Not seeing results. Not pounds OR inches! Help!

[AmandaKay]

A little about me. I'm 20, female, 5'5", 135 lbs. My goals are to get a Toned stomach (lose the love handles over jeans + hopefully get a 6 pack soon..) and to reach my goal weight of 125 lbs.
I have been working out hard since March 2011. Excersice 1 hour a day 5 days a week. I do HIIT, elliptical, bike, and the past couple months have started strength training 5x a week also. I love to work my abs and arms. I don't do leg days because of how bulky they get so easily.
I eat low carb, limiting myself to 100g or less of carbs a day, high fat and protein. I don't eat bread, pasta, cookies, cake, or anything with white flour or high in carbs.
Although, I let myself eat whatever I want on the weekends. So it's strict 5 days a week then I break on the weekends.

Anyways! I have 2 problems. I have been working so hard and have only went from 142 to 135 in over a year! And my inches have all stayed the same except my hips. They have increased 2 inches just recently. I am so bummed about this because I don't want bulky thighs! I don't even train my legs.
So I am still 10lbs more than I want to be and gaining inches. My jeans are tighter these days but I don't understand why! I keep my diet so healthy and religiously exersice...


ANY advice, thoughts, tips would be so so greatly appreciated! I am at such a standstill right now and I've never been so frustrated.


Thank you for reading my novel. Lol

[Athene]

Hmm, sorry to hear that! Everyone's different - here are my ideas:

1. Forget the idea of Spot-training
Not "training your legs" is kind of crazy I mean that in a supportive way! If your legs were ripped with muscles and you had a lower body fat percentage, you would not think your legs were bulky at all, and they would fit your clothes. You can't spot train like that - it doesn't work. If you want to lose body fat, especially around your hips and midsection, working out your entire body and losing fat from everywhere, including your stomach, is all that you can do. The abdomen is the last place that it comes from, so you will have to be very strong and fit for that to happen.

2. Limit Weekly Cheats to 1 Meal not 2 Days
Eating whatever you want for 2 days could be what is derailing you. Try to keep it to one meal/evening per week. So if you go out for dinner with friends one night, that's your cheat for the week, or if you go to a movie and you get a popcorn, that was your cheat for the week.

3. Up the Frequency of Your Meals, Keeping Portions Small
Try to eat a small portion meal that keeps you going but doesn't make you feel full, every 3 hours, rather than 2-3 larger meals, spaced hours apart. See how it feels and make adjustments accordingly.

4. Don't Ovetrain
1 hour per week 5 days per week is a good amount of training to support your goal, so you have to make sure you're intense and smart about training. Don't do the same thing every day, and give it your all, whether you are doing something for time, or working on technique for quality.

[whyyyjen]

Most of my ideas are already shared by Athene above. Here are a few of what I tried.

1. Juicing. Try juicing fresh fruits for breakfast everyday. It will make you healthy, plus it can also shed of the body fat you have been carrying for a year now.

2. Try a new workout. You might have reached a plateau and all you need is a boost in exercise. Your body needs to get used to another routine.