Help!!! I'm looking for suggestions to get me off my weight loss plateau. I am a 46 y.o. male who has been "zoning" for approx 6 months. I took off approx 20lbs pretty quickly & now I've "hit a wall". I haven't lost any weight for 3 months. I've also been staying at about 34% body fat...so, you can see I have alot to lose. I was a zoner approx 5 years ago & lost 90lbs, but, I fell off the wagon & gained about 70 lbs back. I now have recommitted myself & have lost 20 lbs of what I had gained back. I have tried various attempts to stimulate weight loss. I exercise vigorously, doing an intense 1 hour daily workout, six days a week. I live by myself & typically eat pre-made zone meals & bars. I go out frequently, but, limit myself to salds or a very zoneworthy meal. I have eaten as much as 20 blocks per day, but now have settled into approx 15 blocks/day, at the suggestion of a zone counselor. In addition, I frequently will drop a block of carb & add a block of fat at any given meal. I journal on a daily basis & record everything I eat. I feel good, physically, do not lack energy & am alert throughout my day. It's just very frustrating to be on this plateau. Please, please, send me your "sound" suggestions.

Hi g-whiz.. Follow the like I've provided and chec out the 3 week plan Anne-Marie has posted (it is "sound") and see if it doesn't help? Jim http://www.anne-marie.ca/forums.html

Hi, In conjunction with Jim's suggestion, I would highly suggest you recalculate your protein needs. Make sure you are basing the plateau-breaking technique Jim suggested on your correct number of blocks to begin with. Although you don't give your LBM, 15 blocks sounds a bit low for a male who is doing one hour of intense exercise daily, as you described, unless you are small in stature. If you aren't consuming enough food, it can be contributing to your plateau. Along with Jim's suggestion, you might also try to make sure you do all you can to focus on the insulin lowering aspect of the Zone. One of the most helpful things to do would be to have only favorable veggies for all your carbs until you break the plateau. Dr. Sears advised only favorable veggies to me once when he was helping me break a stubborn plateau a couple yrs ago, and it was critical to my success. Review all Zone principles (ie: meal timing, protein requirements, etc.). Reading "Mastering the Zone" (or rereading it, if you'e already read it) might be a good idea. There's a wealth of info in that book, and you may see one little thing that could make all the difference to your Zoning efforts. There are things, which one would not expect, that can raise insulin levels a bit, and could be contributing to your plateau. You are probably already aware of these, but I'll mention them anyway: diet soda, energy/meal bars, foods containing caffeine, not consuming enough water daily (you may need 2 or 3 times the minimum recommended 8 glasses a day), artificially sweetened foods, too many fruits in your daily in your daily food intake, not adding enough monounsaturated fat to meals adn snacks. Good luck and keep us informed of your progress. :D Sue