Losing weight while running track

[Alliewink]

I'm 16 and 5'7. I used to be about 40 pounds over weight, but I've dropped down to 158 pounds over about 18 months. This is barely in the "healthy" BMI range (which, I know, doesn't mean everything) and I would like to drop at least 7 more pounds, but 10 would be perfect. The thing is, I have PE and track practice for 3.5-4 hours a day, 5 days a week, so I'm getting plenty of exercise, and I don't drink soda, eat dessert, or really anything out of a package. I'd love to lose some of my belly fat, and maybe a little off the tops of my thighs, but I don't know what else to do to lose weight. I guess I could try to further decrease my calories, but that really just leaves me hungry during a 3 hour practice. Any advice helps.

[Dominique · Accepted solution]

Looking at your profile, I indeed see quite a few active days at around 15k steps, but there are also a few days (eg. the last two Sundays) with really low step counts (< 2k):

I understand no one can (or should) perform intense physical exercise seven days a week, but why not add one hour of walking on your low-step days? Walking is a great calorie-burning activity that will not lead to overtraining.

As to your belly fat and the top of your thighs: unfortunately, you cannot "spot-reduce" fat. In order for fat loss to occur, you need to be in a reasonable calorie deficit. You may not lose fat primarily where you want to: the areas you mentioned are known to be the ones where "stubborn fat" is stored.

Since you are closer to your ultimate weight goal, weight loss is going to be slower than when you were 40 pounds overweight. To your advantage, you’re taller than average and young, which means you have a higher metabolism than most females. This means you can eat a decent amount of food while still being in a deficit.

[Alliewink]

The low step days and the last week or so without steps have just been because I wasn't wearing my Fitbit. I don't have workouts on Sundays, but I do still walk a lot on those days. Thanks for the ideas. They helped a lot.

[Dominique]

OK, I wear my Fitbit 24/7, and I assumed you would as well. I think it’s a good idea to do it if you want to have a clearer picture of your total expenditure on a weekly basis. Especially if you want to lose weight. The Fitbit mobile app makes it easy to follow up total weekly calories: