Donna, one thing I did recently was to get a body composition test done, and I had a consult with a fitness expert. Like you, I haven't lost weight in a long time, even though I engage in distance cycling and I am careful with my food choices. The results of the body composition test was an eye opener for me. I mean wow. Maybe if you get the body composition test you will have an amazing wow too.

I am 53 years old and I am 5'8". The body composition test is accurate to within 3 percent, which is good enough for me. I know from a bone scan from last year that my bone density is off the chart, therefore my bones weigh a lot. The body composition test showed my lean body mass is 145 pounds. Think about that number, because that is more than a lot of women weigh. I am told I need to lose 40 pounds of body fat to reach a 23 body fat percentage, and that my ideal weight for a 23% is 188 pounds. Now I would never have known that to be my ideal weight because I weighed around 145 in high school, and if I got to 188 I would have thought I still had 30-40 pounds to lose. And it is extremely helpful to know I only need to lose 40 pounds of fat. Also, my BMR is a high 2001 calories per day.

The fitness expert told me that all of this time that I have been increasing my fitness level with my focus on increasing my cycling distances, that all of this stuff has been going on inside my body. She says I am extremely strong and that my body is firm and healthy, that my muscle mass is dense and healthy, and that I have more muscle mass than most people she knows. She said to be proud of what I have achieved. For personal advice, she told me to stop counting calories, that with my BMR plus the calories I burn every day with the cycling, that the excess fat will come off slowly over the next few years, and to focus specifically on the nutritional intake that will make me a better cyclist. The fitness expert was a lady with a specialized European degree, similar to a degree in Sports and Nutrition and Physiology.

She also said to stop weighing myself, to use only my tape measure and to get a body composition test done every six months to track my progress.

Mainly, though, the advice is that if one is healthy and fit, and if one focuses on nutrition and increasing the fitness level, then changes occur to the body composition that are for the better, and these are changes that are not observable on a bathroom scale.

You can go to the doctor and see if there is a physical problem, but if not, and you continue to focus on nutrition and exercise, then your body will change. It just takes time, and time is defined in years, not days.

I pass on the same advice to you. Start training for a century and you will like the changes it will bring to your body.

Darcy