Stuck at 14.6% body fat

Hi All,

I am 5'4" female, 26 years old.  Body measurements are 32X24X34, thighs are 19.  Body fat calipers give me a body fat % of 14.6 measured at thighs, stomach, and upper arm.  I sleep on average 9 hours per night, and am very active during the day.  As a flight attendant, I stay on my feet and am always moving, lifting, bending, carrying, etc.  My BMR is 1349 (if I laid in bed all day), but I do about 2 hours of cardio/weight training per day, plus normal daily activites with a daily burn of 2500, give or take.  I sleep very well, and only consume 1 cup of coffee in the morning/daily.  No medical conditions, period is regular, light to normal flow, blood pressure is 105/65, resting pulse is less than 45. 

I eat a lot of carbs.  My diet is set at 60% of calories from carb, 20% from fat, 20% from protein.  High carb for running, swimming, and biking activities.  I try to avoid fat and added sugar, but take in quite a bit of lactose as I drink milk and eat yogurt.  Not big into artificial sweetners, but make myself 1/2 cup of sugar free, fat free pudding 4 nights per week, and I use 1 Splenda in my morning coffee.  Limit sodium to 1500mg or less, and I eat less than 5g of saturated fat per day.  No meat other than fish 2x weekly, and I eat 2 avacadoes weekly (not on fish days of course).  Calorie cycling between 1200 and 1400 per day, 1 day per week is 1600.  Body fat is 14.6%, and I'd like to get to 10%.  At 119 pounds, I can lose 5.5 more pounds of pure fat and still be "healthy".  If 75% of weight lost is fat (average) I can lose an additional 6.8 pounds which will put me at my goal of 112.  Stuck at 119.  My BMR is 1349 (if I laid in bed all day), but I do about 2 hours of cardio/weight training per day, plus normal activites with a daily burn of 2500, give or take.  Water intake is 80oz per day, no soda, juice or alcohol.  All solids are measured in grams, liquids by volume.  I don't know what I am doing wrong.

You're an active triathlete in training who is undereating. I am unsure of your distance for your race but even training for the sprint distance requires more calories than 1200-1400 and that is without factoring in your active job. 1600 on days you don't work out. 1700-1800 or more on days you do depending on the workout.

I am in half Ironman training and eat almost 2300 on long workout days and I am still losing. Feel free to message me about multisport training or racing if you like. But I do think you are undereating and possibly over training, though since I don't know which race you're doing, I don't know.

Your body fat probably won't get any lower. For women, 8-12% body fat is "essential fat," which means you will probably have some serious health issues if you get to that point. The other 2.6% you've got is healthy fat, used to store things like hormones and vitamins. Even elite athletes rarely go below 15%. As a women, you will always have more body fat than men, and that's OK (what do you think breasts are made of?).

Try to focus on just being fit and not so much on the numbers.