Losing weight

First off, congrats on your successes! I totally understand how sometimes it seems you feel like you are slowing in progress. I think it's really normal to have little bumps in the road to push-over. I think you could look at a few things to get your over your slump faster. Have you thought about incorporating weight training to your daily exercise? Building muscle will increase your metabolism significantly... and your overall all metabolic rate will increase and help you burn more calories at rest. Also, double check your diet. When you feel like you are in a 'slump' it's easier to cheat, even in small ways. Maybe try a very short cleanse to give you a boost, or make sure you are getting ENOUGH calories to support your activity. Drink TONS AND TONS of water, which also helps your metabolism, as well as flushing out toxins in your system, and get plenty of sleep. If you are lacking in hydration or rest, both of those can significantly affect your weight-loss goals.

Hope this helps a little. Hang in there!

I'm only in the beginning stages of my weight loss but listen to my friends who have blazed the trail before me. I hear that your body eventually adjusts to your new healthy lifestyle and the only way through the plateau is to step up the routine. Step up the intensity of your workout or try something new such as interval training. Some friends have also broken up their meals into 5-6 mini-meals to help increase their metabolism. Keep up the great work...sound slike you got off to a great start!

I have been in a weight loss slump for about six months now. The first three months was due to a couple of medical issues I was having. I have since been medicated for those, but still haven't started losing weight again. A couple of weeks ago, I started thinking back to when I first started trying to lose weight and the guidelines/standards I had set for myself then. I discovered that, during the time I was most successful, I:

1. Ate ZERO fast food and/or processed foods. I was eating as natural as possible and the only meat sources were chicken breast, turkey breast, and fish.

2. Was working out for at least one hour EVERY day, six days per week and taking a rest day on Sunday.

3. Was in bed EVERY night at 9:30pm without fail, and I was up between 5:30-6am EVERY morning.

4. Had very little stress at the time at home or at work.

5. Was much more active in the afternoons and evenings.

6. Was doing more or less the same workout routines I'm doing now, but they were more effective then because they were new at that time.

So, after taking all of this into consideration, I've recently recommitted myself to:

1. Stop eating the junk I've allowed to creep back in (sometimes, for the sake of convenience, I'll go through a drive thru).

2. Stop letting life get in the way of working out...no matter how tired I am, no matter how frustrated I am, no matter what I've got going on, I HAVE to do something to get my heart rate up every day.

3. Start getting in the bed by 10pm every night (11pm on the weekends), and get up no later than 5:30am every morning (7am on the weekends).

4. Get caught up at work so that I am not as stressed about it. Work hard for the next few months at eliminating what little debt I have, and save enough money to find a permanent living situation to eliminate the stress in my home life.

5. Get my camera out and start working on my photography again, and find some other things to keep myself from getting so sedentary. I need to start LIVING, instead of merely SURVIVING.

6. Start making some drastic changes to my workout routine. My body has become used to doing the same thing day in and day out, so maybe finding something different to do will confuse my body so that it will have to work harder to keep up.

I'm not saying that all of these things may be what's going on in your situation, but these seem to be common issues for most people who are trying to lose weight. Maybe reevaluate and compare what you were doing when you were having the most success to what you are doing now, and see if there are any changes to be made. It is important to be brutally honest with yourself during this process, though.