deficit every day and no weight loss :(

This content has been removed.

Looked at your diary. Protein is spot on, but i'd say you need more fat, less carbs. Fat doesn't make you fat, carbs do.

Try...

35% carbs
35% fat
30% protein

Works for me. I also zig zag my carbs and calories. Try not to go over 35% carbs, but throw in a low day here and there.

Home, goals, change goals, manual...

I think that would resolve your problem.

Zara x

Ummm no, over eating makes you fat....

^^ yep. overeating.....not necessarily carbs, makes you fat. every one needs carbs

This is wrong. So, I'm just throwing that in there. Everyone doesn't need as much carbs as everyone thinks. You can drastically reduce them and feel better than you ever have in your life. I know. Nothing you can say can prove my wrong. My results speak for themselves. If you feel otherwise, that's your opinion, this one is mine. There's is lots of research on the effect of carbs on weight loss. If carbs don't impact you, that's great. But don't generalize your situation to everyone on the planet.

no one was generalizing...not like you made it seem. every one does need carbs....its AMOUNT of carbs that will vary per person. You have to figure out what works for YOU. NO one here can tell you what will work for you. We all all here to offer suggestions based on our experiences, that's all. No one here needs to get defensive about opinions. We should all be more mature that that.

The best advice I ever got was to "fool my bod." In other words, change up your exercise routine and do something different. If you run on the treadmill, do intervals...run fast for a couple of minutes, slow down for a minute, and then repeat. Increase your weights, not by much, if you lift, and work different muscle groups. Replace something in your diet with something equally fabulous. In short, make some changes to your routine. A body gets used to the same old thing, day after day, so throw it a curve ball every now and then.

This content has been removed.

In order to break a plateau, my advice is to eat at maintenance for 2 weeks, take a week off of working out.

But, you have so much conflicting information here, I doubt you'll do this. But, a plateau is just your body getting used to the routine and not letting go. Change. Do something different. For me, eating at maintenance and breaking from exercise helps gets things moving. Also, lower my carbs drastically helped a lot. I don't care what anyone says. My BF dropped like a rock when I dropped carbs.

This is the best advice so far. I mean the idea of doing something different. It may seem counterintuitive but it works. Yes you can cut enough calories by consumption or burn to bust through this but it would take almost superhuman effort and one that would be very difficult to sustain. Our bodies are brilliant at becoming efficient fat retainers. Calling this 'starvation mode' completely misportrays what is actually happening and does any reader a disservice. The advice that usuall follows is "eat more". True 'starvation mode' enters a realm where one would need medical attention and counseling because they have probably developed an eating dissorder. This is not you obviously. What worked so radically well when we began a program of calorie reduction and exercise actually becomes much less efficient the fitter we become and we usually call it the last 10 stubborn pounds or something like that. But we CAN outsmart our own bodies. The fact that our body can increase its efficiency and hang on to the weight despite our good work indicates that we can use that reaction to our advantage as I would humbly suggest you consider below:

Another option (because there are probably many good ways to bust the plateau) is this: I would almost bet that you are eating 5-6 little meals a day spread out over all your waking hours. You are probably getting good amounts of protein and avoiding excess and empty carbs. There's nothing inherently wrong with that and it is the most popular practice these days. Cal in vs cal out is true but what you eat and don't eat effects little things like; how you feel, how much energy you have and if your arteries are clogging up or not. But another way to tweek things is not just WHAT you eat but WHEN. You might want to try tightening up that window. Consider it a personal experiment. But, only do this after you have done some reading on it.

Let's say that your last meal of the day is 7PM and your first is 7AM. We will also assume that you don't often hit the fridge in the middle of the night. That gives you a eating and fasting window of 12 hours. Don't be radical but try cutting it to 10 hours. After a couple of weeks or so if you want to be daring then go to 8 hours. Keep everything else equal (calories, etc.) As you probably know its called Intermittent Fasting. Everyone does it to a degree so you would just be tweeking it. This topic has a lot of debate so my hand is already up to block the rebuffs, lol; but the negatives are usually by people that have never done it or have not done it well. Or, they didn't need to do it. I think when you hit a plateau it is the best time to see if this would be good for you.

