Woo hoo! I'm glad I could be of help!

Re: the weight loss. How slow is dreadfully slow? 1 to 1.5 pounds per week means you are probably losing body fat and not the muscle you've worked so hard to build. More than 2-3 pounds a week means muscle is being lost.

What are you doing diet-wise right now? How many meals do you eat a day? ARe you getting enough protein and water?

Congradulations on your weight loss so far!!
Brian asked some great questions that definately could give you some insight into your situation, so I need not say more!!
And I agree - he DOES ROCK!! He should really be a consultant on this site - very encouraging and supportive. LOVE YOU BRIAN!!

Right now, for whatever reason, I'm finding it hard to eat 4 to 5 mini meals every day...but I do. It seems there's always something more important. I don't eat any junk food at all and zero salt, zero sugar. I do drink lots of water though because it's the only thing I drink...no pop or juice or anything else, just water.
It's taken me about 40 weeks to lose 35 pounds. That's slow! Grrrrrrrr. Can you think of anything exercise wise that would "kick it up a notch"?

When I was doing the serious dieting down for the competition my diet consisted of 6 meals a day (eat every 2 - 3 hours, hungry or not) which used this formula:

1.5 grams protein per pound of lean body mass daily (for me, about 195 grams, my LBM was around 130 pounds)
1 gram carbohydrate per pound of body weight daily (for me, around 150 grams)
20% of daily calories Essential Fatty Acids
1 gallon of water daily

In order to ensure I ate enough meals and did not cheat I pre-cooked all the components and stored them in reclosable plastic bags. I ate 6 of them each day and did this consistently for 8 weeks.

My protein source was skinless/boneless chicken or turkey breast (low fat). For carbs I had 2 oz sweet potato and 2 oz asparagus. The EFA source was a teaspoon of flaxseed oil drizzled on AFTER heating (cooking degrades the nutrient value). For flavor I added a tsp (or a splash) of white vinegar and some Mrs. Dash or fresh chopped herbs (loved my parsley and basil!)

While eating this diet I trained heavy on my lifting days and did moderate intensity cardio. This was to maintain and continue to build muscle while metabolizing body fat. If the cardio is too intense the body will tend to hold on to fat, so you may have to experiment a bit to find the optimum cardio balance for you.

You may also have to tinker with the carb levels. Too low and you won't remember your own name, slugs will race past you (I lost a set of keys in the house last July that I STILL can't find, and yes I DID look in the freezer), too high and you won't lose weight.

I must caution you - this is extreme dieting, so if you choose to try some of these ideas be sure to log what you eat and record how it makes you feel. The goal is NOT a big number drop each week, but to safely metabolize fat without losing the muscle you've worked so hard to create.

While it sounds like it might be safe to accelerate your weight loss a little, I would encourage you to continue what you're doing and be patient with the process. The rate at which you are dropping now is safe, and most likely IS the weight you WANT to lose, namely, the body fat.

I would also encourage you to consult with a professional nutrition expert, who could tailor your daily calorie intake to best suit your metabolism, your level of activity and your goals for the most efficient, safe, healthy diet for YOU!

Congratulations on your great work so far - please do keep us posted on what you try and how it's working!

Brian

Just re-read your question and realized the one I answered wasn't the one you asked. Oops!

You wrote:"Can you think of anything exercise wise that would "kick it up a notch"?"

Here's something you can do with your cardio:

Warm up for 5 minutes
"Sprint" for 30 seconds. "Sprint" in this case does not mean all out, just pick up the pace a bit.
Resume normal speed for a minute or two.
Do this again three or four more times, each time increase the sprint by 5 - 10 more seconds. The last sprint should be your longest.
Cool down - make sure your heart rate has come down enough that you don't pass out or throw up when you leave the machine!

I took this from Bill Phillips' Body For Life - he's a little more precise than this. Also - it's only 20 minutes TOTAL for the whole cardio experience. He explains why it burns more calories than only maintaining one pace for the entire duration - it escapes me at the moment. As is also my copy of Body for Life, I think it's lurking in a pile in my room somewhere!

Thanks Brian! I'm going to add the "sprint" to my workouts and I'll let you know how that goes. I've bee avoiding the dreaded measuring tape...until yesterday. I'm still not sure why but I'm really losing inches...a total of 44 since I began working out hard. I'm getting into clothes that I wore when I was almost 20 pounds thinner. I'm not even almost the same shape I was when I was thin. I puzzle me.lol
Also, I do work with nutrition experts and a personal trainer ( I just think you have really good advice to add). I have them all scrambling now because I let them know that I'd like to lose 10 pounds by Christmas and that there would be a bonus in it for them if I did. LOL Just between you and me...I'd be happy to take off 5 pounds...but I'll see what they come back with anyway.

Kathy

LOL!

Do remember that muscle is denser than fat. You are slimmer because you have less body fat, but you might not necessarily weigh a whole lot less because of the muscle you've added.

Muscle is also more shapely than fat, so that's also the reason for your improved appearance (as evidenced by the measuring tape) despite what the bathroom scale says.