Hey everyone!

Some of you may or may not be aware but I'm aiming to lose circa 6 stone (approx. 85 lbs) this year. At present, I've lost about 12 lbs and I've plateaued and it's so demotivating! 

I have a healthy lifestyle and diet, get a lot of sleep, drink very minimal alcohol and workout 3 - 5 times a week. My typical gym routine is as follows:

1. 30 minutes at a 8% - 15% elevation on a treadmill @ 3 - 3.5mph
2. 15 minutes at level 5 - 10 on a bike
3. 3 x 10 reps at 75KG leg press
4. 3 x 10 reps at 15KG arms (can't think what the machines are but the first is a machine focusing on biceps and back, and the second is triceps)
5. 5 minutes power plate - 2 minutes squatting, 1 minute standing, 1 minute planking, 1 minute push up)
6. 200m sprint
7. 8KG - 10KG kettle bell squats - 5 x 10 reps (I do these at home)

I also swim a couple of times a week - between 20 and 50 lengths in one session, and then I take advantage of the sauna and facilities etc.

Food-wise, I have proteins for breakfast, eat lots of fruits (I normally have a calorie controlled lunch) and then I'll have chicken/fish and veg for dinner (never after 7pm).

Just wondered if anyone has any tips? Would love to hear your thoughts and add them into my routine!

Just FYI this was my most recent before/after - same weight, two weeks apart, but I haven't lost any more/gained any more since this post:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkaBouyl1jz/?taken-by=demireanne

♥

Bumpin!

You may be doing too much cardio. I personally do max 20 minutes of cardio at the gym and it's almost always HIIT. Maybe it's time to increase your weights, too. If you're already in a calorie deficit, you won't bulk up. It's science; muscles can't grow without fuel. So you'll just end up toned and you'll burn more fat. You could try doing cardio at the end of your workout, but it shouldn't matter either way.

I don't know how many calories you eat in a day, and what your macro breakdown is. Maybe you're not eating enough... when you cut too many calories, your body just hangs onto everything.

That's a good theory. I've been trying to limit myself to between 1000 - 1500 per day, and focus on burning calories when I workout so I aim for between 300 - 500. Has anyone had any success with home HIIT workout DVD's?

For the workouts you're doing, you should be eating 1500 at least! I use the Samsung Health app on my phone and according to my stats and my activity level, I'm allowed max 1835 calories per day, but I have to burn nearly 2400 to stay within weight loss range if I eat that much.

Lots o' water is my suggestion! And steer clear from pop/soda and other sugary drinks!

I agree with Tana, you're not eating enough! When your body senses that it's not getting enough food, it will send you into starvation mode and hold onto the weight. I know it's tempting to eat as little as possible, but if you're trying to lose weight in a healthy way, then you need to actually give your body the food it needs. I would check out an app like MyFitnessPal, which will tell you what your net calories need to be per day (so food minus exercise) in order to reach your weight loss goals.

Also, I would very much recommend taking your measurements and tracking your progress that way instead of focusing only on the scale. If you went from not working out much to doing all of that, you're probably gaining muscle and losing fat, but that will make the scale stop moving. However, you'll still be getting thinner and leaner, so measurements are a way to see your progress even when the scale isn't moving.

Also also, what you eat matters, not just how much of it. You didn't mention all of what you're eating, but just as a general rule, cleaning up your diet and removing processed foods and junk from it will help a lot. Sugar and carbs (like in fruit and grains) aren't conducive to weight loss. And always check labels on anything that is low fat or anything like that, usually if it's a product that's meant to be fatty (like sour cream), the low fat version has sugar, salt, and other crud that doesn't belong in it to make up for the flavor difference - so in the end you're probably better off eating a moderate amount of the full fat version than any of the low fat version.

Also x3, when you first start losing weight people tend to drop a lot of weight quickly as they lose water weight and then plataeu, so that's pretty normal! Not to be a debbie downer, though, but I will say that there are only 24 weeks left in the year so to lose that amount of weight by the end of the year you'd need to be losing 3 pounds per week which is unrealistic for most people long-term. So don't get discouraged if you don't hit the goal weight by the end of the year, just focus on the progress that you've made!

If you're looking at changing up your routine, I swear by a ketogenic diet. I've seen it change tons of lives (especially in diabetic patients), and I find I personally feel the best on it. Though, my body has never taken well to carbs in general, so that may be a personal thing as well. It keeps your calorie intake high so you can get in your workouts comfortably (I like my HIIT and weight training), but is still super conducive to weight loss. If you want to do more research, just look up Dr Jason Fung and read some of his stuff. He's a nephrologist who's pretty much dedicated his career to figuring out Type 2 Diabetes and how to treat/cure it. Even if you're not comfortable following all of his ideas, he's got great science behind what he writes. There's other doctors and dieticians that have stuff on keto out there as well, but I find Fung's is the most well written and easy to follow if you don't have a medical background.

That all being said, there's still some controversy around it due to it being SO different from the pyramid model that they have out there. If nothing else, he's got some good reads! If you're into nephrology and/or sciencey stuff! :P

Great advice from everyone! Thank you all so much! :)