Need some accountability and support

I haven't posted in ages but I feel the need to get back on track and need some helpers! I lost 160 lbs and have gained 40 back. I lost too much -  but put too much back on. I am almost 8 yrs out. I am motivated to get back into my size 10's! I also have a reunion picnic coming in three weeks and would like 5 lbs off by then. 5 day pouch test maybe? Any suggestions?

Welcome to my world...Go back to basics and YES maybe the 5 day pouch test would help!!! GOOD LUCK!!!! My BIG boss/owner of property was here yesterday and said I looked SO MUCH BETTER NOW then when we started working here!! Said I TOO SKINNY!!! I told him I GAINED 40 pounds since being here!!! He said "YOU LOOK GREAT NOW!!!!" I give up....So I am asking you this...is a size 10 REALLY that important to you? Do you LOOK better NOW? Do you FEEL better NOW? I was also JUST ABOUT a size 10 when we moved here...now I am a comfortable 14....and HAPPY!! I am NOT "GAUNT" looking like so many have told me when I was almost a size 10.

HUGSSSSSSSS

Cut out carbs and fat completely, going to be hard first 3-4 days, but limit yourself to protein, leafy green veg like lettuce, spinach, cabbage leaves from cabbage of course and brussels sprouts, and  cruciferous veg like broccoli, broccolini, cauliflour. Grill your chicken breasts or meats with all fat removed on bbq or on a little indoor grill like George Foreman,  baste with olive oil if you have to, but I prefer using lemon juice on chicken.  Inyour  salads with leaves, tomato and cucumber, use only balsamic vinegar, no oil....you will be surprised how good it is and you are saving 125 cals per tbsp by not using olive oil...skip the diet salad dressings, just use balsamic vinegar, also on your other cooked veggies.  Use salsa, home made is best, but jarred if you have to on your grilled chicken, even on poached in foil fish with some lemon juice. Skip the fat, including olive oil, whenever you can just to save calories. Eat 3 times a day, have an egg and tomato and an apple for breakfast, or an omelette with salsa, or protein oatmeal (add some protein powder to a small bowl of instant oatmeal)add berries,  or have a plain yogurt and some blueberries or half an apple with a heaped tbsp granola, NO bananas ( high glycemic) .....If you need a snack, make it a protein like a 25% less fat Baby Bell cheese (6 gms protein and only 50 calories) and a piece of cucumber. Or  eat a piece of fruit like an orange.

Make sure you eat no root veggies except onions,leeks,  garlic, and radishes. No potatoes, carrots, beets, nor any starchy ones like peas or corn, as your body turms the starch into sugar for fuel.....you will be surprised by the end of the month how much you will have lost.  After a month, start adding in some root veggies like carrots but not potatos or beets ( too starchy turning into sugar), olive oil (sparingly), avocados ( good fats, but high in calories) .....use lots of fresh herbs , balsamic vinegar to give flavour to your food. These and fresh salsa will be your best friends to flavour your protein and veggies as you shed lbs. Eat your fruit by the piece,  ( two pieces a day like an orange or an apple, quarter of a cantaloupe) but dont drink your calories in the way of fruit juices ( too much sugar, too many calories in a glass of OJ).  Drink your 8 glasses water daily to flush toxins from your body and keep hydrated....

.....the roughest part is the first few days as you withdraw from carbs and fats, but you will lose weight on this pared down to minimum:  "protein, leafy greens, red or colored peppers,tomatoes, broccoli, etc and 2 pieces fruit a day" diet....of course, drink no alcohol as it stops weightloss.....I find it so hard to give up my wine, but reward myseld at end of second week, and every Friday night thereafter I have a glass ....If I get the munchies, I may do 20 almonds, or a slice of fat reduced Havarti wrapped round a stick of cucumber....I dont do mozzarela  as has hardly any flavour, find stronger flavours more satisfying than bland ones when trying to lose weight. Skip the creamy  cheeses, and eat harder ones, dont add shredded cheeses to your cooked veggies ( too many calories, too much un-needed fat)...I don'd do fatfree or artificially sweetened yogurts, you need some fat but I dont eat huge amounts of cheese and only use 1% miilk in my coffee, and you get your carbs from your veggies, and your sugars/carbs from the 2 fruits a day....trouble is staying motivated but as lbs fall off it helps to keep me on straight and narrow.

I have regained 45 lbs from my lowest, and have to follow the advice I've just given you....wishing us both luck in losing our regain. Come back here and we can compare notes!     Summer is a great time to lose weight as we can eat salads with thawed frozen cooked shrimp and balsamic vinegar for lunch, and a frozen chicken breast tossed on the grill or panfried in a tsp of olive oil, with steamed vegg and salsa.....its healthy and it works, although all diets get boring in the long run, its encouraging to lose the weight, and I try to do it in 10 lb increments, so a victory every 10 lbs feels good .

cheers, jennifer