I'm going through the biggest life changing event ever and my weight loss has stopped

Good article, Thanks! The reason there are some "guestimates" in the diary is because I didn't think that foods with such a small amount of calorie differences would make that big of a difference considering how much of a deficit I am living in most of the time. I am haven't been perfect, especially around last year's holidays, but I stuck with it and kept going. I will, however, start to actually weight my small bananas, etc. and see what the actual difference turns out to be. Maybe I need to be stricter, I really just wanted a general estimate of what I am consuming so as not to get obsessive and overly involved with counting calories. I can take things too far and that could lead to defeat if I run out of energy worrying about 30 calories or something like that. This is evident in my upset about only losing 1 lb last week.

I didn't mention that I have psoriatic arthritis and take stelara and 5 mg of prednisone per day. Psoriatic arthritis manifests as severe inflammation in the joints and can affect the liver and other organs. I've had VERY high liver enzymes for years but they have dropped to around 200% above normal as opposed to 400% or more. I literally cannot take any nsaids and can treat myself to two tylenol twice a week if needed. I rarely do though. I've been on the prednisone since last april. I also spent a year going to a pain clinic for regular steroid epidurals in lumbar and cervical as well and individual joint and trigger point injections and occipital blockers. I was getting the max possible because I was in so much pain. It was three years after my diagnosis that I finally got any improvement and I had my last trip to the pain clinic in December so I am cutting way back on the steroids overall. I will have to taper down the prednisone very slowly after having been on them so long.

I also have type 2 diabetes taking 1000mg per day metformin. I have hypothyroidism taking synthroid 50mcg/day. Lipitor 40mg/day for cholesterol/triglycerides.Taking lisinopril for high blood pressure. The good thing is that my blood sugar, blood pressure and TSH have been great lately and I see my doctor tomorrow for bloodwork and I am hoping to be able to reduce some of my meds.

One last thing, I take psychotropics for bipolar but have been since I was 13 and don't think that is affecting me negatively.

I originally start out at the 1200 calorie mark and that was difficult to adhere to, I was still hungry a lot. Then I eliminated caffeine and that actually helped with the hunger. Over time I became afraid of the calories and started to cut back hoping to encourage more progress. I watched a lot of documentaries on fasting, nutrition, exercise, mindfulness, philosophy, biology, physics and more. I work from home so I have a LOT of time on my hands. I took the things that seemed to be common among all the perspectives and held on to those that I felt apply to me and are things I can control. I am not claiming to be an expert on anything, just that I seek knowledge in order to replace bad thinking patterns and behaviors. I admit now that I might have overwhelmed myself with an influx of information and am confused as to what is actually right. You all seem to have had success in your own ways and also share common but sometimes different ideas about the health quest we are undertaking. Still confused, I ask you all, how do I know the right path for me as a unique individual? How do I measure "progress" in a healthy way?

Thanks for the heads up. I'll relax a little on my need to see fast results. I have really been focusing on the court date and seeing me soon-to-be ex-husband for the first time since January. I want him to see that I can and will return to health despite his cruelty toward me these past few years.

I am under the maximum amount of stress that I can bear. I am doing a lot of meditation, relaxing and exercising as much as I can to reduce stress. After all the comments, I'm going to loosen up a little and try to let my efforts unfold as they are meant to, naturally. Oh yea, and I'll start to weigh everything rather than measuring and guestimating. I'll put in more effort but reduce the pressure on my body to "perform" in the way I think it should.