6 months now and next to no overall loss. :(

Hi there, you aren't alone in plateauing and as frustrating as it is it does serve its purpose......I plateaued for 7 months up until the last 2 weeks....I've lost a fair bit of weight but still no where near where I want to be....I've been at this for 20months, working out 6 days a week, weight training, classes, cardio you name it, I've zigzagged my calories, eaten more, eaten less but nothing.....I don't weigh myself as its counterproductive for me and threw the scales out about 12 months ago.....I eat fairly healthy too, I'm not a big junk food eater but I do love wine and cheese...because I wasn't seeing results despite my efforts I would get really down so therefore I would binge eat, not copius amounts but too much for me obviously because I wasn't losing...SO......I decided to hire a trainer, not because I'm not motivated but because I need more accountability, then I decided if I was going to pay this money for a trainer I needed to clean up my diet...BUT I mean really clean it up (you can see my diary) after researching I decided to set myself a challenge and experiment, after all I had noting to lose!! day 34 of 40 and I have dropped a dress size, lost cms according to the tape measure and I'm still dropping...BUT I'm retaining all the muscle I have worked so hard to build! finally I'm motivated again to keep pushing forward, I hate things getting the better of me so that is why I never give up, I know what I'm capable of but its being disciplined enough to see it through, and THAT is the hard part! so I would suggest where you can just keep it simple, its the food and always the food...also I would write down your goals, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly, you have to have a plan, without it we are destined to fail....hang in there, its HARD every day (well for me anyway) we have to keep trying different things until we find what works for us......:o)

Hey I'm a teacher too! I lost 10lbs...but recently its just stopped...I say recently...about 2-3weeks I know thats not as much as you but I have noticed I'm loosing inches not lbs - you could be gaining muscle mass not fat mass - might be worth getting your body fat professionally calculated? Might give you a confidence boost. TBH If I stay at this weight but keep loosing inches I will be satisfied

Eat what you like, just eat enough, and keep balanced. I try to eat as much "real" food as possible, but I'll also eat protein bars, and snack foods as well in moderation.

I drink plenty of water, black coffee and tea without anything added. people underestimate how important water is for diet and health

for your knee? SWIMMING and any other aerobic/strength activity you can do in the water will help you tremendously

i weigh myself everyday in the morning. it works to keep me on task whether the number goes up/down as weight fluctuates all the time.

stay positive, and oh yeah, include strength training in your routine, muscle burns fat.

Are you measuring or checking your bodyfat, or just measuring on the scale? Like you, i've had no appreciable change in scale weight in 6 months - however, i've gone from 28% bf to 23%, and dropped a jeans size.

As a fellow teacher, I can honestly say, you have to make the time for yourself. Sometimes we put too much into our jobs. We tend to live the job. Make the time for yourself. That's when I finally started having success. I set time guidelines for work. You want to give EVERYTHING to your students, but I had to learn that priority #1 is MY kids #2 is me and #3 is my marriage. I bit the expense and joined a gym that has child-care. I made a schedule, something we teacher are great at, and I try my best to stick to it. We all have those days when you just need to hit a drive thru. Don't make it too often and don't kill yourself with guilt when you do. Sounds like you are doing a good job pre-planning meals by cooking and freezing. I think for most people, they need a balance of strength training, cardio, and slow consistent loss to keep the weight off and become their healthiest selves. Don't neglect the weights. They may help protect your bones, and they help you lose those pesky inches. Reduce body and not just lbs to be a healthier you. You have a little girl you're living for

OP can we have some info from you?
Maybe you are going about this all wrong?

Age
Height
Weight
Body Fat% or waist size
How often do you work out

I can provide some feedback that could help you start losing again.

I feel the same way, I'm been at this for 6 months, only lost 14 pounds so far, I feel like it should be a lot more by now. People are noticing, my clothes are getting bigger, but I still feel like I'm not doing good enough

As a teacher, a few things I can throw your way that might help that I've found help me. I walk while I grade. I can't for all things, but for some tests, I pace around. It's better than nothing. I also have 2 free periods during the day (when I don't have some other duty to do) so I do laps for 20 min. I put earphones in and just zone out for a few minutes. If I have to work during those, I eat my lunch and do 10 minutes afterwards. Every tiny bit helps, and by the end of the day, I like to leave work around 7000 steps, so I don't have that much more to get in after work.

