Really could use some support.

Hi!
This is just my own opinion, but if I were you I'd quit looking at calories. It sounds like it's really taking over your life and just weighing down on you. Instead I would focus on feeling good again. Keep moving, doing exercise you enjoy and rather than counting everything you eat, just focus on healthy, fresh and filling. A good way to do this is to eat by color. Make as colorful a dish as you can. Whole wheat pasta with color peppers, artichoke hearts and a little olive oil is beautiful, healthy and filling. This is a bad time of year when people easily feel blue. Start your day with a Keifer, blueberry and banana smoothie or some oatmeal? Just focus on taking care of yourself rather than putting all this pressure on yourself and the weight loss will follow.

I wish I knew the answer and could tell you. It could be any number of things. Were you stressed out? Not have enough healthy food around to eat or maybe you got bored with the healthy foods you did have? 50 pounds lost is a huge accomplishment and if you have enough willpower to lose that then I think you can overcome this set back. It's really easy to become over focused on calorie consumption so maybe try what you were doing before without obsessing over calories and see if that helps. I hope this helps you : )

Don't worry every one has some off days now and then. Just don't let them get you down. Don't obsess either. Just watch what you eat. When ever I eat I just have to stop and think, what will this look like when I plug it in. If I know that it will look really really bad, I find something else. I also try hard to work out, even if it is just walking a little bit more in a day. Just know that you are not alone and you can do this.

Start looking at MFP as a lifestyle change as opposed to a diet. Stop counting calories, carbs, and fat and begin to understand that the concept is healthy eating. Once your perspective changes from "I have to loose X amount of pounds therefor I must do this" to "this is my life and there's no other way to do it," what you eat, food, exercise, and overall great health will become an extension of who you are as opposed to a job where you can't wait to get off.

I honestly think that in order to lose weight, for me, I need to work on dealing with my thoughts and feelings as much as counting calories and exercising. It isn't the dieting that makes me feel crazy, it's my thoughts and feelings about it.

I pulled out a book a few days ago that has helped me in the past a LOT! It's called "The Joy Diet: 10 steps to a happier life" by Martha Beck. It's such a small book but the steps have such impact that I can't praise it enough. It really turned my life around a couple years back. It has nothing to do with weight loss except that it puts my brain in the right place. A simple but powerful book. For example, step two is creating a moment of truth every day. I ask myself how I'm feeling? Angry, sad, scared, guilty? What is the story that I'm telling myself that makes me feel that way? (Like, I'm scared that I won't be able to see this weight loss journey through.) What is painful about the situation? Is there another story that I could tell myself that would be more useful? (Such as, I've never had as many tools before that would help me see this weight loss through.)

That's a short version and not as well explained as she does. I really recommend the book.