What could be reasons I am not losing weight?

What are some possible reasons I may not be losing weight?

• I've been trying to lose some weight since January and I've hardly lost any. I feel like I've hit a point where no matter what I do I just can't get any more off! I eat between 1000 and 1200 calories a day and swim on my school's varsity team two hours a day six days a week. No matter how little or healthy I eat and how much I work out, I still can't manage to get any more weight off of my hips.I have been considering a juice fast or switching over to a vegan diet for a couple of weeks. I am 5'4 and about 125 lbs and pretty muscular. Please give me some advice on getting a little bit more weight off or tell me what you know about fasting to lose weight! c: Thanks!

• Answer:

  You can't lose much more fat, if you try to lose weight you are most likely going to lose water and muscle. Eat at least 2000 calories a day. At your rate, you'll lose the muscles that you're trying to gain in swimming. If you were to sit at home and do nothing 24/7, your body should attempt to run on around 2000 calories. If you work out 2 hours a day, six days a week, you should be eating 3000+ calories. When you starve your body then eventually eat again it will hang on to whatever you give it. That means that your metabolism slows down every time you starve yourself, making you work harder in order to stay in shape. You are not fat or overweight at all. When I did wrestling in high school there were many people in a similar situation as you; trying to lose as much weight as possible while not killing themselves. The lightest 5' person we had weighed 103 pounds when he completely drained himself of water. I was 5'6 and weighed 116lb (I'm a male, it makes a slight difference between female weight). Other 5'6 people weighed about 125lb. Guys naturally have more muscle weight. Girls naturally have more fat weight. To answer your question, change your diet (eat more calories) and keep working out. Ironically, in some cases the more calories you eat the better chance you have of burning fat.