May we talk about set points?

Everyone's weight ranges in a 4-5 pound maintenance range due to water/glycogen/retained waste fluctuations. That's normal.

I've always consider my weight to be the low weight I've achieved, because I know that scale weight isn't body fat gain but all that other noise. I'm very familiar with the fact that running harder or upping the weights or eating soy sauce can make the scale jump. The scale the day after Thanksgiving was appalling. Today it was 118, but for all intents and purposes, I know I weigh 116.2. Now I had a good hard run this morning and am lifting this afternoon. I fully expect the scale to be up tomorrow. Oh well.

Anyway, back to you, Deb. I believe you can get to any weight you want to be that's reasonable for your height and frame size and I think a very big part of anyone achieving their goals is firmly believing they can. That's really been key for me, I believe.

I wish I knew what to tell you. You can break past plateaus simply by counting calories. You might have to change your activity levels. We older folks have to become more active to compensate. That's just life. I'm a lot more active than I used to be, and I sort of have to be because of my arthritis. The thing is, I gradually upped my activity so that it became a natural part of my days. You don't have to necessarily get all your activity from exercise either. Just pacing around your house at a decent pace for 10 minutes or so every hour increases your TDEE. Look for little ways to increase your NEAT. Take the stairs. Park far away from the grocery store. Pace while something is cooking. Become inefficient in your daily life. Put laundry away one piece at a time. Do bodyweight squats while you're heating something in the microwave. It all adds up.