why resolute dieters fail

OK, now I'm bummed. I'm at that 8 month mark and the scales have not moved in several weeks. I interpret this article as saying I should NOT be eating back my exercise calories unless I'm burning more than 500 a day? Anyone else?

I agree that the article is confusing. But I disagree that the fundamental principle of dieting is wrong. At least based on my own experience at MFP, reduction in caloric intake and increase in physical activity WILL result in weight loss. Perhaps you need to reduce caloric intake more than 250 calories a day, but I let MFP handle that. (I posted my settings below.)

I will say that it took 5 to 6 months to lose 45 lbs and that I did experience plateaus. But I stuck with the diet, carefully keeping track and not cheating. I also kept to my exercise routine.

Now that I have reached my goal, I am still carefully tracking caloric intake, though I have built in a little fudge room. I am 9 months into this process and have maintained consistency. I am very concerned about gaining back the weight I worked so hard to lose, because I have lost weight before and gained it back. I think that I am on the right track this time. I do agree that losing weight over a longer period of time gives you more time to retrain yourself for good eating and exercise habits and to get those habits more deeply ingrained.

So, here was my routine:

-- Set MFP for 1 lb per week of loss
-- Exercise 4 + days per week, 2 days of strength training and 2 days of spinning with core strength
-- Cycling--this became a real passion and as the weather warmed up (I started this just after Christmas) I began logging some serious miles and burning thousands of calories
-- I always tried to come in under my calorie allowance (this accelerated my weight loss)
-- I lost an average of 10 lbs per month
-- Tried to get sufficient sleep

So, do not be discouraged by yet another researcher's dieting opinions. If you stick with this, you will lose weight. Just remember that it will take some. You did not gain the weight in a few months, so don't expect to lose it in a few months. It is a process.

OK, now I'm bummed. I'm at that 8 month mark and the scales have not moved in several weeks. I interpret this article as saying I should NOT be eating back my exercise calories unless I'm burning more than 500 a day? Anyone else?

In my view, which is based on nothing more than my own experience, you can eat back some of your exercise calories.

For me, I usually eat a Clif bar before a workout (250 calories). So if I have a 600 calorie workout, I have already eaten 250 of those back. But I also usually left a deficit at the end of the day, even if I ate more back than the Clif bar.

For longer workouts, like long rides on the bike, I might burn 1000 calories and drink 400 calories of sports drink. I might eat back another 200 to 300 calories, still leaving me with a deficit (above what MFP was programed to give me) of 300 calories.

This way, I tended to lose around 10 lbs per month instead of the 5 that I would have lost just using the MFP setting of losing 1 lb per week.

will I get better results if I choose a pound a week loss? .. i think I chose 2 but I can't remember how to get back to that page!