Is this possible? What can I do differently?

No, sorry. Maximum you can lose is 2 pounds a week, and even at your size that may not be sustainable for very long. Also please eat a minimum of 1200 calories, if not more.

You have youth and a history of being athletic on your side, plus the advantage of 2 experts close at hand... so you definitely can lose this excess weight... but your total goal is impossible within that time frame, sorry.

Also your current methods for weight loss are not safe- that is far too few calories and if you're eating the same thing every day it's not likely that you're not getting a good range of nutrients and will soon experience deficiencies.

Losing weight quickly in an unsustainable manner and then "figure out what to do from there" is a recipe for almost guaranteed rebound weight gain- so even if you got close to your goal for graduation you would likely quickly regain any weight lost after that and be even heavier than you are now by the time you start college in the fall...

I don't tell you this to be mean or discourage you from attempting weight loss- in fact quite the opposite. I want to see you lose weight in a healthy manner and keep it off, rather than harm your body and have bad results.

You CAN lose all the weight, just not so quickly. It is far better to lose it slowly in a healthy way. When you cut calories too severely you will end up losing lean muscle mass which is unhealthy and will make it much harder to sustain the weight you do lose because the less muscle you have the slower your metabolism becomes. Also your heart is made of muscle too, so it's quite dangerous to rapidly lose weight/muscle!!

I also speak from personal experience knowing the damage rapid weight loss can do. In high school I was a good weight for my height & frame- 125 pounds 5'3". But for some reason I decided I needed to lose weight so I basically became anorexic (cut my calories as low as I could) and got down to 105 pounds. It was the most miserable experience of my entire life- the lack of food made me literally go crazy and become depressed and my body became weak and sick. I got colds constantly, felt dizzy most of the time, could not exercise or participate in PE class, I started failing all my classes, and I didn't even look good, I just got "skinny fat"- lost a lot of muscle but not much fat. At a certain point I decided enough is enough and started eating a reasonable amount of food- not even going overboard, just eating normally, or even a little less than normal really... and I gained 30 POUNDS in ONE MONTH. So yes, I ended up 10 POUNDS HEAVIER than when I started trying to lose weight in the first place - because I'd forced my metabolism to slow down by starving myself, so just eating normally again caused me to gain a ton of weight. I wish I'd NEVER decided to lose weight like that- all it did was make me sick, unhealthy, and ultimately made me GAIN weight!!

But luckily there is a proper way to lose weight that doesn't have these negative effects. And that is by going into a mild caloric deficit, exercising, eating mostly healthy nutritious food, and losing weight gradually over a reasonable amount of time. You want to eat less than TDEE (total daily estimated expenditure) but more than BMR (basal metabolic rate). Consuming generally between 250 and 500 calories less than your TDEE is safe, as long as it's more than your BMR.

Use this calculator to determine your own TDEE and BMR:

http://www.iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

Or if you'd rather just use the settings in myfitnesspal to figure out what your calories should be, then input all your stats and choose a weight loss rate of either 0.5 or 1 pound per week weight loss rate (no more). And make sure to eat back at least 1/2 your exercise calories (with the TDEE method you do not eat back exercise calories because they are included, but myfitnesspal uses the NEAT method so you need to eat extra calories when you exercise- but sometimes the calories burned can be a bit over estimated).

I wish someone had told me about this when I was your age, and I wish myfitnesspal had been around back then. It would have saved me years- decades really- of struggling with my weight!! I also wish I'd become interested in fitness much earlier in life- I never really started exercising regularly as an adult until recently and I'm in my mid 30s.

Please utilize the help of your parents, proper weight loss methods, and healthy exercise. Do not crash diet or starve yourself for a short term goal- life is so much longer than your graduation in a few months. I wish I'd made health and fitness a priority at your age... it's so much easier to get fit and healthy when you are young.

I'd also suggest learning to lift weights and do strength exercises - not just do cardio. Cardio does not preserve or build muscle, it mostly just burns extra calories. It's also good for cardiovascular health and stamina of course, so it's good to do some cardio. But strength training builds muscle, or at least helps you retain muscle while in a caloric deficit, and those types of exercises are so much more fun than running or the elliptical!!

