I am up 4 total now -( And I am well within my caloric range. very mad at the fat lol!!

I made my big mac in a bowl like a good girl, did an hour of cardio and legs. Drinking my water, will have some tea. Will sleep and wake up thinner . . . she said hopefully =)

Here's my experiment results so far this week.
Sunday 149.8
Monday 149.6
Tuesday 149.2
Wedesday149.8
Thursday 148.8

I ate a lot yesterday. Protein Bar, protein shake, protein crisp cereal, peanuts (unplanned), chicken thigh, romaine salad, asparagus, broccoli slaw, butter.

Calories 1123
Protein 123
Carbs 45
Fiber 12
Fat 48

I'm going to push hard on protein again today.
Hydro Whey Shake for breakfast
Protein Crisp cereal topped with leftover shake for snack
Broccoli slaw and asparagus for lunch
Protein Pudding for snack
Romain salad with chicken thigh for dinner after Pilates class

I'll keep you posted. I have not seen something that started with 148 since 1975. I'm now down 101 pounds. YAY!

Keep the spirit team and let's be OP, whatever that is.

How are you this morning?

Regarding caloric range, you know it's what calories, not necessarily how many. I can't lose an ounce doing 1000 calories unless they are low carb calories. We're all wired differently. Set out to find out what quality of calories works for you. Try something different than what you've been doing that put those couple of pounds back on. I know how demoralizing that can be. Been there, done that.

I hope you saw a whooosh today!

I was good . . . until I ate a freaking piece of cake. Dumb. I entered all my food and prelogged my dinner and I will end at just about 100 carbs, again. that seems to be my magic number these days. The scale is back down that extra pound, but I am not losing. I am 144.8.

I have always successfully lost weight through calorie counting and exercise. The content didn't really matter, I just tried to make healthy choices generally. I am still not convinced that it is my diet that is causing the weight gain and now the plateau or if it is all the hormonal stuff going on. I've never had to deal with it, so I am unsure. I don't want to blame the hormones and find out its the diet so I am just trying to keep on keepin' on. I find dietary changes challenging to make into a habit so tweaking it every few days might make it harder for me. I just feel kinda stuck . . . in many ways. I am trying to be patient to see if everything just kind of settles. I keep thinking I will wake up miraculously a few pounds thinner. Of course, eating a piece of cake won't help me on that journey but it shouldn't necessarily be the end of me either. I will still end today at 1400ish calories, over 100grams of protein, similar fat content as I have been having etc. I did weight training and 45 minutes of cardio today, too.

When I used to hit a "plateau" it often came down to me being pretty lax on my measuring and calculating. This time, there's just no way that I am THAT far off. I would have to be understimating by say 700 calories / day or so and since the majority of my food is packaged that would be nearly impossible. So, there just has to be something else going on . . . I think :/

Calee - Looks like upping your calories helped you - I wonder if it would help me? I'm still staying fairly OP - not having as much water as I should, and had a little light hellmann's olive oil mayo, a couple of pistachios, an eggplant parmesan stack - but accounted all the carbs all the time - and it's never been very much. I'm still kind of losing - just way more slowly ... I knew this would happen.

Coliep - you have so much going on - it's got to be hard because it's the worst when you feel like you can't identify what the issue is - because if you could, then you could fix it or at least deal with it. You're doing great just by continuing to keep trying!!

The how many calories question is what I am wondering too. I have used another food diary for years and when I posted questions on its forum I received the suggestion to upping my cals (to like 1800) for a week or so, even on non-workout days, to see how I respond. I do kind of question wether, by not being in ketosis and/or not being on IP, we end up doing more of a starvation diet or slowing our metabolism. Obviously, not me so much since I stay about 1200 calories for that reason (because I don't trust that I am properly self-adminsitering the ultra low calorie diet), but perhaps that is an issue for you? I am going to max out my calories today (ok, well not max out but be somewhere around 1800) and up my water. Tomorrow is probably a non-workout day unless I get out and get to spinning first thing, but I know I will struggle to let myself eat 1800 calories on a non-workout day . . .

