If you actually eat 1250 calories a day without losing weight, I recommend applying for some studies - maybe medical, but more likely physics. "Woman eats fewer calories than her body expends on a daily basis but loses no weight." That would really be something, you know? You'd be famous. You'd also be the first.
There are many things that may influence you to eat more but literally the only way you gain energy is by eating, so every single bit of fat you have comes from eating. You don't get energy from the sunlight, or from the earth. You eat. If you eat too much, you grow sideways. You may have reasons for eating too much, which may even approach decent, but the single cause of being fat is your body getting more energy than it expends, on a consistent basis, which it converts by various means and with various supplies into fat. How much energy your body expends changes over time, sure, but so should your diet to accommodate that.
I never said that it wasn't working.
I've lost 20 pounds this year.
That's approximately 1/2 lb a week, though it started slightly faster and is now slightly slower.
But I think what people on this thread are missing is empathy.
If you aren't doing it, and you don't know the huge amount of effort it takes, it's hard to understand.
Constant vigilance. CONSTANT. For 10 months. Weighing and measuring.
Regular exercise.
Hours, literally hours, every weekend prepping vegetables. Pounds and pounds of vegetables. I easily eat 4-6 cups of vegetables a day, and did I mention that I cook for the entire family?
What worked 5 years ago isn't working anymore. Fewer calories, and serious cut back in carbohydrates. 5 years ago, I could eat mostly vegetarian - beans and rice, etc., and still lose weight. Cannot do that anymore.
You know when you go to a party with your friends? I'm the one who had chicken and vegetables at home, and I'm in the corner sipping some bubble water.
You know when you go out for a mom's night to the wine bar? I'm the one who is drinking a single glass of wine, but I had to swap it for something else (and it's my one glass for the week).
You know when you meet friends for lunch that one day a month? I ate my salad at my desk, and I'm just drinking water and chatting.
You know when someone brings donuts to work? I turn my head and go back to my desk and eat my apple and almonds.
That potluck? I pass on the cookies, or cake, or brownies, or pie.
I get one day off a week - well it's really one meal off a week. And by "off", I mean, I can eat anything, as long as I don't go over about 600 calories for the meal.
For 10 months.
And I'm still fat.
And the times when it slowed down was due to stress and sleep. When I am stressed (layoffs, traveling husband), I don't sleep. When I don't sleep, I don't wake up early to work out, because I need sleep. When I'm not suffering from insomnia, I can get by on 7 hours and wake up at 4:50 am to work out before the kids wake up. When I have 2 hours of insomnia, I cannot wake up, so I miss my workout. But it's a combo of the lack of calorie burn AND the stress that slow down the weight loss.
I can only imagine that it's going to take more than 10 months to lose the last 20 pounds. Because it slows down as you get closer to goal. 9 months on, many years off I guess.
For one day, I'd like to eat like a teenage boy. I'd like to eat a burrito. (Funny story, you can tell when a man turns 30 - in my office, the under -30's eat the whole burrito. The over 30's save half for tomorrow. And the women? We don't eat burritos.)