I've been living a very sedate life for the few years and a couple of months ago I decided that I need to lose some weight. Since then I have been loosely following WeightWatchers core diet and I've lost 18 pounds. Still have at least 25 to go.

2 weeks ago I bought a Wii and have been boxing for about half an hour a day. My weight hasn't changed for nearly 4 weeks now, but I think my shape must be changing as my jeans still seem to be getting baggier.

Before I started my diet I felt tired most of the time and never thought I could find an enjoyable way to exercise. Now I can feel the difference that even eating more fruit and drinking more water can do. If I manage to eat plenty of fruit and drink lots of water (a real struggle for me), combined with exercise on the Wii, I actually feel restless and want to do more - never thought that would happen.

So today I've fixed my bike and I hope to get another half hour or so on that to getting those big muscles going. Ultimately I would like to ride to work (13 miles on very busy roads), but I'm worried about that both from a safety point of view and I'm not sure whether I can do it!

I have lots of questions, but it is essentially this - How do I get my weight loss going again? I plan to keep increasing my exercise, maybe with some weights later on. Is there more I can do with my diet? I've read lost of posts about protein shakes and smoothies, which I always thought were for weight gain. Is this what I should be looking at? Fruit juice is basically out due to the diet, but milk and yogurt should be ok. Do you need to be careful of when you drink them ie before or after exercise?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.



Ps I wrote the first bit a couple of hours ago but couldn't see where to post it. I've just been out on the bike to test my repairs and to see how I get on... Just ten minutes up the road.. I feel half dead now!!

Hey John!

Congrats on the weight loss to date!! Keep up the good work!! I am a Weight Watchers lifetime member, lost 40 lbs a few years ago, but some of the weight kinda krept back on so im trying to get back down to my goal weight.....about your questions....
I would say that boxing is DEFINITELY building muscle...so u are losing fat and gaining muscle which is probably why you are not losing weight,you are most likely losing inches (which explains the baggy jeans)....In terms of WW, if you can follow the core plan to the T for a few weeks (you know be real good and use your alloted weekly points for anything you eat thats not "Core" approved lol), I think you might start losing again despite the muscle building from the boxing...Also cycling is awesome cardio!!

Keep up the good work!! PS Did you ever think about switching up your diet back to WW's points system for a few weeks? Where you account for everything you eat with points? just a suggestion bc I know when I would plateau with one, I would try the other and that would help too....

Dont know much about protein shakes either, I was under the assumption too that those make you gain weight as well....

a lot of people will say this, and it's good to keep in mind, but you should be less concerned about your actual weight and more focused on overall health.

as you start to exercise, you'll inevitably gain some muscle mass. if you're weighing yourself everday, you may be dissappointed, as the scale won't budge. it could lead to you giving up completely.

there are many other focal points for fitness. strength and endurance for example. weight itself is not a good measure of fitness (i should be telling that to myself!)

don't be discouraged by your short bike ride. remember, if it took you years to get out of shape, you're not going to be able to just jump on a bike and go as far and fast as you have in the past. whatever you've been doing so far has been working, so keep it up. when you throw in weight training, you're going to have some incredible gains. you'll feel better than you have ever felt in your life.

Congrats on taking some great steps to getting fit, John. You're well on your way!

Hitting a weight loss plateau is very common, and there are several things you can do about it. The most important thing to do, is to shake things up a bit. Plateaus usually occur because your body has adjusted to the diet and/or exercise that you have been doing, and now knows how to hold on to it's beloved fat stores despite your efforts. These are some things I've done to out smart my body and get the weight loss kickstarted:

- switched my cardio routine every month (you might consider switching from Wii boxing to Wii tennis, that might help)
- added cheat days to my diet, where I eat more calories overal than I normally would
- lowered my normal daily calorie limit to take into acount my new, lower body weight (less of you, means your body needs less calories to maintain it's current size)
- added interval training, to increase the intensity of my cardio
- switched up my weight training routine (similar to what I do with my cardio, but I usually only change this every 2-3 months)

Hope that's helpful!

As for the protein shakes and smoothies, these aren't for everyone. If you are not lifting weights, not overly concerned about loosing muscle along with the fat, and know that you are getting an adequate amount of protein in your diet for your goals, protein supplements really aren't necessary. As for me, I'm a pesco-vegetarian who lifts and does a lot of cardio - I'm starting to think I'd wither away into a blob of fat and bone without them. Though, protein powders, ready-to-drink meal replacements with a lot of protein, and smoothies, can be fantastic meals on the go. For example, tomorrow I will be out at a parade and street fair with my friends all day. The chances of finding anything remotely lo-fat and healty to eat, with the exception of an overpriced bottle of water is pretty much zero. So I'll be loading a bottle up with three scoops of protein and some water, and I know I'll be doing no damage to all my hard work.

DO get and wear a helmet whilst riding your bike! Also, make sure that the reflectors are all bright and clear.
I KNOW you can do whatever you put your mind to!

Josephine... what is a pesco-vegetarian? Never heard of that...

John... sounds like you are doing awesome... everyone is right... if your weight is that same... but your pants are getting looser... you're losing FAT!!!! and Gaining Muscle... yay... you haven't platued... except on the scale... now... when your pants start staying the same size... and the scale doesn't budge... then you've truly platued... and you need to change it up...

Run. There is no mystery here.

Go outside and run as far as you can without stopping, then walk 5 minutes...repeat. Gradually increase the running and phase out the walking. I wouldn't waste your time with the wii, all you are going to get are sweaty ruined controllers.

I wouldn't load up on protein shakes and smoothies if your goal here is to lose weight.

It's us cheater vegetarians that bask in the glory of seafood.

Dude, get out of your living room and into a gym. I have a Wii and I know exactly what you're putting your body through, and it's definitely not enough to sustain the weightloss you're looking for.

You have plateaued. Now is the time to engage in real, ball-busting exercise if you want to continue seeing great gains. Get on that bike and stay on it as long as you can, and throw in some weights while you're at it.

Wow, thank you all for your responses. You’ll be pleased to hear that the bike ride didn’t kill me after all. I actually recovered much quicker than I expected and felt no effects the following day.

Adam, you couldn’t be more wrong about the Wii. I think you might be over estimating a level of fitness here. One of the objectives of the Wii was to get off my backside, which I feel I’ve now done. I’ve also learned quite a lot about my body. I’ve found that if the other guy won’t fall down I can just keep punching, it aches (lactic acid?) I keep going as long as I can and as soon as I stop the aches just flood away. This helped a great deal on the bike, but I had to be careful not to try to keep going long enough so that I fell off. However, you and Jared are both correct in that it doesn’t serve as exercise for very long, in my last session I still felt quite fresh at the end of it. I don’t see myself running or signing up for a gym just yet, but I have the bike so I can keep improving for a few weeks yet.

2 pounds lighter this morning, thank you all.

Hydrogen ions. see my post in "calories burnt"

Point taken on the over-estimation. You just said you were no longer seeing the weight loss you had in the beginning, I suggest that the wii has probably taken you as far as it's going to go.

Thanks Adam. I hadn't found "calories burnt" - useful suff

stuff