To be honest, I hit an infuriating plateau just as this challenging was beginning. And it has been getting me down. But I've been using the mfp app and diary to its full extent, and learning about my eating habits and my nutrition. I've found that I'm coming up short on a few nutrients necessary for proper weight regulation, including potassium. I've also noticed that my journal has been very monotonous in the past couple of weeks, which I'm pretty sure is a factor in my plateau. Knowing this has been very helpful for me, and I intend to replace a lot of my staple foods with fresh produce and other healthy options. Hopefully I can get through this hump in the next week or so.

However, this setback has been really disheartening, and my only advice for anyone with the same problem is that after I workout everyday, I feel so much happier. It's worth the endorphins. So if you're feeling blue about the scale, or anything in your life, don't reach for the chocolate, reach for your running shoes!

I hope everyone has had success in their journeys in these past couple if weeks, and I look forward to any advice you can give!

what works for me is focusing on the exercise. Eat healthy, but I hate counting calories.
focus on the foods I can have a lot of. I'm hungry almost all the time.
so I need a volume of food, not just any calories.
snacks I can eat anytime is crucial, carrots, string cheese, whatever works for you.
you wouldn't believe how many carrots I eat. one of these days I'm going to turn orange.
I eat a lot of beans too, when I remember.

I start out just doing a few mins of exercise a day. even if it's before bed.
a few squats, sit ups, doing SOMETHING to keep the habit going.
doing activity that you enjoy is also really important.
Look forward to the workout.
Great workout music is a must too.
Try songza, playlists on youtube, or make your own. all free.

I haven't weighed myself because I'm not feeling that "I've lost any weight" but one thing I noticed is squats are definitely working. I feel certain areas a little tighter than normal. I try and do 4 set of 10. Next week, it will be 4 sets of 15. I plan to weigh myself first thing tomorrow morning and do measurements.

<a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com"><img src="//badges.myfitnesspal.com/badges/show/1816/230/18160230.weight-togo-md.gif" border="0"></a><p style="text-align: center;width:152px;"><small>MyFitnessPal - Free <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com">Calorie Counter</a></small></p>

What's worked for me so far this time is keeping my goal front and center in my mind with a mental image. It's all mental for me. Keeping myself motivation to stay on track and keep trying. I remind myself every minute of all the reasons why I'm doing this. Success is within reach and I will meet my goal by summer as long as I keep moving forward and keep improving! I've focused mostly on that and mentally dealing with food. This coming week, I'll take my diet improvements to the next level and also begin to think strategically in terms of exercise.

What has worked for me (besides just being here on MFP) is being active. Just as others have already noted, I have made it my goal to walk EVERY day whether it means an extra circuit around the park with my dog or a jog around the park while hubby and dog play or a walk at home DVD or walking around the block on my lunch break. No matter how late it is, no matter how tired I am, no matter what other things are tempting me to avoid activity...I always feel better about myself and stronger and more committed to this journey after exercising.

Tracking! I find when I lose track of that, I lose track of what I am eating... Exercise has been really helpful for me too. I find I eat better when I am exercising. And routine-I do so much better during the week than weekend.

Logging works for me. It keeps me AWARE of what I am doing.

Also, eating 4-6 times a day works for me, so that I never feel starving!

As far as activity....what works best for me is lifting weights 3x a week and being active in some way almost everyday. ENDORPHINS,!!! :bigsmile:

Eating less crap and refined foods. It sounds kind of obvious, but the less I eat of that junk, the less I want to eat it. Protein first. And a planned treat a couple of times a week, so I don't start thinking I'm deprived.

Planning is the number one thing that has helped me this far. If I take the time to pack my lunch and dinner for work the night before, then I have no excuse to end up going to the McDonalds or Drive-In burger joint across the street form my work. A lot of the time I enter my calories for the day the night before because everything is already planned, packed and ready to go.

Allowing myself 1 free meal (not day, *meal*) per week has been incredibly helpful. It's a lot easier to stick to my plan for 5 meals/day, 6 days/week if I know that I'm earning myself meal where I get to eat whatever I want. At my work there tends to be a lot of cake and pastry laying around, and it's become really easy to turn down a piece of crappy Safeway sheet cake if I know in a couple days my free meal is going to include a super decadent $12 slice of french buttercream slathered red velvet cake from a local specialty bakery. Or turning down wing night at work doesn`t bother me if my free meal on the weekend is going to be a big rib steak at the Keg. One meal won`t derail the whole effort, and I`ve read a lot that says that one high calorie meal per week can help replenish your body and help it grow muscle.

Tracking calories, of course. My favourite part of this site

Finding an exercise I really enjoy. In the beginning I was all about cardio, I would spend up to an hour on the eliptical or treadmill, and I lost weight but I wasn't always satisfied with how my inches were coming off, or I thought I was starting to feel soft. Weight training has totally opened my eyes and changed my focus. I used to be so focused on the number on the scale, and I would get super upset if it hadn't changed from week to week. Weight training has showed me what my body is capable and given me goals that aren't centered around the number on the scale, I've had weeks where my weight hasn't changed at all but I've lost 2 or almost 3 inches overall because I was replacing the fat on my body with muscle. Plus it's awesome to know that no matter how much I lift I'll never get big like a male bodybuilder, so I'm all about lifting heavy. I've cut down my cardio and focus more on weights, and I've seen fabulous changes both on the scale and in my body.