Ok, so it's happened. Right at the end of the year I have to admit I've hit that dreaded plateau. I told myself, at first, that it wasn't one...but it's been about a month since I've posted a loss and I've been on plan the entire time. So, I'm not going to meet my Thanksgiving mini-goal. I just changed it to a Christmas mini-goal. Hopefully, I can lose 1.5 pound in a month!!! Gee whiz, I never realized that was going to become something I'd have to say!

Darn!!!

At least you didn't give up on the goal, good for you! Those plateaus are the worst!

Goals should be something to strive for but not make or break you. Remember "If you aim for the moon at least you'll land among the stars" (or something like that - lol)

Good for you for reevaluating & not beating yourself up about it

have you tried changing the plan to break the plateau? If you switch to a new exercise, or do it more intensely, or do what you are doing but in intervals (fast/slow/fast), that can get you going again...or change up the eating plan to shock the body a little. You have lost a good bit of weight, so your body may be too used to the plan you have been doing.

Plus, the less you have to lose the harder they come off....or so I hear

runnersworld.com used to have a couple workouts for breaking plateaus, you could try to add in one of those a couple times a week.

Hang in there Tricia! Just look at this as practice for maintenance Seriously though, it sounds like you have a good attitude so you've got to know that you will be through this tunnel at some point. Have you tried eating more salmon or walnuts? Maybe including things with more good fat in your diet might spur loss...

I agree that goals are meant to be made as something to kinda "shoot for". They're not set in stone and therefore are definitely subject to change - so good for you - tweak away.

Tricia, you have done such an AMAZING, AMAZING job. You've ebeen a weight loss powerhouse. You'll have that pound and a half gone in no time.

Okay, I know you didn't ask, but I can't help myself. You mentioned that it's been a month with no loss. And that you've been on plan. First off, I really, really admire your perserverance and determination (doesn't surprise me, by the way). But do you have an plans for shaking things up a bit? Maybe increase your intensity of your workouts or your duration or your frequency or all of them? How about your food intake. Maybe it's time to drop your calories by a hundred or so? Just a thought.... But I have no doubt that with your dedication that you'll figure it out and that the scale will be dropping shortly.

Tricia, I am so proud of you for hanging in there! You've made so much progress and become so much healthier already! Around where you are weight wise/loss wise is where I began to stall a bit, and the weight loss slowed dramatically! Any of the ways listed above may help you to get things moving again, it's just a matter of finding which one works for you. One thing that I did that helped was to vary my ww points (or calories!) each day. As an example, I was doing 26 ww points per day, every day, and felt like maybe my body had gotten a little too used to it so I started changing it....I might have 25 points today, 28 points tomorrow, 22 points the next day and so on so that my body kept guessing rather than comfortably using the same amount each day. Just a thought! I'm sure you'll figure out what works for you and your body will get back with the program!

You stayed on your program and you hung in there, congrats on that. Plus you've come so far so no doubt you'll reach your goals even if they take a little longer.

It would be too hard for me to stay on plan for a month if I didn't lose anything. I also think you should try switching up your workout routine. When I feel like I'm plateauing, I change about 15 minutes of my routine with new moves and it really helps out.

Tricia, I'm so proud of you! I have no doubt that you'll reach your goal....because, you've proven that you have the committment required to do this. You've gotten some great advice from some of the "best-of-the-best" and I know we'll be hearing that you've reached goal one day in the near future.

Thanks, everyone, for your encouragement, advice, and kind words.

I certainly do plan on shaking things up. However, I'm just too scared to mess with anything during the holidays. I know myself very well and I'm afraid that if I venture away from the known during this very tempting time that I'll just lose all control. So, I'm staying the course until Jan. 1. Then it's time to shake, rattle, and roll!