[c0riander]

If your wife has been in caloric restriction for an extended period of time, she may have metabolic damage. I recently stumbled upon Layne Norton's work - he has a PhD in Nutritional Science and is a bodybuilder/powerlifter, and he makes some compelling arguments (and reviews of the literature) about how the metabolism responds to prolonged caloric restriction.

Here's a good place to start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHHzie6XRGk

[mistermann]

Interesting....again, this all sounds plausible, but is also contradictory with other perfectly plausible theories, some even in this same thread (whether low intensity cardio is good or bad).

Considering the plateau my wife's hit, I think maybe this is an avenue worth exploring though. She'll certainly be open to the idea of consuming more calories!

You know one thing that sucks, I would be not at all surprised if the average personal trainer at a gym hardly has a clue what they're talking about, not to mention the theoretical approach they subscribe to might not even be correct.

[leshow]

Metabolic damage is an overused term that layne has been pushing for a long time and makes a lot of money off of. I encourage you to read alan aragon's research review so you can see real research and how full of shit the whole 'metabolic damage' thing really is.