I’m 23, and 16 months postpartum and have been on a health journey trying to lose about 50 pounds. I’ve been pretty consistent for the last two months, with maybe only 4–7 days at maintenance. Otherwise, I’ve stayed in at least a small calorie deficit, usually around 100–500 calories per day.

I average 10k–15k steps daily and, over the past two weeks, I’ve been doing cardio workouts 3 times a week for about 20–30 minutes each.

So far, I’m only down 5 pounds, and I’m starting to feel really frustrated. My goal was to lose around 8 pounds per month, but I don’t know how realistic that is or how to actually achieve it.

Right now I aim for around 1,600 calories per day and try to get over 100g of protein.

Do I need to increase my workouts or be stricter with my diet? Has anyone been in a similar situation or have any advice?