Hi all -

One year ago I was in the best shape of my life, exercising 6x a week, running, lifiting, dancing, yoga, you name it. I was still watching my carbs, tracking everything in my online tracker. Then I lost my job, broke up with my boyfriend, and went through a serious depression. 2012 was NOT my year. So, I stopped going to the gym, stopped tracking my food, stopped coming here for support, and just fell off a cliff. Looking at it in writing, it appears to have been more of a suicide than sabotage. At any rate, I want to get back to that feeling of strength and health.

I was at 165 lbs a year ago, still 15 lbs shy of surgeon's goal. I am currently approx 185 lbs BUT ... this week I started tracking my food again, watching my carbs, exercising, and coming back here

So my question is this: does anyone know if doing a "reset" works? I mean, returning to a post-op lifestyle in order to jumpstart weight loss again. I am eating 700 cals a day, <30g carbs, >60g Protein, 60 oz Water. I'm doing a minimum of 30 minutes cardio every day plus yoga. I do not have a functioning scale at the moment so have no numbers yet to see if it is working.

Does it work? I accept that there are genetic factors at play, but I really want to see south of 130 pounds (I'm 5'3"). I'm 2.5 years out, with 50 lbs to lose. I figure if I can just get to and maintain 130, plastics will take care of the rest.

I never was a couch potato I was exercising 30 mins a day or 60 mins every other day which is what my surgeon recommended and I started exercising harder more often and the scale plateaued and when I went back to doing what I was I went back to losing. There is a post on here somewhere shared by Kristie Atkinson I will see if I can find about the relation between excessive exercise and weightloss that was interesting. Keeping up and doing what you are doing will work I am sure but it may not stop the scale from frustrating you. I am a slave to my scale so having no loss or gaining make me insane so I decided I am going to wait to do extreme exercise like crossfit until the scale says what I want.

Completely agree with you that hard exercise does not lead to continuous weight loss. It is too hard on your body and will stall out weight loss or cause weight gain. The body will struggle with too low carbs and calories that are needed to support weight loss in the context of high caloric burn from the hard exercise. Therefore, strive for moderation even in exercise while you are losing weight. Getting the diet balanced for weight loss with moderate exercise works really well for weight loss.

Last night I did 45 minutes on the treadmill, never going faster than 3.2, I did not do weights. I may exercise daily but it's nothing like you Fiddleman, it's 30 minutes of cardio keeping my heart rate at 136 and a weights rotation of 7 different apparatuses followed by some gentle yoga stretching. I do this every day and keep my calories under 800, good days I'm under 700.

Am I doing wrong? I like the feeling of getting stronger, but I desperately need to shed this weight. Should I stop working out, maybe just walk gently 30 minutes a day and instead focus on low calorie? :(

Its interesting to see the paths that everyone takes to weight loss with the sleeve. Frankly, I don't think this is a ""one size fits all" type deal. For me, I started out losing slow and then I really really wanted to get to goal so I did a couple of things. 1st off, I joined my gym's 90 day Biggest Loser competition that went for 90 days and involved weigh ins every other week along with boot camp. I also got a private trainer for 2x a week and then spent another 4 days a week doing elliptical and treadmill where I maintained a heart rate of at least 140 for a minimum of 45 minutes. Lastly my diet, I kept to under 600 calories, less than 20 carbs and minimum of 80 grams of protein. When I put in my exercise calories I would have only a positive amount of maybe 100 to 150. I got to goal and I have stayed there. I happen to be 55 years old and been in menopause since my early 30's. I knew that my base metabolism rate was under 1000 and so to lose weight I would have to work very hard at it. Again, you have to find what works for you.

Wow Karen, you worked out like a beast! What were your beginning stats and what are your maintenance stats?

Hi I just wanted to say that when doing low carb diets you have to go off for a couple of days to jump start your body again. I am a master of low carb diets. It doesn't mater how many calories u take in as long as u aren't taking in over about 39-35 carbs and no sugar not even fruit. Do that for 10 to 12 days go off for 2 days eating anything u want. It's basically like doing the Dr Atkins diet good luck it will work. U don't much muscle doing high protein and u don't have to exercise as hard. Because the muscle and the fat burns one another so it's burning constantly. Good luck