As you can probaby tell from some of my recent posts, I'm kind of struggling.

I feel so stuck. I'm trying so, SO hard and I just can't seem to get my weight much lower. Body fat percentage is 19.5%

I really would like to lose a couple more pounds...(or reduce my body fat), but I feel like my body is saying, "sorry, no."

Then again, I can't honestly say I eat *perfectly.* But then again, I'm really eating pretty damn well. If I ate any better, I don't think I'd be able to keep it up for long. I feel like, from the way Im eating, I should be losing weight. But I'm not. As for exercise...I'm doing as much as I can, considering my chronic illness that makes exercise very difficult at times. (No, I don't want to go into that...)

I know the last few pounds are the hardest....and you've all been there...so...

Anyone have thoughts?

By the way, sorry to sound like such a drag. I am really just not a very happy person these days and I can see it's probably showing through in my posts. Wish I could be a more uplifting member in this forum.

Hopefully some time soon.

Anyways thanks again to all of you for all your support. It really does help keep me going.

~nineteen

Hey there nineteen. I'm sorry to hear you're going through a rough patch. Hopefully it will pass quickly.

As far as trying to lose some more, well, you apparently already know this - you're at a healthy weight and body fat%. Soo..... Well yeah, you know the rest. You don't really NEED to reduce any further.

Maybe some muscle toning will change the way that you look and feel without having to lose weight.

As far as your weight loss goes, since you said you are trying - do you know how many calories you're eating? You say you FEEL like you should be losing from what you're eating, but tallying up those calories is the only way to know for certain just how many you are in fact consuming. And you know, we need to create a deficit, so maybe you're not doing that. Just a thought.

The other thought is - maybe, just maybe, your body IS trying to tell you something.

It's not easy sometimes is it. I mean you've lost all this weight and are still not happy with yourself. Maybe you need to rethink what your body SHOULD look like. Because there really is no one way that a body SHOULD look. None of us are perfect, not even those super models, all right, maybe one or two of them , but you know what I mean. Maybe your expectations are a tad too high. Just a thought. Hang tough and enjoy that new body and that new life you've carved out for yourself. You have MUCH to be proud of.

Hang in there! Like Robin said, you are at a healthy weight and BF% right now (which you already know), and it's possible your body just doesn't want to get any thinner. Or maybe you are just going through a rough patch and a plateau and if you stick with it the lbs will start coming off again?

If your illness will allow it, I would second the suggestion to try some weight training. More muscle = more calories burned = weight loss (assuming you don't eat extra), plus it gives you motivation from watching your progress.

Hang in there!

Nineteen, you've done an amazing job so far! How about just letting your body adapt to where you are. Doing some weight training will help with the way your body looks, which is after all what you show to the world - your weight is number you know, not everyone else. If you work at weight training and eating at a maintenance level, you may be surprised that you're happy where you are, or your body may surprise you and lose a little more.

Nineteen,
i totally understand what you are going through. i am now at my goal weight and at 20% BMI, but i would like to lose 5 more lbs and no matter how hard I try, i can not lose it. Even when I start losing like 2-3 out of the 5, i end up gaining it right back. Those last few lbs are brutal to lose!! Any advice for me out there?

Thank you guys for all your posts. I've read and re-read all of them and I'm going to do some thinking.

At a certain point, you have to wonder why you want to lose 2 lbs. What will 2 lbs really do?

If you are serious about losing the last few tough pounds, you need to increase the intensity of your workouts and eat as clean as possible. The posters at Oxygen might be able to help, most of them are extreme fitness lovers and some folks are aiming for lower than normal body fat percentages.

Well maybe after I lose two pounds, I want to lose two more. And maybe two more after that. Actually it's not really the weight that I care about so much as lowering my body fat percentage. And no, it's not just for the sake of appearance.

I'm not comfortable in my body. I'm not just talking about body image here. I have DD breasts and my back and shoulders hurt all the time. I have considered breast reduction surgery but decided against it. I know they may not get much smaller as I lose weight, but any improvement would be helpful. I also carry my excess fat in my stomach, and we all know that's not healthy.

I guess I just have to buckle down and really eat clean, every day. Either that, or, just maintain for a while and see how it goes.

Regarding the DD issue, I reduced my bodyfat, but didn't lose a lot more weight and went straight from DD to C at my next professional fitting six months later. That, of course, is what my body did and everyone is different, but if you are reducing your bodyfat percentage, then you might see some kind of reduction in cup size.

19.5% seems remarkably low to me in terms of body fat. It is very hard for women to get their body fat below 20% and really, a few more percentages lower and you could start to experience health issues, stop getting your period, etc. You need a certain amount of body fat to be healthy.

25% to 31% is considered an acceptable range of body fat for women, and 21% to 24% is considered the fitness range. At 19.5%, you're already into the athletic range. I suspect that if you lose more weight, you are going to be losing muscle rather than fat, which isn't going to make you any happier with your appearance. Here is a helpful explanation of body fat percentages: http://www.healthchecksystems.com/bodyfat.htm.

Well, after all my b!tching and moaning...

I hit goal today.

Congratulations!!

Thank you Meg!

Oh Nineteen, that is WONDERFUL news!!!!!

Congratulations!!!!