[natamars]

First off, CONGRATS on all the great changes you've made!!!

I agree with everyone that you should do a calorie count check. Maybe even post a sample day? There are some calorie experts on this site! Once you get to know counts, it gets much easier. I'll make recipes like a big batch of oatmeal and divide it into 5 servings. Breakfast for the work week with identical calorie counts.

Some other suggestions:

1) Are you sure your scale is accurate? How often are you weighing in? Same time of day/amount of clothing(or lack thereof)?

2) Have you taken meausrements? If not, start now. I have a notebook that serves as my food journal and measurement check - try to check once a month or so.

[ChubbyBride325]

I would definitely try tracking calories for a few days, as everyone else has suggested. It might surprise you and if not at least you KNOW that's not the problem. Also, this may be a stupid question because you said you're eating healthy, but are you drinking anything with caffiene? I aske this because I "dieted" for 6 months straight counting every single calorie & exercises my butt off & steadily gained weight. I believe it was because of the caffiene I was consuming daily. I don't really know the science behind all of it, but I thought as long as I counted the calories in the beverage into my daily allowance it would be fine. Well, apparently it wasn't for me. I was disgusted & finally realized that maybe my daily Mountain Dews were holding my weight on so I stopped drinking them & started losing immediately. I'm not sure if that helps you at all...but I just thought I would share my experience just in case. =)

[Porthardygurl]

Im just going to say that i agree with everyone else..im on south beach and i wasnt losing weight even though i was following it to a t..then i realized that i wasnt counting the fact that calories still matter and that means reducing the amount of fat in my diet..cause i was eating lots of cheese and seeds and nuts..so do a calorie count..you want to lose weight..time wont be an excuse..you will just do it.

[katy trail]

i think she's undereating.

aside from what the scale says, how do you feel? did you feel you were making progress? are you feeling stronger? healthier?

are you starving and ravenous and unsatisfied after each meal and between meals?

if you were happy with your plan before the weigh ins then maybe all you need is a few tweeks to your plan.

if you hate your plan, then perhaps it's time for some big changes.

[katy trail]

it also could be stress. has anything happened to really stress you out, other than the scale?

[shannonmb]

I suspect portion creep. You lost a lot of weight eating the way you are now, but try to think back on the beginning when you were really in the good losses. Were you a little more strict with yourself then, even if not counting? I know that has happened to me a couple times so far, especially the month of December, when I didn't lose a thing. It never became a free-for-all, but I was definitely adding in things here and there between Thanksgiving and Christmas -- and surprise -- I didn't lose a pound.

January came and I buckled right back down to what I was doing at the beginning (including counting calories for a couple weeks), and I've lost another 20 lbs since doing that. Now I'm coming back around to needing to really track again for a couple weeks -- starting to get sloppy again.

Calorie counting is a tool I use to really keep an eye on what's going on. I don't do it all the time, but if I SUSPECT I might not be maximizing my efforts, all I need to do is take a good honest look and it snaps me back to where I need to be. I plan on doing this as needed for the rest of my life, a week or 2 at a time.

One last thing, when you get that desire to just say the heck with it, might as well give in and eat the crap, you realize of course that 260-something is not the max. You WILL gain more if you let it all go, and trust me, you will HATE it if you do that too long and end up at 350 lbs. Believe me, I never thought I'd get there, either. It's not too hard to do when you just totally give up. So DON'T!

[twinmommaplusone]

You are always full of excuses. Time and time again, eveyrtime you post it's not about a success but a struggle. Which is fine, but with that you have to take some of this support/knowledge and APPLY IT! Or else it's all for nothing. You can lose through calorie cutting alone.

Not enough Time to Calorie count is a pile of horse crap! Bottom Line! I have twin tots, a rambuxtious 5 year old, full time college student plus many other roles in my life. You are never too busy to take your life Back!

Gosh you really got to want it, once you see it's not as hard YOU make then you can never get of your own way. Good Luck.

