hang in there! i know it must be very frustrating, but you can do it!!!! i plateau often, even when i stay completely op, and i know how aggravating that can be. my longest plateau so far was for 52 days. i had stuck to my calorie limit, eating healthfully, and was exercising regularly, but the scale would not move. i ended up changing my food plan around a bit (though kept cal. count the same), and switched up my exercise routine, and after about a week of doing that, i finally de-plateaued, and was so glad that i had stayed strong until my hard work finally paid off. i am presently on a plateau now (almost 2 weeks), and plan to do a little shaking up of food plan and exercise again to see if this will un-stall me again. anyway, i am glad for your topic, because, as you said, it is so nice to know we are not alone. i have been op for 8 1/2 months now, and have lost 47 lbs. so far. i have been counting cals (and eating healthy food), and exercising regularly. i also journal my food everyday, which is a pain, but after a while, it does become pretty automatic, and doesn't really take me that long anymore. well, congrats on the weight you have lost so far(!!!!!!!), and good luck with getting off your plateau. remember: you can do this, and you are worth all the effort and hard work it often takes. hang in there!
Location: Northeastern Ohio But my heart belongs to Canada.
Posts: 369
S/C/G: 290/See Ticker/150
Height: 5ft 4 inches
Thanks again everyone. After taking just a casual look at what I am eating I think I see part of the problem...I don't think I am eating enough calories for starters. Since I take my thyroid meds in the morning, I have to wait an hour or two before I can eat. By that point, I've had a cup of tea (or two) and its darn near lunch so I just wait until I feed the boys lunch to eat. Then, there usually isn't anything around that i want to eat. Since I don't feel hungry, I may just pick at a few crackers or what-not and have some more tea. Dinner time, I eat but then when the insomnia kicks in (which has been happening A LOT) I will sometimes just mindlessly eat. I think my body is all confused and mixed up!
Part of it is just this horrible FUNK I've been in! I've been in such a state for so long, that I was actually thinking the way I've been eating is NORMAL and fine. I guess it was at first since I was still losing weight. I know my metabolism is way off because my thyroid is still not quite right and I am definitely having issues with my hormones which are not helping either! Add to that, not eating real well and TA-DA.
I need to get back on track. Somewhere along the line, I stopped worrying about me and my goal when all the other stresses and worries started snowballing.
Geez...so on top of all the other crap going on in my life right now, I failed ME. Brilliant. That's really going to help. *SIGH*
I don't think I am eating enough calories for starters. Since I take my thyroid meds in the morning, I have to wait an hour or two before I can eat. By that point, I've had a cup of tea (or two) and its darn near lunch so I just wait until I feed the boys lunch to eat. Then, there usually isn't anything around that i want to eat. Since I don't feel hungry, I may just pick at a few crackers or what-not and have some more tea. Dinner time, I eat but then when the insomnia kicks in (which has been happening A LOT) I will sometimes just mindlessly eat.
Geez...so on top of all the other crap going on in my life right now, I failed ME. Brilliant. That's really going to help. *SIGH*
Okay, so if you're eating mindlessly, then you are saying that you ARE eating too many calories? I'm a bit confused.
You also mentioned that you have nothing around that you want to eat... Soooo, make SURE that you've got good, healthy DELICIOUS foods to eat. Maybe set up a food schedule. You eat this and this at so and so time. PLAN out your day. Then log everything you eat - become accountable - to yourself. That will help GREATLY with the mindless eating.
Yes you CAN get back on track. Don't hesitate. Get excited about the changes you can make and how you can transform your life. Get excited. Get moving. Get planning. Get committed. Get busy. Get into it. Get. Get. Get.
I also cook for a family of six and they've been good about eating what I eat. My four year old is very skinny and eats full fat foods-- I give him whole milk, whole fat cheese, and whole yogurt...
There is no need to make extra meals-- just plan stuff that's good for you and the whole family can eat it.
You should be REALLY proud of yourself for losing 45 pounds.
I've only been dieting since March, so my worst plateau was this last one, from late June until... last week, actually. I was stuck on 240-245, and try as I might, it wouldn't respond to my hard work. Cue the depression, the moodswings, the inevitable binging and then the struggle to keep from rocking back up to 250.
Only last week I took up trying to properly exercise again, and the weight just plummeted. I'm currently at 235, and falling. Personally I think my weight was on the verge of it anyway, and was just waiting for me to give the signal.
Since I take my thyroid meds in the morning, I have to wait an hour or two before I can eat
To eliminate the problem of having to have thyroid medication on an empty stomach, I take my pill when I get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. It works out great.
Something I find helpful with writing everything I eat down, is to plan ahead. Instead of writing down what I'm eating during the day, I make the menu for tomorrow, figure out my WW points and that's what I eat. It leaves me no room for guessing or fudging or licking. It's in my journal, this is what I'm eating today.
By sitting down with a few quiet minutes in the evening after all are in bed, and doing this, it takes the stress out of the whole process. With all the diet considerations you have, planning for the whole family for the next day, will help ease the fluster, stress and frustration of getting it all done.
P.S., I'm also from Northeast Ohio and its nice to hear "tennis shoes" again. Here in MA, they call them "sneakers" and pop is "soda".
Come to eastern Washington, Matt. We also say "tennis shoes' and "pop". People from the Seattle area tend to say "soda" more, but to us, soda is that powdery stuff that you put in biscuits to make them rise!
I worked with a nutritionist one on one when I went to Jenny Craig, part of the program is to check in once a week, that really helped me. I'd definitely recommend trying that out (seeing the nutritionist).
as far as tracking the calories, you probably don't have an infinite variety of meals you eat, so once you have an idea of what you're eating in a day, you don't have to write down or track as much, if you're sticking to your plan. it can sound more intimidating that it can be in practice. and the new fitday.com saves all the info, handy thing. and is FREE (my kind of price)
I had a year of being at basically the same weight, 2008. Was a mental rather than physical thing for me.
You can count calories just by counting what you are serving your family! Right now I'm just cooking for me, so it's easy. But when the kids are here, I figure out how many calories are in the ENTIRE pan of food, then just divide it by how many servings there are to find out how much I ate. For instance, if the dish has 1 cup cheese, 2 cups rice, 1 pound ground turkey (I'm just making up some weird dish here), then you figure out how many calories each of those things have TOTAL. Then if you served yourself 1/4 of the pan of food, you divide the total by 4 to get the calorie count of what you ate.
Does that make sense? I have several receipes that I have done that for. I write it out in a Word document and save it. Then when I make lasagne (or whatever) again, I can just look in my Word document to refresh my memory as to how much of which ingredient I used, and it's done. I don't have to try to figure out the counts anew every time.
Would something like this work for you? Also, I recommend trying to eat at least 3 balanced meals a day. I was never a breakfast eater before; my stomach just didn't seem to want food that early. But I'm in the habit of it now and I think it helps. It doesn't have to be fancy; just a piece of toast with peanut butter or a small bowl of cheerios with a banana is all I eat.
I know my metabolism is way off because my thyroid is still not quite right and I am definitely having issues with my hormones which are not helping either! Add to that, not eating real well and TA-DA. 
That's really going to help. *SIGH*
