How to get over the dreaded weight loss plateau!

A plateau is not a couple days long.

I plateaued a while back. I feel your pain- so frustrating! I was determined to start losing again, so in the same week, I started increasing my workouts by about 10 minutes of cardio a day, AND I started increasing my activities of daily life ("ADLs"), like stairs instead of escalator, that sort of thing. The biggest one, I started walking to and from class every day instead of taking the subway, that instantly added 50 minutes of cardio to my day 5 days a week. If you are not in an urban place where walking everywhere is feasible, sometimes I will make a point of parking VERY far from an entrance so I can get a few minutes of walking in. It adds up and the little differences will do it.

Sorry typo .. I meant a couple of weeks .. It's been a long day and my head is fried!

Ah, I see. Well, 2 weeks is still not overly long, IMO. I think you should only start worrying if it's been 4 weeks +. Give it time and stay consistent and you will see results. Here are some other thoughts on "plateaus":

1) Weight loss is not linear. You may see no loss for 3 weeks, and then a "whoosh"-- even a couple-pound loss. Your body (and not just muscles) may retain water for various reasons, masking a loss.

2) Do you use a food scale and measure out everything? If not, you may be eating more than you think, even if you are using measuring cups. Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY&list=FLLcqrR46RLDUQnCFE3oQFrw&index=2&feature=plpp_video

3) Do you log every. single. thing. and every. single. day? If not, it may be hard to know exactly how much you're eating and why you are really at a "plateau."

4) Do you eat out? If so, try to cut that down as much as possible. Restaurant calorie counts are notoriously inaccurate. If you must, eat 3/4 of the meal and log the entire portion. Or eat the whole thing and log 1 1/4 of the portion. (There might be a few exceptions, e.g., I eat a fairly standardized Subway sandwich without mayo, etc.)

5) Have you recalculated your deficit/goals after weight loss (say every 5 lbs)? Your BMR/TDEE will decrease as you lose, as should your daily calories (unless maybe you were on a VLCD).

6) If you're on a plan where you "eat back exercise calories," do you realize that MFP (and sometimes even HRM overestimate your burn)? If you did not realize this, try eating back no more than 3/4 of those earned calories. And be honest about your intensity. E.g., if your heart rate did not go up and you did not "break a sweat," you did not work out vigorously. And don't log your walk to the mail box, washing laundry, etc. Use those as a buffer instead.

7) Do your exercises still challenge you? If not, increase the intensity a bit. Jog a bit faster, bump up the level on the elliptical, add a little more weight to your lifts, etc.

8) Do none of the above apply to you? Have you been dieting a long time and are close to your goal weight? If so, maybe you should take a break for a couple weeks. Keep logging, eat at your TDEE for a little while, and then eventually go back to a moderate deficit. This will give your body a break and help with some hormonal issues.