So as I have hit a little plateau between 223 and 226 in the past 2 weeks I was thinking. Am I striving for too much? I work out at least 1 hour everyday on the eliptical and have cheated some in the 2 weeks (like every 3rd day)

My goal is 135 lbs and for most of my life I was around 180. I got down to 145 by eating very little when I was 12.

So again, am I striving for too much as my body is resisting this weight change?

No. Don't limit yourself.

My lowest adult weight was in the 180's.

You might be wearing yourself out though. There is no reason to train every single day on the elliptical. Switch it up! Do some resistance training. What does your diet look like? What constitutes a 'cheat'?

Also, what is the best thing to do for breaking this plateu? Do I add 30 mins weight in daily? Do I eat cleaner at night?

Patience is usually the best thing to break plateus.

Other than that calories matter and whatever diet/exercise plan you're following the most important thing is that it be sustainable.

Time + effort = results.

This could easily be the cause of not losing weight depending how badly you went off plan and not necessarily your body resisting.

I don't worry about goal weights so much. Yeah it was a number I put in my ticker, but will it be that? Who knows? I like to strive to get to a normal BMI and then see how it feels then. Sometimes worrying too much about a goal weight can overwhelm you what you're accomplishing today.

Personally, I think that it's too early in your weight loss effort to be concerned about your ultimate goal weight. I picked a number right close to the top end of normal BMI but that doesn't mean that will be where I end up. I'll evaluate that when I get closer.

Current plan:

Exercise: 1+ hour of elliptical at the gym (striving for 7 days a week but hitting more like 5)

Diet: Right now I am under a lot of stress and haven't been as stringent. I try to eat brocolli with every meal, greek yogurt, no soda.

Cheating: This past week I have been going to the gym for 35 mins a day 5 days a week. I have eaten 1 cup of ice cream 3 days, one day I had 5 slices of pizza, and I have been eating slightly more carbs later at night.

I agree effort + patience = results (I will post that saying at my door, thank you for that John P) but there is a part of me that says at this weight, the weight should be melting off with with ANY effort let alone how MUCH effort I have been putting in the last 4 months.

Since I got serious about going to the gym I have lost about 13-15 lbs. When I break that down that is about 4-5 lbs a month. That is about 1 lb a week for as hard as I am working.

This was the reason I gave up last time, in 3 years I lost 80 lbs. But I didn't think it was enough when I was doing everything in my power. Then I gained 100 in the next 2 years.

Ok you have to have to have to have to meticulously track your calories, or there's no telling why you aren't losing weight.

It has SO Much more to do with what you put into your mouth than the effort you expend at the gym.

Exactly. When I was 300 lbs I went to the gym six days a week for a month and worked extremely hard and lost essentially zero lbs. The reason is that exercise doesn't speed up your metabolism and it doesn't burn that many calories.

See my signature for details ...

Yes! It doesn't matter if you eat broccoli with every meal and don't drink soda. you need to start tracking calories. even if you just track as you eat now, to figure out what you are putting in your body. then work on cutting back and making sure what you are eating is fueling your body (ie not all pizza and ice cream.) Pizza and ice cream can certainly fit into a calorie counting plan, but you need to know what your intake is so you know if they fit.

I'll echo what everyone else says. And add this. We have to get it in our heads that this is a lifestyle. (Gee - I hate that term almost as much as I hate "diet" - it's SO over used.) Eating fewer calories than most of us did for most of our lives is NORMAL. Moving around more that most of us did is NORMAL. We were / are fat because we eat too much and don't exercise enough. (I know that's a generalization, but you all know it's almost always the case.) Eating crap and sitting on our butts is NOT NORMAL. We weren't meant to eat and live that way. There isn't room fr too much "going off plan" or we revert back to old bad habits. One off plan meal - OK. An off plan day - OK. But it has to stop there, because an off plan week will show some serious re-gain, even if it is mostly water. That frustrates us and then we say, "Why bother?"

It sounds like you know what you need to do, but don't always do it. You need to trust your instincts and follow a plan you can live with for life. Pizza and ice cream don't belong in any plan on a regular basis. It's not too bad if you allow for the calories, but a cup of ice cream is about 300. Not too bad as junk food goes, but a lot if you add it all up over the course of a month at 3 times a week. That's more than a pound you wouldn't lose in a month. One slice of a 14" pizza (1/8 of the whole) is about 250 calories. If you eat 5 slices once a week, that's another pound and a half you didn't lose over the course of a month. Pretty soon it becomes obvious why some people lose 10 pounds a month and some lose 5.

Don't get me wrong. No one is perfect in healthy eating all the time. But I think we all miss the point sometimes (myself included) that eating healthy is normal - eating junk is not. When we realize that and can practice it 98% of the time, we're on the right path. There just isn't much room for "cheating" on a healthy plan if you want to lose weight and maintain the loss. That's the concept of "life style."

Good luck to you.

Lin

Agree with what everyone else said---it's what you eat that makes the difference. Try cutting out the junk food and see if you start losing more maybe. Consider keeping a food journal, or tracking calories on a site like Daily Plate. Do you drink soda at all? Drinking only water can make a real impact.

I think a food journal is a great idea. Thank you guys for the input. I will start tacking everything I eat this week. I will post it and hope you guys can give me some suggestions