I don't lose like I did when I dieted in my 20's--which is part of my problem, of course, that I dieted too much of my life, and therefore my metabolism adjusts quickly to anything I do, trying to keep me alive against this series of famines I have convinced it existed during my lifetime!

The mentors here will advise you to NOT lower your calories but raise them--as counterintuitive as that sounds, it has worked for several people. What happens is that once you eat normal calories again your body becomes convinced there is no famine and raises your metabolism accordingly. The best way to raise calories is through adding healthy fats to the diet.

Unfortunately for me, that didn't work. All that happened to me in raising calories was that I slowly put on weight (it was slow, though, just a pound or two per month) My explanation for why it didn't work for me is that I had well over a decade of super-low-cal diets (under 500 calories per day) and my metabolism is simply permanently screwed from that. I don't know if the same is true of you, but it's a possibility.

I can lose darned slowly if I drop to 1000 calories, but here's the result of that: my metabolism will lower MORE! Eventually even 1000 calories won't see a loss, but a stable weight. So if you want to consign yourself to a lifetime of eating 1000 per day forever, that's an okay choice. Make sure you choose your calories very wisely, though (and it wouldn't hurt to see a doctor and nutritionist...if you can find some that understand LC principles). And forgive yourself if you suddenly wake up one morning starved, start eating normal amounts, and gain back weight. That's really too few calories to expect to eat forever.

However, a second option is available and is the one I've chosen. I eat when I'm hungry, stop when I'm full, and I tend to eat around 1550 calories per day with dairy in my diet, a bit less without dairy in my diet. My weight stablizes around 175 (24% body fat the last I had it checked--I lift weights so have a high LBM). So the option I chose is come to terms with that reality the best I can.

I cannot change my metabolism (I've tried! believe me!). I cannot go back and erase my diet history. I have been dealt this hand of cards (and drew some of them myself)...and the best way to go forward is to understand the hand I have and accept, with as much grace as I'm capable of. To the best of my ability, I ignore the scale, I ignore the cultural mandate that we should all look like Jennifer Aniston, and I switched my focus to something other than the number on the scale. I've worked hard at body image work, coming to love and appreciate my body for the pleasures it brings, the abilities it gives me and the beauty I can see. If other's can't see that beauty, that's their choice...but it doesn't make me wrong or ugly. It just makes them short-sighted.

HTH!