Hello all,
I've been plugging away at this whole weight loss thing since March. So far, I'm down 22 lbs, but I still have another 12 lbs to go. I'm finally breaking through a month long plateau, and after some soul searching, I've figured out what works for me and what doesn't. Probably none of this is surprising to anyone but me, but since it struck me, I thought I'd post it anyway.

I can't set goals for myself about staying 100% on plan. I'm trying to lose the weight by reducing calories and increasing activity. At one point, I tried to always stay at 1400 calories. It was too hard, and when I screwed up and went over, I'd be frustrated and beat myself up over it. Giving myself a range of calories works much better. Even then if I go over the top end of the range, I try and be rational about it and realize that eating 1800 calories is still below the number of calories I burn in a day. Not as far below as I'd like, but rather than treating these days like failures, I think of them as slow downs in the journey, but at least I'm not going backwards.

I've also found that putting the bulk of my efforts into exercise works better for me than trying to get there through food. I don't use exercise as an excuse to eat whatever I want to, but if I'm trying to lose 1.5 lbs a week, I'm shooting for about 1.25 lbs to be exercise and .25 lbs to be diet related. I've found I have more control over exercise and am better at sticking to an exercise plan than a really stringent eating plan. I make every effort to eat well, but it's been a big help to have a little flexibility with food.

I used to eat really badly (pizza, nachos, enchiladas) all the time. Every night. It was my way of treating myself and relaxing after a tough day of work. In retrospect, I can see now that oftentimes, I was just eating those foods out of habit, I didn't even have cravings for them most of the time. And a lot of times the food wasn't *that* enjoyable to eat, I wasn't really savoring it, just devouring it and always cleaning my plate.

I still love food, and I still love some of the garbage I used to eat all of the time. I tried to abandon these foods altogether, but found that it set me up for failure. I've made a conscientous decision that I can have these foods on occaision, only I can't have as much of them. It's all about compromising. I can have a slice of pizza, but then I need to either spend a little more time in the gym or adjust my other foods for the day. I can have nachos, but I need to decide before they arrive at the table exactly how many I am allowed to eat and stay with that number. More and more I find myself asking "is it worth it?" before I eat something. And I've realized there is no food that I'm never allowed to have again, there are just many foods I can't have often and can't have very much of.

And when I fall off the wagon big time, I try to tell myself "you've made a bad decision today, but you're not going to let it undo the hundreds of good decisions you've made to get to this point."

I'm sure none of this is earth shattering to anyone, but (unfortunately) it took me about four months before I really figured it out. I'm feeling really good about where I am, excited about where I'm going, and prepared for what I'm going to do when I get there. It's a great feeling!

Sounds like you are on the right track. Congratulations on a great loss so far.

Great post and good «food», pun intended, for thought... Congrats on your weight loss so far....

Thanks Ilene!

I was having one of those really empowered days, always a great feeling!

Thank-you for taking the time to share the wisdom you've gleaned from your weight loss journey. I'm sure your advice will be of benefit to me.

I wish you every success in reaching your goal.

Super post! It really hit home for me. I have 10 pounds that I want to lose...but I keep playing these little games with myself. I need to rethink my goal and set up some new inspiring things to strive for.

Thanks again.....

Thanks for the post silver! I hit a plateau too and I realized that calorie zig zagging is much easier to stick to and you beat yourself up less about not sticking to plan.

Glad you've figured out what works for you! I hope I get through the plateau also

Your post is definitely inspiring! You're pretty close to my height and doing way better than me so I will definitely use you as motivation I would love to hear about some of the foods you eat and things of that sort if you have time. You're doing so well, i'm sure your tips work!!
S

5'9
157/150/135

Hi NYC!
I have my good days and my bad... just glad the bad days aren't very often anymore. My foods aren't super exciting. I'm big on Fage 0% with a little granola sprinkled on it and I've really enjoyed trying recipes from the Hungry Girl website.

By the way, it looks like you're doing really well, too!

Silver-
Fage is great....I tried to do really low dairy but I think i'm bringing fage back. I'm obsessed with hungry girl! I need to get the cookbook. I'm also a fresh direct addict which is a grocery delivery service in nyc. they show the calories in everything, have prepackage salads and carrots with hummus etc. SO helpful...Well, I hope to follow suit, you're doing great! Went to the health food store today and got some supplements (i suspect i have a questionable thyroid since it's SUCH a task for me to lose weight despite exercise and healthy choices..) so the guy gave me some things and i restocked my fish oil and calcium...sometimes I think the mental aspect (ooh look at me i'm taking supplements!) helps my diet...I'm weird

This is great to hear! I always feel the same way and love food and hate feeling like I can'tt eat things all the time. This is really inspriing, thanks!

Amen sister! Well said, makes a lotta sense

x x x

Your post was just was i have been searching for. I'm really glad you posted this!!!!!!! I recently posted the following on the "calorie counters" forum. I was directed to the featherweights...but until I read your post...I wasn't getting the answers i was looking for.

For anyone who may think that posting something of their own doesn't affect someone else...this is proof it does!!!

The following is my post...and maybe you will see how your answered my questions!! Yay!!!

"I really hope this calorie counting is working. I looked in the mirror at lunch and couldn't believe i couldn't see a change! (It's been 3 weeks..). I really can't IMAGINE that it isn't working, because i am so focused and determined...so?? I suppose I just need to stay the course and remember that it is a process. And not to give up...because one of these days...I'm going to get on a scale or put on a pair of pants and I'll have lost a ton of weight. And it will seem as if it is out of nowhere! Right?!!!

I've been eating approx. 1400 calories on the days i don't excercise. Though most days I excercise and increase my calories accordingly. Should I not eat a little more on those days?? I did have one cheat day last week, because I didn't plan ahead for a BBQ I went to, but I didn't think one day would make a big difference. Maybe I was wrong."


A.

You are mentally on track, and that is half the battle!! Keep up the POSITIVE work!!! We can get to goal!!!

Question for you?? What is hungry girl??

This is a good post. I was thinking about my calories this morning, I find that I obsess too much about them and have to let myself fluctuate throughout the week or else I fall hard. Like yesterday, I gave myself permission to eat 2000 calories because I was feeling starved throughout the day no matter how much I was eating. they were all healthy calories though.

Today I felt fine with under 1400. Tomorrow I'll probably psych myself out and have to eat 1600-1700. It's a little game I play. I have to be satisfied and not feel like I'm starving though, so I pick really healthy food each time I eat but I EAT to prevent bingeing or grabbing whatever is handy and not so healthy.

I've been losing weight slowly, but I feel much more mentally stable about it this time than I have about past attempts! and I really need to get back to exercising, two weeks of moving have really thrown me off my schedule.