Any body fat loss tips for women??

Hi and welcome! I'm new here too, but let me see what I can do to help.

1. Please, please, step away from the diet pills. They do not work, and even if they did, who knows what kind of crap is in them? They're not regulated by the FDA. If there was a magic diet pill that worked, everyone would know about it. You can be doing a lot more harm than good with them.

2. It sounds like you're getting plenty of exercise, so I think calorie intake is where the problem might lie. My brother did band camp under a tyrannical band director and marched off about 20 lbs one summer (and he wasn't heavy to start). I think you might not be eating enough, but I can't say without knowing your daily diet. Can you give us an idea of what you eat on an average day? Once we know that we can help you pinpoint the problem.

3. Your chest is definitely going to be a factor in your weight. However, as an A-cup, I'm not at all qualified to to tell you how much. Perhaps some better-endowed ladies here can help.

4. It's very possible you've lost fat and gained muscle. Best way to tell is by using calipers, but you can also use a measuring tape and get your waist/chest/hip/etc measurements every 2 weeks or so. This is what I do rather than hopping on the scale, because weight can fluctuate a lot from day to day.

It is possible that you also need to start more strength training into your exercise routine? The only way to know for sure on how much muscle you're gaining is by measuring it. I would suggest buying a tool to do that, take all your measurements, increase your strength training and measure again after a couple of weeks.

Alrighty! So first off, MFP has a neat little tool that will calculate your BMR. It's under the Apps tab. Have you used it yet? If not, plug in your height and weight and it will give you an estimate of your basal metabolic rate. This is the bare minimum of calories your body needs to function, and only if you were to lie in bed all day--it doesn't take into account normal daily activity or exercise. If you eat below your BMR, your body will go into starvation mode and hang onto every calorie it can. For example, I'm 5'9" and about 150 lbs, which gives me a BMR of 1500ish calories (I do tend to take their numbers as estimates, since everyone's metabolism is a bit different). Therefore I need to eat around there or a bit above in order to prevent starvation mode, including exercise calories. There's a bit of debate regarding eating back exercise calories on the forums here, but my personal opinion is that you should eat however much you need to hit your BMR, whether or not you exercised. So if I burn 300 calories doing Insanity or whatnot, I need to eat back those 300 if I'm under 1500 calories that day, to fend off starvation mode.

Now, as for the food. There are many paths to weight loss, all of them having their own pros and cons. Personally I eat Paleo, because I've done quite a lot of research on the Paleo lifestyle and it seems the best way to lose weight in a healthy, natural way. It's a high-fat, low-carb lifestyle (not "diet"--you have to be prepared to make some permanent changes to keep the weight off, with any style of healthy eating). I know high fat sounds counter-intuitive but it's excess calories that make us fat, no matter the source. With limited carbs, your body will switch to using up stored fat for energy. I recommend doing some research on the Paleo lifestyle and seeing if it's for you. If not, a lot of users here have had great success with "clean eating" which I think is eating lots of fruits and veggies, whole grains, and lean meats. Whatever style you choose, it's important to eat unprocessed, nutrient-rich foods with plenty of healthy fats. Frozen dinners are quick and easy--I used to eat a ton of them--but about as healthy as the box they come in. I do like the convenience though, so what I do is dedicate a day to preparing most of my weekly meals in advance and freezing them. The kitchen is your friend! Even if you're new to cooking, there are tons of recipes for easy, healthy meals that freeze well.

Glad you noticed Castiel btw! He's my fave.

Two years ago, I weighed myself at 189 pounds (at this point about 5'4" or 5'3.5") and said no more. By the end of the year my lowest weight was 158 pounds. But after going through a year's worth of nausea-related illness (so much so that I had to drop out of school,) I ballooned back out to 185 pounds, and grew a couple of inches as well.This was a shock to me, though since I'd fallen off the wagon in terms of calorie counting and exercise (still usually only eating at most 1600 calories a day, however) it shouldn't have been.

Weeks of walking 3-4 miles every day and even going through annual marching band camp (spending 3-4 hours out marching in the heat every day) and counting calories as close as possible, along with trying a variety of different weight loss pills and approaches, and I'm starting to feel sick over it. I weighed myself a few days ago and I was at 182 at around lunchtime. I have hardly lost anything.

It is possible that perhaps I have lost body fat but gained muscle, though I am not sure how I would determine this. I am in truth just sitting here feeling sick all around because I'm not eating enough but I'm also not feeling healthy enough, either.

To put things frankly I am wondering what I can do to try and fix things. I'm female, and my chest area is particularly 'well-endowed,' something that runs in the family regardless of weight, but I don't think that could really contribute too much to my weight. Is there a different approach that women need to take for this kind of drastic fat loss? Are there certain foods that might help speed up my metabolism? I tried the CLA 1300 body fat to muscle mass pills for a few months, but in the past week I've switched to acai berry diet pills in the hopes that they will show better results. Lunch is substituted with a weight loss shake every day and my breakfasts are usually tiny - a fruit or something similar.

So long story short - does anyone have any advice??? I'm really sorry to flood the forums with this kind of post, as I'm sure it's posted once an hour or so.

