I have been struggling with this, also. I've been at the same weight after I lost only 4 pounds. I have noticed that my clothes fit better, so things are shifting around, but I want to see the number go down! I have been told 45 mintues of hard cardio 6 days a week will help drop it fast... Along with cardio, I'd add in the kettlebell and lunges, squats, abs....

Good luck! I'm only up to 25 minutes of hard cardio at 5 days a week, so far... It's tough!!

This can be frustrating. A couple of thoughts:

--The closer you are to your ideal weight range, the longer it takes. If you are already in range and/or don't have that much to lose in the first place, then it's just going to take some time. Especially if you are petite-- maintenance calories and weight loss calories may not have a very wide gap in between. For someone who is over ideal weight (notice I'm not saying 'goal weight,' which is subjective) by 50 lbs, there may be a difference of thousands of calories a week between maintenance calories and weight loss calories. At ~3500 cal/pound, the person is losing at a higher rate at '50 to lose' compared to when they get to the point of '7to lose.'

--Don't forget to take measurements regularly. If you are losing fat but gaining muscle, it may not show up on the scale. A change in measurements will be a better indication of your progress. Also, periodically, try on the 'ill-fitting' clothes in your closet, and remember how each feels. You may find that you have shrunk a size though the scale is still being impertinent.

--Avoid going below 1200 cals/ day. Severe reduction causes the leptin in your body to trigger wicked hormone levels that lower the rate at which you burn calories. (Stress and lack of sleep can also have the same effect and cause you to produce excess cortisol.) 1200 calories seems like such an arbitrary number, but apparently that's the generally accepted safe zone. Better yet-- listen to your body. After that first week or so of induction fatigue when you first start losing weight, you should feel reasonably healthy and energetic.

--If you really are stuck, and ***your goal weight is healthy and realistic,*** then you'll probably have to switch something up. It really does seem that weight lifting is more effective than cardio. You might do a power walk or light jog for 30 min and burn 150 calories. That's nice, but it 3500 (a pound) divided by 150 (the power walk) = ~24. So it'd take 3-1/2 weeks to lose that pound. PLUS, if you do the same cardio on a regular basis, you become more efficient and burn less from the same work out. Coversely, the more muscle you have (from weight lifting), the higher your basal metabolic rate, which means you require more calories every day to sustain the same weight. And THAT means you are more likely to lose at a higher rate than you would from just diet and cardio. Keep switching exercises so that your body doesn't get too "comfy" (efficient) from doing any one thing. Another thing you can do to switch things up is modify your ratios for carbs / fats / proteins. Most people seem to have success with higher protein levels and by getting their carbs from "color" plant sources (not the beiges-- grains and starches).

wow, you two girls are amazing! Thanks for those amazing tips!

To all girls on this post who are on the same amount of weight for a long period of time, especially using the elliptical trainer - THIS WAS ME ONCE UPON A TIME SO PAY ATTENTION!

1. Your body gets use to same cardio every damn day! Change your exercises! Build muscle, your body will burn a higher calorie rest rate if you do so and will make it much easier for you to ' burn calories '
2. Spending a long time on cardio machines is pointless, spend less time more EFFECTIVELY. I use the term HIIT - if you don't know it, google it.
3. Spend more time targeting specific areas that you have a problem with, with weight training!

4. Educate yourself about metabolism boosters, naturally. No extra supplements, blahblah just natural foods!
5. Search antioxidant foods.
6. Search foods that potentially ' burn fat ' of course your not going to eat 3-4 lemons and drop a size the next day but knowledge of this does help.

7. If weight training or cardio sessions are becoming too easy once again it is because your body is adapting to it, so make sure you turn up on level, run a little faster, pick up some heavy *kitten* weight and ALWAYS TRAIN TO IMPROVE.

do something different
change things up,
I do different exercise every day
and eat different too