Feeling a bit down about weight loss

I know it's crazy -- after all, when have I ever lost 106 pounds in less than 6 months?

I've pretty much plateaud -- lost only 4 pounds in the past four weeks.  Plateauing at 315 isn't appealing to me.

Now I feel like I have to go back to "dieting".  I've been watching carbs so far, but not that strictly.  In other words, my upper limit was quite high (maybe 150 grams/day?).  Now I feel like I have to go back to 50g/day.  I hate this.  I resent it.  I have a little girl inside who is throwing a massive temper tantrum right now.  I want to scream.

The more I diet, the harder it gets to diet.

I don't know how to do this without driving myself insane.  I don't think I'd be satisfied staying at 315 or 300.  

I'm sure I'll lose weight again, that this is just a temporary plateau, my body just catching up, blah blah blah.  Yes, all true.  But the feeling sucks nonetheless.

I have my 6-month appointment in 3 weeks.  Everyone says that we lose half by 6 months.  I was hoping to be 120 pounds down by 6 months, since I'd like to lose AT LEAST 240 pounds total (which would leave me at a nice, round 180 pounds -- a weight I can be very comfortable with).  But I'm wondering if I'll make that, and what it really means if I don't make it.

I could really use some encouragement and supportive comments.

Thanks, all.  You make this journey so much better.  

Julie, I know what you mean. This weight loss thing can be frustrating, even with the power of the DS.

I am currently battling the carbs, too. It sucks. But it's the only way to go until we hit goal, I am convinced. I have decided to go practically cold turkey on carbs after Christmas (I'm only human and love Baker's Square's candy cane pie!). I figure if I go back to what I was doing befgore December 1, I can get back on track (I have been eating lots of carbs, including lots of cookies, crackers and holiday candy and my weight loss has slowed to a drip, instead of the flood it was. I miss the flood.)

Also, I don't know if you're exercising, but I forced myself back to the gym today after a couple week slump. I already feel better, more back in control. Maybe exercise will help you, too? Even walking and light weights might help mood- and weight-wise.

You will get there. Stay the course. You are not done losing yet!

Nicolle

Oh, Nicolle, thank you thank you THANK YOU!  Your reassurance  is so, well, reassuring!

I haven't been working out as much as usual lately, and the work-outs I have been doing have been targetted toward building muscle (heavier than fat).  And I've been eating a few sweets here and there during this season.

Sucking it up and getting rid of the carbs is so hard.  I hate it.  I'm afraid to say "I'll do it" lest I be lying to myself.  But I am thinking about how I can balance the right food and the right mood.  (How I can eat for weight loss without driving myself bananas.)

Thank you so much again.  I have fingers crossed for you being back on track too!

Julie

Not sure what you mean about your workouts being targeted towards building muscle and that it is heavier than fat.  Scientifically, that doesn't make sense, and certainly not in your situation.

If you are building muscle, it is being build from what you eat, and some of it can be at the expense, calorically, of your fat stores, if you are expending more energy than you are absorbing.  A pound of muscle weighs a pound, as does a pound of fat.  However, I believe that muscle is metabolically more active than fat, pound for pound, so that should not be slowing your weight loss.  Although you should be doing some cardio too.

As I think I told you before, when you said you were targeting eating 150+ g of protein/day, that is about 50 g of protein more than you need, and excess intake of protein is metabolically used just as if it were carbs -- broken down into two-carbon units and stored as fat, with the additional negative of releasing nitrogen that has to be cleared by the kidneys.  Are you still eating that much protein?

150 g of carbs/day is a lot for the weight loss phase.  I'm not saying I didn't overindulge at six months myself -- and I have also told you that I only lost 88 lbs of the 118 I wanted to lose pre-plastics in my first year (and didn't get under 200 lbs), and didn't start losing again until well after 3 years out.  Carbs is likely the reason, as well as lack of exercise.

