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Congratulations, Ed! You're a great role model. I am on a weight-loss journey myself and I've lost nearly thirty pounds (29.9) since I've started a month ago. I also agree with other SE readers that changing up the exercise routine can help with the last bit of extra weight. I also suggest watching your salt, sugar, and fat intake...which you're most likely watching anyway. Your body could be holding water, which could be quite a number of pounds. Best of luck to you!

Ed--50 pounds is a great accomplishment! You deserve a cocktail (I recommend vodka rocks--low-cal) and a minute to celebrate before you embark on the last part of your weight-loss quest.

And after that minute, maybe consider what you are willing to DO to be 10 pounds lighter. Because those last 10-15 are dirty dogs, sticky as heck, and to lose them you have to really kinda torture yourself.

I'd love to have 5 pounds shaved off, but I'm not willing to go to the gym EVERY day for an hour, give up bacon and wine, and eat grass.

I am 40; I'm in my healthy range for weight, and frankly, at this age, vanity loses out to enjoying my life. Nobody's paying me Heidi Klum wages to be stick skinny, so I ain't doin' it. Healthy and happy is good.

BUT, if you wanna go there, I'll be following with interest.

Ed,

First off, congratulations on your weight loss! What you are doing is a great example of what our nation should follow suit in... be responsible for their health in what they eat and their activity. It will not only make a your life that much better, but it will be a benefit to the healthcare crisis in the U.S. currently. Keep up the great work!

With regards to the whole body mass index measurements and weights, just know that these standards are put together by insurance companies, thus they tend to err on the side of "overweight" so that insurance costs can be elevated. It's just a basic measurement, and does not take account muscle (which ways more than fat). Weight isn't the best weight to determine fitness and health... the better alternative is to make measurements with measuring tape (waist, belly, chest, arms, etc).

Finally, like many others have mentioned, it sounds like you've plateaued. Your body has gotten use to the intake versus your activity, and has found a balance. If you're truly looking to lose more weight, you'll need to trick your body into more changes... Take a look at Tabata training, High Intensity Interval Training, and possibly adding weight lifting into your regimen... inevitably, you will plateau again, in which you'll have to do something new to trick your body into burning calories all over again.

I wish you the best of luck, and look forward to your continued success!

1. More than weight, % of body fat is a critical factor. If you were in peak physical form you might be heavy, but it might all be lean muscle. Many top athletes are way off the charts in weight. If you go to a sports club or gym, ask a trainer to measure your body fat. Then look that up on the carts.

2. Having muscle will help you burn fat, even when you are at rest. (How cool is that?). Building muscle is easy. If you lift correctly for only about 40 minutes, 3 times a week, you'll be super buff in 12 weeks.

3. For your cardio exercise, consider upping the intensity. 20 minutes of intense exercise can get your pulse, and your metabolism, up for hours.

For a really easy overview of all this, pick up the NYT best seller Body for Life. And remember, you didn't gain all that weight in a few months, it's likely to take time to lose it too.

(Okay, just step away from the doughnut .)

I think that most people's body's have a point they gravitate to and it's only with extreme (and usually unhealthy) effort that you can break that range. I know you have this feature and announcing your weight is a part of that, but at this point, it might be better to forget about the scale, and find other goals for yourself, involving squash or as other people have mentioned, weight lifting.

People's bodies DO have natural variation. Everyone knows a couple of people who are stick thin no matter what they do, and probably a couple who are heavier even with the most diligent habits (even if it's easier to believe the former is genetic than the latter). Those are extremes, but the idea is to find where your natural variation lies when you're engaging in habits that make you feel physically good (exercise, but not to the point of wearing down your body. healthy food, but without self-flagellating rules about it).

And the charts ARE bunk for a lot of people. My brother, for example, is overweight according to the charts, and he's average height and a size 28. People are used to hearing things as excuses, but if you have solid bones, or a lot of muscle mass, those are good things, and you shouldn't jeopardize healthy lean mass for some numbers on a chart. There's so much emotion and stigma caught up in this stuff that it's hard to judge rationally, but do try before you set a goal in stone and hold yourself up to it.

Dear Ed,

Congratulations on your weight loss. This is really a tremendous accomplishment! Yeah, exercise is always a good thing. But, I think at this point you should consider food allergies/sensitivities. I've seen food allergies cause excess weight due to, basically, systemic inflammation causing lots of water retention. When people eliminate their allergenic foods, they will often shed 20 lbs of weight (or even more). I think that this is the cause of those last 15-20 lbs that people "just can't lose."

You can eliminate the most common foods, and figure out which cause you problems -- they are wheat, dairy, corn, yeast, and soy. Or, you can have a blood test through a lab called Alletess. The test is a 96 food IgG ELISA panel, and it costs about $125. They'll take a sample of blood and test it against 96 common foods, and give you back a print-out so you can see which foods are causing problems.

IgG food allergies are controversial (most doctors will tell you only IgE is an allergy), but I'm a dietitian, and I have seen this help many, many people. If your doctor gives you a hard time, use the magic phrase "I'm willing to pay out of pocket." Or, call Alletess and they'll refer you to a dr in your area who will do it. I think it's worth a try.

Good luck!

I completely disagree with those recent studies that say exercise doesn't affect weight loss--yes, if you simply tack 200 calories additional exercise calories to your day. But I find that long hours of intense exercise, combined with strength and flexibility work amps up my metabolism, and makes me fitter (a huge added bonus) and makes my workouts higher in quality.

Yes, you have plateaued. But changing the types of exercise you do, doing higher-intensity intervals (play a faster squash partner? spinning?), doing types of exercise your body isn't used to, and so forth can be helpful.

Also, be patient: when I have plateaued during weight loss, I find that I need to wait 2-3 months before my body normalizes itself completely and understands that it is still going to be fed, not starved.

Congrats on the 50th lb. That's tremendous progress.

I'm 5'10" and have weighed close to 270 in the past. I remember hitting plateaus and eventually getting down to 210. (I'm 215 now.) At the time I was frustrated that I was still "obese" by BMI standards, although I looked fit. I found out my body fat was 12%, which is pretty good. I'd suggest using body fat as the best indicator of your healthy weight, which unfortunately requires you to have the measurements taken by someone in the know, preferably by submersion.

In terms of getting under 215, have you considered adding a weight lifting regimen to your squash and biking? You won't lose the weight as fast given that you'll be building muscle, but you will get the boost to metabolism, which eventually pays off. This is what helped me past one plateau.

Keep up the great (and inspiring) work. I'll look forward to future posts.

First of all, I completely don't agree with the charts..BURN them!!! Secondly, what I use is dress size. Are you happy being a 38? Do you fit into all the clothes you want to? For me, I know, no matter what, I will never be a size 4, I am just not meant to be, but my goal is to be a size 6 all the time. I am not quite there yet, secondly, my goal is to finish an ultramarathon(not there) and continue to progress on the Ashtanga Primary Series...(okay, a little on the extreme side I admit but that is me) SO what is Ed? Get yourself to a fitness point you are satisfied with, get to a point clothing-wise you are satisfied with, know you are eating and drinking seriously well and BURN the charts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Made root beer a lot back when the extract was in the grocery store routinely, (70's and 80's). But I had a few bottles explode on me, too, including in my middle school science classroom when I was teaching. Very important not to let it wait too long after making, and very important to be careful not to handle too much.

I was shocked to discover that I can actually make toast without any burnt, black or charred parts. That said... it's just as well that I don't drink alcohol anymore as burnt toast has long been a suggested antidote for hangovers.

You can always scrape off the black parts. My grandma taught me that!