weight loss plateau...help!

Well, I started off a couple years ago a about 176 lbs, By miniming portions, exercising and cutting out red meat, fast food and soda i went down to 146. However after that began having health problms, had to have my gallbladder removed, in the midst of that i lost 10 more lbs. However since having my gallbladder removed ( in march ) i have gon eback up to the 146 and now am having the hardest time losing that 10 lbs. I've always weight more then I looked so I try to never weight myself.... Igot by my dress size. I went from a 12 to an 8....my goal now is a 6...but now I feel like Ive plateaud......does anyone have any suggestions??

I was doing an intense yoga workout for several months but can't seem to get motivated to get back into it.... I'm horrible at watching calories ... i just try and eat less but lately have had a strong craving for sweets..pizza....

i do work out 2-3 lbs a week but..... i feel frustrated....does anyone have any advice?

it sounds like you are a very goal-oriented person, and i would only have a suggestion that you set more reasonable goals for yourself. if you start up something too intensely (like your yoga) then you can actually get burned out on it. try to imagine a workout that you would be happy doing for the rest of your life. it needs to have some variety, and not be too intense. and the cravings are probably telling you that you need to get more variety into your eating, as well. how tall are you? maybe you are already at a healthy weight for your height? and that is why you are maintaining that weight. also, it really does help to count calories and look at the nutritional analysis of what you are eating. with practice, it actually gets pretty easy to do.

I think your right with me being burnt out on yoga...and as far as the cravings.  I have a tendency to overeat when im bored and i work nights so that means when I get home late. whats really helped is that I buy only veryhealthy foods for my house but also the same foods over and over.  I dont have much variety atall in mydiet, but I dont know how to change that in a healthy way. I'm 5'4......

How many total calories are you eating?

I don't really count calories so much..... this is probably the wrong website for me lol. I just try and eat healthy and keep my portions small.

When you're already in the low weight ranges, and trying to lose more, you have to get more precise. If you don't count calories, you might eat less than is actually healthy.  But the most likely reason you are plateauing is that you are eating the right amount of food to maintain your current weight.  Not counting calories is like this: You desperately want to save money at the grocery store, but you don't want to bother looking at prices of things you buy.  You think if you at least buy only healthy foods, you should be able to save money... how come you can't save any money?

A lot of healthy foods come with a high-calorie price tag...  walnuts have 200 calories per quarter cup.  To lose the last pounds, you will likely have to eat about 1200 calories a day, maybe 1300. 1400 might be too high.  Then, to figure out if you're making progress, you have to weigh yourself once in a while. You have to expect it will take you a few months to lose the last ten pounds, and you want to know it the first weeks, if what you are doing is working.

Yoga probably doesn't burn many calories either. My guess is that even walking is better. But weight loss is more about what you eat than how much you exercise.

Your right I didn't really think about it that way.  Its just... lets say I order something at a restaurant...how can I knowhow many calories that is? Does counting calories mean I can't eat out? Thats the part of it that I get lost with. 

As far as the yoga, it was bikram yoga, 90 minutes in a room thats 112 degrees so I know that definetly burned calories but again it was so intense, i'm just not in the mood to start that back up.  Right now I've been doing elliptical for an hr 2-3 times a week , 20 minutes of floor exercises. I've recently started doing 45 minutes on the ellipcals 4 times a week and im thinking of buying some light weights to work with.

I know how much you eat is important but.. if you exercise that increases your metabolism so i do think you can eat more junk when you work out alot but i know that thought isnt helping lol it is a balance, im just having a hard time finding that when it comes to eating right.

 Starting tomorrow I will start counting the calories... 1400 a day is your suggestion? let me know how you suggest doing that when out a restaurant ... if i can get this figured out i would love to start my weight loss back up. i dont like going in the opposite direction lol :)