Another great tip I wish I'd known about sooner is paying attention to macronutrients! Our society today is so obsessed with micronutrients- vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, "super foods", probiotics, etc... which are absolutely important... but the building blocks of your body are the 3 macronutrients found in food: protein, fat, and carbs. Having a proper intake of protein is probably the most important change I have made for my health. I used to really eat too little protein and it hurt my health. I was weak and had low energy and my immune system was really bad... even when I started lifting weights I didn't see much results until I started paying attention to my protein intake and getting enough, and then I felt great! So much energy and strength and my hair skin and nails became so much more healthy and attractive, and I stopped getting sick all the time. Fat is also important, you need a certain amount for proper hormonal function. And carbohydrates are essential for energy and weight loss as well- just in the right amount (an excessive amount of carbs can cause fat gain and excess hunger, but too few carbs causes a slow metabolism and low energy). Luckily myfitnesspal can help you track your macros- just click on "nutrition" -> "nutrients" to see if you are too low or too high on any particular macronutrient, and you can adjust what you eat to balance it out. You can also track fiber and sugar there which is helpful too. I like to think of my fiber and protein goals as minimums, and my fat, sugar, and carbs goal as limits. I'm sure your parents can help you with this part as well- dietitians and personal trainers should know about macros.

I hope this is helpful information to you. I wish you the best with your weight loss and health goals. I know you are desperate to lose weight quickly but I really think you should prioritize your health and do things the right way - you'll be glad you did!

0.5lbs a day is a 1750 calorie deficit.

I maintain at around 4000 calories and that wouldn't be great even for me.

emmalorrissa wrote: »

Hi! My name is Emma and I'm 18 years old. Currently, I am 190lbs and 5'4. NOT something I'm proud of. Ironically, my mom is a dietician and my dad is a personal trainer.. however, they do not help me whatsoever. I was very active for a while and played 3 varsity sports a year. After having rigorous classes hit in high school, I backed down from that and did a lot of emotional eating. Freshman year I was 135lbs and since then I have gained 55! Yikes. I have this goal of losing those 55lbs by graduation (June 4th; 109 days; 3 months 20 days.) Is this possible? I started working out regularly and reducing my calories a month ago and I have lost 10lbs. I've been a little lenient on calories and not working out over the weekend, but when I would weight myself after the weekend, I'd find my weight is back where it was the week before. So. Initially I started at 200lbs. Now I am 190 and plan to get to 135! Currently, I do 4 days/week 35 minutes of elliptical on resistance 14, and then 2 days/week 1.6 mile run (not for timing but I alternate between sprinting, jogging, walking. There are 2 hills included in that). I have restricted my calories to 1,100 a day and have been sustaining this for two weeks. Though I feel hungrier going to bed, I feel somewhat better and I eat the same thing every day. Right now, I don't care so much about sustainability, I'd just like to reach my goal and then figure out what to do from there. I have very thick thighs and would really like to slim those and my arms down (any workout suggestions?). I have a very athletic body type (though I'm short) and would like to get it where it was before! Thank you so much for reading this and helping!
Emma

A healthier more realistic goal is 2 lbs a week... so about 25 lbs in that time period. Be prepared for it to take time to lose 55 lbs.
You should not continue eating below 1200 calories because you risk ending up malnourished. This can lead to serious health problems. If you are exercising you should be fueling your body with more calories than that too.
You should care about sustainability because you do not want to regain when you get to your goal. You do want to look and feel your best long term not just for a month.

VintageFeline wrote: »

And when we say 1200 minimum, that's net (before exercise), with you working out so much you NEED to eat at least some of your exercise calories or you're heading for collapsing in a heap at some point. I imagine your parents wouldn't be very impressed with your strategy and that's why you haven't discussed it with them, you know they will tell you stop because they want their daughter healthy, not crash dieting and risking her health.

Yes yes yes