Losing weight was going very well, now I have stalled - help!

[LarvaeLamp]

Since the middle of November, I have lost a stone (hurrah!), at a rate of about 1.5lbs per week. I changed my diet and exercised more, stopped snacking. I have been really chuffed at my progess.

However, for the last three weeks, I haven't lost anything at all . I haven't changed any of my new good habits, and haven't gone back to any of my old bad habits. I stil have a stone to lose before my BMI is mid range, so what can I do to kickstart my body into losing weight again? Anyone able to advise?

Well done on your progress so far, what diet have you been on to achieve it?

No specific diet, but a few rules - I have given up bread, alcohol and anything with sugar added (so no biscuits, cake, sweets, chocs, ice cream, soft drinks etc). I found after the first week the cravings I had for food just got easier to handle, so I could actually just eat when I was hungry rather than constantly fighting craving sugar/carbs.

It isn't exactly a low-carb diet as I am eating rice, pasta, potatoes etc, but I only have one a day, so either lunch or dinner.

I am definitely eating less, just because I am not 'needing' to top up my sugar levels every two hours, plus what I am eating is healthier. However, I still have 3 decent meals a day .

I have upped my exercise a lot too, so am now very unsure what else I can do to start weight loss again. My BMI is still 26, so does need to come down...

The most common reason for faiing to lose weight is very simply 'eating more than you think'. It might help you to keep a food diary for a week to see what you're actually getting in calorie terms. Eating better is obviously a good thing but it's quite easy to eat too much, even when it's good foods.

Use one of the many online calculators to work out what your total energy needs are and then deduct 500-700 for your weight-loss intake. If your food diary shows you are in the right ballpark then don't change anything. If you're eating too much, decrease it.

If you aren't eating too much or if you find that you are eating too little then you should consider something that happens to long-term dieters sometimes which is known as 'starvation mode'...or 'adaptive thermogenesis' (sp?) Means that over a long period of time on reduced calories the body can gradually adapt to maintaining its weight on less energy. A good way to combat this is to deliberately have a day where you eat a lot more than normal...an energy boost will get your body burning energy faster.

Good luck