First time: lost 110 lbs and maintained for two years.

Second time: lost 120 lbs and maintained for over 3 years.

Third time: lost 105 lbs and maintained for 1.5 years.

Each time I gained all the weight back (slowly) while observing myself in horror. I have always lost weight at a reasonable rate (1-2 lbs per week). Each time I lost weight at a slower rate than the previous time even though I ate less and exercised more. During those years I got a lot of excellent counselling about emotional eating issues.

Currently, for the past 11 weeks, I have been walking at least 3 miles a day, hiking about 12 miles on weekends, and also doing strength training every other day (lifting 20 lb dumb bells, flies, curls, etc).

I weigh, measure, and track every bite with an online tracker. I never exceed 1600 calories per day, and my average is 1360. I have lost 1 lb. (Actually, it fluctuates between 1 and 2 lbs down.)

Before I started tracking all my food, I wondered if I wasn’t losing weight because maybe I was in denial about how much I was actually eating. But now that I know the amounts for sure (right down to grams of everything), I feel extremely discouraged.

I will keep doing what I’m doing because I feel physically stronger and have more stamina. Also, my blood pressure has improved.

However, I was really hoping to lose weight so I could be more employable (I need a job!, but apparently the health care industry is feeling very discriminatory towards fat RNs right now.)

My thyroid levels have tested fine. I suspect there is something else going on in my body’s regulatory mechanisms that medical science as yet does not understand and cannot measure.

I get advise (eek!) to eat more food, drink more water, increase cardio, etc., as if I’m stupid and haven’t thought (or tried) these ideas before. Mostly, people don’t believe that I don’t over eat. Since I’m overweight, they reason, I MUST be eating too much. At 5’7″ I refuse to go on a 1200 calorie a day diet (because I know I cannot eat that way for the rest of my life.)

Oh gosh, I really just needed to get this off my chest to someone who understands. Thanks for keeping your blog going. I admire you more than you can imagine.

I’m sure that having those food allergies makes things that much more difficult for you, but I have faith that you’re going to do great! I’m looking forward to checking out your blog! Take care!

I’ve only been blogging for about 5 week consistently. I’ve been using it as a way to set and track weekly goals/steps toward making changes in my life and as an accountability tool. From my past attempts at losing weight I realized that I need to be accountable in more ways than just my WeightWatchers meetings and I need a lot of help with staying motivated. Finding your blog and some others are definitely helping me with my motivation. In the past trying to use WeightWatchers message boards or communities wasn’t always helpful, especially with food ideas because people were not eating what I consider to be real food, or they were eating a lot of things that I can’t (I am allergic to coconut and can’t eat artificial sweeteners, onions, garlic, or peppers. I also can have problems with food that is highly seasoned, but I can have light to moderately seasoned foods).

Ok, this got a lot longer than I’d planned. But feel free to check out my blog, and follow along if you wish.
.-= Danielle´s last blog ..Being sick and food thoughts =-.