Well, I've been stuck in the same rut/weight for weeks now. Actually, it's closer to two months.

I haven't been following a "plan" of any sort. No WW, no IP, IE or whatnot. Perhaps this is part of my problem.

Can anyone offer any recommendations?

You probably don't have any results because you aren't really doing anything differently. Not because you don't want to, just because you haven't outlined what it is you will be doing to get results. If you are just going along without a plan, you just kinda do whatever comes along. If you don't have a goal, it is hard to make changes to reach it. Are you into counting calories? Want to go low carb? Want to feel full? Just interested in portion control? First, outline what it is that you think will help you succeed. Then, make a plan to make changes to follow that way of eating. Repeat. I think really just finding out what you can do long term will be of the most help to you. We oftentimes start a radical plan and then we are shocked when we can't maintain it. Maybe listing out how you have been eating and how you like to eat would help the people here come up with some solutions for you?

As you know fat loss/gain is based on calories. In a broad sense there are only two ways people actively dieting lose fat - they either count their calories or they follow a set of rules which will restrict caloric intake.

In this regard, I wouldn't think of the last two months as a waste but rather as a life lesson. You can maintain your current weight without following any formal program but to lose fat you need something more rigorous. This is good information to know about yourself.

In my opinion the best program for you would be the one that is easiest to follow because that will increase your compliance to said plan. For me this has been intermittent fasting. When Diamondgeog gets here he prosthelytize low carb dieting. If my friend posted here he would make a case for the fruit diet. Plenty of posters would advocate myfitnesspal for counting calories.

It's a bit of work but in my opinion one should experiment with different plans a bit and see which one works best for them because ultimately this is not a one month thing but a life long thing because the easiest way to lose fat will also be the easiest way for you to maintain over the rest of your life. The only plan I am against is the one which involves a large amounts of exercise (more than 1 hour a day) because that might be challenging to do forever.

Agree with everything John P and Brandis said.

At first, any change you make is probably going to give you a result. As your weight goes down, so does the number of calories you need. Eventually, you're going to have to make a conscious, planned effort to shave enough calories to lose.

After you've figured out what you prefer in a diet plan, start researching which plans will provide for you what you need. Or if you're the DIY type as I am, start designing the plan that will work for you.

You'll need to know how many calories your body burns if you did nothing all day. Or if you're using a set of rules, like carb cutting you'll need to quantify what you need in order to lose. Since your at a maintenance point now, if you measure and document your current intake and activity, then it should be a matter of going lower than that.

You'll make a plan, execute, measure your results, then make changes as needed. If you have any significant amount of weight to lose, you're going to have stalls and reevaluations throughout the process. Just keep tweaking and trying and you can't fail.

Good luck!

What a simple, yet insightful post.

You are already at a low weight for your height so everything you put in your mouth counts. If your calorie intake is off by just a bit, you may be eating at maintenance, hence not losing weight.

Otherwise, you may be eating at just under maintenance and you are not able to see the weight loss as it is masked by other things going on in your body e.g. water retention, TOM etc.

If I were you (and I have been in your position), I would continue doing what you've been doing and adjust your eating/exercise habits just by a little - eat just a bit less than what you've been eating OR exercise just a bit more. That said, I'm totally assuming here that you have not been overboard in doing extreme dieting or extreme exercising.

Remember though, things may move very, very slowly since you're at a relatively low weight already so think about weight loss in terms of months, not days or weeks.

Your ticker has a link that say bikini-ready. I'd suggest that you resist trying to lose super rapidly, as restrictive dieting can trigger binge-eating. Since you don't have a great amount to lose, the lbs aren't going to melt away as fast as someone with a lot of extra weight. Be patient and pick a plan that is close to how you want to eat for the rest of your life. Good luck!

That is a thread link.

Guess I should've checked it out! It looks fun!

I have no interest in anything radical. I know without a doubt that I am not able to maintain anything radical. I am also not able to try to count calories. That is absolute madness to me, trying to calculate and measure everything is not something I could do. I can't make eating into a math chore, it's not in my nature/personality to be able to do that. I cannot imagine having to carry around a book or whatnot to try to figure out how many calories are in a cup of "whatever."
I don't have any particular feelings about carbs. I don't think low carb would be very good since I'm not a huge fan of meat? I am no Vegetarian or anything, but I only eat fish, and some occasional turkey/chicken.
Typically I just eat something like oatmeal with berries for breakfast, and lunch and dinner are usually some sort of lean meat and veggie combo. I don't like potatoes, and I don't eat fried things.

Honestly I'm just stuck. I need something easy to do that doesn't require me to carry a calculator, something that doesn't encourage red meat/pork consumption, and that works. I looked in to IF since that seemed rather easy, but that is reportedly not good for women, having adverse rather than positive effects.

ETA: Also, for those who mentioned it, I am not at a low weight for my height. My doctors have recommended a weight in the low 140s for my height/frame size (Which is measured as XS). I am not really aiming for the low 140s though, as it just seems unattainable. I am actually aiming/hoping for the upper 150s.

It is a nice group of people.

There are two big subtypes of intermittent fasting. Daily fasting with a limited window is the one where adverse effects were reported by some women. I haven't seen problems reported with 5/2 or 6/1 fasting plans.

To take it a bit further the daily fasting women that reported problems were as a group fairly lean and involved in serious training regiments.

I am not saying it will work for you but if you are not heavy training every day you may want to look further into 5/2 which potentially could just be added on top of what you are doing now fairly easily.

Counting calories is hardly radical once you get the hang of it. It takes literally 2 minutes to log your food on myfitnesspal.com and it calculates the calories for you. No carrying around a calculator.

In the end it all boils down to calories consumed so that's my only advice.

Where can I get good information about 5/2?

5/2 explained from Brad Pilon author of Eat Stop Eat.

With Eat Stop Eat you don't eat anything till dinner 2 days a week so it is very similar to 5/2. I would look at both if it peaks your interest.