Is it time to "cut the cheese?"

so I'm over a year out from surgery lost 80lbs need to lose 20 more..been stalled since around June..I feel like it might be the cheese..I eat land o lakes American cheese with meals and have a slice here and there between meals...I think this might be my problem..but I love cheese and when all you can eat is meat cheese and eggs to stay low carb..I find its hard not to eat it..bit I'm thinking it time...what do you all think?

Thinking you might be right . Those nibbles here and there add up calories wise. Maybe you can find replacements like sugar free jello, a little fruit, some raw veggies or even some popcorn (no butter) if your stomach can deal with it. Good luck.

Cheese is a great source of protein, but I do not eat American cheese except from restaurants. American cheese is highly processed and one of the worst cheeses you can eat, other than Valveeta! Why don't you swap it out for a better kind of cheese and limit yourself to two ounces per day. The best choices in my opinion are part-skim mozzarella (which can be purchased in string cheese form) and light feta. Other good choices include pepperjack, swiss, and colby jack. If you are eating other highly processed foods as well, than I encourage you to stop. Highly processed foods are not good for us, and I try to eat as many whole foods as possible.

I did not know that about American cheese...I'm not talking about like Kraft singles..so even land o lakes from the deli is very processed?..sorry if I sound stupid..

Yes, American cheese is a more processed cheese no matter what the brand. Here is the ingredient list for Land o Lakes American cheese:

Ingredients: Cultured Pasteurized Milk And Skim Milk, Cream, Milkfat, Salt, Sodium Citrate, Contains Less Than 2% of Milk Protein Concentrate, Tricalcium Phosphate, Sodium Phosphate, Lactic Acid, Sorbic Acid (preservative), Artificial Color, Enzymes, Soy Lecithin and Soybean Oil Blend.

Not only is this list much longer than any good cheese, but the inclusion of the soy lecithin and soybean oil blend is a red flag. Cheese should not have any oil added to it, and in general I avoid any kind of oil other than olive oil.

Tons of calories in cheese, and you can eat an awful lot of it.

Cut the cheese out. Out. You might also try weighing and mwasuring your portions to see exactly where your excess calories are coming from.

Stop eating things "here and there." Plan your eating, and stick to the plan.

I love cheese but have had to cut it out of my diet almost completely because it's so high in fat. When I eat any significant amount of cheese regularly, my weight loss stops in its tracks. And for me, the taste of low-fat/no-fat cheeses don't compensate for the lower calorie count. Cheese doesn't have all that much protein when compared to meats and other proteins, but it has more than its share of fat.

You don't have to eat cheese to keep your carbs low. There's chicken, fish, shellfish, tofu, and ****asionally) beans to vary your proteins to keep them from becoming monotonous. Round out the leaner proteins with some low-starch vegetables, and I'll bet those last 20 pounds will start to move.

psychoticparrot

Yup, cheese is not the best food to snack on intermittently throughout the day. Lots of calories loaded into a very small package. I did not eat cheese at all until I got to goal. Then only sparingly. Trouble with cheese is that it turns to liquid (even the most wholesome, healthy cheeses) once you start to chew. Cheese doesn't trigger the pyloric valve to close and you can eat a boat load of it without even realizing it. 

Your American Cheese is highly processed (even the land o lakes stuff - it's just the log before they slice it up for the individual slices like Kraft does). That means it does down super easy. I looked up the stats on your cheese (American Cheese Loaf Land o Lakes) and it's 110 calories per ounce, 9 grams of fat, 5 grams of protein, and 1 carb. If I wanted to enhance weight loss, this is not a food I would choose to eat.

You can eat many different types of meats and vegetables and still stay low carb. Check out some of the low carb sites to get ideas. My recommendation to you to get that last 20 off is to eat lean, green, and clean (unprocessed). Bump your protein level up to over 80 grams per day, and cut the carbs back as far as you are comfortable. Getting into ketosis would be the best and that requires for most people less than 20 grams per day to kick start that process.

Best of luck getting that 20 off. If you lost 80, you can certainly lose another 20!

This is terrible news because I love cheese especially yellow American cheese.  Guess I have to change my eating plan

It's a sad fact, indeed, but cheese can only be used very sparingly or not at all. I will occasionally sprinkle a (measured) bit of grated Parmesan on a veg for flavor, but only fractions of an ounce at a time.

The good news is that if you eat "lean, green, and clean," as kairk suggests, you may find that you don't miss cheese as much as you think you will. There's something about eating lean protein with non-starchy vegetables (and for me, some fresh fruit) that is satisfying in a way that eating high-fat dairy, starches, sugars, and processed foods cannot achieve, no matter how much of them you eat. In fact, one way to tell if you're eating healthy is when you notice you feel slightly unwell when you eat crappy food. When I eat a crappy food, even if it's just a little bit, I feel "off."

psychoticparrot