How to lose that last bit of weight and fat when already at a healthy weight?

Hi, so I have a question because I am not quite sure what the best approach to reach my goal is. I am currently 5'4" and weigh around 117 pounds and am almost 19 years old. I understand I am already on the thin side, but I am currently weighing around 10 pounds more than I have in over 6 years. I'd like to do 2 things, first lose about 7 pounds so I can be around 110 again because that is where I feel the most happy (yes it is total vanity...thats what happens when you live in a european fashion capitol) and on my frame and according to my doctors, that is an ok weight for me. The 2nd thing I'd like to do is to lose the fat around my thigs, butt, and love handle areas. Even at my lowest weight of 102 pounds last year (this was not an intentional weight and I gained as soon as I found out) I still had love handles and have just never seemed able to lose them. I'm probably moderatley active as I live in a big city and thus must walk/take public transportation everywhere and am not someone who is inclined to eat unhealthy foods. Currently I am eating between 1400-1700 calories a day, but sometimes up to 2000 on days when I go out, etc, and even more on the occasional friday night. Also I currently have a knee injury and can't really work out much (haven't been able to go to the gym in a month!)....so my question is...how do I lose that extra fat? I'm not sure what to do! Thanks so much!

Hey! I'm actually in the same boat as you, and 19 years old too! I'm 5'2 and at around 108 pounds. I actually looked skinner at about 112 pounds because I was more fit. I'm no expert, but the advice I can offer is that it's all about muscle and working out. You can be extremely "skinny" but still have a large amount of fat on you (remember fat weighs less than muscle) and if you're not toned...well you'll look untoned!

Hmm..I would suggest running except you have that injury. How about swimming? No matter what, you're going to have to do some cardio in addition to weights or target training (ie. ab exercises, push-ups, etc.). The cardio will help to get rid of fat all over, and sadly you can't just target areas and get rid of fat in specific areas. Your body will lose fat all over once you start working out more. The upside of working out too is that you can eat more! :) Haha I found that I lost more weight and looked much better when I was eating about 2000 calories a day and exercising for about an hour versus eating about 1500 a day without exercise.

Anyway, hopefully some of that made some sense. Good luck! :)

It sounds to me like you don't need to lose as much as you need to firm up.  I suspect that what you do at that gym has been cardio.  I would suggest that you now work on strength training instead.  You can do arm and core type exercises with a bad knee.  Also keep in mind that you have been growing and cannot reasonably expect to weigh at 19 what you weighed at 16.  Forget the scale, focus on toning.

Yeah I had been running for about an hour a day until my knee totally went, but I didn't lose a single pound since I had joined my gym at the end of december and really don't think I looked any different, which was really frustrating, especially after 3 months! If I just started walking a lot more during the day do you think that would help? Since I don't have access to a pool and still sadly can't run without risking serious permenant damage to my knee. Also, would pilates work maybe?

Pilates would be great, but be careful of anything resembling a lunge or squat until that knee is better.  Take them very slowly and carefully.  Walking is certainly easier on the knee, but it is also just cardio.  Both walking and running only work a few muscles.  Keep in mind that there is a muscle under every curve.  Nice curves require good muscle tone everywhere on the body.  And that is realy all you are missing.  So look at Pilates, yoga, even weight lifting.  Don't look at the scale. 

Thanks for the tip, yeah my problem is all the leg exercises that I want to do often involve a lot of bending and things like that, which are quite painful on the knee! I am not curvy at all but the slight curves i did develop in my hips since going from 107 to 117 actually sorta bother me, so I am looking more to get straighter ( I know that sounds a bit weird). I am thinking it is a lack of muscle because when in shorts or a skirt my legs look quite thin, it's only when wearing jeans which hug my thighs that I feel the top parts of them look big and that my hips stick out but in dresses, skirts or shorts I feel that it is fine. I am assuming this is because it is mainly fat around my legs or something (as well as probably being a bit of a teenage girl who stared at the mirror too long, haha)..does this seem right? Also I am assuming walking is better than nothing and is easy to add in since I already walk a lot. Thanks again!

