I am having a hard time accepting the fact that losing weight now seems nigh impossible. When I decided to live healthier, eat better, and exercise more last March... I lost 8-10lbs per month, without really changing *what* I ate, just less of it (well I did cut out fast food, fried food and non-diet soda), and doing some light cardio a few times a week (Leslie Sansone videos)... I was working at Lowe's at the time, and on my feet walking around a lot, though towards the end I had a torn ligament in my ankle and a moon boot, and still managed to lose at the same rate just by changing my settings in MFP from "lightly active" to "sedentary" and not working out at all (with the exception of a video I found online for office pilates).
When I moved in August, 5 months after I started, I had lost 50 pounds and was SO PROUD. I thought okay, I'll have a set back from the moving and the fast food and the settling, but I'll get back to it and keep going! Only that didn't really happen because I didn't (and still don't) have a job that keeps me moving, and all of the food-centered events with fried chicken and pot luck desserts, etc. So I decided "okay, I'll take a break, adjust, and see what I can do about maintaining"... During that time I bounced around between 245 and 250. Then all the holiday stuff happened from the end of September to the end of January and I basically had a "free for all" and gained 30 pounds back.
February 1, back up to 276, I decided I couldn't handle the backslide and got back to business of counting my calories and visiting the gym. Being GOOD.
Only, in the 2 months since I've rededicated to losing this weight... I've only lost 6 pounds. I use MFP to track my calories and I checked my range to lose 1-2lbs per week and it's 1500-2000 calories per day (on a sedentary activity level). I added strength training to my routine. I lift 2-3 days a week, I do 60 mins of cardio 2-3 days a week, and I rest 1-2 days a week. I faithfully add the calories that my HRM says I've burned, and usually eat some of them back. I leave the default to 2000 which is what I would need to eat sitting on my butt to lose 1 pound per week. Most days I don't go over that. I have been as high as 2200 (my food scale broke -probably because I dropped it- so I usually count all meat as 2 servings and use measuring cups or spoons for the rest), but that is on days I work out.
My HRM says I burn between 700 and 1000 calories per session at the gym. I generally try to keep my net calories above 1200, but sometimes that's difficult to do because I only eat in the late afternoon and evening. Early morning eating makes me nauseated and as soon as I eat anything, I want to eat (until I'm full) for the rest of the day. I save my calories for a big meal for dinner so I'm full and not eating mindlessly at night, which is probably what caused me to gain in the first place.
I don't know if it's just that the weight is being stubborn, or the strength training is still keeping me from losing pounds (I have lost inches though!), or if I just need to add more calories in the form of protein shakes after lifting, but my weight loss is at a crawl, and I'm having a hard time accepting that.
Words of advice, encouragement, thoughts, etc are welcome.
Thanks.