So I've been at 174 pounds for almost three weeks now. Do any of you have any advice to push past this? I've been switching up my exercise routine, trying to eat less, etc. but nothing's working!

I was thinking about cutting back on my weight training for a new thing to try. I am fairly muscular (former competitive runner who now has a sedentary desk job), like can-push-120-pounds on a chest press muscular. But I don't want to get all weak for weight loss. Argh. Advice?

Three weeks isn't a very long plateau, just keep doing what you're doing. I know they are torture, but they happen! If it were me, I'd cut out as much processed food as possible, make sure I was exercising for at least 30 min every day, and I would make sure I was eating a good number of calories - not too much, not too little. Try to make a few goals that aren't scale related to get you through this tough time.

IMO, there is no point to losing muscle to see a drop on the scale. Have you been measuring? Maybe you aren't on a plateau at all and are losing fat.

I second Glory's advice- try to eat as unprocessed a diet as possible, eat small, frequent meals, and keep up both the weight lifting and the cardio.

Try zig-zagging your calories or having lower carbs days interpersed with higher carb days, just to keep your body guessing.

Patience

Mel

I was stuck at 172 for 3 weeks also, then boom.....168 last week. You will lose weight, just give your body some time to adjust to it.

Platues are pure touture, I had only started my new lifestyle by changing what I was eating, after I lost 2o lbs I decided to kick it up a notch and excersise hard core, thats when my weight platued for 8 weeks, nothing.. I was so mad and wanted to give up but I just kept pushing and finally last week I dropped 5 lbs. I could tell when I platued that my body was still changing, clothes looser and just more energy, so I used that as my motivation to keep going. It was hard but here I am! Still plenty to go but now I know I can do this!

Totally agree. I once stayed the same weight for more than 2 months! But i dropped 2 sizes in the same time. Take everyone's advice, and hang in there. It'll work.

I was on a plateau for 3 months. Kept doing everything the same as I had been and nothing happened. Dropped maybe a pound a month. Lowered calories and again nothing happened.

I have recently zig zagged calories and am losing again. I've lost 3 pounds in a week! Zig zagging certainly has helped me.

I'm with Glory87, 3 weeks isn't a long time. I haven't lost any weight (on the scales) since May and have been exercising at least an hour every day. I know I've lost something though because I have a pair of jeans that wouldn't go over my hips around Memorial Day and now I can wear them fine. My suggestion is to take pictures, that's what I do. I notice a big difference in my June pictures compared to my April pictures, so something has to be happening. I have come to accept plateaus has a part of losing weight even though at first they terrified me! Just stick with it and you'll start seeing a difference soon. Good Luck!

I was stuck at 175 for 2 MONTHS!! I thought my scale was broken so I bought a new one! It was NOT the scale!

Finally, once I started losing again, it came off really quickly. I dropped 10lbs in 3 weeks.

You've gotten excellent advice from some very smart chickies. Just DON'T give up, just keep doing the right things and it WILL happen!
Good luck!

Get one of those body fat scales. The last plateau I had, I had happened to measure the body fat right before- and I did it again after 2.5 weeks, and I'd lost 2 percent body fat, without moving the lbs significantly at all!

It's the percentage of body fat that counts, not the actual weight. According to BMI charts, I'm now merely "overweight". According to body fat percentage charts, I'm still "obese".

I haven't plateaud but I've been bouncing around the same 3 pounds for at least two months.. or has it been longer? But I feel so many changes the scale doesn't measure.

I feel stronger, more energetic, .. clothes are fitting better and I've gone from the last hook on my bra (very tight) to the first one and comfortable.

The scale might be the same.. but changes are happening all the time and I plan on continuing with the exercise and eating well despite what it says. To be honest, I don't care WHAT it says; this journey is not about numbers.. for me it is about getting healthy and getting rid of unnecessary mass. FAT.

I could continue like this with the same scale numbers for I don't care how long as long as these other changes continue.. a scale is a tool. A number is a number and it needs to be interpereted for what it is.

I was going to suggest running, that is what worked for me....but looks like you have that covered. Sorry couldn't be of more help!