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Hi Nerdfitness! Long time lurker, first time poster. I'm posting this for a friend. Here is her situation: I'm a 5' 1"(and a half :)) indian female. I've been a fitness/diet fanatic for a while, and love finding new ways to be more healthy and spur weight-loss. My journey in the fitness world started when I was 21 at 167lbs. Over the course of 3-4 years, I lost 40lbs and got down to a weight I was pretty content with at around 125lbs. I have fluctuated between 130lbs and 140lbs for the last couple years, through yo-yo dieting and working out sporadically. After putting in a lot of work and seeing very little for it, I decided I needed to be much more rigid in my efforts. The last few months I've been going to crossfit regularly(4-5 days a week) and really controlled my diet. Over the last month I've lost 5lbs and went from 135lbs to 130lbs by doing the following things consistently: Counting calories, staying under (900-1300). * More on this later I eat very healthy foods. Usually a salad for lunch and a chicken/vegetable dish for dinner. I also eat 10 almonds every day. My biggest indulgence is alcohol. I usually go out one night a week, and will have around 5-7 drinks. A few times this summer, I've gone out 2-3 nights of the weekend(but this definitely isn't the norm). Doing crossfit 4-5 days a week Walking 10,000 steps a day Low-carb diet. I've been in ketosis for the greater portion of the last month, and eaten less than 25g of carbs a day. I've only broken this on a couple weekends. My biggest question is around my diet. I don't seem to be seeing any results by keeping my calorie intake at around 1100-1300 as a number of nutritionists/fitness experts say. I've been incredibly consistent with my calorie intake and I only lose weight when I'm eating 600-800 calories a day. I know I know, pick your jaw up from the floor :). But as a person who has been very strict with herself and has only seen results in a certain calorie range, you have to be a little empathetic for me just doing what works at the end of the day. The problem, as you can probably guess, is that this calorie range is much less maintainable over the long run. It's not like I ever have huge binges, but I will just return to my 1100-1300 range and see no progress. To give you an indication of what's working for me. Of the 5lbs(from 135 to 130) I've lost in the last month, 4 of those pounds were lost while eating 600-700 calories a day. Could this just be a combination of my genes and size? Could that range really be the amount I need to eat at a deficit of my BMR? At a more macro-level, can you guys see any holes in what I'm doing? I'm definitely putting in a lot of work and being very strict myself. I would anticipate losing at least one pound per week, but so far the only thing that has worked is more rapid weight loss. What gives? Also, since it will likely be asked, my goal weight is 115lbs. So I'm right at the last 15 lbs of my journey and it's proving to be much trickier than the 40lbs I lost early on.

So I've managed to drop from 67kg to 61.something in a little over three months by tracking my food intake, lifting and a little cardio. Mostly I stalled at the same weight for a week or two, and then dropped 1-1.5 kilos overnight. But ever since the end of the last challenge (July 19th), I've been stuck at 61.x and I. Am. Going. Nuts. I have no idea why this is happening. It's not stealth calories, because I've been tracking everything I eat over 90% time, and when I haven't and have possibly overeaten, it's been a cheat meal and less often than a weekly occurrence. I set my target calories (1430) to sedentary activity level and rather under- than overestimate the calories from workouts that I subtract. I'm 164 cm and estimate my BF% to be around 25%, which gives me a TDEE of 1950-1800 kcal, depending on how many times of the week I exercise. So I have 100% certainly been on a deficit. But the weight is not budging. I got the 60.6kg once during the past three weeks, but I'm not sure I wasn't dreaming that, because I haven't got below 61 a second time. I had 3/4 of a homemade pizza on Sunday in hope of shaking up my metabolism, didn't help. I've started running hill sprints 2-3 a week in addition to my other training, no effect (except my calves are killing me). The frustration is driving me crazy, because I only have about 2 more kilos to shed before I'll be at my target of 59kg and can go on a bulk and build some muscle. A lot of sites are talking about calorie/carb cycling, so I'm wondering if that's something I should try? The 5-2 method seems like a best option; it's where you're on a deficit 5-6 days a week and then eat at or over maintenance 1-2 days a week, preferably on the most intense training days. Has anyone done this, or has any pointers? I'm desperate to break this plateau, but I'm also terrified of gaining the weight back, so I'm scared of eating over maintenance even one or two days a week. I'm also mildly carb-phobic, and since most of the extra calories should come from carbs, I'm hesitant. I need help.