I cant seem to get these last few lbs off

I'm new here, looking for advice and support!!!

Ive lost about 13lbs in the last 3 months (started on month 4) and I just cant seem to get these last few lbs off. I work out 6 days a week. Cardio for at least 30 minutes a day, I've been trying interval walking on an incline, and I also weight lift everyother day.

I eat around 1200 calories a day, sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more. I write down everything I eat, and also try to weigh all my food so I kinda know how many calories Im eating. I eat a variety of grains, protein, veggies, fruit etc. Sometimes I get a little crazy and eat cookies and stuff late at night when I'm craving sweets and it always throws me WAY over my calorie intake (and sometimes everything I burned all together in that day) gets frustrating. I try telling my self no, and then I make lame excuses, like "its ok, I'll just burn it off tomorrow" but I feel so guilty that I have come all this way. I've searched so many websites and noticed theres ALOT of other people with the same problem, and tried reading the helpful hints. The best one I've read so far is " What do you want more? the 5 seconds of enjoyment that You'll have while you chew that food? or the enjoyment of the fact that 24 hours of everyday 7 days of every week, you will have the body you want to have." I thought it was motivating, tried telling my self that, and it didnt work (lol) not that I should be laughing. I just need some help, I keep going down, then back up, then down and back up again and etc!!!

Should I do something different?

am I not eating enough calories a day? (I know sometimes body stores the fat because it goes into starvation mode, but the only time I become hungry is reallly late at night if Im still awake, I usually eat every 1-2 hours)

help :(

and also, I have already calculated my BMR and my BMI etc, I burn about 1300 calories a day just by body functions.

...If you burn 1300 a day just for your normal bodily functions, and you're eating about 1200 a day average, and then exercising on top of that, burning--what? another 200 or so?... doesn't that tell you that something's not quite right?  You should be netting--netting, as in what calories you have left in your system for the day after you have exercised--an average calorie intake of at least 1300 so that your body is able to function properly.  From these numbers, you're netting an average of about 900-1000 a day.  That works for weight loss for a little while... for, say, oh... three months?  Then you stop.  Because your body is freaking out.  Because it doesn't have enough calories in it to even keep its organs functioning properly, and "holy crap, we've got to start reserving everything that's coming in, because apparently there's a famine out there!"

And then sometimes you get really hungry at night and you binge.  If I was regularly starving my organs of the fuel they needed just to keep functioning properly, I'm sure I'd get really hungry and binge, too.

Eat.  More.  Food!  Good food!  Healthy food!  Whole food!  Nutrients!  My goodness, woman, nurish thyself!  It will not only help you, it will bring my blood pressure down...

Its actually quite sad, I cant leave the gym without burning at LEAST 500 calories.. I know I should probably be eating more, but I feel super guilty. If I over eat one day, I lower my calories the next day to try and make up for the calories I ate the day before!

I think I have issues. All I want to do is lose this stupid lower belly fat, and tone a bit and I'll be happy. Just seems like its impossible to me.

But I do plan on raising my calorie intake, everyone tells me I should, I think it would help. Sometimes Im not even hungry when I eat, then I eat, and Im even hungrier after I eat, doesnt make sense to me. So I drink a bottle of water to see if the feeling goes away, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt.

Maybe I will just add more calories to breakfast, usually each "meal" is 200 calories (they usually always fill me up) 100 calories is easy to do especially since I have this insane addiction to peanut butter :)

any suggestions on what I can do to get rid of lower fat? I look in the mirror way to much, and if I'm even one lb heavier the next day I push my self like crazy at the gym, and make sure that anything I eat is only good for me (usually an apple with pumpkin to dip it in because its high in fiber, no fat and super low in sugars)

ahhh, I think I stress over it to much. Im 5'4 and about 122lbs. I feel huge though :(

Your doing okay on the diet front...what your missing is the cleansing stage...after weigh loss you have over worked your colon, liver and kidneys...you need to clean this organs and they will work more efficiently again.

