How I broke through my 7 month Plateau!

OK.......so the dreaded "P" word!! I have been on this journey for 20months now...I am a diagnosed food addict and have had pretty much every eating disorder that is known during my lifetime.....I exercise 6 days a week, I eat healthy for the most part, I don't eat a lot of junk food etc even at my biggest, but I just love food in general and of course wine and cheese!

SO.....I had pretty much tried everything to break through my plataeu, I zigzagged, ate more, ate less, mixed up the exercise but NOTHING was happening! I researched the internet and red books for the longest time, it was getting me down a lot, although I don't weigh on the scale (threw them out 12months ago as it was counterproductive to me) my clothes were the same and my measurements hadn't budged either....so I decided to experiment and set myself a 40 day clean eating challenge, now when I say clean I mean CLEAN......(you can check out my diary) the first 9 days I did a brown rice cleanse recommended to me by another MFP, then it was strictly clean food, no alcohol, no processed foods, diet drinks, no sauces, no fruit, no dairy, no bread, just good healthy food.

The results spoke for themselves, I lost 6cms off my hips, 4cm off my waist, 1.5cm off each thigh, 3cm off my chest and 1cm off my arms! I started with a trainer a couple of weeks ago and he weighed me (without me looking) at the beginning of the challenge and then again yesterday...I lost 3.5 kilos (8-9 pounds) BUT the best part, I retained most of the muscle I have worked so hard for over the last 20months!

I don't count calories anymore, I stopped that a few months ago because I did a mindful eating programme where they teach you how to learn to trust yourself with food and to eat when you are hungry etc, I was becoming too caught up with macros and this and that and I wasn't enjoying life ....its interesting because I recorded what I ate for the 40days so I could keep track and it was sitting mostly around 1200-1300, lots of people would argue that its too low for the amount of exercise I do etc....but I literally just listened to my body I felt fantastic the entire time I was on the challenge......BUT it was TOUGH really tough for the first 2-3 weeks, but after that I got used to it and never looked back...

NOW......this is only what worked for ME, I'm not saying it will work for everyone BUT it did prove that time and time again it comes down to what we put in our mouths, if its one thing I have learnt on this journey is that we are all programmed differently and its trial and error, I tell you what though, I am damn proud of myself for NEVER giving up, there were times I wanted to, when I worked tirelessly and gave so many things up and nothing happened....but it is the consistency that counts, patience and commitment....I'm not where I want to be yet, my ultimate goal is to look good naked! So to anyone who is losing hope, it can be done through hard work and determination, sorry if you thought this might be a magic pill you could take or some miracle cure....:o)