Is it possible that you've plateaued? How varied are your workouts? How varied is your diet? Do you do the same thing in the same order every time you work out? If you do, that's incredibly bad, but I understand. I am also a big fan of order and regimen.

If you think you've plateaued, here's what I'd suggest. Diet pills have a tendency to decrease in effectiveness when taken regularly. I take Leptopril, but after a finish a bottle, I give myself two weeks off to get it out of my system. When I start back again, wham! I'm dropping pounds like crazy.

The same concept is even more true for exercise. If you stick to a tight regimen that never varies, your body quickly becomes acclimated and viola...plateau. As a woman, I find this to be particularly annoying. I want weekly results. But the body has to be constantly challenged and pushed to its limits to make the gains you want. You have to push it to muscular failure or you're going nowhere. So set your weights just heavy enough for you to barely push out 8-15 reps. Rest 30-60 seconds then have another go, and then another. I dropped from 216 lbs. to 160 lbs. using this method in just six months, and my muscle definition is just sleek, womanly and beautiful...no bulking.

You can make other subtle changes to break a plateau. Do extra reps, try different machines that target the same muscle groups, or do free weights for a week. Anything different is good. Alternate regularly. But whatever you do, don't give up that Stairmaster. The thing is a medieval torture contraption from the 7th layer of hell, but for body shaping there simply IS no substitute. It's a fat burning blast furnace, and my husband is totally in bewildered awe of what it's doing to my butt!