Weight loss and exercise

Question
Hi, I am a 16 year old girl, 170 pounds, 5"6. For about 8 months, I have been gradually bettering my eating habits. I started out at 1850 calories with no exercise, and worked my way down to 1500 with 30 min of exercise about 4 days a week. I have lost like 5 measly pounds in 8 months, and I'm eating 10 times better than I did before I started. Yet I've lost so little. I have now decided to go down to 1100, for breakfast I will have a banana, for lunch a protein bar, for a snack a banana, granola bar, or yogurt. For dinner I have things like baked chicken, lean pockets, healthy frozen dinners, a bagel with cheese, sandwiches using whole wheat bread, corn, that's about it. I'm desperately hoping this will make me lose a lot of weight. I want to be a lot smaller by April. I don't really care so much about the number on the scale, I care about how my body looks. My main problem area is my stomach, I really want it to be flatter, I don't care about having a super toned 6 pack, I just want it flatter. I mentioned i exercise for about 30-40 minutes about 4 days a week. Because of cold and rainy weather, I do jumping jacks inside. But because I am so out of shape, I can hardly do any vigorous exercise that I'm not exhausted quickly. I can only do jumping jacks for a minute before I have to take a break, of which I basically walk in place for a minute, then do another minute of jumping jacks, and so on. But in the end I really only get 10 min of jumping jacks out of the 30-40 min I do, because I have to rest so much. And as I'm sure anyone would say, 10 min is hardly anything. But I don't know what to do about not being able to do a lot of exercise without becoming so tired so quick. Will I still lose a lot of weight with the low amount of calories I'm eating, along with the little bit of exercise? I'm so desperate to lose weight. Do you have any advice on how I should exercise? Or know any exercises good for flattening my stomach? Any help would be great. Thanks!

Answer
You've got to BURN the fat off, you can't STARVE it off. Make sure you're eating the right amount of calories, and get 30 minutes of HARD cardio at least 3 times a week, plus strength training.

As far as BELLY fat goes:

I get asked this question all the time.  The bottom line is: you can't spot reduce belly fat.  Just like you can't drain the deep end of a pool first, you can't reduce belly fat until all of the rest of the fat is off your body.

See this article for specifics:

http://ricksweightloss.com/blog/display-article.asp?ID=38&Key=AllExperts

For specific information and step-by-step guidelines on how to lose weight and be healthy, visit my web site for all kinds of details about proper diet, nutrition, exercise, weight-lifting routines, and more.

Most importantly, make sure to download my FREE eBook, "Rick's 18 Tips for Healthy Weight Loss."

Richard Rost
http://www.RicksWeightLoss.com

P.S. As a disclaimer, I'm not a doctor or health professional. Please seek the advice of your doctor before implementing any of my recommendations.

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