Wasn't it just a matter of staying under the calorie limit?

It isn't about just staying within calorie limits, it's also about having "quality food". If you still have a lot of fast food or other "crap" with a lot of salt in it, it's going to make things a lot harder.

Here's the thing. If it was simply a matter of the math, calories in/out, then why does anyone lose 14 lbs in a week? Why do you lose more some weeks and less others? If I need to burn 500 more or eat 500 calories less per day than what I use to lose one pound a week, and I do that, I should lose 1 pound a week no matter what. It shouldn't matter what the sodium is or what the protein is or what the dairy is or what the carb count is or how much water I drink, etc. Of course, that doesn't happen. Then everyone comes in and tries to figure out why the math isn't working. He's eating less than he burns, so why isn't he losing weight??? Should just be a simple arithmetic problem according to the popular calories in/out mantra.

Yes, especially if you are already in shape and never had a weight problem, then you have never had much issue with your metabolism and foods aren't having as much impact. I understand my use of the word carbs in the first post got a lot of people riled up. Low-glycemic might be a better word. For someone who is struggling with weight loss, reducing carbohydrates and getting carbs from lower-glycemic sources (squash instead of potatoes for instance) will help.

Again, no one has to follow this advice and you are all free to do your own research to see what science really says about diet and exercise. Yes, there is research to show that low-fat diets actually can be detrimental to our health.

As for my own story, you will never see a "ripped" photo of me (or any other photo as I am pretty private), I don't crunch abs for hours a day, because that isn't important to me, but when I go to the doctor, all of my numbers are extremely healthy. My children are all thin and active. I exercise, I try to make good choices when I eat, and I recognize that eating an ice cream sundae isn't going to be the end of the world. I do limit carbs, when I don't, it doesn't affect me right away, but then after a while of eating like that I crave them more and more. Like the Lay's commercial says, bet ya can't eat just one! This is the problem a lot of obese and overweight people suffer from. It is almost addicitive how hard it can be to avoid overeating your calories when the cravings are so strong to eat. The research proves that we are less likely to go over our calorie intake if we increase protein and decrease carbohydrates. Therefore, it is much easier to maintain a lower-glycemic diet in the long term. You will stop daydreaming about doughnuts and cupcakes and all of that. I'm simply offering a suggestion that the math doesn't always work.

If it were me, I would start eating back only half of the exercise calories (unless I was 100% sure I was burning that much, and MFP and even HRMs are not 100% accurate), cut back on sodium, and give it a week. For me, all the weird little blips in the scale seem to work themselves out in that time frame.

How are you meauring your food/cals? Unless you are using a scale many people will say your aren't really counting your calories.

^^^^^THIS. OP, are you measuring your food with a scale? Are you tracking every single thing that goes in your mouth? It's VERY easy to underestimate your intake.

If it was just a matter of staying under the calorie limit, it wouldn't matter what he ate. Whether it's fat or muscle or whatever he's losing, the argument here seems to be that the math is the math. 3500 calories a week should equal a pound of something lost no matter which way you slice it.

Oh, and Japanese and Italians may eat rice and pasta, but not nearly in the quantities that are served here. A Japanese diet may have rice as a side for meals, but they also include plenty of fish, seaweed and other vegetables, not just a heaping scoop of rice with a tiny amount of the rests. Much of the sushi here in America is nothing like what you'd find in Japan. Italians have lots of protein and veggies and healthy fats with their pasta, and the proportion of noodles to the rest is much smaller than what we typically eat over here. They also don't eat tons of bread and cheesecake.

100's of years ago certain Native American tribes had obese people who were basially "starving". They had government rations of grains and sugar, but their ability to hunt and farm was restricted. Their diet consisted mainly of the rations, which were not a generous amount. They showed signs of malnutrition and yet were still putting on fat. They weren't leading a sedentary lifestyle. Same things in certain tribes in Africa, and other places. I'm sorry I don't have all of the data here in front of me at the moment.

Again, as I said, if you were never overweight, your body doesn't have the same insulin resistance built up. It is easier to control cravings. You also must work out quite a bit to be able to eat as many carbs as you want and still stay at an ideal weight. The point is, that isn't realistic for most people. It turns everyone else into a failure if they can't magically control their eating and exercise so tightly. Of course calories still matter, but when you eat more protein, you don't have enough room/appetite to overindulge on carbs. You can believe this or not, it's not my idea, it's backed by 100 years of research.

I haven't really heard anything that discounts this, and I don't think I will ever convince you to look into it yourselves, so I will stop trying to convince you. Those of you who don't have a weight problem don't need to worry about it anyway, and you will never understand what it is like to be someone who can't stop eating "junk food" even when you really want to. If the OP wants to get his eating in check, based on everything I have ever learned about weight loss, his diet contains way too many carbs (most of the people arguing with me seem to say they eat more protein, so why would it be so crazy to encourage him to do so as well?)

How are you meauring your food/cals? Unless you are using a scale many people will say your aren't really counting your calories.

^^^^^THIS. OP, are you measuring your food with a scale? Are you tracking every single thing that goes in your mouth? It's VERY easy to underestimate your intake.

I agree. I was positive that I was guesstimating the serving sizes properly. But once I started measuring and weighing things, I realized just how wrong I was!

Also, I agree that you shouldn't eat back all of your exercise calories. Some, yes. But not all of them. But, of course, that's a matter of opinion.

You are confusing weight loss and fat loss. And way to ignore the fact protein is highly insulinogenic, which happens to make your previous carb fear mongering posts look silly since you also suggested upping protein

I can't find anything that says protein is insulinogenic, in fact as I have been looking it up, all of the reports, articles, science research and everything I have found so far says the opposite. The only thing that came close was a study of dairy protein which found an elevated insulin response from dairy products, but they tested other animal proteins as well and there was no insulin response. I'd be happy to address this more thoroughly if you could point me to the genesis of your statement.

Holt et al. An insulin index of foods: the insulin demand generated by 1000-kJ portions of common foods. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 66, 1264-1276

http://www.ajcn.org/content/66/5/1264.full.pdf+html

The insulinogenic effect of whey protein is partially mediated by a direct effect of amino acids and GIP on β-cells

http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/9/1/48

I haven't had time to read everything thoroughly, but from what I can see, of course food has an insulin response, every food in the world will. What I see on the charts and from briefly reading the articles is that proteins had an insulin response similar to a few whole grains, but less of a response than the fruit, some of the whole grains, and all of the refined carbs.

Carbs. Your diet has way too many carbs, and you work out too hard. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but crazy workouts make you super hungry, eating carbs makes your insulin fire up and store fat, which in turn makes you more hungry. You don't eat nearly enough protein. You could completely stop counting calories and eat tons of protein and stop eating rice and pasta salad and tortillas and cereal and you would lose weight. Rice, pasta, etc are not part of a nutritious eating plan. Eat a huge steak for dinner with a huge side of veggies - 2 cups of greens at least. Eggs and bacon for breakfast instead of cereal.

This has worked for me. I stick to lean protein, vegetables, fruit, and a few whole grains (i.e. a turkey sandwich on multi-grain bread).

Try and limit dairy, rice, pasta, potatoes, cereal, processed foods, frozen foods, artificial sweeteners, soda, and fruit juice.