any advice is welcomed
 

hi, everyone. i started my weight loss in januray, 18 weeks ago exactly. I'm 5'4", have lost 33lb, went down from 184 to 151. my goal weight is 143 lb. it would give me a BMI of 25. i started walking half an hour then an hour then a month ago my average would be an hour and a half, daily, except on saturday which is my cheat day. until 2 weeks ago everything was going well, i was hungry and irritated in the first month but now I'm feeling good. i actually feel better after working out, which i would have never believed ild feel :) i like choosing what i eat now, so i do feel the change. its not temporary and i want it to last. when i started though i would eat the 1200 recommended but i didn't lose anything, i went down to 800 and thats when i started seeing result and from then onwards my weight loss was consistent, an average of 1.8lb weekly, for 16 weeks. that was actually my biggest motivation, seeing results. then 2 weeks ago everything SUDDENLY slowed down. i lost 0.5lb in the 2 weeks, keeping calories under goal and walking 80 min average. i had changed nothing in my regimen. the sudden and significant drop in the rate alarmed me and i wanted to take your opinions. i know that things slow down once one is closer to goal weight but as i mentioned earlier its not the skinniest weight that I'm trying to reach plus i thought the slow down would be gradual!
let me know ur thoughts please. thanks

A few thoughts:

1) CONGRATS on the progress so far!!!!!

2) Sometimes when calories are so low, the body can start to get in a mode where it tries to conserve what it's got and it becomes harder to lose after a time. Your body can also get "used" to doing the same exercise. My advice would be to switch something up - either calorie cycle (higher one day, lower the next, keep your body guessing) and/or change up the type of exercise you're doing. Do a different kind of cardio.

3) Add in resistance training with weights and/or resistance bands. Building up muscle will help you burn more calories at baseline (increase your metabolism)

3) Don't get discouraged - slow-downs and plateaus happen to us all. The important thing is to keep going!

4) Find a way other than the scale to track progress. Measure yourself (waist, hips, thighs, whatever) and note where inches are coming off, even if the scale is moving very slowly and/or not budging.

These are all things that have helped me in the past. You should be proud of what you've done so far! Keep at it!

thank you terri. they are all great advices, ill try switching exercises and cycling. lets see what happens :) CONGRATUALTIONS on your progress so far. i know it takes a lot of commitment and handwork, so good for you! keep it up :) good luck!

Congrats.. :)