Lots of cleansing ideas on the net..google etc.

For a simple cleanse of the colon...put 1 heaping tablespoon of psyllium husks in a 1/2 glass of water or juice...stir and drink quickly...before every meal or snack and before bed.  Keep doing this until you see the weight loss kick in...and it will..

and for the kidneys, drink distilled water..about 3 or 4 glasses a day for 3 days then skip the distilled for 2 days and do it again for 3 days...when you start to see weight loss again..stop this.

the liver will be addressed after you start seeing the weigh loss.

Holy carp, you're burning 500 and only eating 1200?!??!?  Woman, you're going to give me a heart attack over here.

If your meals are 200, I'm wondering what kind of food you're eating.  Are you into the fat-free, calorie-reduced, "now only 2 calories per serving!" stuff?  If so, cut it out.  Eat some real food.  Buy real yoghurt instead of the fat-free stuff.  Don't eat the reduced fat peanut butter, eat the real stuff.  Do you buy skim milk?  Up the ante.  Do you know that you need a small amount of fat in your diet to properly absorb the nutrients you eat?  And, you know, whenever those genius "food" chemists take something out, they always add something a lot worse back in--sugar, chemicals, aspartame (oh, don't get me started...).  You don't want all that stuff in your system, right?

If that isn't the case, then what exactly is it that you're eating that your intake is so low for meals?

I'm 3 inches shorter than you and almost the same weight.  You are definitely not huge.  ...Aaaaaaaaaaand I'm totally aware that me saying that doesn't actually help.

I can get kind of obsessed with my bum/upper thighs with the turn-and-look mirror dance, too. 

Oh, and I almost forgot: To flatten the lower belly, try "pelvic wall lifts."  I have my pelvic wall lifted most of the time throughout the day.  It gives you better posture, strengthens your core, and when you do it while exercising has great benefits all the way around.  Look into some beginner's Pilates if you don't know how to do a pelvic wall lift already.

I have never heard of `cleaning out the kidneys`and such, thanks for that advice, Ive looked up so many things and have never came across that, Im deffinantly going to have to try that out!!

and as for my meals.

Breakfast is usually

Apples and cinnamon oatmeal =110 calories

eggwhites = 25 calories (50g)

green tea = 0 :)

fruit, or a piece of toast with some cream cheese (usually adds up to about 200 calories and it fills me up)

lunch and dinner

sometimes I make a soup with cabbage, celery, onions, chicken broth etc (fills you right up) or ill lower the amount of veggies and add some chicken, or lentils for protein

I eat a TON of veggies (hence why I can eat 200 calories in one sitting and be full) they dont have alot of calories, but very good for you :) I usually fry everything together

zucchini, musrooms, onions, garlic, cauliflower or broccoli etc

and snacks, I usually eat a medium apple (65 calories) 2-3 times a day

drink a glass of skim milk

I come up with some pretty creative recipes (most of them off the top of my head, but I do look on the internet for low calorie meals as well)

I usually try and stay away from the stuff that says `low fat, fat free etc`stuff unless I read the lable and see that they didnt add a `sugar suppliment`to it.

everything I add to meals is usually the real stuff, I stay away from creamy dressings though (way to many calories) unless I have nothing better to use them on, but I eat so often that I always find something to use them on (lol)

and Im not sure if you have heard of the `p90x`but I did copy the `ab ripper X`onto a dvd to do everyother day (its pretty intense)

nothing seems to work, but I will for sure look into the pelvic wall lifts (I think I do something along the lines of that everyother day already, maybe Im doing something wrong)

thanks alot for the advice :)

I've just realised I've been eating about 1200 a day and struggling to get up to that many whilst exercising to burn off about 600-700 in the gym and never factored in those calories to how much I should be eating, I figured it came in the recommended cals as I said on the cc questionaire that I'm active...

That may be why I've stopped losing weight.  I'm going to go and make toast!

Thankyou! xxx