Further Proof Of Life Being Unfair

So no matter what I do, I can't break below 160lbs. I've increased my workouts, I'm tracking my food and of course, my cooking is very healthy.

I know my cooking is healthy, as Matt is losing weight without trying. I recognize how hard Matt works, cycling every day 20-30 miles. His body fat is below 10%, but it's annoying that he can lose without trying, and I'm trying and the scale won't budge.

When we started dating, we were both people who had spent our teen years slightly overweight, and since our dating consisted of eating out, we gained a lot of weight together. After a couple of years of marriage, we decided that something needed to be done.

We joined Weight Watchers and we both lost a lot of weight. Not surprisingly, Matt was more successful than I was (male metabolism and he had discovered cycling by then). We moved, I changed jobs and my weight came back very quickly (plus an additional 15 lbs). I had reached 214lb at 5'2". So I quit the job, but it still took me a while to realize that I needed to work out more consistently. Our diet had already changed.

I got serious and lost 30 lbs before I plateaued (and the exercise was put on hold due to a groin injury). During that serious attempt of losing weight Matt continued to lose weight thanks to my focus on our diet. He continued to gain strength and endurance with his bike.

During the groin injury, I put on a couple of pound (maybe 5-7lbs) and a visit to the doctors told me that my cholesterol had jumped since I slowed down my exercise (and then there were the grilled cheese sandwiches every day for lunch). My LDL numbers had almost tripled in 2 years. Okay, fine, time to get focused again.

We got a treadmill (so I could change my cardio to avoid the over use groin problem) I tracked my food with FitDay (first online, then I upgraded to their desktop version. Still the best food/exercise tracking program that I have found). The weight started to come off again. I was building muscle.

Then one day. It stopped. I was keeping to my calorie range, I was still working out, but my weight wouldn't budge. This has continued for a while and I knew that I needed to "change up" my workouts.

I read about the Yourself!Fitness in Shape magazine. Sounded like something worth trying (as I love my Xbox and spend a couple of hours a day playing). The workouts are tough, I'm already seeing an improvement in physical abilities, but after two weeks of doing it (and still using either the treadmill or stationary bike), I haven't seen any weight come off.

Meanwhile, Matt is at a low enough weight that he needs to stop losing. He can not afford to lose more weight. It's very frustrating to me. I'm working hard, I'm eating right and I'm stuck. I know it will come off eventually, and I have no plans to stop eating right or exercising (as I will have to continue with it even after I get to a healthy weight), but damn why can't I just lose one freakin' pound at this point????

One of the problems with Matt is that he's trying to be considerate to me and keep his portions down. He needs to understand that we have very different caloric requirements, and he needs to fuel himself. I'm in deficit mode: I need less calories than my body requires so I can use the stored fat. So while he should be eating 2 cups of spaghetti, he needs to understand that I can only eat one and stop feeling guilty about eating so much more than me.

I'm just very frustrated with the male/female metabolism differencial right now. I'm also getting a bit tired of this being such a focus in my life. I spend almost 2 hours a day working out. I obsess over what we're going to eat (and how calories/fat/fiber, etc is in it). I just hope all this focus helps me lead a healthier life.