Also - I sit down on Sunday and enter my food for the week. I typically eat the same things because once I cook something, I make extras to help carry me through. So I have 2-3 staple meals I eat regularly. I enter them all into MFP so that during the week, I don't have to worry about it. I add my extra snacks, and everything I think I might have. At the end of the day, it takes me only a few minutes to tweak what I entered. I can go through and remove the snacks I didn't have, adjust a portion size or make a change. It might help. I personally was watching my calories, but then quickly realized that not all calories are created equal. The last 6 weeks I've shifted to a low carb, slow carb plan, focusing on unprocessed foods when possible, and avoiding white foods (the enriched flour foods). they fill me up longer, and I find myself snacking less (which leaves time for planning and grading! )

Thanks Sloanie. I have been freezing meals. I have just bought a crock pot and have made some leek soup. Tonight I also roasted some lamb shanks. I bought 5 loaves of bread and have been slowly making them up in to cut lunches that I am freezing for my daughter and myself. That way, I can get up, grab some frozen sandwiches and go to school. I'm also hoping to have pre-made crock pot dinners where I can take them from the freezer at night, put them in the fridge and pop them in the crockpot in the morning and have dinner when I come home. I yearn to be so organised.

I have just joined a health fund, and they have a free goal setting thing on their web site for members. I have 3 months to lose 3kg - 9kg for my goal. I have also made up a sheet that has recommended daily intakes of foods, which I will be filling out also. I log my weight with MFP, and also some other members on a spreadsheet, plus my little tickers I have on my desktop and web page.

I need to get enough sleep, so I have a strict 10pm bedtime and if the work isn't done by then, it doesn't get done until the next morning when I'm up at 5pm.

Wasveganvicto: I am on my two week holidays and it has been raining like mad since they started. I have tidied my house (which drives me crazy, because I never have time to clean it during school terms.) I have been planning my eating, and I still have marking to do. I haven't had a chance to do any exercise. I went to the water today with my daughter for the first day of sunshine, and just waded in the water with her and dug holes on the beach. It was so nice to be able to get out of the house.

Logging food suffers when I am at school as well. I have so many things to do that even simple things are hard. Thanks for your ideas. I will be trying to take as many on board as possible.

Yes, logging your food and fitness is a key item. your on this site, it's free, so USE it. You may be surprised what you are and are not eating. Set your goals, and you have this huge network of folks to help you

OP can we have some info from you?
Maybe you are going about this all wrong?

Age: 31
Height: 5'9" or 175cm
Weight: 89.5 kg or 197.3lbs
Body Fat% or waist size: Waist: 101cm / 39.7 inches
How often do you work out: During the school term: Twice a week, 1 hour of boot camp. Cycling for an hour on a tandem thing dragging my three and a half year old: 1 hour.

BMR 1531 <---never eat below this.
TDEE 2104 <---only eat above this on training days if you feel the need.

150lbs is perfect weight for you according to height, age.

You should be netting daily 1700 calories for optimal fat loss.
Training days you can go up to 2500 but be sure you really kicked some *kitten* in the gym.
At high body fat% you can stay at 1700 for a long while and still maintain or even gain some lean mass.

I would avoid heavy cardio unless you are in a fasted state.
If you must do cardio, do it either first thing in the morning while fasted or take a walk after dinner for about 20 mins.
Lift weights and make them heavy.
Stronglifts 5x5 has a great free program.
New Rules of Lifting For Women is good as well.
You have a very small window of opportunity where you can gain lean mass while at a deficit.
Take advantage of it ASAP.
That means lifting heavy 3x a week.

When you edit MFP be sure to delete the workouts and cals burned on the right side since you wont log training on these numbers.
If you use them that is.
=D

PM me if you need any help.