sounds like you are doing real good things!! man, i need to get more motivated, thanks for remindingme!! try pilates sometimes, they have videos or classes. and its not to stressfula nd helps you be more flexible. i try to do it before I jog, cuz it seems to help stretch

Well the fruit sounds reasonable, do you get enough grains, or do you just eat fruit? and what about the sleeping, do you wake up excessively tired? Do you wake up many times during the night...

I have Granola bars with my lunch. Breakfast is usually cream of wheat, oatmeal or some grain cerial. Lunch is either a sandwich or salad with crutons. dinner is what ever people cook.
I usually only wake up once during the night but with this kitten in the house until Monday its like every hour When i wake up i know i generally don't want to crawl out of bed but just lay there. Then again i could sleep for 10 hours and still not want to get out of bed (Dang bed is too comfy and the room is too cold lol)

I drink 3 or 4 33oz water bottles a day. Also drink a lot of tea (no sugar) , and non fat milk. I also take vitamines each day but mainly just garlic for my heart, iron and Vit C. =)

getting enough sleep is definitely a big reason for not losing....also, you may want to add some protein into your diet...

also, laying off the weight training and stick with cardio...

good luck

Gaining muscle mass and bone density is a good thing so unless you are much heavier than your picture suggests I would not get too shook up if you don't loose a great deal. Especially if you feel better. Sleep deprivation, stress, and unrealistic expectations will slow down weight loss as will a depressing activiies routine. Loseing weight by a deadline date is not going to add quality to your life even if you loose the set weight for a short period of time. Try finding something active that is fun and only weigh in once a week. You may be picking up more calories is some of your "sweet" veggies or "hidden" calories like salad dressings or beverages than you think try a food log. Salt intake may make you retain water so easy does it. Good luck as you improve your health.

You sleeping habits sound normal, your diet is sound, and your workout is good... Hmmm tis quite a quandry... sounds to me like Rtaylor74 might be right...

As we get older, our metabolisms change... that could be part of it. Something that helped me: I ate a 1/4 of fresh grapefruit (no sugar or other sweeteners added) before every meal... there's something in grapefruit that helps break down food and helps digestion. ALSO... add more fiber to your diet... benefiber can be added to anything--- coffee, milk, tea... water... it's colorless and tasteless... giving your body extra fiber will also help weightloss.

Keep in mind: Muscle weighs more than fat. If there are certain areas you are trying to slim down, you might want to double check that you are exercising the correct muscles to tone down... you might very well need to work on different muscles.

just a thought. Good luck to you.

The photo of me in the coffee house is the most recent. im not REALLY heavy im just not as thin as i want to be or as i was last summer. I put on about 10 lbs over the winter. Makes me REALLY self concious and I don't feel like i want to go out and meet people even people from here. I almost feel like if i were to meet someone for coffee i would be doing a bate and switch since i put a little on in the past few months

I lost 10 pounds and this past week gained 5 back again. I run,walk and do weights 4-6 days a week. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

I weighed 178 last March..... am finally down to about 135.... I didn't exercise... I just changed my eating habits. So I'm doing really good... except, now that I am pregnant, I'm gonna gain it all back! That's irony for ya, huh?

At least you have a picture of yourself.

If you eat more than what you burn, you will gain weight. The aim is to burn more than what you eat.
Keep a calories count of how much you intake per day and how much you burn.
Number two as someone as already stated, stick to high rep, medium or low weight exercises, while doing weights, and do a lot of cardio. Lifting heavy weights at low reps is for people who wants to gain mass.
Oh and add protein to your diet, the trick is to get atleast half a gram of protein per a pound of body weight.
Never stretch before you work out, maybe few warms ups, but stretching before working out is a bad idea.

well first off you need at least 8 hours of sleep a night..

secondly you need protein.

thirdly fruit is carbs, so it is high in calories

fouthly if your body is not used to dieting it will retain calories because it thinks it is starving.

fifthly you do need fat in your diet, even if you are dieting, it makes the food...ehem.. slide threw your system, if it doesn't it is retained.

sixthly at first your mass with expand, and with the diet you are on, it is high in fiber which will def. expand in your system.

is that enough thly's.... you need a BALANCED diet... and lots of sleep, and MODERATE exercise....

I would give it more time. Most likely you're just toning your muscles up which is what's causing you to gain weight, like everyone has said. Just thought I'd say it again too.

And way to go on actually sticking to the regimen. I'm allergic to exercise. It's taking me forever just to go sign up for a gym membership! Maybe I'll just do it vicariously through you!