[seagirl]

Originally Posted by twinmommaplusone

You are always full of excuses. Time and time again, eveyrtime you post it's not about a success but a struggle. Which is fine, but with that you have to take some of this support/knowledge and APPLY IT! Or else it's all for nothing. You can lose through calorie cutting alone.

Not enough Time to Calorie count is a pile of horse crap! Bottom Line! I have twin tots, a rambuxtious 5 year old, full time college student plus many other roles in my life. You are never too busy to take your life Back!

Gosh you really got to want it, once you see it's not as hard YOU make then you can never get of your own way. Good Luck.

What she said. (And what she did. Rock on, twinmom!)

[summerlove]

Originally Posted by twinmommaplusone

You are always full of excuses. Time and time again, eveyrtime you post it's not about a success but a struggle. Which is fine, but with that you have to take some of this support/knowledge and APPLY IT! Or else it's all for nothing. You can lose through calorie cutting alone.

Not enough Time to Calorie count is a pile of horse crap! Bottom Line! I have twin tots, a rambuxtious 5 year old, full time college student plus many other roles in my life. You are never too busy to take your life Back!

Gosh you really got to want it, once you see it's not as hard YOU make then you can never get of your own way. Good Luck.

Yup.
I've gotten so good at counting calories I just add it up in my head as I go about my day. It takes literally NO time. If you have time to post on these forums you have time to count calories.

Take charge of your life, take charge of yourself, and do what you need to do in order to succeed.

[lottie63]

Do you have a smartphone? I find having calorie counting apps is helpful for when on the run.

[Nola Celeste]

Calorie counting doesn't take much time at all. You've done really well--you started here about the time I did and your loss is significantly greater--but whatever's stalling you out needs to be investigated, and a great place to start is with your calories.

If you don't yet have a food scale, invest in one. It's incredibly simple to set your plate on the scale, hit "tare," add a serving of food, and note the weight. For plates with multiple foods on them, just repeat the process, hitting "tare" each time to zero out your scale and weigh only the newly added food.

I spend maybe an extra ten minutes a day total on weighing and adding my counts to a food log most days. On days when I've been creative with my menus and prepared a lot of from-scratch stuff that I didn't already have counts for, that went up to twenty minutes or so. It's actually a better investment of my free minutes than any exercise would be for a similar period of time.

I suspect that once you start counting and keep at it for a couple of weeks, you won't want to stop; it's that valuable a tool for monitoring yourself.

[Vladadog]

I'll add another "count calories" - using any of the online apps will only take a few minutes a day and then you'll know if you're getting too much or not enough calories. Don't estimate amounts, measure or weigh, because you need the information to actually have a clue what is going on. (I'm betting you're taking in a bunch more calories than you think you are - it's really really easy to do. (Maybe especially with healthy food where you can fool yourself with 'but it's healthy!'.....)

[joyfulloser]

There are ways to make calorie counting simple. I do...and it doesn't take any extra time during the week. Every other week, I cook several different entries, portion them (based on calorie content), add brown rice, quinoa, barley, bulgar wheat or baked sweet potato and veggies and FREEZE. Each meal has it's own calorie count already PRE MEASURED!!! This makes calorie counting a breeze and eating delishous, quality foods a breeze (and I love international cuisine...so every meal's a treat!)

[MonicaM]

You also need to take the time to measure your food when counting calories. Eventually you will be able to do it without a scale or measuring cup, but PLEASE take the time to do it for a month. At the end of the month, you will have lost and be motivated to continue your calorie count, which becomes easier with time.

[lottie63]

Also, a lot of people say that counting calories is too time consuming or difficult or whatever their reason, but we will always find time for the things we really want to invest our time in, so maybe just for a few days, try and make it a priority.

I'm vegan, lots of people think that all vegans are skinny, I know plenty of fat vegans. They eat healthy most of the time (not including vegan goodies of course) but they eat way too much of even the healthy stuff.