High body fat, low BMI? Help!

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puffinstix
puffinstix Posts: 9
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi!

So I've been losing weight through exercise and keeping my calories at 1200, and I've lost about 20 pounds (137 to 117). However, I can't seem to lower my body fat and I'm not sure why. I do cardio (30 minutes of spinning) 3x each week, and circuit training 3x each week also. That circuit training does incorporate some weight lifting.

I'm 5' 5", 22 years old, 117lbs, and 28% body fat. I'm not sure where to go from here, since it seems 1200 calories a day might be contributing to my high body fat if I'm not getting enough calories? I'm starting paleo this week and I'm taking out gluten, grains and dairy (which I didn't eat much of to begin with) so I'd like to know what I should eat more of to lose fat and keep lean muscle.

So: how I can lower my body fat, should I stop doing cardio so much, and what should I eat to lose body fat? Heeeeeelp!

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  • PinkEnvyx
    PinkEnvyx Posts: 172
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    If you are small bone structure like me the BMI might be showing you are low but that is based on the average I think not bigger than normal or smaller than normal. 1200 a day is also based on the normal so you might want to consider that as well but I would never say eat under 1200 because that would start a war. I will say if you are eating when full to meet your 1200 calorie a day then you should reconsider that for starters and stop when full and not worry about a few 100 here and there. You body will tell you if it’s too much or no enough.
    The more you do the same workout the less you burn after a while because it is not taking as much effort as it did before so up your workouts either in intensity or length.

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