I feel stuck. Can't break through and lose more.

I am no expert by any means, but other postings that I have been reading indicates that often we reach this plateau. Other posts indicate that if you switch up/out your exercise regimen, it will help jump start the weight loss again. For example, add a day where you do strength training instead of cardiovascular training - so maybe you do some weight lifting, or other types of strength training. Or maybe instead of walking the 2 -3 miles - you increase the speed and the distance/time you are walking (add some additional hills). Or maybe instead of walking - you take one day to do bicycling instead. While I prefer to walk outside, I do have a treadmill that I use sometimes - it has an incline adjustment - increasing the incline and adding ankle weights is one way to increase the intensity of the workout without increasing the time factor (that is a big thing for me - only so much time in my day that I can do the walking).

Good luck and hope you find a solution.

Vickie

Yep it sounds like you've hit the dreaded plateau! Most of us hit it and it could take a month or so to get out of it. Change up your diet a little. Jillian Michaels has some good advice on getting over a plateau in one of her books. Good luck in the hard time!

When I get stuck like that I ramp up my protein intake. I try and eat only protein (this gets a little dull for me cuz I am not a big meat eater) but almonds, yogurt, milk, avocado, are great for protein and have lots of flavor other than steak with a side of bacon wrapped steak..haha. I have done this several times when I have plateaued and have seen a drop in weight. The other thing to watch for is to make sure you are getting enough water for your body and fitness level. not enough water and your body will hold on to all it can to hydrate itself making your weight stay stagnant. Also, and I know this sound counter-intiutive, but maybe take a short break from working out every day. I know that I was running quite a bit and when I quit running for a few days my weight went down a little. If you can't stand the thought of not working out maybe try something different. Can you get a workout video and give it a try, if you have access to a gym get on a different machine like the rowing machine, do the circuit training, or use the elliptical. It may be that your body is conditioned to your workout and fitness level and doing something different will shake it up enough to jumpstart your loss again.

I don't know if I can add to all the great advice in all the other replies here. They are all sound ideas. One thing that works for me is that I don't weigh myself every day. Someone else mentioned that the scale won't move much every day. I think that is absolutely true. I just try to limit myself to weighing in once a week (usually Monday mornings for me). I know it can be difficult to stay away from the scale though. I'm guilty of that myself. I've found that weight will fluctuate from day to day, but at the end of the week it will show a loss if you're doing everything right in the eating department and exercising department. On a personal note, I've recently lost my motivation to workout. In my case I think it's more of a self-destructive behavior issue. I just kicked myself in the butt and forced myself to start again yesterday. I'm glad I did. I think the main thing to remember is that it isn't a race to get down to that goal number. That's the approach I'm trying to take. I think too many people feel like they need to reach their goal at a particular time and that's why they get depressed when they don't reach that goal, and just give up. Just take it a day at a time. There's no hurry. I find myself having to pick myself up, dust myself off, and get back on the plan. Just please don't quit. You can do it.