Hello... Just as a disclaimer, I am a VERY open book sort of person.

I am in my early 30's. I am 5'5" and weight around 148-153 depending on the day or time of month. The only place I have an excess of fat is my stomach. (my legs and arms are skinny... I would be considered an "apple" shape).

I work out 5-6 days a week for about 1- 1 1/2 hours. My workouts consist of everything from eliptical, spin, weight training, and body works classes (training with lighter weights, but more reps and controlled resistance).

My diet changes all the time (try new things). The whole Zone 40/30/30 does not work at all for me. I actually gain weight in my stomach area. I guess the most successful eating plan has been South Beach or a lower carb plan. However of course I crave carbs almost non stop because I have issues eating enough protein. I simply don't "love" protein by itself without any carbs (eg: protein style burgers... yuck!... I need the bun to be able to stomach it. Its a taste thing). When I do manage to eat protein by itself it is usually in very small portions as I start to get nausea after about 4 ounces. The only way I can get a significant amount of protein is with shakes. Any suggestions?

In the past year I have lost about 25 lbs, which is great however my stomach has only gone down about 4 inches. The rest of me just seems to keep getting thinner, while that area stays the same.

This has caused problems in my marriage and after years of being a strong individual who has kept her head high through countless trials (loss of both parents at young age and had to survive on my own), I now find myself battling stress, depression, feelings of self loathing.

I am sure that the stress is not helping the situation.

Anyways I am hoping that this board will help me find some answers to questions and keep me motivated to stay on track, even when I don't see results. Because God knows my husband reminds me everyday that I still have a fat stomach and its not going away.

I am hoping to get some advice on losing inches in the middle section. I know you can't spot reduce, but any suggestions would be awesome.

I can't help but think the whole crazy switch from diet plan to diet plan is part of the problem. Your body is probably wondering what you're going to do to it next.

It also sounds to me like you might be overtraining a little.

Here's what I would suggest. Start with a clean diet - eliminate processed and packaged foods, start eating real whole foods. At your weight, you could (should) easily lose weight eating around 1500 calories a day or so. So, go with that. Make your diet heavy on proteins and veg, then fruits and healthy carbs, then healthy fats.

Register for a free account on fitday.com or thedailyplate.com and start really looking at what you eat - not just calories, but nutrient balance.

Then I'd structure your workouts around weight lifting; plan to lift hard and consistently 2x -3x a week, and then fillin around that with cardio. I'd suggest reading the thread in the exercise area called "The Conceptual Side of Weight Lifting" by Steve. The thread is very detailed and will give you some basic workout concepts to put into practice.