Ready to GIVE UP!

Also, this last week I have been slipping as I am getting discouraged.

Are you slipping because you're discouraged, or discouraged because you're slipping.

You do have control over what you eat. You just have to seize it.

Okay. So I looked at the entire last week of your food.

You say you raised your calories to allow for the added exercise.....but then you don't eat the calories burned by the exercise.

For the entire last week you added the exercise calories but then didn't eat them. THAT will cause a stall.

On the days you exercise, try eating the 1700 calories as recommended. It will make a difference.

Your food choices aren't bad. Just you need to eat them.

Give it time. No one has a straight downward line of weight loss. It takes constant tweaking and experimenting. You'll get there if you don't quit. If you turn around now, you'll always turn around.

Definitely eating the net food allowance will help!! Loads of people think they shouldn't eat back their exercise cals but not doing this actually makes it harder to lose weight!

You say you're slipping, but I only saw maybe 3 days where you went over your goal, and probably not by enough to exceed your TDEE. Most days you are leaving behind a few hundred calories. Not only can that lead to overeating, but it can also make some people stall with their weightloss. You're more active now, so your body needs more fuel going in.

As far as motivation - whenever I've wanted to give up, I've just asked myself where that would get me. Yes I could give up in frustration, but then I would either stay the same or (more likely) gain the weight back that I had lost. People plateau sometimes, and yes it is discouraging, but if you give up now, then what was the point in starting? You've lost 21 bs, which is fantastic, and I'm willing to bet that you are fitter and healthier now than you were.

You've been restricting calories for a while now. Have you considered a diet break? Eat at maintenance for a few weeks (keep logging) and then cut the calories again. It can help both physically and mentally. Check this out: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html

This is a blog post that I've found helpful regarding plateaus: http://fitnesswithnatalie.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/most-dreaded-word-in-weight-loss.html

Also, if you want someone to check your numbers, Sara and Sidesteel created a really great group here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/10067-eat-train-progress-

I have had a really tough time losing any weight after the initial start but I am still coming back to log in and read what people are saying. I think the post before mine was good. It sounds counter intuitive to eat back your calories but I think it is true. I also had to bump up my calories to be able to lose. I initially started with 1200 and then bumped it up to 1500. I just started to see some progress recently with changing the milk I use in the morning in my cereal to almond milk which is much lower in calories but still has a good amount of calcium and protein.

In rereading your initial post I see you think you raised your calories - so you are purposely not eating back the exercise cals?

I think you've set your numbers too aggressively altogether.

Here: read these:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

You know what will happen if you give up, right?

I have the same issues, but I realize that part of my problem is that not every bite that goes into my mouth goes onto my log. I can't figure out how to log one bite of the macaroni and cheese that I'm cooking, for example. I do try to minimize these little slips, but they happen, and in the end my exact calorie count is impossible to determine.

I think that the best thing to do is keep pushing forward. At least we're not progressively gaining; that's a positive.