I’ve lost 52 pounds but I’m just kinda over it now

Have a bloody good blow out, allow yourself one for every 4 or 8 weeks depending upon your mood.
Well done on the control and discipline you've endured, you have done amazing.
If you have a set date to look forward to monthly it'll make a difference to the trapped feeling.

Well done , that is fantastic.

I am a yo-yo dieter if ever there was one.

What helps me is to include some treats but smaller portions e.g. if I go out with my husband we will share the dessert. Same amount of pleasure but half the calories.
Or if I am out for lunch, I shall order what I want, take a container with me and put third to half in this before I start and then take it home for another meal with a salad or extra veggies.
This way I can have treats and not feel deprived.
Instead of wine I shall hve a spritzer and a glass of water , again similar pleasure but less calories.
i track what I eat, drink, sleep and exercise and try and start a new healthy way of eating every few days and track this too so it becomes a habit.
In fact to help me stay on task, I have created a planner/ tracker (I couldn’t find anything suitable I liked) and when I use this I find it easier to stay focused.

I have also started playing sports that I liked. I used to go to a gym but didn’t really enjoy this, now I am playing pickleball and I love it. 2 hours of fun and you can lose over 800 calories!

Very well done though, I’m sure you will get over this plateau too and then succeed with the rest you want to lose.
(Apologies as this is rather long and boring!)

I think you're building up maintenance, have cake 3x a week is not normal imo. It's obviously less 'fun' to eat healthily (not less tasty) but the feeling of grossness when you eat crap is not worth it for me.

I may see this in a totally different way and maybe an unreasonable way who knows. You’ve lost 3.5 stone it’s absolutely amazing well done! Are you happy with where you are genuinely? The size you are, how you feel about yourself? Are you pushing to get to the 2 stone because bmi tells you what that should be? I’m loosing weight and lost a stone so far, my goal is to loose another 1.5st that still puts me overweight by bmi standards but I know I can maintain and be happy at that weight, pushing myself to achieve normal range to me will make me miserable as I struggle to maintain a lower weight because it’s no fun and eventually I give up. That weight usually puts me around a size 12 and I’m happy with that I like the way I look at a 12, yes I could keep pushing to get the lower numbers. Anyway my point is whats the target? To feel better about yourself and enjoy your life or punish yourself on a diet which ultimately won’t stick or will introduce bad habits because your unhappy and depriving yourself of things. Just have a look at what your goal is deep down and not just chase a number

Why don't you go and have a feast at the pub then get back on it tomorrow?

I've lost 2 stone using portion control, I still ate chip shop chips, pizza, ice cream but just weighed it. I didn't eat all those in one sitting though.

I have just developed a bit of a hang up with non healthy snacks.

It's not your fault. We live in a world where it became normalised to have unhealthy "treats" all the time, and every meal should be a "treat meal".

We have a weird obsession with food, and people seem to find it weird to have a "bland" or "boring" meal but everything have to a reward meal.

I don't know, sometimes you eat a banana or a few bits of cold chicken because you are hungry and you need food, it's not even a question of missing out on a lasagna and chocolate icecream instead.

You have done amazingly well!
I know exactly how you feel though.
I have only been dieting for 3 months and the fat is coming off extremely slowly. I have only lost 7 pounds and although I do feel better losing so little is making me want to give up and have a chocolate bar!
You though have lost loads I would be tempted to stop for awhile but then it might be very difficult to start again
So don't undo all your work. And push on a little longer
Good luck.

It’s very difficult.
I’ve never been higher than 12 and half stone so I can’t imagine eating enough to be, say 15 stone.
However my ideal is 9 and half. I’ve previously got to a few lbs over 10 and just couldn’t carry on eating as little as I needed to. I can’t imagine how people exist at less than 9 stone.
I don’t know how you shift the psychology to permanently eating less.

You’ve done amazingly.

I get you. Can you just change the diet you are doing so you still lose but you mix it up a bit. eg. you could do OMAD or strict carnivore, or lion diet. You don't have to stick with it forever, but the difference in what you are doing now might make you be ok with doing it short term. I do strict carnivore and you drop weight like crazy, but Im still stuffing my face! It doesnt feel like a diet at all.

Wow! you have been amazing. Have you been replacing food treats with other rewards, like new clothes and hairdressers? You certainly deserve it and it might make your new lifestyle seem less punitive.

I agree with PP, that some new foods would give you a boost.