There is a lot of good info and reading when you google this topic. I would avoid the extremes (which the above idea does, in my opinion). If you give it a fair trial it will prove to you personally that the idea that it's only calories in vs. calories out does not always seem to be true. Well, actually it is true but what is not mentioned is that our bodies fat burning efficiency fluctuates and when we hit a plateau it is usually at its worst. This is through no fault of your own. It just requires a new tactic. We burn fat all the time but the time we burn fat at the highest rate during normal activity is just before our first meal of the day. By following a plan like this we can extend that increased fat burn rate time just a bit but enough to notice tangible results. I predict that you would be so pleased with these results that you would be tempted to take it further. Here is where I would suggest not doing so. That could cause burnout.

Just to reiterate: in this context, calorie deficit is defined as consuming 500 calories per day less than your minimum daily intake.

No, I'm not saying that if you eat exactly 500 calories fewer than recommended, you'll go into starvation mode in 24 hours. That depends on a whole series of person-specific factors, not the least of which being what the individual's daily caloric intake should be. But assuming that's somewhere under 1500 calories, yes, you will end up in starvation mode eventually. Meaning you won't starve to death and may not feel that hungry, but your body won't have enough calories to maintain day-to-day functions while burning it's preferred fuel sources.

This is not correct. Your metabolism will not start slowing until about 72 hours after a fast. Not that I am recommending it, but lets get the facts right.

Hi I am 5 ft 4 and weigh 134...so we are similiar weight and height...I have found that not all exercises work for me...I lose more weight by running than any other activity...You mentioned you use to run when you were below 130...I would skip the kickboxing classes and put all my energy into running every day...When you lose the weight you want slowly add in strength training 3 days a week ...

OP: are you weighing all your non-liquid food and measuring all your liquid food. Are you logging everything? Condiments, those lick of the spoon etc etc?

Hi There! I haven't been very active on here lately, but I am also 5'5'' and I was 136 lbs like you, and I recently reached my goal of 125 lbs! I ended up visiting a naturopathic doctor to ask about another problem, mentioned I was trying to lose a few lbs, and she recommended I do an elimination diet, which basically aims to determine which foods cause you to retain water weight because you are reacting adversely to them to some degree. Before this I lost 5 lbs following a relatively low carb plan, and eliminating wheat completely. Then for 7 days I was limited to some lean meats, vegetables, fruits and a nutrient powder mixed with fruit and water that had all the vitamins/minerals the body needs, no or very minor salt allowed and no sugar except fruit, and lots of water! If things in your usual diet are badly affecting you, you should lose .5 to 1 lb steadily per day of just water weight during this phase, I averaged about .7 lb per day and ended up around 126.5. After that you add in a food one at a time, through this whole process you weigh yourself every morning and if after introducing a food you gain 1+ lbs over night in water weight, that indicates a very bad reaction to the food. Once you gain again, you have to get back to your lowest weight before you can continue the process of adding foods, so it can take a while, but it was a very interesting process!

Nothing actually caused me to gain 1+ lbs overnight except for not watching my salt consumption, which is surprisingly easy to lose track of! However, wheat, corn and potatoes caused me to gain about .5 or .6 lb overnight so I now try to keep those to a minimum. Rice seems okay just not every day and in small amounts. I try to only eat grains or anything sugary or salty on the weekends now and avoid them totally during the week. Once you know what foods cause weight gain it becomes much easier to avoid them and maintain a lower weight, and I now truly believe that weight loss is not just as simple as calories in/calories out. I can eat unlimited amounts of avocados and fatty fish for example and not gain an ounce! But a couple slices of bread or a bowl of corn chips during the day and the ounces start to creep back on... good luck with your weight loss!

Also I just realized you work out a lot and probably have a lot more muscle than me, I have like none and my only workout is walking to the bus stop lol, so we probably look similar figure-wise but muscle just weighs more. It's up to you how much weight you feel you really need to lose, but I would also encourage you not to get toooo hung up on it since it sounds like you are very healthy and look pretty great already!