I'm not getting the desired feeling from cardio

I'm certainly no expert but you might be feeling like crap because you're overdoing it. It's important to ease yourself into exercise. Do you check your heart rate while you're working on the machines? I know that if I push too hard and my heart rate is too high that I generally feel awful afterward, instead of my normal energized feeling.

A few things came to mind when I saw what was going on. I was also wondering how long you have been doing more cardio/running. The initial weight you lost, you said over 20 pounds, sounds like the weight that your body just really really didn't want or need! Suddenly watching your calories and then starting a cardio regiment is certainly gonna kick your body into a completely different mode. I think what's happening is that you're plateauing. This, of course, doesn't mean you won't lose anymore weight, just that its going to be more stubborn. Myself, for example, I was able to recently lost about 16 pounds over about three weeks. I'm am still trying to shed more weight, but I also have just stopped losing any weight! When something like this happens, you gotta switch it up. For now, however, I would also suggest some pretty dramatic changes to your diet. The first, and probably most important thing I noticed, is that your breakfasts are either really small or non existent. Your breakfast should be the largest meal of the day. What happens is, while you sleep, your body starts going into starvation mode and by the time you wake up, your metabolism is next to nothing and its holding on to every ounce of body fat it can. The quicker you start eating, the quicker your body will kick start your metabolism. A lot of people will then say that they're never hungry in the morning. Well, in the beginning, you're just gonna have to force it! Eventually, your body will adjust and hopefully you will eat the majority of your daily food before 6:00 pm. That way, by the time you wake up in the morning, you'll be nice and hungry. The other thing I noticed is that only two, maybe three, of your meals make up the majority of your caloric intake. This is also gonna cause your body to hold onto fat and keep your metabolism slow. You are staying under your calories for the day it looked like but if they are only between two meals, your body is gonna do all sorts of crazy things. You really should go any longer than 4 hours with out eating. That way your body has a steady intake of calories, can keep your metabolism up, and wont ever go into starvation mode, atleast while your asleep. One other thing thats pretty important is water intake. If eating a large breakfast in the morning is really hard at first, you could start out by just drinking as much water as you can. This will also get your metabolism going.

Anyway, I hope I didnt ramble on too much... and I hope this was helpful. Try to remember that most of what you look like is going to be what you eat!!! Let me know if you have any questions!!

When you went for walks was it hilly? If you aren't already using an incline of even a 1 on the treadmill you might want to try that. They say having a 1-2 incline is about what you would have if you were walking outside and you thought it was a flat area and on the eliptical try atleast a 4. You can keep the same speed you are doing now and it will increase your heart rate a little bit and work your muscles a little extra and make them tighter.