Plateaus

Hi Tessijo - well done on your great effort so far. What I would suggest is that you do some toning exercises with hand weights and squats/lunges to increase your lean muscle tissue. (Something like a body pump class or similar). I would suggest you need to increase your lean muscle tissue to help kick start your metabolism again - I'm not talking major body building here, but just toning the main muscle groups of the body. When you go on any diet, we lose both fat and lean muscle tissue. The lower the calorie intake the more lean tissue you lose - along with fat of course. We need lean muscle tissue to metabolise our food. So when it is reduced by dieting on a low calorie intake, we need to rebuild it - so that it is the fat which is reducing more so than the lean muscle tissue. Even if this means you eat more to compensate for the exercise you are doing. Doing weights where you fatigue your muscles at about the 12th repitition is roughly what you need to be doing. Do a couple of sets for each main muscle group - or better still go to a toning class. Weight training at a moderate level, is an excellent way to accellerate weight loss, and despite the multitude of evidence which is out there - it still seems to be a pretty well kept secret. Good luck. (ps I am a qualified Personal Trainer and have a Diploma in Nutrition).