Anyone read latest Shape magazine?

There is a success store there where a girl lost half of her weight (from 240 to 120), she is 5'4. She does cardio every day for 60 minutes and strength training 3 days a week for 30 minutes. And she says that she eats 1300 cals a day. IS THIS NORMAL? To work out so hard and eat so little? I have the same height and 125 is my goal weight... I don't like the idea to eat that little to maintain.

Hi! I havent read the article but my initial thought from what you are telling me is no! I am 5'1" and currently at 157. I started this year at 190, so I am down about 33 lbs in 5 months. I have been eating about 1300 to 1800 calories per day. Some weeks I dont make it to the gym, other weeks I get there 5 times in a week. I started running in February. Originally I couldn't make it more than a minute or two without having to walk. But a couple weeks ago I ran an entire 5 k in 39 minutes. The one thing that I keep saying that I need to get at is the weight training to slim up and build up some muscle. My goal is 130 but I think I can get even lower. I read something this morning about calorie cycling that I have been doing, unknowingly, that I am confident helps. Google it... It's basically keeping your body guessing about what it is going to get. If you eat 1300 calls everyday, your body will become very efficient and you will not be able to fluctuate much. was the person in the article still losing?

She is now maintaining. Very scary. I think I'd rather be chunky and eat a lot than eat 1300 cals (which is about what I eat now to lose 1.5 lbs a week) for the rest of my life and be thin.

Not normal, not a good idea, and NOT sustainable.

for that kind of exercise she should raise her calorie intake. that could get unhealthy. she could work out a bit less and eat 1300 calories, or if she really does enjoy that strenuous of a work out routine, she should bump up her calorie intake to at least 1400-1500. balance is the real key to losing weight and keeping it off. extreme diet and excessive working out is going to be damaging in the long run.

I stopped reading those magazines and just pull workouts off their sites if it looks challenging enough.

And yes she CAN raise her caloric intake.  I run for an hour on average 6 days a week and also lift.  I am 5'3 and my usual weight is around 110 (right now up 5 pounds due to my previous training cycle).  She's 120 and a little bit taller than me, woman needs to eat a bit more. or she could suffer from the effects of overuse from exercising too much on a low calorie intake.