You are referring to fat sticking out the sides at the top of the thighs?  I have been fighting that all my life and had just about given up.  I found that since I have been doing lunges that they are smaller than they have ever been.  If I lose enough weight I might even look good in tight jeans someday!  Also problems with knees when running can be the result of weak muscles stablizing the knees so do work your legs as much as you safely can.

I don't know exactly how to describe it, like i guess right at the tippy tippy top of inner thighs there is this little bulge that i just personally dislike and on the outerside i don't know what it is, its nothing like big or bulgy i guess i guess i just feel it is too hippy...even with the the weight gain since i was a bit underweight before I am still the same size (around a size 2 or 34 in pants) but i think since it was more fat than muscle it just looks less toned when I wear jeans than before if that makes sense...yeah I think my knee problems are partly due to weak muscles as well as genetics and extremely loose joints which led me to have shoulder surgery....as soon as I can i am going to add in lunges, thanks for the tip!

im pretty much in the same position as you too! im 5'2 my weight fluctuates averaging around 110 lbs. and i really want to get between 100-105. these are definitely the hardest to lose i think b/c your body doesn't really want/need to lose them. you're going to have a lot of people tel you you don't need to lose and so on, but i totally understand and you don't have any sort of eating disorder so i don't think there's any problem with shooting for a bmi in the 19ish range. anyway, i fought with my father about this for years, but finally took his advice and incorporating weight lifting into my workout. seriously the best thing i ever did. it really does make you look smaller, and i think it has sped up my metabolism b/c i actually have lost since ive started lifting, and i no longer have flab on my tummy or arms like i used to. b/c of your knee you cant do too much with your legs (i think pilates is a good idea though, maybe some yoga too) but there are exercises you can do to love the love handles, as in strength training types of things. i workout alot so im pretty toned and  i feel like my legs look thick in jeans and better in shorts too. go figure. good thing its almost summer time. haha.

When your knee is healthy again, try P90X workout program. It is an intese 90 day program. You will tone your whole body, add muscle and lose fat. Don't look at the scale as your only judge. With P90X you may gain 10 lbs. but it will be muscle.

Hi. I have found that you look the best if you work out. If you are looing for that lean, toned look, you need to work out. Sometimes, you can look FAT but actually be lighter on the scale because you are not fit. So, the key is to work out often and you will see drastic difference in your body. Your thighs will become more toned, your legs overall will look leaner, etc etc. You wouldn't have the bulges and lumps if you work out regularly. I think it's more about getting fit than losing weight and if you do it right, the weight would also come right off. I have also found that to actually lose weight, you have to do cardio for a longer amount of time. For example, if you are used to doing 60min a day regularly, to lose weight, you will have to go upwards to around 90min a day to see results....and the results will not show up over night. It will take time.

Well, good luck and I wish you the best!

TKD. tarketed ketosis diet. Its hard to do, but i assure you it will tighten you up. The full line of keto dieting is extensive in detail but to put it short.. Place your carbs around your workout. I eat six meals a day and do my workout an hour after my first meal consisting of egg whites and 1/4c Oats and 4 oz of OJ. then following my workout ill have my protein shake and a fruit cup. After that no carbs other than fiberous veggies. Your primary foods should be tuna, chicken, nuts and seeds, salads, veggies. By doing this you are producing more ketones in your blood which [in short] convert fat to energy, thus you must eat fat to burn fat. I could go on and on. Research TKD, CKD, Ketogenic diets for the full story, it whips me into shape for my bodybuilding comps.

To gflodub, thanks for the suggestion but I want to be able to eat a little bit more normally than that, plus I can't really workout much now.

Does eating around 1500 calories or so seem ok? I eat mostly vegitarian (with chicken maybe once a week and ocassioanly sushi) and really healthy. My only vice is caffeine (i drink many espressos and diet cokes a day)..but otherwise I don't eat any junk at all, so I would be getting all my nutrients and everything. Or do I need to eat less to make my body drop the weight since I am already at a slim weight?

Holy crap, you sound so much like me!

