yomama:

Remember BMI is not accurate and NOT a good measure of physical fitness (especially if you’re young and still growing). Your body fat% is a much better judge of if you’re carrying excess fat. You might be able to drop 10 lbs and if you’re toned up, have a smokin hot body.
Get your body fat checked (any good gym or doctor) and work with a trainer to set a realistic fat yet aggressive % loss to lose over your desired time period.
I would suggest seeing a trainer to get on a plan that works for you (every body is different). As it stands what I recommend is adding resistance training. Unless you run more than 20 miles/wk you may not be able to effectively change your body shape. Resistance excercise is the best and most effective way to burn fat and change body shape. So I would suggest adding resistance excercise (light weights or bands and very high reps 15-20 depending on the excercise), start running for cardio (mix sprints with regular jogs and build up your endurance) – trust me…running will NOT make you bigger, and you can add supplements. See below:
> excercise: resistance training mixed with cardio. Wake up early and do your cardio in the morning (will help your metabolism esp. on an empty stomach). Do your lifting/resistance training in the evenings). As you add muscle you will burn more fat (throughout the day). You can do abs every day. Use the ab balls as much as possible (they work your core in every exercise). Short on time…just mix it up from day to day.
- Ab ball: do a lot of exercises using one of those ab balls…they work your core in every exercise. You can also do actual ab target exercises (twists, crunches, etc.). Get a trainer at your gym to show you some.
- Improve your nutrition to mostly eat low fat protein (chicken, fish, lean turkey, etc.) and veggies (i.e. broccoli). Mix a little fruit in there for some sweetness. You can also buy whey protein and make whey protein smoothies (2 scoops protein, ice, skim milk – blend – little peanut butter, ripe banana, more ice – blend again: tastes great). Cut out junk food (especially soda, anything loaded with high fructose corn syrup, all sweets, etc.). If you get a George Foreman grill it’s easy and quick to make chicken (or any other lean meat) and you can take it with you for lunch.
have fun…and don’t worry too much
Also you can mix up your workout – don’t just do the treadmill or elyptical all the time
- do sprints (outside if you can). Instead of just jogging – spring for ~100m, then jog back. These are called ‘repeats’ start off with 8 sets of repeats and work your way up (distance and/or number). Do 1-2 time/wk to mix up your cardio.
- play high speed sports (soccer, basketball, speed skating, even dancing – as long as its fast moving and non-stop).
- Lower abs exercises. Do a lot of these using the ab ball: put your feet on the ball and your hands on the ground (like you’re about to do a pushup). Use your ab muscles to pull the ball (and your feet) towards your midsection, go back out. Next do some leg raises (can do them on an incline bench and after each set pull it slightly up until flat). Next do some leg lifts, six inches, or something similar
- Start taking a thermogenic fat burner (will burn fat faster when your body temp rises – i.e. working out), ripped fuel, or hydroxycut hardcore before your workouts. This will help provide energy for workouts during your cutting ‘diet’.
have fun…and don’t worry too much

JACKIE T:

what are you giving us homework?