Plateau...

So I'm on about a 4 week plateau that i can't seem to bust through.  I'm drinking more water, have increased my cardio and always eat protein first.  I know this is going to happen but didn't expect it to last this long.  I'm feeling very discouraged!  Any helpful tips from those of you who have gone through this would be much appreciated!

Sounds like your doing the right things by drinking more, mixing up your workouts and eating protein....hmmm....

You could try switching up your protein by eating different proteins....Not sure what you eat.....Try more fish, tuna, seafood.....Or more protein shakes.....

Good luck, Kelly

Or your body is goin "Woah Nelly!!" and trying to keep up with the amazing work you have done up til this point. I think its very normal at this point to have some sort of stall.

You ARE doing all the right stuff and that's what is overall important. Keep at it and it WILL happen!!

I had surgery a couple weeks before you and I have had a 4 week and a 3 week stall.   They are so scary.  I turned to the boards for help.  One thing that it helped me recognize was that the pounds may not be coming off but your body is a changing.  Also realized that I wasn't getting enough drink in.  Hang in there it will pass!  You are doing fantastic!  This is totally normal!

 How are you clothes fitting? I ask because usually you don't lose pounds & inches at the same time.

 Hang in there! Stalls happen. Just be patient. Your tool is not broken, even though it may feel like it since the pounds are not showing a decrease on the scale right this moment.

 The other thing you'll hear on these boards is "THROW AWAY THE SCALE". LOL - it's true, don't step on that thing for a couple weeks. You're only driving yourself nuts right now. And who's got time for that, right?

 Keep doing what you're doing because you're on the right track!!

Yes plateaus are scary AND a normal part of the process. All of the above comments ring true.
 Only  thing I would add is that weighing your food to ensure portion size and journaling all intake vs exercise has been helpful for me to stay on track.
    The biggest thing is a dogged determination to stay on program! Keep working towards your goals.

Hello,

Here is what I think you should do. Add resistance training to your exercise. Infact you should do the resistance training before you do any cardio. Just warm up on the cardio machine for about 5 minutes then switch to weight lifting. Do more reps than than weight. For example....do 15 reps on the weights that you are comfortable doing, just make sure that you are also doing a workout. What happens is that muscle is built during weight lifting and your body is getting energy from the protien and carbs you have eaten that day then is grabs fat source when your on your cardio. Dont eat  2 hours before working out. Eat 6 times a day 3 main meals and 3 small "protien snack" like almonds or protien bar  so your body doesnt think its starving and store everything to fat. What happens is since we basically starve ourselves during our dramatic weight loss ...our metabolism is so bad that our next challenge is keeping our muscle since we loose so much of it. Muscle = metablism and we must have it to keep loosing the wiehght.  I dont know how much you workout but as for me I do it 4-5 times a week and I make sure that I rest my body in between days. Here are some website you should try and podcast. Fat2fitradio.com and Cutthefatpodcast.com

Hope this helps and dont give up!!!

Erwin

Thanks for all the helpful tips...I appreciate them!  I already do weight training 3 times a week with a trainer.  I do a 10 minute warm-up, do the resistance training and then do cardio. 
I think the difficult part in all of this is that it's a head game.  The smart part of me knows that plateaus will happen and I just need to keep doing what I'm doing, but there's another part that gets frustrated and thinks 'I went through all this and now I'm done?!' 
Thank you everyone for the encouragement!

 Definitely a head game. But stay the course, you're doing great!
(and if the head part gets overwhelming, seek help...don't wait.)