Hit a plateau...

Question
I am a 32 (soon to be 33) year old female. I have a M.S. in Exercise Physiology and was a health coach for several years and so I have a lot of knowledge about exercise and nutrition. However, I have hit a slump and am having trouble figuring out what is going on with my body. I have always struggled a little bit with my weight throughout my life. I didn't inherit the best metabolism and so I have to work very hard to get to places that other people find easy. When I was about 23, I was in the best shape of my life, body wise. I was around 125 pounds, toned, and looked great. However, even then I didn't have the perfect abs or a flat stomach that I always wanted. I ate a very lean diet then (with one cheat meal a week) and lifted hard 3-4 days a week, with two days of cardio. I am older now, and it definitely takes a lot more work than that to look good. About two years ago, my left knee started acting up and it took about 6 months to get a correct diagnosis and get a knee doctor to operate on it. He fixed it and my knee is good now. I still get some IT Band issues here and there, but it is tolerable. Anyway, due to my knee issues and the frustration with not being able to workout, I gained a ton of weight. Admittingly, I ate badly during the time as well. My husband and I both gained ridiculous weight during this period. Early this past January, I stepped on the scale and saw a frightening 180 pounds. GULP! I decided that I would do whatever it takes to get back to my pre-wedding weight of 135, and ultimately back to where I was at age 23 (125 pounds) and I looked my best. I started with ChaLean Extreme. I am a strong woman, I lift well and build muscle well, I also regain my cardio fitness pretty quickly. Over those three months, I lost 30 pounds and weighed in at 150! I was very proud of myself for getting back to that weight and dropping 2.5 pant sizes as well. I moved on next to Insanity and am in the final week today. My reason for writing you is because I am frustrated. For the past few weeks, my weight has been hovering around 146. I have a tanita body fat scale and my body fat has gone down a few points, but no where near what I would like. The lowest number I have seen is 31% body fat, which is on the high end of normal for my age and height. I would like to get down to like 25% at least. And, I really want to lose those last 10-15 pounds as well. I'm eating well. I may have a little more carbs than I am supposed to but they are mainly complex carbs and my calorie range is from 1,400 - 1,600 a day. I get a lot of protein and I haven't had a cheat meal yet. I had a small piece of cake one day and a bite of some buffalo dip one day too, but no real cheat meal. The only other thing I do that may be a problem is have a few cocktails here and there. However, it is never more than once a week and if I do drink, I always count it in my calorie intake and eat less. I also only drink vodka and club soda or bacardi and diet. I have done the millions of calorie calculators out there and it seems that I am eating the right amount to promote weight loss, but the scale is not moving and I don't see my fat budging much either. I can't figure out if I am eating too little or too much. I do my Insanity workouts everyday, but I am otherwise inactive (sit at a computer). I plan on doing a P90X/Insanity Hybrid next (I did P90X years ago) and hope that it may do more for me. I am the type that seems to have good results from lifting, but I do have a good muscle base right now and doubt that putting more muscle on is the issue. My husband has lost 50 pounds and is already at his goal weight. He wants to lose more now and gain muscle but the point is he reached his goal and my goal is not unreasonable. He doesn't even do the intese workouts I have been doing. He just does some push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and runs 5-10K five days a week. I know it is not a hormone issue because I have had blood work done and my thyroid and everything is fine. Any idea what is holding me back?

Answer
Hi Heather,

I deeply apologize for your wait for me to get back with you. I notice that you do lot of healthy activities, but I didn't here much of you drinking water. As you should know water helps improve the digestive process and is imperative in maintaining a healthy urinary track and digestive system, water is also important for properly metabolize food and drinking sufficient amounts of water will help reduce constipation.

Water can suppress the appetite naturally and increases the body's ability to metabolize stored fat. A decrease in water intake will cause fat deposits to increase, while an increase in water intake can actually reduce fat deposits.

This is thought to occur because a reduction in water decreases the efficiency of the kidney's, which results in some of the kidney's functions being shunted to the liver.

Since one of the liver's primary functions is to metabolize stored fat into usable energy for the body, it metabolizes less fat while performing functions normally performed by the kidney's. This results in less stored fat burned, and a reduction in weight loss.

At the least take your weight in pounds and divide it by 2. Take that number and that how many ounces of water you should be drinking daily.

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