Get past that plateau, girl!

Now that I'm passed the initial shock of not having lost again, I managed to do some brainstorming with hubby. He's been with me through it all, the highs, the lows, and he knows how much I have improved my diet and lifestyle. 

I've decided to not got carb-free, but rather give my diet an overhaul. I have been sticking to my purpose of not eating more than 1,360 calories a day, but now I'm going to improve what I put in my body with these calories here's my straightforward plan:

• Do 20 mins cardio 5 days a week. Hubby took out my elliptical trainer for me. 
• Remove foods that impact my blood sugar & insulin levels, i.e. change white bread for whole grain, eat fruit with protein, cut sugar out completely, even if my calorie allowance permits its added calories.
• Cut caffeine for best adrenal function
• Include 5 minutes of breathing & relaxation exercises into my day to decrease stress.
• Sleep at least 7 hours per night (have been sleeping around 4-5), which really can affect weight loss. 
• Read a book on low GI (Glicemic index) dieting, to learn more about it. 

I might not be able to do all of this in a single week, ok, I won't, so I'm giving myself a deadline to have included all the items above in my lifestyle: March 31st, 2012. 

One thing I'm really happy about is that two months ago, if I had hit a plateau for 3 weeks in a row, I'd go berserk and stuff myself with food and think: "It's not working, why bother", but this time around I only feel more determined to make it work after all the efforts I've made so far and because I really want to get my weight loss reward (will describe it in another post).