After 4 weeks of being on plan and completely stalled, last week I cut back on my carbs and cycled my calories big-time. I went on a ten mile hike yesterday with an 18-20 lb pack on my back, cut my exercise time by 1/3 (so, called it a 4.5 hour hike), ate back most of that which put my average daily intake of calories each day at 1309. I still cannot make the scale budge! I'm going to start interval running tomorrow, but I don't even know if that will do anything. I'm so frustrated because tracking everything, including sugar-free gum, is such a pain and I am seeing no results. I feel like crying. I've seriously considered spending the money to hire a personal trainer to kick my butt, but I'm terrified it will just be wasted because I will never drop an ounce.

It's possible you'll see results after you've given your body a break. I often find disappointing scale results after a particularly grueling workout. Two and a half hour bike rides last summer I remember resulted in zip, zilch, nada, and those bike rides were in addition to my routine workouts. And I was 185 pounds at the time! The weight should have melted off! Exercise, for me, seems to have relatively little to do with what I lose, especially right up front. My body always retains so much water when I kill it.

But when I take a break, then the weight starts coming off.

Not that that helps. I know how wicked plateaus can be.

Maybe your body is telling you that enough is enough! You are well within normal range of your BMI. Most women your height are comfortable at a weight higher than the one you have listed as your starting one! My GOAL, at 5'2" is 140!!!!! THINK!!

Don't let anyone tell you you're not able to reach your goals! I think whether you're at a healthy BMI range or not is irrelevant (as long as you're not underweight). You still have specific goals in your OWN plan. I agree with Eliana in giving your body a break, it sounds like it's working very hard, and sometimes our bodies just need to rest. I also agree that the personal trainer is a great idea, because even though it might not be possible for you to reach your specific goal weight, you can still tone and shape your body to look like you think it would at 125. best of luck!

Other than the number on the scale, what are you hoping will change if you can get to 125?

I just want my clothes to be comfortable (I really can't afford a whole new wardrobe). I don't expect to be happier or more confident or even LOOK any different to anyone. If I get to 130 and I can sit without my pants pinching my hips, I will be content and say the heck with 125. If I could tone to the point that at my current weight, my clothes would be comfortable, I'd be totally content. I feel pretty certain that's not going to happen. I have a very small frame and no chest at all (32A is almost a little big on me), so I'm not carrying bones or womanly flesh that would make it unhealthy for me to be 5-10 pounds lighter. It's just a drag. There are waaaay more important things in this world to worry about, I'm just frustrated by it. Like I said....whiney rant. Thank you for the words of encouragement!

So I was plateaued at 125 for MONTHS, despite cycling calories between 1100 and 1300, plus 5 days/week of weight training and cardio. What finally worked (admittedly, only a couple of pounds) was to increase daily calories to 1400-1500 with 100+grams of protein and quit weighing for a week (because the first 2-3 days of increasing calories usually cause a bump on the scale that would have sent me scurrying back to 1200 calories again).