cadre

Don't bother with diet pills. You are not someone who needs them as others have said. And in my opinion most otc ones are not healthy. Prescriptions can help but at a price and they are never recommended for those trying to lose a few pound.

I can tell you what probably happened here, you cut your calories way back and increased your body's need for energy so your metabolism slowed down. This is a mistake a lot of people make. You can't just cut your calories in half and expect to lose weight. Most people recommend cutting by 20%, so go to google and find one of the many caloric needs calculators (or I'll post the equation if you want) and find out how many calories you need to maintain your weight. Reduce this by 20% to get your goal intake. A lot of people use a 40/40/20 ratio for macronutrients (40% protein and carbs, 20% mostly good fats) but this is not necessarily what the FDA recommends. I use 30% protein, 50% carbs and 20% fats. You do not need to eat excessive amount of protein to gain muscle and doing so can exasperate many health problems.

Next, find a program like FatSecret to help you track your calories. You don't have to do this forever but doing it for at least a week will give you a good idea of where you're at and what changes to make as far as your food goes. I do this for at least three days when I'm cutting and I've been studying this for a long time. Some people have no idea how much they actually eat and you'll see better results if you are more accurate to begin with.

Then yeah exercise, cardio will help burn more calories and weight training will help to maintain muscle. Keep in mind that muscle is much more dense than fat but it also burns more calories so it is great to build up lean mass.

Sorry for the essay! If you want any help with diet or exercise or anything related just shoot me a pm. This is what I'm studying up in Flagstaff.

__________________
My life is one of those 'you had to be there' jokes.