OP I am a sweet addict. One of my cheats is to buy some 100% dark chocolate with orange from Montezumas (sugar free) and melt it down with some sugar free muslei - like rice crispy cakes. Might help to stop you feeling quite so miserable.

I think if I were you I'd move to really enjoying your new body and life in general - buy some clothes that really show off the weight you've lost and maybe try some new things. It's great you are doing more exercise - that will really help with maintenance. Slightly increase food so you can enjoy the foods you are missing but keep an eye on your measurements.

You've achieved so much. You should be super proud.

A break to maintain before you return for that final 20 pounds may be easier for your body to maintain.

Strive to be strong, rather than thin. That’s what changed my mindset.

Calculate the calories and manage the rest of the day accordingly to stay on track.

Exactly. I had a fry-up for brunch today - eggs, sausage, black pudding, bacon, beans. Just not a massive plateful, no bread and butter (because that's my downfall and I know it bloats me) and everything air-fried, weighed and tracked. It was absolutely delicious and hit the spot. It means I'll have to account for it this evening and just have a small, light meal and no cheeky Sunday afternoon snacks, but that's ok.

Sure, sometimes I'd love to be able to eat the way I did in my 20s when I didn't have to worry and still had a flat stomach regardless of what I ate / drank. But I simply can't. At the same time, I'm not going to deny myself every damn time because otherwise life is miserable!

Disclaimer here, I’ve never dieted but what really struck me here is how miserable you are with it all and I cannot blame you at all.

You don’t have to do all or nothing. So you don’t have to go out and have fish and chips and cheesecake in one sitting. For me it would be a portion of chips at the beach. Or an ice cream. Or we go out for just dessert. One smaller treat more regularly. Could that help at all?
Have your coffee and cake with your friend.

I think you've done amazingly well, and need a break where you just maintain for a while. Think of it like slowly descending a rocky mountain on foot, this next bit is a flat section of the pathway down, it's flat, but you're still making progress towards the bottom.

I've been reading about this as also struggling with motivation. Apparently it is actively positive to have a break from calorie deficit for a week or two very 12 weeks or so. So move to a maintenance plan for a week or two (or longer) and then back on to calorie deficit. You'll need to do that anyway once you hit your goal so see it as practice!

You are still in a "diet" frame of mind, instead of a "new lifestyle" one. This is not sustainable.

I want to go to the pub and eat a plate of fish and chips, with several glasses of wine and a slice of cheesecake.
There's no reason why you CANNOT do these things, now and in 10 years.
Smaller portions of fish and chips, only a glass of wine or 2. Calculate the calories and manage the rest of the day accordingly to stay on track.

Have a SMALLER slice of cheesecake another day, and again, just include the calories in your daily intake.

It's only about calories. After a year you likely don't need to track and can estimate accurately, but just look at details for such a meal.

Eating smaller portions of what you like in a day/ week and stick with lower-calorie items to feel full is normal, and not the same as feeling you are constantly depriving yourself. You are not. We are too much about "treat food" in this country, not enough as "food is fuel, not more".

I would have the cake, sometimes. Just not every time. I think the constant feeling of denial and guilt is really damaging in the long run. A bit of cake once in a while really isn't going to cause 52lbs to return (well done, btw!) but maintenance needs to be sustainable and realistic.

I agree with a pp who said that the novelty of the stuff you think you're craving wears off pretty quick. I bet if you have the cake / pudding now and again you'll soon realise that it's not quite as fabulous as you remember! I'm pretty much always disappointed in restaurant puddings / coffee shop cakes etc and wonder why I bothered wasting the calories.

Firstly, you’ve done brilliantly. Well done.

The thing with diets is that really you need to build healthy eating habits that you can sustain. It’s not a case of go in a diet, lose weight then go back to your old habits and all will be fine.

So, give yourself little treats regularly, whilst sticking to a mainly healthy food intake. It’s really hard to keep denying yourself entirely. Not many of us can do that forever.

But work out your triggers and avoid them. For example, if I open a large chocolate bar thinking I’ll have just one row, I know deep down I won’t, I’ll eat the whole lot. So I avoid that, and might buy myself a Freddo
instead (how expensive are they these days!!)

And you’ve hit the nail on the head with snacks - stock your house with healthy snacks that you like. For me that is chicken, ham, seafood sticks, itsu seaweed.

And if funds allow, buy yourself a new piece of clothing if that makes you appreciate your weight loss even more.

Good luck.

Can you do your cals over a week and then adjust do 1 or 2 days you are higher cal and other days a bit lower.
Then if you are out with friend have the cake that’s a higher cal day.
Well done on your loss.