plateau and a long vacation... help!

Hi everyone!

I've been using this site now for about 6 weeks and I've lost 6 pounds since I started, which is fantastic! I joined to get healthy, but also because my brother is getting married and so I had goals to lose weight for the wedding.

The weight I'm at now is exciting for me as I have rarely reached it in my adult life. I know 6 pounds doesn't seem like much, but it is very hard for me to lose weight and my body seems to like being around 140 lbs (I'm 5'2"). I tend to hover there and I rarely get lower than 135. But I have been this low before (131 lbs) and I've never really been able to go lower. The most I've been able to do was like 129 when I was 16 in high school (I'm 27 now) and back then I really starved myself to get that low. The problem is that I'm small boned, or at least I assume I am, and so 130 is actually still quite a lot on my frame. I am chubby and still overweight.

I was hoping MFP would help me get past the 130s and safely into the 120s for the first time in my adult life; however I'm stuck here. I keep fluctuating between 131-134 for the past 3 weeks and I seem unable to lose more weight. I've been upping my caloric intake and have also been trying to eat a bit more varied, so eating more calories one day and less the next so that my body doesn't feel stuck and happy in a routine, but that is not working. Upping my caloric intake past 1200 seems to only make me gain weight. I've also been exercising more, but it's still not helped. I'm trying to experiment and do different things to get me past this, but I can't seem to break free of the 130s!

I'm even more worried because this coming Friday I am leaving for a long long vacation. I live abroad normally, and I'll be travelling to Dubai for a girls holiday that will include drinking, the UK where I used to live to visit my friends, which will also include drinking, and then home to the USA which will include my brother's wedding and spending time with family and friends, which might be a bit easier diet-wise, but still difficult.

I'll be gone for 6 weeks and I'm terrified that without my normalcy I will gain back all the 6 pounds I spend 6 long and hard weeks taking off!

I need some advice and help on how I can break free of this plateau and also how I can stay on track while I am travelling! Although I am so excited to go, I feel like there is this looming double whammy hanging over me! Any help would be really appreciated to easy my anxiety and help me break through!

Many thanks!