"I've lost 40 pounds and I still got 20 more pounds to go, but no matter what I do, I seem to have hit a weight loss plateau, and it lasted for 4 weeks. Help!", cried a desperate overweight vegetarian.

When I probe further, I found out that she takes everything vegetarian except vegetables. She simply hates the vegetable scent, texture and color... everything about vegetables. So, she shuns vegetables in almost every meal.

Many vegetarians become baffled and frustrated over their weight loss plateau - they can lose the initial tens of pounds but how come after some time those stored fats just stop coming off.

Look. Metabolism is a chemical reaction of body cells responsible for burning calories in your body. When you keep feeding the same specific group of nutrients to those cells and depriving them of other key nutrients, yes, you can still shed some pounds over few weeks, but thereafter, your cells will lose their drive to burn fat further.

In other words, your metabolism becomes stagnant. You won't grow fat. You won't lose any either. You get stuck at a weight loss plateau even on a vegetarian diet.

You can never obtain all-round nutrients with a limited group of foods. You must increase the range of your food choices. Hence, don't get picky about food. But I'm not asking you to lay your hands on processed vegetarian foods.

How to Increase Your Vegetable Intake to Break Weight Loss Plateau

Not taking enough vegetables is one of the common causes of weight loss plateau for vegetarians. Thus, add more vegetables in your vegetarian weight loss meals starting today.

One trick I always use on those overweight vegetarians who do not like vegetables - just blend vegetables with other fruits, nuts and grains into smoothies using these ingredients:

- 2 cups spinach
- 1 carrot
- 2 bananas
- 1 mango
- 1 cup strawberries
- 1 cup water

That way, the smell of vegetables will become almost "invisible", and you can gain the nutritional values and give your metabolism a power boost. Feel free to change those ingredients in every smoothie, but do remember to include at least 2 types of veggies in it.

Ta-da, you break your weight loss plateau and lose more fat.

Bear in mind, this strategy does not work for you if you're still indulging in your chemical-laden processed vegetarian food. Imagine you're drinking this smoothie in the morning, yet on the other hand you're eating a fat-storing processed vegetarian diet for your lunch and dinner, how on earth can you expect apparent fat loss result? Make sense?

I like to quote this line which I learn from a friend: "Either you do your best, or you don't do at all."