I'm 5'4, 20, and currently 170 lbs, and my goal is 130 lbs, and I've laid out a 10 month plan to get to my goal. I'm taking 10 months because I want to do this right, I don't want a quick fix and I don't want this to become an obsession, I have a whole lot of other things in my life way more important than my body image, and majority of the reason I'm doing this is for health reasons, personally I love being curvy :)

I've cut out soda of all kinds from my diet, I keep everything low fat not going over 300 fat calories or 30 grams of fat a day (to be decreased the further I go along to my goal) and I try to get at least 1,200 calories a day in but I can't seem to eat that much. I know I should eat several small meals a day, I've tried that dozens of times, it doesn't work with my work schedule. As of now I have three regular meals, breakfast and dinner each having all of the food groups and being the largest so I have enough energy through the day and don't snack through the night. Lunch I usually keep to a large salad.

I can't afford a gym membership so I use around the house exercises like walking my dog (I have some problems with jogging I'm hoping to work my way up to that) and swimming, and when it starts to snow I want to try jump rope in the basement and maybe learning some yoga through online videos. I could always use more exercise ideas too, I like keeping them fun.

Hi F.D., and welcome to the forum

It really sounds like you have done some planning and that is one of the best things you can do when you are trying to lose weight. From what you wrote, it is excellent that you have cut out sodas and are eating a healthy diet from all food groups. Really good stuff.

I know that eating 5-6 small meals a day can be challenging, but keep trying. I prefer to have three medium meals and then two snacks during the day. My snacks are about 150-200 calories and are comprised of really simple-to-prepare things like a Motts Sensation apple sauce cup with a stick of mozzarella cheese, or a low-fat yogurt cup with a piece of fruit like an apple or nectarine. These small snacks help between meals because they contain protein to help curb hunger. Even if I'm not hungry I eat them because it helps to keep my metabolism running efficiently.

You say that you're trying to eat about 1200 calories a day, but have trouble doing so. 1200 calories a day is pretty low and should be no problem to reach. Are you sure you are keeping track of your calories correctly? One thing I swear by these days is keeping track of my calories and overall nutrition with fitday.com. Sign up, it's free, then track everything you eat for a week and see where your daily calorie consumption is. It may be higher than you think. If you aren't eating at least 1200 calories a day then your metabolism is going to slow down. This is the opposite of what you want if you are trying to lose weight.

A couple other weight loss tips I swear by is drinking lots of water and avoiding alcohol. One other thing I do is I always make it my goal to lose weight over the weekend. The weekend was always a diet buster for me. I would do really well all week then the weekend would come and I would undo all my hard work. So a few months ago I decided to weigh myself on Fridays then focus on eating well and exercising over the weekend with the hope of weight less on Monday. This really helped me. Since I have been doing this I have been losing weight more consistently.

I hope that this helps you a bit. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

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Guinea Piggy is one of Weight Loss Center's esteemed Weight Loss Blog Authors.

Thanks for the advice and the welcome!

I rarely go over 1,200 calories, on average I only eat around 900 or 1,000, it's always been like that. I've been using mypyramid.gov menu tracker on and off since junior high, and I've always been WAY below my daily average. The only time I'll go over or around 1,200 is if I get on a snacking binge or at a party.

I do have some small snacks in between meals like chewy granola bars or some fruit, but I just can't make it several small meals in them selves. I did that for a few months while working and had to hide food under my desk and would get in trouble for snacking on the job.

I've been drinking a ton more water too. I'm trying to add a serving of applesauce to all of my meals too, it's easy calories and no fat so I'm hoping that'll bump up my intake a bit. I know tomatoes and avocado help boost metabolism too so I try to work those into my meals too.

What do you think the factors are in your life that have resulted in weight gain? It sounds like you have been following a pretty low-calorie and healthy diet for some time now. If you have been eating only 900-1000 calories since junior high and now you are wanting to lose 40lbs in 10 months, then what is your plan for reaching this goal?

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Guinea Piggy is one of Weight Loss Center's esteemed Weight Loss Blog Authors.

I live a very high stress life style, I do everything I can to relax but my stress has ultimately taken a toll on my health. I'm also not really active, I was born with a couple medical issues that make it hard for me to run without injuring myself of hyperventilating so I never was able to get out and be active enough to burn off anything, so I guess my metabolism just slowed down and I didn't make much muscle mass so I packed on the pounds.

Now I've learned exercises I can do without over-exerting myself, we have a pool and I swim an hour a day and I can take my dog out on walks for about half an hour, I figure in winter when I can't do those I can jump rope because that burns a lot of calories.