Weight Loss Support - Long time lurker, needs some support

Hi everyone.

Ive been lurking around this forum for quite some time. It totally motivated me to get on the treadmill! I'm 20 years old and I'm 5'6. About 6 months ago I weighed 170lbs. Now I weigh 135lbs.

The weight came off pretty easily the first couple of months. I ran 4 times a week, ate no more than 1,200 calories a day.. it was great. I stopped losing weight 3 months ago :( it just stopped coming off. I know 135 is ideal for my height but I still have a lot of stomach fat, and upper arm fat. My goal is 120lbs. My motivation went down the tubes since the weight stopped coming off, Im too lazy to exercise these days. Idk what I'm doing wrong. Any advice would be great.. any comments appreciated.

Hi Geisy,

I can sense the way you feel from your post and I completely understand. The problem might be that you aren't eating enough calories....as crazy as that might sound! Have you checked how many calories you would burn even if you didn't move a muscle? That is called RMR and you can look for an RMR calculator on Google. Once you figure that out, you can add a bit more if you're working out. I personally only allow myself to eat half of the calories (at most) that I burn through workouts because I don't really believe what those machines say. ;)

It's graet that you are on the treadmill, but you might need to mix it up. Our bodies get used to certain things and it's good to surprise them as much as possible. Have you heard of High Intensity Interval Training? Look that up on Google as well and it will tell you what to do. If you are healthy then it's a great way to get some major calorie burn!

I would also incorporate some strength training. When you lift weights, you are actually causing little tiny tears in your muscles and your body then has to repair those tears and all that work burns extra calories even while you are at rest. :) Start slowly and increase weights as time goes on. You will never become bulky from it because that takes a lot of testosterone and so women don't have to worry about that kind of thing.

I hope you will become more motivated. Sometimes, our bodies hit a plateau and it takes a great deal of patience to continue on the path. However, don't focus so much on weight....focus on tone and muscle and try to play around with your calories a bit to figure out what you need. 1200 sounds like very little. Best of luck to you! :)