Finally, while it is HARD to do, are you eating too much fat?  You have said you are eating a lot, and even 50 excess g of protein (of which ~30 are absorbed) is only 120 calories; ditto 50 extra grams of carbs.  240 excess calories, coupled with the muscle building exercise you are doing, is probably NOT holding back your weight loss by itself.  Are you sure about your numbers?  Are you consuming more sugar than you think?

OR -- maybe it's just a stall, where your weight holds steady for a bit, your body takes a breather, and you probably are losing inches while the scale is being stubborn (especially since a pound of muscle occupies less SPACE than a pound of fat!).  It could be a weight you spent time at for a while at some point in the past.  It could be water weight, TOM, excess gravity, broken scale (OK, maybe notsomuch, but you get what I mean).

In my 5th year, I lost 6.5 lbs.  By the Tanita scale, I lost 13 lbs of fat, and gained 6.5 lbs of muscle.  You CAN do both.

So which is heavier -- a pound of feathers or a pound of lead?  LOL -- of course you are right, muscle does not weigh more than fat, unless one is measuring it according to volume.  I meant what you more eloquently said -- that I am tightening and building muscle so that while the scale may not be moving downward, my waistline is (or inward -- you get the point).

I don't recall saying that I was targetting 150g/day of protein.  Most days I seem to get in about 120g.  Still too much.  I think I'm basically eating too much.  Not so much in the sugar department as that gets limited to about four bites of something on average about once a week.  But I am eating too much fat, protein and carbs.  I think I'm eating when I'm not hungry, which is something I think about alot, particularly about the why and the how to not do it.  I know it is not ideal, and I know that in a perfect world, I would not overeat.

So that is what I need to work on -- eating less.  Plain and simple.  (It all sorta makes me want to take up smoking again...)

True confessions: I started smoking again at 6 months out.  It didn't help me lose weight though.

I may well have misremembered the amount of proteiin you said you were targeting -- I do remember is was more than Rabkin generally recommends.  But yeah, overall, while balancing calories (higher protein and fat are better than carbs) is part of the DS rules, overall it does matter if it is too much.

My recommendation -- when you're hungry, or think you are, have something to drink first (not eggnog ...).  Sometimes, thirst is mistaken for hunger, and/or putting some liquid in your stomach can quell the hunger.  I do that at work sometimes when I'm busy, though at night, notsomuch.

This is good advice.  I've restarted the habit of drinking Japanese green tea.  It's one of the few beverages that I don't feel the need to sweeten.

Baker's Square's candy cane pie?!?!

That sounds soo disgusting, so
tell me more about this terrible thing!
What horrible things are in it - How awful does it taste? Details!

Oops, sorry. I've become a food porn addict, till I can eat normally.
This carb / sugar thing must be a common problem right now.

Dark cookie crumb crust layered with milk chocolate, a peppermint silk filling mixed with peppermint chips and a layer of milk chocolate. Topped with whipped cream and candy drops.

Yes, it's truly terrible. Oooh, baby! Had a half a small slice today. Sugary, sticky, cool and minty, sliding down my eager throat, sending my glucose soaring.  (Now imagine me saying that in a "Let's Get It On" Marvin Gaye-style voice.)

Truly decadent food porn, at your service!

Nicolle

I know it's frustrating! The scale isn't moving fast enough to suit me either. But here's the thing. We know that the DS is always going to work for us. Even after that "window" closes, we know that there are plenty of people who have continued to lose weight. My inner kid wants her Cheetos too, but she also wants bacon and shrimp ****tail and barbecue, so I just tempt her with that stuff and she usually shuts up eventually. 

And there's something I've noticed...when I'm taking the time to meditate every day, I don't crave the carbs. Cravings like that are trying to fill the emptiness inside, I think. And meditation lets us embody that space and instead of filling it from the outside, we fill it from the inside.

You've accomplished so much, Julie! Please allow yourself to be proud of what you've done, and grateful for this miraculous surgery. It will not abandon you, and I know you well enough to be confident that you will not abandon it. Rock on, sister. You're going to be just fine.