5x per week I visit my local gym . I do the stationary bike for 20 mins, fast speed cycling, then do free circuits for another 20 mins and end w/ 20 min of stair master run machine. Why haven't I lost even 5 Lbs yet? I dont eat that much for lunch or dinner? And usually snack on diluted water and milk after the gym and some pretzel styx. I do have 5 orange sized fibroid s inside my fem organs, could this be making it more difficult for me to lose weight???

So flustered , I just wanna be my former size 12-14 again. Hate being a sz 16, it feels awful. And being @ a plateau makes me feel so miserable and over sized(for My Comfort Zone body weight).

Any tips on how to up my metabolism after workouts, or a better workout routine?

I have been consistently walking for exercise nightly. During PMS I gained some water weight, but am now down to almost my 1st goal weight. I have also been really pushing the smoothy drinks on myself 2 to 3x per day. Included is spinach, apple,banana,milk,brown sugar,nutra sweet, and at times a big carrot. Then I drink this huge shake smoothy all down and it tickles all my insides. Then I get this rush and have more energy to complete whatever Im was working on, and by after dinner I have a good amount of energy to walk for about 4 to 5 rounds by the apartments. But during this extreme heat I have avoided my gym where I usually go after a few walking laps for my toning and stair master exercises. I am happy to see that in spite of all my water loading during the hot week I still managed to drop from 210 to 203. Now I just have to do all of the same exercises 2x as hard and double up everything and hopefully in a month I may drop my unwanted , miserable, and body braking 10 Lbs. That's only the beginning. I have 40Lbs total to drop. Slow and steady and hard work will get me there and a lot of prayer too, so God will help me to shape my body into the shape I want for myself, as a healthy,mid age female with not much else to do but go to work and obsess over her over weight self.

1Bluerose68

I've read studies say that plateau's aren't real. That what in fact is happening, is that when we start diet/fitness routines, we are diligent in watching what we eat, and how much exercise we are doing. As we get more into our routines, we tend to not watch everything so carefully. They say that the best way to get over a plateau is to count calories. Often we start eating a little extra here and there and don't pay attention to it all adding up in the long run. Or you could also possibly be eating salty things which would cause you to retain water weight, so you might want to watch your salt intake as well.

Read about how many calories exercise really burns, and you can see why losing weight without conscious restriction of calories is going to be hard. I read that walking or running a mile burns 75, maybe 100 calories. The 5x at the gym is probably burning 1/4-1/2 lb a week, which can easily be offset by food.

I have heard that losing weight is 90% diet and 10% exercise, there's really only so much you can get out of increased exercise. With this in mind, If I miss the gym or my daily walk, I am more inclined to skip a snack to make up for it (which sadly, more than makes up for it.)