I've gotten down to 110 and I've started increasing my workouts. I feel a lot better and more toned. Love handles have always been a problem for me even at my lowest weight, but they're slowly disappearing. Slowwwwwwly...haha.

Original Post by gflodub:

TKD. tarketed ketosis diet. Its hard to do, but i assure you it will tighten you up. The full line of keto dieting is extensive in detail but to put it short.. Place your carbs around your workout. I eat six meals a day and do my workout an hour after my first meal consisting of egg whites and 1/4c Oats and 4 oz of OJ. then following my workout ill have my protein shake and a fruit cup. After that no carbs other than fiberous veggies. Your primary foods should be tuna, chicken, nuts and seeds, salads, veggies. By doing this you are producing more ketones in your blood which [in short] convert fat to energy, thus you must eat fat to burn fat. I could go on and on. Research TKD, CKD, Ketogenic diets for the full story, it whips me into shape for my bodybuilding comps.

 

Prolonged ketosis is dangerous! Plus certain organs in your body PREFER CHO as the primary food source! Especially your brain. Your brain can only work off of glucose. Prolonged periods of ketosis is very very bad for the body. This is a part of the argument against low CHO diets.

Some additional info from wiki:

Most medical resources regard ketosis as a physiological state associated with chronic starvation.[citation needed] Glucose is the energy source used initially by cells in the body due to its availability within the cell; ketosis is regarded as a crisis reaction of the body due to a lack of carbohydrates in the diet. Ketosis would thus be a dangerous (potentially life-threatening) state which unnecessarily stresses the liver and causes destruction of muscle tissues. This is still the view of the majority in the medical and nutritional science communities[6][7][8], but in recent years it has been challenged by a number of doctors and adherents of low-carbohydrate diets, who dispute both the body's preference for glucose and the dangers associated with ketosis.[9][10][11]

Which is why you should use a TKD over a straight ketogenic diet, placing your carbs smartly around the activites of the day! Keto diets are also have therapuetic effects!

hey, was looking exactly for sth like this!!!! I am in the same situation, small frame, already on the low-healthy BMI range (18.5) and want to get back to my weight 5 years ago which would put my BMI to 17.8...I didn't grow since :-(  realized just recently that I can't eat as much as previously to keep the weight!!! Man! I could eat!!!  was a bit of a shock cause I looove food. never exercised before or dieted nor did care about calories! Things changed now in my late 20s!!!not only bc I was not happy with the tiny little fat storages which are invisible under clothes but they BUG ME! also bc I seriously wanted to be healthy! you build your solid health foundation NOW, later on it's only "damage control" !

In short, my exp: it is doable but its not anything like going from 200pds down to 150 and feel rewarded for the huge success! Its is a constant struggle without short-term reward!

I started regular exercise on a daily basis for 3 months and now I do SEE A DIFFERENCE although my weight did not change at ALL!! I actually lost first and regained after a couple weeks (muscle weight I guess). Never felt better.

So don't focus only on weight. I went through all the desperation and frustration!!! bc i did not loose despite heathly diet, excercise plus CC. You won't change weight but you change your BODY COMPOSITION!!!

rosesarered12: one more thing about Europe :-) YES, I know where you are coming from....to me it seems like the American definition of thin/normal/skinny are simply larger than the European. That's why people around hardly understand what my motivation is and I get easily tagged with ED.

I love this thread! Thx to you all! Very curious how things will work for you girls :-))) soo please come back and post more!

To forever_happygolucky: I am glad you can understand the European point of view....I don't need to get my bmi down to 17.8 but getting back to the 18.5 I was at (I know it sounds low) was the weight I was happiest with and I think in Europe would be more what they consider skinny...

Since I can't run or do elliptical like that, I was thinking I could try an exercise bike since it has little impact on my knee, do people think that would be good? Also start doing more core exercises...I have to be careful about arm exercises since I had shoulder surgery and it is still sore, so I think it is better if I leave out anything that could inflame it again as it is still rehabing...

Thanks for the suggestions, and of course I welcome any more ideas!

what about swimming?

I'd love to try swimming, especially since it'd be low impact on my knee...sadly I have no access to a pool!