The scale is a lying witch. Go more by the way your clothes feel, etc. In all these pictures I weigh within a few pounds of each other. As a matter of fact, I am wearing the exact same grey tank in 3 of them!


0120100909 by crochetmom2010, on Flickr


photo grid by crochetmom2010, on Flickr

As for meals...my breakfast is usually 2 scrambled eggs, a slice of wheat toast, and sometimes diced red potatoes. Lunch is usually a wrap--turkey, roast beef or chicken salad--or leftovers from the night before. Dinner is my worst meal of the day since I have 4 picky eaters to satisfy. In the last week or so I have made hamburgers, crock pot chicken and noodles, and baked sweet and sour chicken. For snacks I either make no bake protein bites, or buy balance bars.

I will heed your words about diet pills, although I have only been taking these acai ones at the recommendation of a friend's - I was told they "really worked!" I've been feeling a lot sicker after taking them, though, so you're probably right about them not being very healthy or helpful.

I've been eating sometimes ~1000 calories a day, and sometimes ~1200. I am not trying to starve myself; for at least a few years now I've been eating pretty small portions normally anyway. Like I said, before I went back into 'fitness mode,' I was eating around 1400-1600 calories a day and feeling fine about it, so cutting it down to 1000 or 1200 isn't as drastic a change for me as it might sound. I guess I have a pretty slow metabolism. Lately though I've been eating a small breakfast, a weight loss shake for lunch, and then a canned or frozen dinner for supper - which might be bad for me, but I've only done so as I'm no good at cooking and this way I know exactly how many calories I am eating (as those canned foods have the convenient number on them already.) I also eat 1-2 fruits as snacks each day (pears or peaches, usually.)

Please, please, please think twice about relying on diet pills.

I remember my days spent at band camp. That was a crazy amount of exercise in very hot weather. If you really are only eating between 1000-1200 calories a day, you are most certainly undereating. You say you have a pretty slow metabolism. Your metabolism might be slow because you've damaged it by not eating enough. You are young, and there is plenty of time for you to repair your metabolism and be healthy and fit before you head off for college. I highly recommend you scan through the threads to find ones about eating more to lose more. There is some very helpful information in them.

If you are looking to drop inches; please check out Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. I know you do a lot of marching in band but your body has probably adjusted your typical band marching sessions. I used Youtube to do level 1 of 30 Day Shred for free (I finally broke down and bought the DVD); after just a week my jeans fit looser and I feel incredible. Don't forget to eat your workout calories. And please at least eat 1300 calories per day. 1200 calories is enough for a small child and you are a grown woman. If you have any questions; add me and we can talk!

For women, I recommend Fat Loss Factor, a well-rounded, realistic fat loss program, found here:

www.getslimquick.net

I also recommend, for creating the body you want beyond fat loss, Visual Impact for Women, found here:

www.hotfitbody.com

Best of luck to you!

Two years ago, I weighed myself at 189 pounds (at this point about 5'4" or 5'3.5") and said no more. By the end of the year my lowest weight was 158 pounds. But after going through a year's worth of nausea-related illness (so much so that I had to drop out of school,) I ballooned back out to 185 pounds, and grew a couple of inches as well.This was a shock to me, though since I'd fallen off the wagon in terms of calorie counting and exercise (still usually only eating at most 1600 calories a day, however) it shouldn't have been.

Weeks of walking 3-4 miles every day and even going through annual marching band camp (spending 3-4 hours out marching in the heat every day) and counting calories as close as possible, along with trying a variety of different weight loss pills and approaches, and I'm starting to feel sick over it. I weighed myself a few days ago and I was at 182 at around lunchtime. I have hardly lost anything.

It is possible that perhaps I have lost body fat but gained muscle, though I am not sure how I would determine this. I am in truth just sitting here feeling sick all around because I'm not eating enough but I'm also not feeling healthy enough, either.

To put things frankly I am wondering what I can do to try and fix things. I'm female, and my chest area is particularly 'well-endowed,' something that runs in the family regardless of weight, but I don't think that could really contribute too much to my weight. Is there a different approach that women need to take for this kind of drastic fat loss? Are there certain foods that might help speed up my metabolism? I tried the CLA 1300 body fat to muscle mass pills for a few months, but in the past week I've switched to acai berry diet pills in the hopes that they will show better results. Lunch is substituted with a weight loss shake every day and my breakfasts are usually tiny - a fruit or something similar.

So long story short - does anyone have any advice??? I'm really sorry to flood the forums with this kind of post, as I'm sure it's posted once an hour or so.

Here's the only piece of advice you need right now - track your calories. Your diary is empty. If you want to lose weight, track every bite you eat and stay just at your calorie goal.

Start there. If you track every single bite, every single day over a period of 6 weeks and you STILL don't lose weight, come back and ask your question again.

But first, do the work required by this program.

Eat at a decent calorie deficit. (Decent: Feed your body properly)

That's it.

HELL NO to diet pills!
And one more tip: SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE!


Edit to add another tip! Dont trust the scale. Stop weighing yourself every day, put it away, rather measure yourself at the most once a week. oh and slow and steady wins the race.

Good luck!