hi everyone. i'm new here!
i'll give a bit of background first..
i've been struggling with my weight for year and years. my highest weight was 240lbs (i'm 5'7), my last successful weight loss was 20 lbs in 2009. i was moderately successful with keeping it off, but i did bounce up and down a bit and just before my most recent effort had gained almost 10 of the 20 lbs back.
well a few months ago i started trying again at almost 230. when i'm "off the wagon" i eat awful, i binge like crazy and have generally poor eating habits. when i lost the 20 lbs in 2009 i wasn't working so i had a lot of time to pay attention to what and when i ate. i'll admit i didn't exercise a lot. i would eat small meals every 2-3 hours as is recommended and i was really successful with losing about 4-5 lbs a month. it took me a little over 4 months to lose the weight.
so when i decided to start losing weight and get healthy again, i started with trying to eat mostly things like lean cuisines to get myself back in the habit of good portion sizes. i got down to 220 about a month ago and have since stayed there. i got sick of the frozen dinners, especially because i know the sodium is outrageous. i try to drink a reasonable amount of water, but i'm guilty of not getting as much as i should.
after my initial small loss (which could have been water weight mostly) i haven't moved, in fact the scale has been creeping up about 2 lbs as of the past week or so.
i started eating on my own this past week, with checking my own portions and counting calories. i've been working with between 1,200 and 1,400 calories. but sticking closer to 1,200. i don't have the ability to eat as many small meals as i have a job now, but i bring a lunch from home and eat a moderate dinner with snacks in between. my only fault is that i haven't been eating breakfast lately (which starting yesterday i started doing again hoping that maybe that was the problem)
i know that i should be getting more exercise but i'm really finding it hard to believe that i can go from eating 2,500++ calories before to a little over 1,200 and the scale is just not moving!
is this something normal that will pass? was it maybe my lack of breakfast? i know i'm getting older so my metabolism is changing, but i'm just getting so frustrated and discouraged.