I have started over! I was on track fairly well and went from approximately 165 (my highest weight) to 145 last year, but over the winter and spring I slowly packed the weight on and I'm back to 160.

I swear! Sometimes it's like my body is just STUCK at this size. It seems like I am stuck between 150 and 160lbs.

Is it a mental thing? Biological? What I do know is that it is SO FRUSTRATING.

I wanted to add that I don't gain over 160 either! I have temporarily seen the scales up to 165 after straight up binge eating for a week, but it went right back and stayed between 150 and 160 after.

It's not the weight on the scale that your body wants to maintain, necessarily, it's the amount of food you like to eat.

I, if left to what I 'want' to eat, consume about 2500 calories a day on average. Well, at some point my body weight would average out at whatever weight to maintain that for my activity level.

To keep at a lower weight, I need to be more active and eat no more than 1500 calories a day. That is not how I LIKE to eat, but what I need to do to maintain 165 with little activity.

Oooo! Good point Berry! I guess I never thought of it that way.

I guess if I eat like a skinnier person, I'll look like a skinnier person.

I find a lot of comfort in the foods I do eat though, which is probably why I have a hard time letting go of them and moving on to a fitter me. That and I am broke as all get-out right now. I have started saving the healthier stuff for the kidlets and living mostly off of carbs and stuff. I bet that's why, instead of staying around my normal 152-155, I am a little heavier.

think of the foods that you eat that are making you gain and try to think of a healthier alternative you can make yourself, maybe that will help.

Like for me I really like pizza but cant have it on my diet because I know I wont be eating one slice ever, so when I am craving pizza really bad I will make a tortilla pizza and that really cures my pizza craving and it doesnt sabotage my diet and after just one I am full I put alot of veggies on top and just a minimal amount of cheese they are fun too u can play around with making all kinds of diff pizzas and see what you like my fave is the pesto pizza I just add basil pesto be light on the pesto cuz it has oil try to use a wrap that has only 100 calories then top with broccoli and tomato and some mozzerella its delicious.

But that can go for anything if you like french fries make baked sweet potato fries instead or baked potato fries and eat them with a big serving of veggies on the side so you dont eat too many always try to fill up mostly on veggies and just have some of the thing you are really craving on the side

It really doesnt cost that much more to eat that way long as you get rid of all the other junk

anyways hope I helped a little just try to make the same things you eat but healthier sounds like you maybe only need to tweak your diet a little bit in order to see results.

I am also 5'2". I could maintain a weight of about 166 without doing anything special. Eating what I wanted, sort of caring and not a lick of exercise.

Chickie, you pretty much described me the past 8 months!

Edit, well I do try to stay "active" meaning I walk nearly every day and work at a physically demanding job. Still... nothing that I would be so bold as to call actual exercise.

Pint Sized Terror - you said exactly what I've been thinking and saying since I went on maintenance - we all have to eat like thin people. It certainly makes sense when you think about it. I use my DD as my model. She works out every day - very strenuous routines - and eats at her maintenance calorie level about 95% of the time. On the days she doesn't, she can out eat her 6'4" fiance. But 95% of the time, she is 100% aware of what she eats. Not just calories, but healthy and balances. Actually, she is totally aware of what she eats even on the days she goes over. She just works out harder for a few days or cuts back on the snacks for a few days.

We all heave to learn where we need to be to maintain and then stay there. And if we slid up a few pounds, we have to get back on plan immediately. That's what thin people do. If we want to be thin, we have to embrace that concept.

BBB's advice was right on. I will never be convinced our bodies "know" what weight they want to be. We "know" what we like to eat that keeps us at a particular weight.

Good luck at getting back on plan.

Lin

I did that once. Twice. Three times. Quadruple. Etc.

Each time I "regained" I found that I "regained a little bit more" - by 5 or so pounds. I kept doing that yo-yo dieting thing until my "stuck" weight was 192. It was a hard core fact that slapped me silly: I simply ATE.TOO.MUCH.

After working toward my goal of 140 for two years now, I am struggling with the mid 150's. AND YES, I FEEL STUCK HERE. Have been for months. I know what I must do. I need to cut about 350 or so calories per day. (shouldn't be that hard, right?) I've come to understand "eat at maintenance level" to get to the weight you want to be..

So, if I want to be 140 lb, then the caloric intake of that goal (for me) is to eat roughly 1465 calories per day. Right now I'm averaging 1600 most days, but other days around 1700-1800. At my heaviest, I was ingesting a daily average of 2800 calories. EGADS!!!! No wonder I was carrying 192 lb on my petite 5'3½" frame.

I simply must regain control over my treat habit. Ugh.

So be honest with yourself - WHAT MUST YOU DO? What must YOU do to reach goal & stay there? I bet you know the answer!

I think a lot of it is mental. At least for me, the weight I keep jumping back up to isn't where my body wants to be, it's just the very last possible second I can stand existing without losing weight. I wish that weight for me were 160, haha. Not that I feel OK at these higher weights by any means, but something just seems to click at a certain point where not even my food addiction can win.

Totally agree. If I follow my natural appetite I also tend to eat 2,500+ calories per day. With that level of food intake, my weight would probably settle at 200 pounds. Instead, I've chosen to eat 2,000 calories per day and can comfortably maintain at 140 pounds.

F.

This is why I missed you, BBB. These things are in my head too, but you say them so much better, lol. You can't go on extended vacations again, okay?

About a month ago I started to eat what a 160lb 5'7" gal should, for maint, and I've been losing nicely. I can't believe it took me that long to relize that, lol. DUH. Oh well. I'll get there eventually!

That is a great point! I never thought of it like that.