Ok, I don't know what to do. I haven't been able to lose anything for the last 5 weeks. I might lose 2 or 3, but then I gain it right back in the same week, so no progress is being made. I think I am going into menopause, because I have been having a period every three weeks. Is there a correlation there? I guess I should read about it, but I was hoping someone here could share some advice! I go to the gym at least 4 times a week and eat between 1200-1500 calories a day.

I can only tell you what my doctor told me and that is when heading to that dreaded time of your life your metabolism slows down and what had you maintaining before will make you gain now. If you could maintain at 1500 then now 1200 will be maintenance, I was still gaining at 1200 so I have dropped to 1000 and often less. Also with menopause can come thyroid problems, happened to my mother, so far I am testing negative For the past year I was getting my period every 3 weeks also, but this month I am on 31 days and still no sign or symptom of it arriving, I have been having night sweats for over a year and the odd hot flash during the day. BTW I am 47 married with 2 sometimes great sons :-) I have found the best thing for me is to fill up on lots of empty calories, lettuce, tomatos, celery, cucumber (basically a salad with a small amout of dressing. I eat loads with both lunch and dinner and eat it before I eat any of the other stuff, so I am already partially full before I start on the starches, protiens etc. For example today for lunch I had planned a salad and a tuna sandwich, I was so full after the salad that I only ate half of the sandwich. For breakfast I try to stick as much fruit into it as I can, I will have a bowl of berries with yogurt and cereal crushed and sprinkled on top, or a bowl of fruit salad(melons, grapes, strawberries, blueberries) with a yogurt dip I make myself.

zahut, I am thinking you may be at a point where your body is readjusting itself and plateauing in order to do so. Just running the numbers, I can't imagine that your metabolism would have slowed so dramatically as to have the loss stop for good at this point. Maybe try to change up your exercise and / or the composition of your pie chart to give your system a shake up. Keeping up the exercise and doing strength training will give you the best chance of keeping metabolism up.

I have been on thyroid pills for 16 years. I am going to start doing new things at the gym. Currently I do 20 minutes on the treadmill, a round of the weight machines, 10 minutes on the lateral trainer, 25 minutes on the stair climber and then sometimes another round on the weight machines. Each time I do the weights I do 2 sets of 12 reps. My son, who is 16 and knows everything, lol, keeps telling me I need to run on the treadmill. I hate running and I can only last a minute. Not trying to make excuses, but I just can't get the running down. I always leave the gym dripping with sweat, so I really feel like I am getting a good workout. All I know for sure is that I am NOT giving up! Thanks for the advice!

Ahhh yes aren't teenagers the smartest people in the world? Mine are 14 and almost 16, so I get a double dose of "mom knows nothing"
I admire your workout routine, I on the other hand love to run, but a botched foot surgery in April has put almost all working out on hold. I am really disappointed as I had planned to do my first marathon next year, but at this rate I won't have enough time to train for it. Looks like you are doing everything right as far as the excercise goes, so I can only suggest you pay closer attention to the calories and log every little thing you eat. I find the calories are often confusing, like I bought a smoked ham for dinner tonight, the label says one slice is 60 cal. How big a slice, paper thin, 1/8 inch, 1/4 inch? It didn't say so I am going to have to go by weight and use the fitday food calculator to figure out exactly how much I am eating. Good luck and keep up the good work.