advice greatly appreciated!

Hello!
I just quickly looked at your diary, and I noticed that your calorie intake is kind of low?
You might be losing lean muscle mass instead of fat because of your low calorie intake, that in turn you may be slowing your metabolism and decreasing the optimum fat burn you could be achieving since you're losing muscle instead of fat. Of course it depends on how much tall your are and how much you weigh at the moment, but women should not be eating less than 1200 calories a day, and if you're active you should definitely eat a couple more hundred calories.

I hope that helps! I remember reading about it in fitness articles, and I remember Jillian Michaels had mentioned the same thing about eating about 1,400 calories a day, and doing exercise on top of that.

What is your current height & weight?
Everything is relative but it looks to me like you're not eating nearly enough to keep you metabolism fired up.

Make sure that your goal weight in a healthy BMI and not too thin.

I gave myself a range instead of a single number to shoot for made it less stressful and easier for me to maintain. Other wise I would have given up ages ago.

I plugged in my goal weight in as my current weight and chose maintain. I used that as my maximum and 1200 as my minimum.
and then I zig-zagged a couple of day between 1200-1300 and a day near 1500-1600, then a couple of low days. I found I sort of did this naturally and then read about other doing it on purpose.

After I lost the first 20 I swapped down to lose 1/2 lb a week, because now each pound is a greater percentage of your body weight.

I agree with mumma2boyz eat back half of your exercise calories.

Don't do the crash diety thing. trust me I'm twice your age... been there done that it screws up your metabolism and makes it much harder to maintain or lose later in life.

Eat Safe,
Nag, Nag, Nag

Auntie Babs

thanks so much for helping me out! I realized my calorie intake is a little on the lower side... but I never really feel hungry. most of the time I'm content with the amount of food I have, but maybe I'll try upping my calories this week and see how it goes. I'm pretty short, around five two, and weigh 138 pounds. thanks so much for your advice! it always amazes me how kind people are on this site.

You post this seconds before I hit post.

Glad to see that you goals seem to be appropriate. I've seen many young women here taking drastic means to achieve unhealthy goals.

Remember your body is your vehicle to get you through life. Take care of it so it can work for you. So you can dance and run and play and hike and kayak or whatever you find fun.

The slower you lose the more likely you are to maintain.

Good luck
I'll stop nagging now
-AB