I'm struggling as well. Had company last week and drank three glasses of wine :/ Then went on a mini vacation and had this 'great' idea that hard liquor has 0 carbs so I could indulge in a few shots of tequila. Ate more like i was on Adkins the ast two days...salami, cheese, a salad with bacon and avacado. Fortunately I was only up a pound this morning and right back OP. I have 10 freaking pounds to go why is this so hard?
Part of it I think is I am wearing size 8's (been many years) and med. tops and receiving lots of compliments so I feel I can cheat sometimes, but I really want to get to my ideal weight of 155. Have not lost in 3 weeks!

I am on the "it has 0 carbs so I can have it" bandwagon. But that is the question, right?! Why is the last 10 so hard? I mean, if I set my goal for 20 pounds do you think I could take of these 10 without such a challenge lol!!

I ate ridiculously tonight. Too many calories, too high carb. It started with the stupid kids cake, then had some nut butter, then some trail mix. THe ugly result? 2400 calories and almost 200 carbs. Ick. My only saving grace is that I did 90 minutes elliptical, 45 minutes zumba, and weight training so my calories aren't terrible even if I totally messed up on the carbs. I am hoping I burned enough off where I won't feel icky tomorrow because of them . .

The dreaded last 10. I hear you all. I want to get down another 10 as well. For now I'm sticking with this low carb/low calorie (under 1000) and trying to exercise 1 hour at least 5x a week. I'm experimenting and thus far I'm feeling pretty good about it.

I'm deeper in Ketosis tonight so hoping that my hunger goes away. Funny thing (well not really funny) is that even when my hunger goes, I still eat almost or just as much. There's so much involved in head hunger and feeling like I "deserve" it, even low carb which is not very exciting.

I'm doing my best to treat food as my fuel to energize me for my day and help me get to my goal. I'm at peace with the number of carbs/calories for now and I'm not feeling resentful which I have in the past. I think I'm going to plan 1 meal a week out with a friend where I can have a bit more food, not necessarily carbs though so that I don't start feeling deprived and also to help reset my metabolism etc.

I knew a professional body builder who ate chicken, cottage cheese and plain canned tuna all week. Then every Sunday he ate an entire cheese pizza to reset. It worked great for him and he really built those muscles preparing for a competition.

I hope I don't get bored with all this "simple" eating.

Hang in there everyone. Let's bust these last 10 pounds. Maybe we should be the 10 Busters.

Here's my experiment results so far this week.
Sunday 149.8
Monday 149.6
Tuesday 149.2
Wedesday149.8
Thursday 148.8
Friday 148.6
Hanging in the 148's for two days is happy for me. Now I want to see 147 by Sunday!

I hope to be down another pound by Monday morning which will be a week of low carb eating and exercising. So far I've been OP all week with Atkins lower fat style eating. I'm actually using products and veggies for lunch and a lean meal for dinner (meat and veggies). Products being protein shakes, protien pudding and protein crisp nuggets.

I wish I was seeing things faster but the two weeks that I took off after my first IP alternative week, I didn't shed an ounce and actually gained back a pound. I'm making progress towards my healthy BMI of 145!

Calee-I love the idea off a new 10lb buster thread! WOW you have lost so much! I remember when I had 50 pounds to lose way back when and would ave been happy to be 175 pounds in a size 10. Dfferent story when you actually get there....

I think this is the 10 pound buster thread. It just evolved into that naturally!
So far today I had my supplements, drank almost 3 liters of water, worked out, have eaten OP.

Great Job on staying down Calee! I am still bouncing around in the same numbers, no loss. Not surprising anymore. I wish I could make a goal of being down a pound even in a week, but I guess right now all I am doing is hanging on!!

Wow Calee, now I am really impressed by how low you are keeping your carbs. So today I have been doing well. I had a protein shake latte for breakfast and lunch, a protein bar for my morning snack. I had a salad with 2 cups veggies for lunch, a romaine stir fry with a little sliced turkey for my afternoon snack. I am already at 60 grams of carbs and its only 3pm!!

Whats a big mac in a bowl?

Girls, how about we try a week of no restricted snacks and see if we cant get things moving? We are SO close!!!!