a week, limit yourself to just one time per week (I would eat ice cream or frozen yogurt for every meal every day if I could, but I limit it to once a week). Those "last" few pounds (your 12, my 15) are so stubborn. I've tried losing them many times before, and it really isn't until you identify the smallest ways you can improve your diet that they start to shed.. as much as that does stink! Good luck

I am about 10 pounds from my goal. I have had to completely stop drinking alcohol. One glass of wine a day and I wouldn't be able to lose any weight. It has to do with the liver processing the alcohol before food so the food goes more to fat.

You have come so far and know ur weaknesses... U don't have to cut them out completely... Do it in moderation. Dove ice cream is low in calories... Skinny and low cal beer should be fine in moderation. Keep up ur hard work. U can do it!!!

Pick and choose. I love my glass of wine after supper and to me I'd rather have that then a serving of ice cream. I love having a piece of fruit for lunch much more than adding sugar to my coffee. You don't have to cut it out completely just chose one or two servings of sugar or alcohol a day.

This post just came up while I was contemplating hte fact that I really want wine and dessert at the event I'm going to tonight, and if I could just give up sugar and alcohol all together I'd probably already be at goal weight, so know you aren't alone!

The one thing I will say that has helped me through all of the challenges is to cut down on refined sugar but letting myself eat fruit. What kind of smoothy are you getting? You can make one yourself at home, either with just fresh fruit and ice or with non-fat plain greek yogurt and fruit (the greek yogurt is great for you as long as you stay away from the flavors --- then suddenly you're adding 14g+ of refined sugar!). I keep bags of frozen fruit in the freezer.

I also try to let myself eat some sugar but in small amounts. For example, I'll have one or two hershey kisses, or a mini york peppermint patty. You can still get a lot of satisfaction after a small amount.

I have found sugar is just as addicting as nicotene was ---- and just like you have to detox your body when you quick smoking, you have to detox it from the sugar. I think the more you have it the more you crave it, but once you can cut a lot of it out you will find small amounts are more than satisfying and you don't crave it nearly as much.

I'm also a big ice cream fan, I keep a half gallon of mint chocolate chip low fat ice cream in the freezer and have a half a cup almost every night. Knowing I'm getting that at the end of the day also makes it so I don't feel deprived when there's other stuff lying around the office --- I know i'm getting ice cream later, so I don't care that I'm not having something else now.

as for alcohol: I'm not a beer drinker, but I love cosmos, which are really high in calories. Friday nights are my night, I just don't drink the rest of the week, because I can't ever have just one! And if I'm going ot a cocktail reception after work, I usually plan a workout or run for later in the evening (and tell my husband about it to be accountable), because I can't run or workout after a glass or two of wine, so I'll stick to water at the party.

Just focus on how good you feel now vs. where you were when you were heavier, and how much better you'll feel in another 12 pounds!

"Sugar" itself does not make you fat. If your macros are in check,(protein, carbs, fat) and you are consuming less calories than you are burning, you will continue to lose weight.

I've lost almost 20 lbs, and I do not track my sugar intake at all. I make sure whatever treat I want ( be it ice cream, cake, cookies, etc) fits into my allotted calories for the day, and then I eat it, enjoy it.

I believe that when we "limit" ourselves and what we can eat- is when we want the "bad" things that much more and then over indulge. Having a sweet something everyday is not going to kill you or your healthy eating plan.