I've been hovering around 168ish for months. I seem to have broken through a full-fledged stall, but I'm still not losing very quickly. I started out at 190 over a year ago, and found myself down to 175 in about 2 months. Then it took me 6 months to lose another 8 lbs, and in the 6 months since then I gained some of it back (rather quickly) and then s.l.o.w.l.y. lost it again.

Carb creeps up, I crack down and lose a little bit, sometimes I crack down and remain stalled- overall it's just getting frustrating. I broke through a 4 month long stall a month ago, yet only lost a pound since then.

There are really two directions I can go from here.

The first would be to really crack down and try to be super-strict with my dieting to get the weight loss back on track. Keep on buying clothes and bras just slightly too small so that once I lose the weight, I'll have stuff ready to go that fits perfectly (otherwise I'd lose weight and feel worse because everything hangs off of me.) In the meantime, I have skirts in my closet that don't quite fit (not a true problem as long as I have enough skirts that do fit) and bras in my drawer that are too snug (which becomes a problem as the ones that fit well get worn out- I'm rather voluptuous and bras don't last more than a few months, unless I invest in $100 bras which I don't want to do right now.)

The other option would be to start moving into Maintenance mode. I HAVE lost over 20 lbs and kept it off for 9 months. I'm lighter than I was when my younger daughter was a year old; a size I maintained, for the most part, for a decade. My obesity-related health problems are gone- and isn't that the TRUE measure of obsity, not the BMI number (which is maddingly hovering at 30.something, just into the "obese" category.)

By focusing on weight loss, and "how I'll look when I lose a bit more weight", I've been LESS happy with my body than when I was 185 lbs! My whole adult life, except for the first few weeks post-partum (when my beautiful baby belly was deflating) I've been very happy with my body- except this year when I've been trying to lose weight.

So, really, I have two questions. Should I start buying stuff that fits "right now" so I feel good about where my body is at this moment, and risk "wasting money" by outshrinking the clothes before they're worn out? (I'm thinking the answer to this one is a definite yes, that I should at least get myself one new bra.)

And, secondly, how should I eat? Should I keep on aiming for 30g carbs per day to jumpstart weight loss again? Should I maybe try cutting calories as well? Or is it time to re-introduce fruits and higher carb veggies and small portions of gluten-free grains and potatoes, and do so without guilt? Will it REALLY affect my weight loss if I have 50g of carbs per day instead of 30? If not, why am I denying myself?