[Youngwildnginger]

Okay so I need some real help and advice here!
I am 18 years old and in okay shape. I mean I weight 127 lbs and have a little body fat but nothing too bad. But I have been working very very hard the past few months with working out five to six days a week and eating right!
My workouts usually take 45 minutes and consist of either running two miles and strength, zumba then abs, or the all famous Jillian Michaels DVDs plus abs as well. I am pretty active throughout the day, usually on my feet and walking around.
My diet is good. I try to eat raw foods and usually do oats for breakfast and then salads and bentos for dinner. (The reason I don't make all the fancy health food meals is because I am not home during lunch or dinner times because of work so that is what is available to me. And I don't have the money for it.) I eat fruit when I want a snack and don't over indulge. Then four days ago I discovered I have the beginning of an ulcer. I cut out all dairy, gluten, and caffeine (I used to drink a lot of coffee).
I do get bloated easily but hopefully having no gluten will help with that and I count calories and stay at the level I need.
But I haven't lost weight!!!! I mean I have lost a tiny bit like three lbs but nothing significant and I haven't lost inches anywhere!
Can someone please please tell me what I am doing wrong?! I see there pictures of women who lost like 28 lbs in four to six months and I don't know why I have only lost three! It's not so much losing weight (just my lil bit of fat) but gaining muscle that I am wanting. I cannot afford to go to the gym, I do go to Zumba in a class because I won a membership.
Someone please help me! I am so determined and will to anything!
Thank you so much

[HeidiNicole]

How tall are you?

[HelloNurse]

The less body fat you need to lose, the harder it comes off. You didn't mention your height, but you'd have to be very short for 127 pounds to be considered the least bit fat.

I would suggest that you forget about the scale for a while.

You seem to be falling into a trap that one of my favorite websites refers to as "Chronic Cardio". The problem with doing nothing but cardio is that the more you do it, the more efficient you are and the more you HAVE to do just to get results. It also doesn't usually build a lot of muscle. If you do not have access to a gym, you can find weight benches on Craigslist for cheap and sometimes free. Barring that, there are body weight strengthening exercises that work very well. Remember that muscle is denser than fat; therefore, as you grow stronger and more muscular, you may actually GAIN weight, but you will lose inches.

Here is an OK starter guide to bodyweight exercises.
http://greatist.com/fitness/50-bodyw...an-do-anywhere

As a beginner to strenght training, it's better to do compound movements that engage several muscle groups at once. Burpees are an excellent example of a compound movement; every part of the body is being used. This will help your overall body strength. Exercises such as biceps curls and leg extensions only work one muscle at a time, so they aren't very useful to a person who needs overall conditioning.

[ERHR]

I don't really see that you're eating significant amount of protein, which is crucial for building muscle. I suspect you're not eating enough calories, either - provide more details if you would like.

You do need to be moving significant weight around to build muscle. If you can't afford to go to the gym, as HelloNurse said bodyweight exercises are good alternative. Just make sure you're challenging yourself.

[Youngwildnginger]

I am very short, I am 5'3" and I eat protein with lunch and dinner usually chicken or fish. I eat about 1200 calories a day. Thank you for the link! I will definitely try more of those exercises and try to find some benches and other equipment on craigslist!

[belovedspirit]

Only you can decide whether or not you'd like to or even need to lose a few lbs. The funny thing about weight loss is that sometimes we think we need to lose weight when we don't (no offense hon). That would be my first question.

My second one is how long have you been trying to lose weight? Fast weight loss only happens when the body has a lot of weight to let go. A few pounds take a lot longer than 50 or 100 lbs.

Also, consider the difference between losing weight and toning up. Do you really want to weigh less, or do you want to be more fit?

[vintagecat]

If you are quite fit at 5'3" and 127, depending upon build you might be at a good basal weight for your body. I am 5'6 and in high school I was a mile runner in track. I ran 6-10 miles a day in season plus other types of workouts. I weighed 135-140 at that time.

I went to the State Fair and watched a very good "Fool the Guesser" at work. He was right a majority of the time so I stepped up, he looked me over and said 118. I got on the scale, "boing" 139. I got a big prize for fooling him that much.

My point? You probably look just fine. It's hard to be objective when looking at oneself. At the time of the "fool the guesser" I thought I was fat. I had been told that by my family, led in chorus by my mother who hated her own square peasant build. There is no end to how much I'd give to able to relive that time and be grateful and accepting of my own strong and healthy form but it's all water under the bridge. You have an opportunity to accept and care for yourself as you are as I do now at 228#, diabetic and 55 ears old. Talk about a day or two late to the party....

A couple of questions: What are you trying to accomplish with dieting? Why do you believe that you need to lose weight?

Reading your post made me sad a bit. I am reminded of a time when I owned a vintage clothing shop and a young girl, probably about your age came in to buy a dress for an evening wedding. By any standard she was beautiful. She tried on a lovely sleeveless gown, came out to the big mirror and the vision took my breath away.

Then she started fussing about her arms. There was nothing wrong with her arms. I suppose someone said something about her arms or despised their own perfect arms for imagined flab and self hatred was born. I told her that her arms were fine, there was nothing wrong with them and that she looked so gorgeous that even should her arms be hideously flabby, no one would notice because the whole was so lovely. She huffed, fussed and left without that perfect dress.

The whole thing was sad. I suppose that she might turn out to be like me: Hate her nearly perfect body for imagined and unimportant human flaws and will diet and exercise her metabolism into the toilet and then one day, if stressed by something frightening, will descend into an eating disorder that will ruin her once robust health only to wake up out of the food induced coma to see that she was once beautiful and that her critics (and her beliefs about herself) were terribly wrong. I don't want that for you ginger.

It's probably sacrosanct on a "dieting" website to suggest that most of your fat is likely in your imagination. If you already are fit and have healthy eating habits, (1200 calories is very little to eat, almost too little) body image counseling might be more effective over the long haul than a weight machine.

I'm pulling for you. Your view of self is not uncommon but is unhealthy, foisted on by unkind people, the beauty and diet industry. Don't become their victim.