Answers from Expert: Michelle Cederberg

First of all, congratulations on the success you have realized so far. You have created positive change for yourself and continue to work hard at something that is very difficult for a lot of people. It can frustrating, however, when you seem to be doing everything right and the changes don't come as quickly as you'd like. When people reach a plateau in training -- where results don't come as quickly or seem to stop altogether, the first thing to do is to re-evaluate the current situation. It seems that you have done this. You're exercising regularly and have added in some variety with the elliptical trainer, you drink lots of water and seem to be eating well. You've consulted professionals, and you're monitoring your progress. So, what gives? Without seeing your entire program or seeing how you're feeding yourself, my advice to you will be based on speculation, but here are a few thoughts that take us back to the basics: 1. Frequency How often are you engaging in physical activity each week, or even each day? This variable seems all right for you. With the pilates and now the elliptical it looks like you're active at least thre or four days each week. Is there at least one day in the week where you could double up your workouts to do cardio earlier in the day and then pilates (or something like that) just to give your body a double dose of that high energy calorie burn? 2. Intensity Intensity can be the number one barrier to seeing success. You've been regularly active for a couple of years now, but how hard have you been working? Once you've created a reasonable base level of fitness it's important to keep challenging the body, and one way to do that is to push the intensity. You can do this by challenging yourself to a higher level in pilates (or trying a new format), or by pushing on the elliptical, even for 30-60 seconds at a time, to get that heart rate up. The extra effort not only burns more calories while you're giving the effort, but it keeps your metabolism elevated for a bit longer after the effort. 3. Time (or duration) of effort This is another important element for "shaking things up." You have your pilates routine set at 50 minutes, and you're slowly increasing your duration on the elliptical. Good work. Just remember that as you get more fit you need to continue to challenge yourself to do more than what is normal for YOU. 4. Type of activity This is an important variable in a successful fitness program and this is where I think you can make some changes. You've been doing pilates three days a week for a couple of years now. Do you use a video or attend a regular class? If you use a video (or follow your own routine at home) I highly recommend that you get a new video (or a few to choose from) or try a different type of class like yoga. The change will "shock" your body to face new challenges that will initially require more effort and therefore cause more calorie burning. The elliptical was a great addition to your program. Keep it up. Cardiovascular training allows for good efforts at calorie burning. You may consider one day each week where you do a longer workout at lower intensity so that you can prolong the effort. Weight training may be another area you should consider. If you could add in some form of resistance training, even one day per week to start, you'd increase your muscle mass a bit more and increase your metabolism in the long run. Weight training also helps tighten and tone muscles and offset certain diseases of inactivity like osteoporosis. Food for thought... I'm a big advocate of the Weight Watchers plan. It is a sensible and practical way to learn how to monitor your food intake, but as with any other element of improved health, variety is the spice of life and there are several great approaches you can take to eating healthfully. I'm not suggesting that you leave Weight Watchers, but I am suggesting that you invest in at least one session with a reputable dietician or nutritionist who may give you some different ideas about eating for energy and weight loss. You are burning quite a few calories in the exercise efforts you are putting out each week and despite the fact that you want to lose weight, you also have to properly fuel your activity. There is a chance that you could be eating too few calories to fuel your exercise efforts. If that is the case, your body may be holding on to fat to make sure it gets the fuel it needs for basic functioning. In some cases, weight loss happens by eating more. How fun could THAT be? Plateaus are tough, but you may find that all you need to do is change things up, even a little, to see some more success. Celebrate the change because it means you've been working hard enough to make a difference. Great luck! Michelle Cederberg www.liveoutloud.ca