The only way I ever lost a significant amount of weight was by counting calories. It was a lot of work, since I had to measure/weigh and log everything I ate, but it worked really well. I'm a logical person, so it was nice to be able to actually look at the numbers and be guaranteed that I would lose weight if I burned more than I ate.

My wife has currently been using the 17 day diet and has been happy with it. It basically goes in three 17 day cycles. The first is the strictest in terms of the types of foods you can eat (no carbs) and the last is a maintenance phase. If after the 3 cycles you are not at your goal weight, you repeat the cycle. While she is not yet at her target weight, she doesn't find the diet too difficult to follow except for the no carb phase (she's a carb addict) and uses it as a guideline rather than gospel.

The diet combined with an exercise program has been working well for her so far.

I worked for a nutritionist for 5 years at their helath food store as the store manager and he always recommended cutting sweets, soft drinks, breads, pastas, white flour products, etc. that are just simple carbs that have no nutritional value. Once you're consciously aware of what you put in your mouth then it is easier to make better choices.

As far as excercise goes, I don't know how much time you are able to spend each day, but I recommend two different dvd sets. They're both from the trainers off the Biggest Loser.

The first one is Bob Harpers Inside out method. You can find his whole set at mytrainerbob.com along with tips from him as well. This is how I lost post-baby weight. I think his dvd's are about 50 minutes long but in the complete set he has a cardio, strength training, yoga, and one he calls "my workout" which is some things he does on a typical day.

The other dvd is from Jillian Michaels and hers are shorter than Bob's 30-45min but just as intense. She has a dvd called Ripped in 30. Actually she has a lot of dvd's but this one also comes with a 30day meal plan guide.

I've heard other people talk about the P90x program, but I think it is very expensive.

I attend OA (Overeaters Anonymous), consume only fresh produce and lean meats and whole grains (so no sugar or white carbs or anything processed), and walk several times a week. I'm a very classic overeater and food addict (most especially sugar), so I can't just 'follow a diet until blah-blah-blah'. Whatever you put in front of me I WILL eat all of it, to hell with portion sizes. I'm trying hard to change my relationship with food - eat to live, NOT live to eat.

Since you seem to be active and eating healthy, you may need to visit your doctor and get tested. It could be many things, like thyroid activity, etc. It may also be that you hit a plateau - your body got used to the same activity and food all this time, so you may need to change up your routine and introduce either a new method of exercise (trampolines are fun) or to cut out one of your foods (like grains or switching meats) for a few weeks.

I put on 20 pounds during a rough semester of college, and was able to get back to my normal weight, like Coralbell, by counting calories. Caloriecount.about . com was very useful for me, I could easily log what I ate and see nutritional breakdowns as well as calories so I made sure not to skimp on any food group, vitamin or mineral source. It wasn't super fast, I suppose actually I put on the weight over three months and lost it over two and a half. So perhaps that's not so bad at the end of the day.

Beyond that---do you really *enjoy* the exercise you do? In high school I ran cross country, and I never really loved it. "Ok, the endorphins are nice, but this is really hard, no matter how much I practice." When I started biking, I found that I loved the actual act of biking, even before I took into account the endorphins---so I started biking all the time, just because it was fun. I think this is mostly because of how my body's built---I've got Clydesdale legs and running was always very exhausting, but biking takes my heaviest parts and lets them work to my advantage instead of me dragging them along.

So---evaluate whether your workout is really the best one for your body. If it doesn't feel very fun, try a different type of exercise!

The only one I saw results from was "Insanity". It is extremely hard. Within a month, I started to tone-up.

I did the Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer videos for awhile. The bonus 45 minute workout is the one I did every day, and I really started to drop some weight. Aside from that, just running and eating more fruit and vegetables did it for me.

Alas, I'm not doing so well with keeping my weight in check now, because my work schedule has been on the 50 hour a week track, so I'm lazy and too tired when I'm at home.

some really good ideas here