Advice on Cutting Weight

Hey Guys I'm fairly new to this site, I've checking it out for a couple of weeks now and decided to create an acccount to get some outside opinions.  Here's my  story I'll try to be brief. I used to work out pretty hard last year, I was 197lbs around spring of '06 (my average weight before then was about 220), but after I graduated from college I lost access to the campus gym and pretty much blew upto about 236. Right around May 07 I realized how much weight I packed on and was like F*&% this, its time to get back on track. I've lost about 14lbs so far ( down to 222-223llbs), but I've seemed to plateaued.  Is this a matter of just doing more cardio?  It seems to be harder to take off the weight the second time around.

Heres my routine:  I eat around 1300 - 1400 cals a day, about 4 - 5 mini meals usually consisting of Granola bars, salads, chicken, v8 juice, fruit, and fish

I average about 3 days at the gym but I always shoot for 4. Gym routine goes for about 1.5 - 2 hrs. With 30mins of eliptical on lifting days and an hour on non lifting days. I pretty happy with my strength training routine I've add about 20 - 25lbs to my bench routine in two months. Weight routine is

MondayChest:     1se t=Weight/set1/set2/set3 x= number of sets

Start with: (These are super sets so the excercises are done back to back bench press ito dumbell press into flys)Barbell press 215/15/6/4 dumbell press 50/15/10/15  dumbell flys 20/10/10/10. 3x.

Then I'll do Inclined press  135/10 for three sets, and pullovers with a 55lb dumbell 10 times, 3 sets.

Tuesday biceps: super set with barbell & hammer curl: 50/15 30/10, three times. Then I do inclined curls 30/10 3x, reverse curls 40/10 3x, and finish with 21s wit about 15lb barbell 

Wednesday Shoulders & Triceps: super set shoulders w/ military press and dumbell press 135/10 40/10 3x. the front and side lateral raises 15/10 3x. followed by upright rows 50/10 3x

Thursdays - back & legs: pull down machine and rows. and lunges for the legs. sorry I can't remember the amount of weight I use for back and legs.

Like I said each day I end with 30 min on the elipitical and abs. I think I will start running on the treadmill since the eliptical is getting easy for me.           

Hopefully you all can give me some pointers on how to get over this slump I'm in and I'm always open to any adice on my lifting routine

It seems like you are doing everything right except one thing that sticks out to me... your calorie intake.  It seems pretty low for your body weight and amount of time you workout.  I'm sure someone can give you the numbers, or there is a tool on this site somewhere, that gives advice on how many calories to intake daily.  I think that maybe by upping it a couple hundred it might help boost your weight loss (ironic I know).  I'm not really an expert but some people on here seem to know a lot about the subject, hopefully they can further explain!  Good luck!

Hi Havok,

I've never gone through a plateau (yet) but from what I've read it may help to change up your work out routine so as to jumpstart your body. If you do the same routine every week i.e. the eliptical try doing something different, like do rowing, running, walking, cycling or even spinning or swimming, instead. The muscles get used to doing the same activity and will eventually need less energy to perform the exercise that they are used to.

The fact that you are increasing your weight lifted gradually is perfect that way.