What a Difference a Month Makes
 

Pretty much exactly ten pounds. Yaaaayyy! My "Call Me Alice" post was March 24th, so exactly one month. Hard to believe, and I guess this make it a double milestone; under 190 and losing ten pounds. The really fun thing is that I had declared a target date for this milestone and that was this coming Monday. I've beaten it by two days. :yay:
The only thing different I've done is to ratchet up my IF.
I just slid past that number without my typical psuedo-stall (not long enough to be an official stall, but it sure feels like one). I always actually dread this before I even really get started, and it absolutely sinks my motivation, leading to twenty years of yoyo dieting. So far, I'm thinking this is my long term answer. What a relief!
Edited: I thought I had changed my stats. When you read the post, it said I weigh 191. That's old news. I'm now down to 189.6, so just across the fence from 190.

Great job!

You probably will have ups and downs still, though, so be prepared to push through them. But hopefully they would be as long as before.

I have had situations where I will hit a new scale low and then for a week or so, I'll be back up to where I had been or even just slightly higher. However, I know I haven't gained fat, because I know I haven't eaten anything to lead to that. So, I remind myself that it's just water and keep on keeping on. I also know that on these days, I am getting ready for work and can't just stay home and drain off water to the toilet and then go weigh again. That's how I know that a lot of what I carry is water. I just don't count readings that don't account for all the water I carry and then drain off.
And, none of that takes more than a week. Every Saturday, by the afternoon, I'm down at least half a pound; usually much more.

My journey tends to be more erratic. I've been losing weight quite aggressively all year -- I'm averaging right at 3 lb/wk since New Years. My official weigh-in is each Friday and of the sixteen weigh-ins so far, four of them have recorded a gain and it's been as much as 3.5 lb. I've had days when I was heavier than I had been two weeks prior. That gets REAL disheartening fast. That's one of the benefits of strict logging of everything that goes in my mouth -- I'm not just pretty sure that I'm losing fat, I'm absolutely positive because there simply isn't any alternative. That has allowed me to push through it. The other thing that is helping is that I am finally (I think) taking the appropriate long term view which is allowing me to, more-or-less, shrug off the plateaus as just being something I need to outlast with a confidence that it is just an illusion.

Yes, my outlook is different this time, too. I am eating cleaner, and my goal to protect my mind and minimize loose skin are just as important as shedding dress sizes.
Almost anyone on the forum who remembers me from three or so years ago knows I was one of two full time caretakers for my mom, who had Alzheimer's. They've made more progress since then, in predicting that genetic tendency and some specific behaviors and diet tweaks to minimize that chance. Serious motivation, I can tell you.