Slow and steady wins the race, right??

Losing 50 lbs in 7.5 months is a phenomenal accomplishment! That's a perfect amount of weight to lose each month to maintain it long term. I haven't actually discovered this for myself....YET, but reading stories like yours encourages me to keep going.

Did you take any "before" pictures? As you know it's not just about losing pounds, it's about how much you are shrinking and pictures truly can be worth a 1,000 words. I took before pics and I'm going to take new pics each month. It's hard for us to see changes in ourselves when we look in a mirror every day. But to look at pic from a month, or two, or more ago would be very motivational. Keep up the good work!

There are lots of things to consider. Here's where my thought process would begin.

is 2200 calories now too aggressive or not aggressive enough?

1. I'm sure you know about starvation mode. Is your body simply done giving up the calories until you give it more to work with?

2. Is your body just getting more efficient?You're eating better. You're working out. Your body is saying that it can maintain at 2200 calories.

I personally think that MFP is horrible at giving calorie advice. I think the TDEE - 25% method is a better way to go.

It's a really hard reality to see that even with a lot of weight to lose you do not lose it 'fast' by any stretch of the imagination. The first few months are always the best but invariably it slows down. Sometimes I envy my larger friends their big losses, especially when I struggle to get even .5lb/week (this with at least 30 more lbs to lose from original around 90-100) .

The thing about having lots to lose is that you can afford to eat lower than 'recommended' for the first little while, but invariably it will happen where you will start seeing the slow downs. Sometimes it's faster, sometimes you can manage for a long time. If you average out your numbers you are still getting about 1.5lbs/ week which is close to what you should be seeing - of course I 'should' be getting 1lb/week according to MFP but I am lucky if I get 1lb / month so realistically, for me, MFP is WAY WAY wrong. What I would say is that if you are not happy with what you are getting you can try to play with the numbers a little bit on your own (this is what many people end up doing)

Most people here would agree that you should ensure that you are at LEAST eating your BMR (this is the minimum number of calories that a person of your age,height,weight needs just to lay in bed all day and do nothing) given the stats that you have shared this number is far more than 2200 (especially if you are not eating back all your calories) If you do not eat enough for your body's basic functions then things begin to suffer. Some people experience extreme hunger, tiredness, soreness and just a general run down feeling. Your body tries as much as it can to start conserving its stores of energy (in this case fat/muscle) in preparation for the 'lean times'. In terms of evolution this would have been the body's way to survive through a long winter where food was much less plentiful. You still lose weight - but it becomes harder and less of it as opposed to times when your body does not feel the stress of there not being enough to eat.

Regardless of your opinion with respect to TDEE, 'bad science' or anything else the path is always up to you. All I will say is that the path is NOT a short one. For me, It took 20 YEARS to gain my weight. If it takes me 2 years to get it off that is fine for me. Of course everyone wants it gone fast, but it has been proven time and again that the fast you lose it, the greater the odds of it coming back. What you choose to do about it is up to you. You can continue down the road you are on and accept the losses you are seeing happily or you can allow the numbers to rule you, get upset & frustrated that you are not going as quickly as you like / expect - this road will invariably lead to giving up.

In the end, you are 50 lbs lighter now than you were at this time last year and that is an AMAZING thing! Don't sell your accomplishment short. Find a path that works for you and just keep it in perspective. You will get there!

No offense to the many here who subscribe to the whole TDEE/In Place of a Roadmap theory -- I've read through the stuff...and honestly, I think it is just another weight loss plan/gimmick. There seem to be just as many people it works for as who it doesn't work for. And the ones it works for seem to be folks who don't have nearly the amount of weight to lose that I have.

The fact you said the bold part tells me you haven't done enough research since MFP uses the same calculations...It just takes your TDEE and adds a deficit for you.

All I will say is, have you had MFP adjust your calorie goal since losing the 50lbs? Are your settings set for your weight right now or 50 lbs ago!?

I am right where you are! I started seven and a half months ago (beginning of 2013) and have lost exactly 50 lbs since then, but still have quite a ways to go. I, too, am a female in my 40s (45, to be exact). The weight loss has DEFINITELY slowed down, but, as my beloved nutritionist likes to remind me, every week that I do not lose weight, I can still say that "I maintained a 50-lb loss for another week!" Framed like that, I feel MUCH better about what I've already accomplished and much less concerned about where I still need to go. I, too, have become much more "efficient" as I have gotten more and more used to exercising, and I can see that I'll have to work harder now to get the same results. It can be frustrating, so once in a while at the gym I pick up something weighing 50 lbs and make myself carry it around for awhile. GREAT reminder of how much better off I am right now as compared to 2012. Feel free to add me if you want!

You've made great progress -- and you need to tell yourself that everyday! I've experienced the same frustration, especially since my body seems to let go of weight in spurts rather than at a nice steady pace. It helps me to focus on how much better I feel, and how I've developed new healthy habits that I can sustain in the long term. That's incredibly important for those of us who have large amounts to lose. And you've certainly made many healthy changes already. I've also tried to refocus my short-term goals away from the scale. For a long time, my goal was to be down 75 lbs by a family wedding in September. Well that's not going to happen -- and I was disappointed and down on myself when I realized it. That's just not constructive. So now I set non-scale-victory goals, like wearing that pair of nice dress pants I've had sitting at the back of my closet or being able to stand for a 1/2 hour straight without my back, knees and feet hurting. And remember, even if you're not seeing the scale go down, you're maintaining your weight loss!!!! Another huge accomplishment!!!

One other suggestion for releasing frustrations (and one I used after I had a nasty encounter with the scale): search YouTube for clips of folks destroying their bathroom scales. They're hysterical! The darn things are nearly indestructable!!