You have set a goal for yourself to lose 45 lbs. over a 4 month period. You feel the timetable is aggresive but doable. You work hard both in the gym and at the dinner table. After 6 weeks, you have lost 20 lbs. You're happy and content. Everything is going just as you planned, right on schedule. 25 more pounds to go, and then you will have accomplished what you set out to do. You're proud of yourself. If you just keep plugging away, it will be mission accomplished, and a great personal achievement.



Then, in week 7, trouble. You weigh yourself and you have not lost one pound from the prior week's weigh-in. You tell yourself, "I have just got to work harder in the gym," so you increase the length of time you spend on the treadmill and on the stationary bike 5 minutes each and you increase the amount of workouts per week at the gym from 3 visits to 4 visits. You figure more sweat equates to more lost weight.

You weigh yourself after week 8 and it is the same as the prior week - zero pounds lost. A sinking feeling. You are determined to lose this weight. Nothing is going to stop you, so you increase your workouts to 5 per week, and you decide to increase the length of time on the treadmill and the bike a few minutes more on each machine.

Week 9 comes and you are nervous about getting on the scale. You have worked very, very hard, harder than you ever thought you could. You have earned losing some weight this week. You get on the scale, and you have actually gained one pound from the prior week's weigh-in. Disaster.

How is this possible? The scale has got to be broken. There is just no way. This is like a nightmare. Are you destined to never losing the extra 25 lbs.? Should you just give up? Is it worth all this working out and coming up empty on the results side? Have you peeked and hit a plateau that you will never get past?

The answer is "No, you don't give up. Ever!" Part of the problem could be the way you are working out in the gym. You have been concentrating on the cardio machines(the treadmill and the stationary bike), because that is what has worked for you in the past when you needed to lose some weight. However, this 'plateau problem' is something you have never experienced before, and you find it extremely frustrating.

Try the following in week 10: when you first enter the gym before getting on the cardio machines(treadmill and stationary bike), try working out with several strength building machines spending 15-30 minutes on these machines before you go to work on the cardio machines. Then, when you get on the treadmill, vary the height and speed more than you have in the past. Not a lot - don't kill yourself - just enough to make a difference.

I"ll bet you find that if you make these few simple adjustments, you'll get past that annoying 'plateau', and that you will lose the final 25 pounds to reach your 45 lb. weight loss close to the 4 month time limit you originally set. This worked for me. I set a personal weight loss goal of losing 37 lbs. I lost 22 lbs. relatively quickly, then hit a plateau for several weeks until I changed my workout regimen. I then lost the remaining 15 lbs. fairly quickly.

Try this workout regimen change, if you have hit a plateau, and see if this doesn't work for you.