plateau? or am I just a failure?

You Absolutely not a failure, in fact you should be so proud of yourself! You could be retaining water could be have built up more muscle(which burns more calories in the long run) or just need a change in your routine. Try yoga, I do a Larry Paynes yoga and it helps a lot tends to break up my lulls in workouts. Sometimes your body can used to something and stop need to work as hard. If you use a treadmill kick up you incline some that kicks my butt!!! But DO NOT stress, it screws with your hormones and there fore with your weight!!

You are an inspiration to me and many other out there!!:drinker:

I agree with Breezy81... vary the routine that you are doing. The body is an excellent machine at adopting to its environment. Make sure you keep it guessing. Everything I have read says, vary the routine making sure you vary the main muscles used. If you are running all the time, the legs muscles shall get in such a good shape that it is no longer as much a work out for them. Trying upper body routines like Kempo, Kickboxing, etc.

Change, change, change..

Congrats on the 43 lbs you have lost so far! this is great and from what I am told it gets harder the closer you get to your goal so don't get discouraged, however I do think you need to re-evaluate what you have been eating

I checked your food diary for the last two weeks, and while you may be staying within your calories,
you seem to be eating a lot of take out foods and subway cookies
try to cut those out and fill yourself up with cleaner whole foods whole grains, lots of fruits and veggies, etc

Thats not to say you shouldn't have treats once in a while, but obviously at this far in the game your body is telling you you can't get away with it so often and still lose those sugars can be a real pain (or calorie hehehe) in the butt! :laugh:

good luck!

From looking at your food diary from last week it appears that most days you went over your calorie allotment. I'm not sure what you deficit per day is set at so if it set at maintenance then I could see why there would have been a weight gain.

I think that you should first and foremost ask yourself if you have the correct goal weight. Maybe you do, maybe you don't but think about why you chose the weight you chose, and then examine whether it's really a good goal for you. I.E. did you choose it because 10 years ago that's what you looked good at? That's not necessarilly a good reason for a goal. Also think about whether the goal takes into account increases in muscle mass from exercising, you can add 5 to 10 lbs of muscle mass in as little as 6 months if you work hard. This is doubly true for people who go from no exercise to a moderate exercise routine, you'll build muscle quickly in the first 3 to 6 months.

If you do come to the conclusion that your goal is a real, achievable goal, then think about what it will take to get you there, if 165 is a comfortable weight for your body, then 155 is going to be difficult, it'll be a struggle, and you'll have to do some pretty serious work both food wise, and exercise wise to get there, that would include both additional changes to eating habits (I.E. eating on a more structured time table, adding more of certain types of macro nutrient, and upping your calorie levels as examples), and also adding more difficult and demanding exercise routines that can both increase strength as well as burn calories.

When you get near the end, and the changes are smaller, it can become frustrating, and can take many months to do anything significant, don't give up, seek out knowledge, both on your own situation, and on health in general. You'll find your answer, it may just take a little extra work. Trust me, it's all worth it.

Best luck to you.

-Banks

Hey Bonnie! Don't be sad. :flowerforyou: You are on your last 10lbs.. so that could be a part of it too. That is the hardest to go. It is just going to be really slow to come off. Maybe eat your maintainance amount of calories for a few days, then drop back down. It may help. :flowerforyou:

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the really supportive and thought-provoking responses! To answer some of your questions: I do weigh myself everyday. I know that's not encouraged, but I am not upset that I am up 2 pounds from yesterday, but that it's been like 2 months that I've stayed in the same area.

About my food diary: yeah, it's true in the last two weeks, I have had a lot of cookies hanging around this place (haha!) and actually gone over my calories a few days and I don't usually do that. But even WITH the cookies and going over my calories, I think the most I saw on there was like 1,700 calories and my goal is 1,200. Brenda, there have been a few days in there where I just havent' had dinner or whatever, and only ate like 500 cals, but then there have been other days - as Erick pointed out - that I've gone over.

But I have gotten a lot of good advice from you guys. I really appreciate what you said, Banks, that if 165 is a comfortable weight for my body (and it is! I fit into all my "skinny" clothes, have so much energy, can do much more, etc) that it's going to take a lot more work to get to 155. And what Polliesgirl said about paying more attention to what I'm eating even if it is within the calorie limit. And what a lot of you have said about changing food/exercise routines. What I've learned from your responses is that going forward from here, I need to become more educated about nutrition and exercise. It's no longer enough to just cut out the junk food and alcohol that got me up to 210 pounds in the first place.

Thanks a lot, guys!

That is absolutely correct. And remember, we're in this for life, so it doesn't have to be a change made in the next week or month, it can be (at this point, now that you're essentially healthy) a slow transition. I know people want fast results, but when you get close, that expectation needs to be put down, give yourself the time you need to effect real, life altering changes, and be proud of yourself, you've earned it!