ONE YEAR: Much to celebrate, but struggling

Congrats on your successes thus far! You look great! Your story resonates with me because it is MY story! I, too, lost 55 lbs. in the 1st year – most of it in the 1st 6-7 months. Since I reached my goal of 55 lbs., I’ve stalled…big time – even tho’ I want to lose another 25 lbs. by the end of this year. For me, it’s the lack of mental fortitude…I’ve lost my steam and, like you, have quit exercising as much and I’m eating a little bit more than I use to. My strategies of late are :

• Lowered my weight loss goal to .5 lb/week (vs. 2 lbs.) This has subsequently raised my cal. allowance a tad, which has helped.
• Pre-plan/log my days every morning. This has especially helped when I know there are special occasions or weekends involved
• Jump into my walking clothes as soon as I get out of bed – it helps get my walk in before the day takes over.

I’m hoping that with the nicer weather I will feel more energetic to exercise and step up my routine. I have to remember – I will have to do this for life in order to succeed long term – and that’s my goal… Good luck to you - Just keep on doing the right things!

Yeah, I think you're just mentally done and need a break from trying to lose. I've started month 5 and feel the same way! Definitely know how to eat, but don't have the same motivation to stick to it diligently. Severe restriction loses its appeal and I don't know how you've handled 1200 for that long!

I agree with the others who mentioned reverse dieting up to, or close to, your maintenance level. Add in 100 calories a week until you're there, then relax for a bit. Focus on living your life for a while and getting in your favorite exercise. After the break, the control you feel you've lost won't seem like such a chore.

When you're ready, set your calories at a more sustainable level and take your time. If you think about it, you aren't seeing progress with what is happening right now. Setting up a 0.5lb/week loss will at least get things moving toward your goal and you won't have that burn out looming.

First up, congratulations on your success so far. You're doing an amazing job! Plateaus suck, but they're usually a sign that our body has wised up to what we're trying to do, so it's time to find new and exciting ways to trick it (in a healthy way!)

Something I've read on the forums time and time again is "eat more to lose more". Being at 1200cal seems to work for a while, but there's pretty much nowhere to go from there. You'll see "TDEE - 20%" written a lot, which means that you calculate your total daily energy expenditure, like, what your body ACTUALLY needs, and then reduce that by up to 20% (but no more) to lose weight. There are heaps of calculators out there but this one seems to be pretty popular http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ and the thing to remember is that your TDEE will shift as you lose weight, because your body is spending less energy moving itself around. I've been doing TDEE for a while and slowly losing weight, but the pace of weight loss is okay by me because it means that I don't have to be crazy-strict with what I eat and can, for example, go out for dinner a couple of times a week (as long as I'm sensible about it).

Two threads you should definitely read are http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1235566/so-youre-new-here/p1 and http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

Lastly, there is nothing to stop you from logging your meals ahead of time, or afterwards. I often plan what I will eat if I will be out of phone service for a day or two, or before going out for dinner - I'll find the restaurant's menu on the internet and choose what I will order ahead of time. I log it using generic items and usually multiply what I think will be the serving size by about 1.5 to make up for not actually measuring the serving and for extra butter etc. that you don't know is in the food. That way I know what sized servings I should be putting into my body, and what foods I should be eating. And if you're spending that time with your family, you can ask them ahead of time what they are cooking and work out what constitutes a serving of it, and then make up for it at the gym on Friday morning and Sunday. Haha, that said, I know that there is nothing quite like pressure from family to eat seconds, and thirds, so be strong!

Good luck beating your plateau

DirrtyH wrote: »

Have you made any adjustments to your calorie goal?