anybody in a weightloss rut?

I can't seem to get out of the weight rut that I am in. It seems to me that I am doing everything that I should be doing to promote health weight loss, but apparantly i am missing something somewhere, cuz I am stuck and can't seem to lose anymore weight.

Here are my specifics.

I eat between 1200 and 1300 calories a day.

Most meals consist of fruit and veggies.

I rarely eat meat, and try to not overdo it with my starches, but I have at least one starch daily.

I am on a competition clogging team, meaning that I have rigorous dance practice a few times a week.

So what am I doing wrong? Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks a bunch!

-Jen

forgot to add that I am 20 years old, 5'3 1/2'', and i weight 112 lbs.

with those stats you have a BMI of 19.6 -- which is extremely healthy -- why do you think you need to lose any more weight?  According to your bio you wish to weigh 95lbs?  That would give you a BMI of less than 17 -- underweight by anyone's standards.  Check out this website by WebMD.  The body naturally fights against unhealthy weights.

With your clogging you are almost definitely under-eating, you should be eating probably around 1400-1500 (to lose, 1500-1800 to maintain), maybe more. 

Calorie-Count is all about healthy and sustainable weight management.   Some links to remind you that under eating is just as counter productive as over eating:

Dieting & Metabolism (explains starvation mode and why undereating is counter-productive)

The Body Neglected (explains what happens when you undereat a long time)

Something-Fishy.org (information about eating disorders)

so should i only up my calorie intake on days that I have dance practice, or should it be increased all the way around? Also, i had put 95 lbs, before I looked at my BMI, and then never got around to changing my goal weight. (I should probably do that after I finish posting this). My goal weight is actually 105. I am working right now on updating some of that stuff like that. I probably haven't really spent time on this site in a few months.

 

And I think I need to lose weight because I have a beauty pageant coming up, and lets just say they frown upon any misplaced fat. even the tiniest bit is scrutinized.

Since you are already at a healthy BMI, I think instead of weight loss you should be working on muscle building.  If you have jiggly areas but are otherwise thin, you really need to be focusing on strength training to tighten up your structure, which actually requires eating more instead of less to build and tone muscles.  Your clogging might be enough to accomplish toning, but only if you give your body enough fuel to make it happen.  I've come to realize there is a point where weight loss no longer helps with eliminating the soft areas, building up lean muscle does.  I agree with coach-k that you don't need to to lose any more weight, and that is probably why your weight loss has stalled.

You definitely want to increase your intake on the days you're clogging, but you may also want to increase it a little bit on days you're not, depending on how active you are.  If you're not getting enough calories, your body can hold on to fat and slow your metabolism.

How often do you eat?  Something you may want to try if you don't do it already, is to spread your calories out throughout the day, instead of 3 bigger meals.  A constant stream of fuel can also help increase your metabolism.  I eat 5 meals a day at 230-300 calories each, depending on what I'm doing that day.

Also, do you do anything else besides dancing?  If you've been dancing a long time, and it sounds like you have, it can help shake up your metabolism to throw in an activity it's not used to, like weight lifting, running, or swimming.  Of course, making sure you're upping your calories more, the more activity you do.  Are you using the tools on here to estimate how many calories you're burning in a day?  Your deficit in calories should probably only be about 500 - that'll give you a weight loss of 1lbs a week.

Don't forget though, you're already at a healthy weight, and your body may just be stubborn about losing any more.  You may not be able to get to 105lbs in a healthy way.  Just because that's still within the healthy "range" for your height (barely), doesn't mean it's right for YOU.

Good luck and stay healthy. :)

If you don't eat much meat and most meals consist of fruits & veg, where are you getting your protein from? I would say making sure you're getting enough protein for your leg muscles would be important.

Keeping active throughout the day can also boost your metabolism if you don't want to eat the several meals a day.

Thanks for all the great tips everybody. I am going to try adding some lean protein, and making sure I have about 5 or 6 small meals a day, particularly when I am at dance practice. Also, i am going to try that suggestion that somebody on here gave me to change up my exercise a little bit, so that I will tone different areas of my body other than my leg muscles. Looking at my stomach, i think that crunches might be in my near future! :-)