When someone's fat loss totally stalls, it means they're no longer creating a calorie deficit. Patience is a virtue and all that, but if you're a Body for Lifer seeing NO changes in weight or inches, the first thing to look at is free day, followed by portion sizes, carb choices, and exercise intensity, in that order.

If you're taking a full and crazy free day, it's entirely possible to undue your calorie deficit for the week. That's not to say that you have to give it up. Just make sure you're eating really deluxe, rich, delicious, special, favorite foods and not grazing all day on bland junk just because it's there. I will admit that I'm guilty of being a bland junk grazer from time to time. I'll find myself eating things I wouldn't normally eat because "now's my chance."

There are a couple of things you can do with free day. I usually base my free day on my results and how I'm feeling that week. If I've been eating clean and my determination is strong, I might have one free meal instead of the whole day, or I might skip free day altogether. Doing that for even one week can really kick up your results. Now, there are other weeks, stressful, horrible, weeks from hell, when I just need an entire pizza and a pint of Ben & Jerry's and everybody better get out of my way. I never feel guilty when I do that, but I realize that I'll get better results on weeks when I don't. Another option for free day is healthy carbs day. Like, maybe I won't hit the greasy junk food. I'll just eat all my favorite high-carb goodies that I normally wouldn't eat on BFL. Like, cereal or a bagel for breakfast, sandwiches on great bread, light microwave popcorn to snack on, pasta for dinner, a big bowl of lowfat frozen yogurt. It's a large volume of tasty "forbidden" food but the calorie density doesn't compare to eating even one restaurant or fast-food meal.

After looking at free day, double check your portion sizes. Make sure you haven't succumbed to the ever-expanding fist. Get out the measuring cups or food scale for a day or two. Look at labels. If you have any doubts, enter a day or two of your food into FitDay. For maximum fat loss, most women’s calories should probably fall between 1200-1700 calories a day, and your nutrition ratios should be around 40% protein, 40% carbs, 20% fat. You don't have to become fanatical about it or start tracking everything daily. Just spot check yourself occasionally to make sure you're on track.

For carb choices, make sure you're relying heavily on fresh fruits and vegetables and not so much on bread, pasta, bars, or boxed rice mixes. Sodium can do a number on you. Check out the Lean Out or Swell Up menu for more on that and an example of how to fix it.

And finally, look at your exercise intensity and your daily activity level. The more you move, the more flexible you can be with your food and still see great results. Your weights should be very challenging. If you're hitting a 10 on weights, it means the weight is so heavy and the muscle is so fatigued that you couldn't possibly do one more rep. Normally, the early sets serve as more of a warm-up. They're challenging but they're not so heavy that the muscle actually fails. Once you get to the 8 and 6 rep sets, it should be a serious struggle to finish them and you might not get all the reps in. It's important to regularly change your exercises, change the order, and increase the amount of weight you're lifting.

On cardio, the 20 minute interval workout should be extremely challenging. They don’t call it HIGH-INTENSITY interval training for nothing. :-) If you don’t have at least of few seconds of wondering if you’re going to throw up or faint, it’s time to turn up the intensity. If you're on a treadmill, increase the incline and speed. On a bike or stairstepper, push the speed and resistance. If you exercise outdoors, find some hills or stairs. The best workout is the one you've never done before. So, if you've been using the same piece of equipment or the same intensity for awhile, change things up.

Your daily activity level also plays into the equation. If you're able to jog, bike, swim, dance, kickbox, take a yoga class or any other kind of moderate bonus activity during the week, go for it! It all helps. So do all of those corny little things you hear the "experts" suggesting. Parking far from the door, taking the stairs, etc. I swear that part of my miracle metabolism is just that I'm so highly caffeinated I can't hold still. I'm always twitching, dancing, tapping my feet, running around. At the end of the day, all that fidgeting plays into my calorie deficit. Take advantage of any opportunity to be active, even if it's just stretching your legs while you're on the phone or dancing around the kitchen while you're cooking breakfast.

Most BFLers are probably familiar with John Hussman's site. I still go browse through it once in awhile for new tidbits of information. He's a genius.

Hope that gives you some ideas!