I Am So Discouraged, Ideas Please

Well here is my story, I will try to keep it as short as possible. PLEASE, if anyone has any ideas than I would be more than happy to hear them! :)

I'm an 18 year old female. Ever since I was a child I've struggled with my weight. As I grew to become a teenager I slowly became thinner, yet my Junior year of high school I put on about 30 pounds, which I know some of it was from growth, but a lot of it was definitely from fat build up around my hips and thighs. I went from a size 7 to a size 14. I began my weight loss journey in the summer of '08. I had never really had an exercise regimen before, and with too little knowledge I did not lose any weight. After that, I gave up until last December when I decided to give it a go. Slowly I have gained a wealth of knowledge about weight loss and fitness.

My body has become much more muscular, and I've gained a lot of endurance. Over last summer I did a Hip Hop Abs workout almost every day and followed the Weight Watchers points, but didn't do the entire program, only used the points system. I failed to lose a noticeable amount of fat, but did gain a lot of muscle mass.

Now I'm doing a combo of Hip Hop Abs and Yoga Booty Ballet 5 - 6 days a week and weights about two times a week. What I don't understand is that I feel like I've exhausted my resources. I feel so exhausted and discouraged because I've been trying my hardest to try to do this for myself, yet I feel like I've been stuck on a plateau for a year and a half. I've done intense cardio almost every day of the week, ate high fiber low calorie foods, tried to stay active, tried changing things up regularly, tried weight lifting, drinking water, reading books... etc. I'm just so irritated with myself, because I feel like I can't achieve this sometimes. I really don't know what else to do. I REALLY want to win this battle with my weight, once and for all!

My current food intake: 21 Weight Watchers Points (I'm seesawing right now to see if that breaks the plateau)

Age: 18    Gender: Female     Height: 5' 4"    Weight: 140    Goal Weight: 130 or when I am satisfied     Body Fat Percentage:  Roughly 32.7

I really need help, I just feel like I'm running around in circles!

Thanks a lot everyone who's taken the time to read and respond to my post! :)

I don't really have any advice for you, since I don't really know how 21 WW points translates into calories.   But it sounds to me as if you are really active, and if you are exhausted you may be either depressed or simply undereating for your activity level.

Eighteen is a hard age, your body has been going through lots of changes, and even if you are not growing taller, you are definitely growing and changing both internally and externally. 

Maybe if you just take a deep breath, and relax a little you might be better off.  Be active doing activities you enjoy, eat wholesome foods in reasonable portions, and let your battle with your weight go.  Practice a little self-love, and try to enjoy you body for all the wonderful things it does for you.  Good luck!

I second dkenworthy's post!

While you may know that your weight gain in junior high was partially due to actually growing, you may not still have embraced it.

More and more girls seem to struggle with weighing more through their teens as though somehow we could all permanently weigh the same as we did at age 10! I assume this strange disconnect happens because we hammer home such unhealthy images of beauty every where they look.

You are 5'4" and 140 and between now and age 25 so much physically changes in your body. Your entire skeletal structure will be sculpted anew. Your hormonal development has to be refined so you become and stay a healthy menstruating woman for the next almost 5 decades. Your brain has a critical phase of prefrontal cortex refinement that has to happen or you'll never actually have a fully adult brain.

You are very physically active so I hope you are eating about 2200 calories a day. If you aren't and are restricting through this critical time, then the damage is big and irreversible (I post a lot on the long list of damage you do -- happy to oblige if you'd like the gory details as well).

It's not a battle with your weight because your body cannot be your enemy if you hope to live a healthy and fulfilling life.

For the next seven years, give it a rest. Just focus on the fact that you are muscular, fit, educated, toned and certainly a healthy weight now -- dieting is for the overweight and sadly there are many young women your age who face that, but you are not one of them. In fact, you are the very woman that others should strive to be. Embrace that.

Every point is 50 calories, right? So that means you're taking in 1050 calories a day?

Or is that totally wrong?

I don't know what 21 weight watchers points equates to but you sound very active so you may not be eating enough..as many posts on this site have mentioned, often when you increase your eating you break the plateau and start to lose weight again.  Also you are within the healthy weight range for your height remember even though your goal doesn't seem to be unhealthy.

5'4 and 140 isn't chubby, first. Their are women at 5'4 who have a goal weight of 140, so be easier on yourself. 

Second, like other members have said...EAT. Do a weight maintenance week (or two)...a week where you eat/work out like you are at the weight you want to keep for twenty years. Then jump back on to heavy cardio/cutting cals.

ONE LAST THING - you are eating roughly 1050 cals by my calculations. You are insane. At five four, you need way more food than that...that's why you've plateaued. Your body is unsure if you are ever going to feed it again, so it's hanging on to your food. Why would you do that to your body? Your body that pushes you through 6 days a week of heavy workouts? 

Be kind to your body, and be a little kinder to yourself, too. 

To those who are freaking out that 21 WW points = 1050 calories, it's not the case.  21 points can be as little as about 800 calories (if you're eating a steady diet of pure fat) or as much as 2310 calories (if you're eating a lot of fiber and next to no fat).  Most people fall somewhere in the middle, but this is why I'm not a huge fan of weight watchers.  I did weight watchers about 7 years ago for a whole year and lost a grand total of 6 pounds.

My advice: Try counting your calories instead of points.  Use the tools on this site to figure out how many calories you're burning and subtract 500 from that each day and log what you eat.  There's a little less guesswork that way.  Though I do think that eating at maintenance for a few weeks will probably do your metabolism a world of good, like previous posters said.  There's a calculator for if you're under 21 that someone around here I'm sure has a link to rather than using the one here that isn't really meant for kids and teens.