I'm over the weightloss phase!

Hello all you wonderful maintenance peeps! I have been on this board for a little over a year now. I am 5'2'' tall and I weigh in at 148 my starting weight was 239. My current goal is 125 so I am 23 pounds away from my goal. However I am absolutely sick of thinking about weight loss. It has consumed me for a year now! However, I know that is not possible until I shed this last 23 pounds because I will not accept my current weight! I must obtain my goal weight. Failure is not an option that I am allowing myself to have. With that said these last few pounds are so very hard to shed! I was at my current weight the beginning of december but gained up to 154 and had to shed those pounds again. I know that was really dumb of me. I'm not sure what my thinking was with the holidays. At any rate in the last two weeks I have gotten back to my early Dec. weight. My goal now it to be finished and move on into maintenance. The problem is my body seems to want to keep me around my current weight. Other than about five pounds here and there I have been this weight for four months now. What are your thoughts on the last twenty??? What did you do? How long did it take you?

P.S.

I have went back in my journal to see what I was doing when I was loosing fast and I have started doing those things again. I am keeping my carbs at 40, my protein at 70, and my calories are 800-900 calories a day.That means I'm back on the protein shake for breakfast that I absolutely hate!!!! With lean meats for lunch and dinner along with cheese snacks and four teaspoons of sugar with my hot tea through out the day(I hate artificial sweeteners). I wear a fitbit so I make sure to get in 10,000 steps a day which is 5 miles and I log everything in myfitnesspal that I put in my mouth. 

If you hate your old program, you are going to really detest my advice.  I would tell you to really push through the nest few months and reduce your calories even more.  I would tell you to max out at 800 but preferably stay around 700 calories a day.  Increase your protein to about 100 grams a day and increase your water consumption to about 100 ounces a day.  I know this does not sound like much fun, but it works and you would start to lose again.  Break your goals down into manageable five pound increments and push like crazy to make each one.  This is war, and is really, really hard.  The only question is how bad do you want it?

I am going to echo the advice that Elina gave you. What she recommended is exactly what I did to get the last 11 pounds off. It took 2 months, but got me to goal and was absolutely worth it. I never went above 800 calories during the losing phase, so it wasn't too hard to cut back a bit to 700.

I would also suggest you cut out the sugar. It can trigger an insulin response that is counter intuitive for weight loss. The insulin response will trigger your body to store fat. Something to consider. Maybe just have your tea "naked".

I've been hovering around the same weight for months, but it's because I got sloppy with my eating and couldn't seem to drag my butt back on track.  (I'm not saying that's where you are!)   I finally got tired of seeing the higher numbers on the scale, and feeling my clothes get tighter, and found the motivation I've been lacking, though, so I'm back on track and the weight's coming off again at a steady clip.  I've also found that I do better with amino acids that reduce my carb insanity to a quiet, ignorable hum.  I've lost 11 since getting back on track, and I've got 11 pounds to my stretch goal, and I'm determined to get there!

I probably could get there faster using Elina's kick-butt-take-no-prisoners approach if I had her determination, but I've found that tends to set me up for eventual trouble with a capital T if I try to keep my calories that low, particularly on days when I'm exercising.  I get really hungry, and eventually I just can't white-knuckle through it any longer, and I binge.   I'm focusing more on figuring out what adjustments I can make and stick to continuing on into maintenance, and then if I'm extremely lucky I'll be able to add a few things to my food once I get there.  Because if my body won't lose at 1000 calories, that means I've reached my intake / burn balance point,  so if  go lower to get to goal, and then if I were to up my calorie intake back to 1000 when I hit maintenance I'd end up right back where I'm at now.

So, the question becomes, what am I willing to do, and able to maintain to get to my goal?  For me, that means regular intense exercise, and adjusting what I'm eating to focus more on dense protein so I'm more satisfied with less.  I actually love my morning protein hot cocoa, but on days when I don't work out I'm substituting with something more dense, like hard boiled eggs.  It might be well worth looking into options for protein at breakfast that are more dense and high protein, but still within your calorie budget. 

I'm also finding it helps enormously if I spend a few minutes each day really thinking about what I'm trying to achieve, and why I want it.  Then, when I'm faced with temptation, or just plain hunger, that motivation is fresh in my mind and harder to ignore.

Thanks to all of you for your replies! Elina I can totally cut back to 700 calories. I was only eating more than that becuase I thought I was supposed to be at 1000-1200 by a year out. So I have been adding calories with things like olive oil and burgers without buns etc..... just to get my calories in. I really don't mind focusing on proteins, its just that darn shake that I despise! I was eating one egg, one egg beater and cheese for breakfast each morning but for some reason I really do better with the shake. Yes I know how dreadful my sugar intake is with my tea.....its just that I'm freezing and I hate sweeteners. Anyway I am definitely motivated enough and ready to be done thinking about weight loss. I want to move on to figuring out how to keep it off in maintenance! I will keep you all posted!

We do better with the shake because it is loaded with amino acids! Especially L-glutamine which really does curb carb cravings. I mix mine with my coffee so it is really a treat in the morning.

Thanks infodiva! It really makes no sense to me that the shake works better for my hunger and has proven to be a key to weight loss for me. You would think that eggs sitting in my sleeve would stave off hunger longer than a liquid that goes right through but thats just not so for me. Crazy! Anyway I'm chipping away at the last twenty or so pounds so I can get to goal and whether I like it or not  the shakes are gonna stay.LOL!!!