Hey All
I've been plateaued at 170-173 for the past couple of months, and I'm finally tired of it! The plateau started just after I switched to a vegetarian diet/lifestyle... whatever you want to call it.. lol

I stopped counting calories because I felt like it was making me obsessive. (Same thing happened with WW and the points.. it's like ALL I could think about was how many points any given thing had..) And being able to maintain without counting-- Just eating until I was satisfied-- was really nice! But... I have some performances and events coming up, where I'm seeing a lot of old friends, and I'd really like to be healthier in order to keep up with their shenanigans!

I tracked what I ate yesterday on TDP this morning-- turns out I was at 1800 calories, which is great, considering the day I had! My calorie goals are about 1600-- So had I not had that Hard Lemonade... lol I would have been on track. Anyhoo--

I think it's mostly going to be getting over my own mental stuff... But how in the world do you not let counting rule your life?

I mean-- when I'm choosing between eating donuts or fruit... obviously I'd rather pick the fruit because it's the healthier choice (and I'd definitely be staying within my calories)-- But then I get into this weird cycle where I choose neither because I don't want to "waste" ANY calories... Guh. I just get so obsessive, and I hate that feeling. I know that's not the right way to do it, but... I can't stop myself! I don't want to be an unhealthy dieter!

I totally know what you mean. I drive myself crazy with it too sometimes.

What really helps me is thinking of my food as fuel. I know I need xxxx amount of cals a day to stay healthy. If presented with a choice I'm often tempted to be like eh I won't eat at all.. same as you. But if I can stop psyching myself out and think "such and such" will be really good for my body and help me get through today it's much easier to go ahead and eat the healthy thing and get on with my day.

Keep up the good work!

Counting calories and weighing foods has been my demise a lot of times too. I absolutely hate it when so much of my thoughts revolve around counting calories. I too want to be able to eat without worrying about it. It's insane but I can look at a lot of foods and automatically know how many calories is in it. I have fought against this and lost every single time. I'm to the point that if weight loss means measuring and weighing then I guess that's just what I'm going to have to do. Ugh, but I hate it too.

Yeah, I know what you mean... ...when I get really, really annoyed with counting, I usually resort to falling back on some tried-and-true meals that I know the calories of and rotate them for about a week. I basically end up eating a lot of the same stuff every day for a while. When that gets boring I'm usually ready to count more elaborate stuff again...

I've had a similar experience, with becoming vegetarian, and eating more intuitively without truly counting calories, and plateauing a bit. But I did start to lose again after 3 weeks. I'll see this month as TOM ends if I continue to lose or if I'll have to go back to counting again to lose. I hope not! I was a little burnt out (not specifically with dieting, but in general), so truly, as long as I maintain or lose slowly, it's OK. I really think it's OK to take a break for a bit. "Break" meaning healthy eating still, just not so much focus! I think we're crazy harsh on ourselves sometimes. Such high expectations to eat so strictly for so long.