Expert: Kim Farmer - 2/1/2009

Question
I am a 17 year old girl, 5'6, and about 170 pounds at the moment. I want to lose weight, and don't really care about the number on the scale, i just want to have a smaller stomach and lose the fat everywhere else as well. I only eat 1300 calories a day, mostly healthy foods, I usually have a little chocolate or a small bag of chips or something everyday, but only a little bit. I only drink water as well. Monday-Friday I do 20 minutes on the treadmill at 3.8 miles per hour. On weekends I try and get at least 30. Will I lose a good bit of weight from this? I eat way way better than I used to. I really want to have a smaller stomach, and also I have fat a lot of other places. Such as right below my breasts, its basically just a fat role, I really want to get rid of that, as well as the area that't not my stomach, but not really your vagina either, its that area in between, is fatty and when I sit it looks like a roll. You can't notice these things when I have clothes on, but naturally I want to look good without them. Is what I'm doing now enough? I don't expect to have a totally flat and toned stomach, I just want it smaller, as well as getting rid of the other fat i mentioned. Do you have any other exercise suggestions that would help with this? Will what I'm doing now make a good difference? Thanks for the help!

Answer
Hi Kaye-
You have the right idea as far as modifying your food intake to include mostly health foods.  I'm wondering what you mean by healthy foods....nevertheless, 1300 calories a day is very good.  You are also doing good with your exercising, I would advise that you increase your physical activity to doing more time on the treadmill (30 minute each time at least) and try walking on an incline (slowly increase it from 1% to 2% etc).  This will help you burn more calories.  Also, try mixing up your cardio by playing sports, riding your bike, hiking, swimming, etc.  This is so that your body doesn't get used to the same thing.

As for the fatty areas that you mention, once you start losing weight, you will also start losing fatty tissue.  While you can't control what areas will be affected first or last, just know that it will start coming off from all areas eventually.  It will be a gradual process, so be patient.


I hope this helps.  Thanks for the question!

Kim Farmer
ACE-Certified Personal Trainer
www.MileHighFitness.com