By the numbers...

Here are the numbers.

Two years ago, I weighed 290 lbs, and Michael weighed probably over 600 lbs. We then started... well, we got married, for one, and then we started a pretty standard food pyramid based low fat diet. Mostly all whole foods, tons of complex carbohydrates, so perfect a diet that the dietician that the cardiologist sent us to really had nothing to tell us. (Yes, I get a little irritated that the assumption is that if you're fat, you know nothing about basic nutrition...) And over the two years, more or less, we ate pretty steadily a diet of around 2000 calories, give or take about 300... me trying to stay a little lower than that. Net result: Michael lost 100 lbs in total, but gained about 40 of it back. I lost about 10 lbs, gained it back plus more, and my abdominal fat increased significantly. A little discouraging, huh? No, we weren't perfect, not every day, not every minute, but over 2 years, we were pretty damn good.

And so, now. At the top of this weight cycle, in early January, I weighed 302.2 and Michael weighed 543.4. Today, I weigh 289.3, and he weighs 521.8. So... the bright spot, he's lost 22 lbs and I've lost 13 lbs. Which is ok. But for me in particular, I lost all of that in about 10 days and have essentially lost nothing that hasn't fluctuated back up. More or less the same thing with Michael, although he's lost a little more lately since we upped the protein.

Have I mentioned that I still hate talking about this stuff and that I'm frustrated as hell?

So, what are we eating? On average, about 30 net carbs, about 150-200 g protein, about 1800-2000 calories. And, usually, drinking a lot of water.

Typical day: Breakfast, eggs and bacon and a slice of low carb toast. Tea.
Mid-morning: Whey protein shake with probiotics and about 1/8 c. whole milk yogurt
Lunch: Usually 6-8 oz protein of some kind plus a big salad with oil and vinegar, a little nuts and cheese (1 T. each).
Dinner: Usually 6-8 oz protein plus 1 c low carb vegetables (with a little butter or oil)
Evening: Another protein shake as above. Sometimes blueberries.
Water, tea, herbal tea. Occasional snack, usually a slice of roast beef with a piece of American cheese, or a few pork rinds, or something leftover. Not at lot, if at all.

I play racquetball a couple of time a week and try to do other things... not so effectively these days, with weather and time, bad excuses but true. Michael doesn't do much for exercise because at this weight, even walking tends to result in injuries.

I would like to know what in hell we are doing wrong. If anything. I feel good. I look like I've lost more weight than I have. But at some point, the scale has to budge, has to do something except move up and down the same two lbs.

Yeah, I am very frustrated, and I have to say that writing it all out makes it more frustrating. I feel like I must be doing something wrong, but it can't be that precise, can it? I've spent a lifetime losing weight (and gaining it), and suddenly I know nothing about it.