On a plateau & finding it hard to lose anymore weight.

First off, GREAT JOB on the weight loss. That's an absolutely incredible amount of weight that takes a lot of willpower and dedication, and you are to be congratulated. Not many people can say they have lost that much weight!

As far as your workouts, now that you're down to a healthy weight, you should consider getting some kind of heart rate monitor. I bought the Polar FT4 on Amazon for $65. You input your weight, height, gender, and age and it will calculate your target heart rate zone. This really helps motivate me! The key things to remember when you're watching your heart rate is: when you're at your target 85% (the monitor will calculate your "max" target heart rate), you're in a comfortable, challenging state for fat burning. Or, you can step it up and go above your 'max' - which burns more calories faster, but also can lead to you burning out faster. So if you're going long-term, like for a run or spin class, I'd try to keep it around that "max" heart rate number.

The diet sounds good. Clearly you know how to eat, having lost so much weight. The most I would say is, make sure you're getting enough protein in your diet via chicken, turkey, seafood, beans, however you chose. Of course eating clean is always best. Use fresh ingredients, and don't buy food in boxes!!! Have you discovered skinnytaste.com? There are thousands of great recipes on there, we have made several of them. We are on a VERY limited food budget, as my husband is a doctorate student in college and I'm the only one working and we eat almost 100% natural foods on less than $150 a month. So it can be done.

For exercise, your 5k walk/run is good, but now that you're in good shape you need to change it up. This would be the time you would benefit most from a gym membership. Weight training is essential for fat burning and starting to really notice, physically, changes in your body.

Bookmark this site: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/5_fat_loss_workouts.htm. Scroll to about halfway down to the Overview (highlighted in a blue strip). That will give you an idea of a weight training routine. Keep scrolling down. Each day of the week has exercises below it. Click on the exercise and a video will pop up showing you how to do that exercise. I have had personal trainers for years and all of these exercises and routines are things we do on a regular basis.

I would recommend working out six days a week, with one day off. Do not lift weight, or run, just take the day off to let your body rest and recover. You don't need to do anymore than 60 minutes a day (though if you want to, that's great too). Spend 30 minutes each day at or above your max heart rate to really push your body and burn the max amount of calories. Don't pay attention to distance - that's not important. It's the amount of time spent at or above your target heart rate that matters! Work in 30 minutes of calisthenics and weight training. Here's a great video on some calisthenics you can do right in your own home. The video will tell you how long you should do each workout. Once you've rotated through all the exercises, that's one set. Do each exercise for the suggested amount of time, without stopping (if possible, if you do, NO MORE than ten seconds! You want to keep your heart rate up). Once you've rotated through them all, give yourself a two-minute break. Do this five times.

I hope this helps. You've done an amazing job with your cardio and getting down to a healthy weight, and incorporating the calisthenics and weight training will really help push you to continue your progress. Also, remember that muscle weighs more than fat. At this point you need to stop watching the scale (only weigh yourself once a week, at the same time every week so like Mondays at 8 p.m., or something like that). But, get a measuring tape (the kind seamstresses use) and take your measurements. Though you're not losing numbers on the scale, you WILL be losing inches off your body.

Good luck!!

Your diary is closed so I can't give you feedback on it but generally lowering carbs, upping protein, and varying your exercise (if you're a runner, start lifting and vice versa) works for most people.

I suggest adding in weight training. That really has helped me. I LOVE the Personal Training with Jackie Videos. They are awesome, and I am seeing some real muscle definition! 30 day fast start i a good one, I got mine on amazon.com. She even says on the video that this is a great one for a plateau.

I am just reading since I am in the same boat as you!! I lost 80 lbs but this last 2.5 months I have been playing around with 4 lbs up and down. I did get a Polar FT4 HRM last week and noticed quite a difference in the amount of calories burned vs what MFP has listed I have to exercise an extra 20 min to get to the same level of calories burned. Maybe that will help you. I am also a stay at home mom to 4 But my size difference has been as drastic as your I went from a super tight 26 pants to a comfortable 20...getting there you are doing great!!!