5'9 girls out there with a thin build trying loose 15 20-lbs please let me know how you're doing it!

I am 36 yrs old, 5'9, and now I weigh 145 - I have a very thin frame and looked awesome at about 125lbs (and no i wasn't too skinny). When I was in high school and starting college I was about 118 - 120 (now that was skinny) but I realize that my body is not 20 yrs old anymore.  I am trying to get down to about 130 so I can be a size 6 again. In about two years I have put on 25 lbs and now wear a size 10, I started working out and dieting about 3.5 weeks ago and I have lost about 6 lbs but that was all in the first week. I am changing my workout every week and keeping my calories to about 1200 - 1400 a day (working out 5 days a week for at least 60 minutes a day).  I do cheat one day a week (because I am jewish and we have a big dinner Friday night and Saturday afternoon) but I still am not binging. I don't understand why i lost so much the first week and I am not loosing anything for the past 2.5 weeks. If there are any girls out there with my body type and that are actually loosing weight, please let me know how you are doing it cause this sucks.

Remember that 1200 is the bare minimum for a small, sedentary adult woman - check www.phord.com/cc to get a better idea of how much to eat - with your stats, I'd guess closer to 1500-1600. Also, try to aim for a 500 cal deficit and not larger - since you are close to your goal weight, you are going to be more successful aiming to lose a pound a week.

a lb a week would be amazing - but I seriously have not lost 1 lbs since the first week and I am almost at the end of my 4th. It's seriously bumming me out.

Then definitely try eating more - working out for an hour 5 days a week is far from sedentary - you need to fuel those workouts!

hey there! my figures are pretty similar to yours: i am 5'8 and weighed around 152 lbs coming in to 2009. At the moment I am 125 lbs, and still trying to get down to 120.

I started exercising and paying special attention to eating healthly at the start of April this year. So it's taken me a good 7 months to drop the 27 pounds.... I think that works out to around 4 pounds a month....obviously very slow slow weight loss.

Every "diet" I have been on in the past has basically consisted of very strict calorie counting and overexercising and because I am so strict I crave certain things and have a lot of trouble controlling binges and sticking to it long term. The result has always been sudden weight loss, and then about 2 months later gaining it all plus more back.

These past 7 months have been completely different, although my weight loss is slow, I have just made sustainable realistic lifestyle changes that I can incorporate into my life over the long term. And although it has taken over 6 months now EVERYONE is noticing (almost every day someone comments about it to me), I have dropped 3 sizes, my body shape has completely changed (I have a slim frame like you but I had gained a lot of weight on my lower body in late high school years). The greatest thing is that this "diet" (I would barely even call it that - more this "lifestyle") is not strict, is not hard to maintain, is realistic, and my metabolism is working fast and is healthy and able to cope iwth eating unhealthily here and there.

Sorry this is so long, but I just wanted to say that if you stick to something realistic - the exercise you're doing is great but don't be too hard on yourself - you will see results. Just don't expect to see them in the first 4, 6, or 8 weeks.... It is hard to stick to something where you don't receive instant gratification or noticeable results, that's why I think you have to do something that isn't too hard to stick to in the first place. :)

If you want any advice with nutrition or diet or anything like that feel free to pm me and I can show you what I did that worked for me :)

Hello, I am 5' 9" and went from around size 10/150 lbs. to size 6/130 lbs. in about 6 months or so.  Here's how I did it:

• Ate about 1400-1600 calories per day
• One cheat day a week or every other week, usually Saturdays when I went out with my friends.  I still tried to count the cheat day and keep it under control.
• Exercised at least 30 minutes every day.  Usually cardio, some light weight/muscle training.

I lost most of the weight from April to July.  I hit a plateau for all of August, and lost a few more pounds in September when I was testing out maintenance.  At the start of October, exactly 6 months after I started my diet, I was at my lowest weight ever of 128 lbs.  I have put on a little since then due to issues I won't bore you with here, but aside from that I am more or less maintaining my weight loss.

Edit: By the way, I lost a lot of weight the first week too, maybe about 4 lbs.  Then after that it slowed to about one pound per week, but there were a few weeks I didn't lose, and a few where I even gained without any explanation.  You just have to stick with it and have faith that if you are doing all the right things the weight will come off eventually.

Edit again: My weight loss became a lot more consistent once I started counting all the calories, and not just trying to keep track in my head (I kept an excel spreadsheet because I live in Japan and the food I eat isn't in this database).  I also bought a cheap food scale and used it to weigh everything so my counts were accurate.

ya you know i figured the first week was water weight but tomorrow is the 4th week and i have actually gained a lb back. I am really doing great at the gym and I totally count my calories sticking to 1200  - 1400 per day - on friday and saturday it's around 2000 (because of shabbat). I am going to the gym every morning 5 days a week and try to at least walk about 1 mile on the weekends, so I just don't get it.  What am I doing wrong?  Is it the Friday and Saturday cheat days - it's really really hard not cheat to with all the food but believe me at 2000 cal it's not out of control?  I don't know i'm thinking of getting a trainer at the gym to help me with my workout and nutrition - I really thought I was doing great but the weight is sticking to me like glue.

Ive heard that eating too little while exercicing will cause your body to go into "starvation" mode. most of what you eat when your eating too little your body holds onto. i would suggest upping the calories a few days a week and see if that helps.