Hi, everyone!

Lurked at this site before for info on diets, but this is my first time joining. I'm hoping regular posting will help with accountibility.

I'm 41 years old and have gained 30 lbs. in the last 2 years. I'm at the heaviest I've ever been other than when I was pregnant. My normal weight is 123. I've often been 10 lbs. higher than that - as soon as I stop exercising often and watching what I eat my wieght would climb up - but the last 20 lbs. are a mystery to me. Went to the dr. and checked everything out - I was on some pain medication for an injury and beta blockers for slight HBP. I've been off everything for months, but the weight is still not coming off. I'll go for weeks counting my calories(aim for 1200/day)and going to the gym 4-5X/week. Then I don't lose and get dicsouraged, and stop being so careful. Either way, my weight stays the same - my body seems to love this new set point. Ugh!

I started again Monday with tracking all my calories(allow myself one splurge/week) and upping my time in the gym. Would really love to lose some of this before the holidays. I bought a few pairs of pants in a bigger size since none of my old stuff fits and I REFUSE to buy anything else in a bigger size!I'm getting tired of wearing the same clothes every day.
This week I'm going to try upping my protein since I'm hungry a lot. I'll do egg whites for b'fast, grilled chicken and chick pea salads for lunch. I eat almost all my calories by 4PM - only have about 200 after that, but usually don't get as hungry at night. If I'm eating at night it's out of boredom.

Looking forward to spending a lot of time on this site. Thanks for listening.

Welcome to 3FC and good luck with your goals.

Hugs
Michelle

Hi, and welcome!

My thought would be that perhaps 1200 with exercise is not enough? From my reading, for my height and weight, and weight loss goals, I should be trying to aim for a net calorie intake of around 1220 a day. So if I exercise and burn 300-400 cals, I should add those calories to my intake, and eat around 1600. Otherwise my net intake would only be around 800 which is too low, and trick my body into clinging onto every morsel I give it, so I would end up not losing any weight.

Welcome and good luck !

to 3FC, glad to have you onboard!
I agree with kiakaha, don't shut down your metobolism by not eating enough.
Check out all the forums, lots of help and great people on here

Thanks for the welcome, guys!

I was doing 1500 calories/day, but my doctor recommended I drop to 1200. She also didn't seem to believe with the way I said I was eating and exercising that I had gained 8 lbs. in the last 3 weeks. Of course, it could never have been a side effect of the medication she had put me on...