Need some help! Advice on my diet/exercise regime!

Hi,

I'm a 18 year old girl who is 5 foot 4 and around 195 lbs. I'm very athletic and I play on varsity sports as well as travel softball. Which is why I've always wondered why I weigh as much as I do.

Although I weigh 195, I can run a mile in nine minutes, sprint faster than someone who is fifty pounds lighter than me and I never understood why I have all this weight on my back.

Recently, I've wanted to lose weight. I've been exercising after school for 35 minutes on the Elliptical and burning an average of 480 calories then doing calometrics (push ups, crunches) after and later.

My diet consists of (basically same thing everyday on weekdays) Toast and jelly in the morning, roasted chicken sandwich for lunch and dinner varies. I drink lots of water and if anything I may have chocolate milk with dinner once and a while. My calories for day normally hit 1300-1600.

I want to get to 150lbs before I go to college in August. I think I lost around 2lbs this week but I'm not certian, my old fashioned scale seems a little iffy. I feel great regardless but I want to shed these pounds!

Any help from you all will one, boost my confidence and two help me learn more about this experience!!!

I hope to hear from you soon!

Hi there:

Well, congrats to you for being fit enough to do the things you are doing. It sounds like you are very physically active and that's fantastic!

First and foremost, make sure that your scale is accurate before you do anything else. From your post, it sounds like you might want to buy a new one!

One thing to keep in mind is that your level of physical activity is bound to build a lot of muscle. Perhaps you could get more detailed information regarding your body composition including your muscle to fat ratio and your body measurements rather than relying purely on your mass as a gauge.

The second thing you should consider is modifying your diet to include more protein and veggies. Starting your day with toast and peanut butter instead of jelly...and maybe you also have egg or some yogurt. Eating lots of veggies and protein will keep your metabolism going. It also seems possible to me that based on your size and activity level that you are not taking in enough calories. It is very possible that you are in some type of starvation mode. I would suggest you re-evaluate your caloric needs and make sure that you are eating enough to keep up with your athletic habits. You can use the Calorie Target tool on here to do that.

Hope that gives you some insight. Good luck.