Hellobee Boards

Are you exercising at all? Logging every last bite you eat? I know it is a gigantic PITA, but every bite counts.

@babycanuck: The only time I ever had any success was by logging every bite (including butter and oils used to cook), and logging my activity with my Fitbit. I don't think you should have to run out and get a Fitbit, but it did make me realize how little I was really moving around during the day. (Which wasn't much.)

When I lost 20 lbs between Thanksgiving and January, I logged food, hit 10,000 steps a day, climbed at least 50 flights of stairs (Fitbit logs this too...climbing hills counted as well as long as the change in elevation was enough), and did a 20 minute squat/push-up/strength-ish routine every day. It seems hard, but no aerobics, no running, and I squeezed it in where I could. I pre-set a calorie deficit for myself and my daily caloric intake would fluctuate to accommodate this depending on how active I was.

I don't lose weight easily, and I'm pretty convinced that tracking down to the last calorie and being *very* strict with myself was what did it. (I wanted to edit to add that I did not starve myself. If I wanted a glass of wine, I worked out for it in advance. Or I cut back on portions at lunch. I never dipped below 1100 calories, and usually hit around 1300 to 1400 calories.)

It could be lots of things! Don't get discouraged! I've only ever seen real success with heavy weight training and cardio 5x/week plus counting macros. It was a lot of work and it was hard but it worked. For me, that meant 1900-2100 calories, 50% carbs, 30% protein, 20% fat, or 40% carbs and protein and 20% fat.

I could have written the same post. It is so frustrating. Fingers crossed I have better luck this time. Starting back this week!