I have learned in the past few months that plateaus are normal, I even post on here to answer people complaining about plateaus -- that they are "normal", they are "to be expected", and "it don't mean a thing if the scale doesn't move, because the inches are moving". And I know all that is true.

But for Pete's sake, I have been at 183 for a month. I am getting paranoid that people are looking at my ticker and thinking, "Hmmmmm...well, THAT ticker hasn't changed since about June 1". Actually, I could have changed it every day since I go 183.1....185.7....184.6...183.9..185, you get the idea. It is NEVER below 183. Not once.

My husband, on the other hand, is losing weight like he can just slice it off at will. He started at 245 in March....He's 209 now. And he eats 2 or 3 times what I do.

I swear, if he gets below my weight, I will not be held accountable for my actions. I think he is getting afraid to tell me what the scale says when he gets on it in the morning these days--The smoke coming outa my ears is a signal for him to keep his mouth shut.

I'm just here to whine. Go about your normal activities.

I was 140 from mid Feb through July last year. Plateaus suck. I never gave up or quit and I eventually got down to 127. Keep at it. For me, the trick seemed to be eating more, increasing calories jumpstarted my weight loss.

Yikes Glory - that's one helluva plateau! You must be a realllllllyyyyy patient person. I swear if that happened to me, I'd kill myself and my scale. Most likely my scale first.

Mudbugs - I'm sorry that you're in a plateau. I was in a wee one (almost a month) just until a week ago and BOY was it frustrating! I can't say anything that won't make me sound annoying so try Glory's idea and up your calories a bit?

Glory, no, I am not about to give up. No way. No way in hel*!! I know this is for life, not for a temporary weight loss. I guess I am just the kind of person who needs that pat on the back, "good job--you ate a piece of lettuce instead of a pizza!!!".

Like I said, I'm just whining.

No, there are some people in here with plateaus for 6 months, ive read. Don;t worry, no one ever recognizes one particular person's ticker and tracks their progress.

LOL Mudbugs! I say this all the time, but in reference to 'regular stuff' so to speak. Not weight loss. I've not hit a plateau so far - heaven only knows what I'd say then!

mudbugs, keep your head held high and know that you are doing whatever you can to lose the weight. I hit several plateaus that lasted about a month each along the way. I just stuck it out, then the weight would start to drop again. I know it is very frustrating but most all of us have had it happen. Good luck and I hope you see more results very soon.

Oh, I whined plenty at the time, trust me I HATED the scale.

I would give anything to not ever see a plateau again.

Go ahead and whine! You're among friends and plateaus stink, but happen nonetheless. And it's not fair that men can eat SO much and still lose.

I'm sure as heck not watching your ticker! I'm watching my own... as it sits there... ahaha!

Part of the problem is I recently stopped lying to myself and manipulating the digital scale to get it to read less than I actually weigh. *sigh* I'm not moving my ticker until I get back there, but I'm less than 10 lbs off.

Plateaus are horrible. I haven't lost a whole lot, but I've hit a couple where I sit at the same weight for a couple of weeks - and increasing my calories a little DOES seem to help. It's weird.

I tried that recently and gained. I'm back up to 140 again

Just been too bummed out to make a new ticker.

I'm back down to 1200 calories. Actually below 1200, I'm tired of fighting the same damned 3 pounds for months now. I'm gonna get this last 10 pounds off if I have to starve to do it.

And believe me, I never thought I'd hear myself say that.

(yep, we could flag this post as a trouble alert - because I'm thinking 'bad' thoughts for the first time in 2 years)

Yeah, you're making me a little worried. Your comments in the breakfast thread about being glad for an excuse to eat breakfast, not be hungry until lunch and then eat a light lunch were disconcerting based on your past posts where you say you often eat less than 1200 calories a day.

Sorry upping calories made you gain weight, but there are lots of variables. If you gained weight and consistently showed weight gain for several weeks, then it's possible it is truely weight gain. If you gained weight and it's only been a week or so, it might be one of a 100 things.

It's a big picture thing to me, what are you doing to your long term health/metabolism if you deliberately starve yourself? If you do lose the last 5 lbs, what is it worth if your metabolism is wrecked, and eating above 1200 calories makes you gain weight?

Hon, my metabolism is already trashed. Being overweight and then eating less to lose it again does that. And I wouldn't say I'm really starving myself, I take in at least 1000-1100 calories a day. Which really isn't much less than 1200. I don't really believe in that "1200 calorie" rule. How can 1200 calories be the 'magic' number for every single woman?

Yes, you're right though, I'm making excuses to eat less. Like the breakfast thing. While it's true I AM sick of eating breakfast (since I went most of my adult life never touching it because basically, to me, breakfast is more of a chore than a pleasure) I still managed to do it every morning. Because I knew it was the healthy thing to do. Well, I've cut that out completely, although I do have an 8-ounce glass of skim milk every single morning. I know I can't just go with nothing at all.

But I eat. I mean, I have lunch. And I had a mid-afternoon snack today, 4 ounces of fat-free cottage cheese and 1.5 ounces of baby carrots. Dinner, a pita sandwich and a serving of mini rice cakes. And that's my food for the day.

It's enough to survive on, I mean I'm not literally starving or anything. I'm just so blasted tired of hanging onto the last of this weight. I want it off. NOW. And increasing my calories didn't work. So I'm doing the opposite.

If this doesn't work either, then I'm just going to have to accept the fact that my body wants to settle at 140. Don't know if I've ever mentioned, but I'm not quite 5'5, I'm about 5'4 and a half. So it's not like I'm taller than the average female.

I have had plateaus in past weight loss journeys. it does feel really frustrating. What exactly is with that anyway!? I just started a couple of weeks ago so I hope I don't get one for at least a while yet.

Oprah's suggstion (not that we are all like Oprah, of course) is that you should change the routine a bit. If you do 40 mins cardio, add a bit more cardio, or change something else. Maybe that will make your body go "huh?" just long enough to start up again. They say your body does an adjustment thing after a certain amt of time. Prob something is going on in there but you just can't see it.

You are doing really well and sticking to it. Everyone here is such a great inspiration!!