Confused!! Please help...

Question
Hello

Here is my problem and let me know if you can help me anyhow, cause I gave up myself!

First of all, I'm a female, 29 years ols, 170m (=5.5 ft) height and currently 68 kg (=150 pounds) weight!
For the last few months I抦 trying to loose some weight (3-4kg / 6-8 pounds), however it seems that I抦 actually gaining weight slowly (around 0.5kg/2pounds per month ... in September I was 65 kg!!).

My work is from home on a computer, so I抦 not very active throughout the day. I do go to the gym though, first thing in the morning and try to walk whenever I can. I also have a mini stepper at home which I try to use it when I can, like when I'm talking on the phone.
My gym sessions are as follows and they are quite intense:

Monday: whole body strength workout + 20 min cardio
Tuesday: 1h cardio (mix interval and steady state) + 20 min core (abs/lower back)
Wednesday: 1h steady state cardio
Thursday: whole body strength workout + 20 min cardio
Friday: 1h cardio (mix interval and steady state) + 20 min core (abs/lower back)
Saturday: rest OR 1h mini stepper at home
Sunday: rest

Now about nutrition, I try to eat no more than 1500 cals per day and I do believe that my meal choices are very healthy and well split. I don't eat fried or sweets, include protein on every meal and eat 6 meals a day. A sample menu is as follows:

Pre-gym: Nothing if a cardio day OR 1 slice wholemeal bread with 1 slice low-fat cheese before strength training

Breakfast: porridge with semi-skimmed milk + 1tbsp linseeds + 1tsp honey OR pot of low-fat plain greek strained yogurt + 1/2 banana + 1tbsp linseeds + 1tsp honey + cinnamon (around 250 cals)

Lunch: salmon OR chicken OR omelette (1whole egg+2whites) OR low-fat cottage cheese OR chicken soup + 1 slice wholemeal bread + green salad (spinach, lettuce, cabbage etc) + 1tbsp olive oil (around 400 cals)

Afternoon: pot of low-fat plain greek strained yogurt + 1tbsp seeds& raisins + 1tsp honey (around 200 cals)

Dinner: tuna salan + slice wholemeal bread OR toast (wholemeal bread+low fat cheese + turkey slice + tomato) + green salad (around 300 cals)

Before-bed: half apple with a slice of low-fat cheese (around 100 cals)

Snack trhoughout the day: I handful unsalted nuts (around 150 cals)

Besides all that, not only I cannot loose weight, but it seems I am slowly slowly gaining some!! My thyroid is ok, so that's out of the way.
I'm trying to think if I eat to much, but I don't think that less than 1500 cals a day for a 29 year old female is too much. Then again, could it be I don't eat to much so that I am in starvation mode? Well, this does not make sense either ... I might eat healthy, but I do think I eat quite a lot!

Can you please help me at all?? I seem very confused!
Thanks,
Anna

Answer
From what you're describing, it seems like you know what you're doing. You're getting enough exercise, and you're eating good. Just make sure you're properly measuring your calories (weight/measure your food) and make sure you're journaling EVERYTHING you eat. I know people who don't write stuff down and it turns out they eat about TWICE what they think they're eating.

It could also be that you've just reached a plateau. See, if you live on a restricted calorie diet or operate on a calorie deficit (burning more than you take in) for too long, your body will actually think it's starving and will HOLD ON to fat. What I do is ramp up my calories every 3 or 4 days to trick my body into NOT kicking in to starvation mode. So I'll do, for example:

Mon, Tue, Wed: 1500 cal
Thu: 2500 cal
Fri, Sat: 1500 cal
Sun: 2500 cal

Keep your body guessing. Of course, this doesn't mean you can just go hog-wild and eat cookies and ice cream. Still eat HEALTHY, just give yourself MORE FOOD. Have an extra chicken breast. Eat something that's not TOO bad for you that you wouldn't normally eat - like a slice of lasagna or pizza.

Finally, keep in mind that as you build muscle, your WEIGHT will stay the same (or even go up) but your BODY FAT will come down. What the scale says shouldn't be your motivator. A better indication of your overall fitness is how your clothes fit. When your jeans start feeling loose, you know you've lost some ass fat. :)

I'd also like to see you add some more free weights to your workout routine. Do some chest presses, biceps curls, leg lifts, and stuff like that. Don't worry about "bulking up." Building muscle is the BEST way to burn fat.  

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