Getting help to break through this wall

I have been on my journey since April. I have lost a total of 45 lbs. But as is typical for a significant weight loss like that, I have hit the plateau...HARDCORE. I actually exercise more now than I did until I hit the plateau, but that hasn't seemed to get me through. I tried dropping my calories down again, that didn't work. (Our metabolism slows after a significant weight loss unfortunately). Naturally I am beyond frustrated. Luckily I have a few people on here that have been a great support otherwise I would have given up. Now, my intake has not been the greatest recently, even when I am staying under my goal which is something I definitely need to work on.

My mother has a friend who is a doctor with a PhD who expertise is in health, fitness, nutrition and weight management. Mom suggested that I contact her for advice on getting through my plateau. She has provided me with some great advice, some things that I had been too stubborn to do these past few months, others that I will embrace wholeheartedly. I wanted to share some of these pearls of wisdom with my fellow MFPers. Some of these I'm sure may already be in your reportoire, if not I hope this helps you break through your wall.

First, I wanted to make sure that caloric consumption was accurate. She sent me to this website to determine my BMR http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator using the Harris Benedict equation to determine how many calories I need a day. There was a slight difference from what I calculated on my MFP profile.

Her suggestion to me after describing my recent exercise regimen is that I really needed to ramp it up. I'd been hitting the gym 3 days a week, burning 500-700 cals per day. She suggested I up it to 5 days a week or around 250 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity. She "put a plug in for running" as she put it as its the most efficient way to burn calories. I will be signing up for a couple of 5K's in the next few months and already starting to get getting ramped up for those at the gym this week.

According to her blog, you need to burn 3,500 calories in a week to lose a pound. So with your BMR it should be pretty easy to figure out what you need to eat and exercise to achieve that. One last thing I did ask her about was eating calories back after burning at the gym or exercising. She suggests that eating calories back can actually slow down your weight loss. If you burn 500 calories at the gym and your intake is 2,000 per day to lose a pound a week, that burn adds another pound a week without having to reduce your intake any further. If you ate that back, you would have erased that second pound.

If anyone is interested in reading more about some of the advice that I have been given, you can read Dr. Sherry's blog at www.fudiet.com. I'll update you on how my progress goes now that I have the tools to break through my wall.