What are some safe and healthy ways to lose weight?

1) Count your calories. Try and eat about 1500 calories a day, perfectly healthy amount for a woman a little on the low side but definitely not dangerous.
2) Do intense cardio. Don't read a book or something on a treadmill, I mean turn up the ipod and get serious, where you are sweating and breathing heavily. An hour a day is enough. Also remember to eat a little protein right after you workout, you don't want to break down muscle and then not have food to repair it. Because then you body fat will increase.

Basically, you have to burn more calories. That include vigorous exercises. Ex. Running, jogging, treadmill, cycling bending exercises etc. According to me always try to do your exercises in the morning, that way you burn more calories. And about your diet, you'll think that you'll be able to follow a healthy diet at first, but once you start you'll feel like eating Junk food. Don't make the mistake of following a particular diet. Eat whatever you like, provided that you have them in small quantities. Always have a heavy breakfast, light lunch and dinner. Avoid eating more rice.

Secondly, don't ever stay on a empty stomach for a long time. That way you're body will burn less calories and also the carbohydrates present in your body get converted into fats and gets stored in your body in order to provide energy. So avoid and empty stomach as far as possible.

Keep in you mind that you'll never lose weight overnight. Everything takes time and when is comes to losing weight, that's the slowest. Another thing is that you're still 14 now. So as you grow up, you body gets toned automatically depending upon the work you do and also because of all the hormonal factors.

You say that the fat in your body is more concentrated in your butt, thighs and boobs. Well I don't know about how to reduce your breast size, but then butt and thighs, that can be done by the exercises I mentioned earlier. For better response to reduce weight, join a Gym. N tone your body.

No such thing as 'fast as possible'

If you want to lose some weight quickly than any of the fad diets will work. You'll quickly lose water weight in the first week but it will quickly return afterwards.

If you truly want to lose weight then you need to make a lifestyle change and burn off more calories than you consume. Eat healthy and drink lots of water. Considering your age you will actually burn calories faster than most of us but do /not/ starve yourself!

When you starve yourself the body goes into starvation mode and actually burns even less calories to protect itself and you'll lose muscles which burn calories.

As for what to eat, there is a proverb that goes something like this. Eat a big breakfast, share lunch with a friend and give away dinner to an enemy.

So eat healthy grains in the morning, perhaps some fish or turkey for lunch and a salad or cottage cheese for dinner. Exercise and drink lots of water. 8 to 10 glasses per day.

Ideal exercises would be 'lunges' which work out the butt and thighs. Google for it.

Keep a positive outlook and don't weigh yourself everyday. Changes don't happen overnight and too many people get discouraged when they weigh themselves daily.

If you happen to plateau and don't see any changes in your butt and thighs for a few weeks then change the routine around a bit, eat a bit differently, do different exercises, etc. As eventually the body gets used to the new routine and needs a change to kick start it again.

Last piece of advise, don't use any of the Internet measures of how much a 5'8" women should weigh as these are generalized. Your best weight is the one where you feel very comfortable with yourself and confident in wearing your new favorite pair of jeans.

I'm a club wrestling coach who has had to study and teach kids and teens (mostly boys but a few girls) how to safely cut weight. So.

1. Don't really try to lose it as fast as possible. I get your point that you want to lose weight quickly, but the least safe thing you can do is crash or turn to "emergency" techniques like diuretics, vomiting, fasting, dehydration, and so on. So that's rule #1.
2. You need to burn more calories than you currently do. Essentially, this means find an aerobic exercise that you like and do it regularly. I can't choose it for you, but there is likely SOMETHING that gets your heartrate up and blood pumping that doesn't feel awful to you, right? Jogging? Bicycles? Dancing? Swimming?
3. You need to take in fewer calories than you currently do. Since diets suck, I would rather have you focus on #2 because you've found something to that you enjoy doing to burn calories, rather than stopping something you enjoy doing (eating). But regarding the eating, just do this: eat your three squares like always, but eliminate the candy, chips, snack foods and desserts. Yes, you'll miss them. But the sooner you hit your weight target (and keep exercising) the sooner you can reintroduce some sugar or junk food. Also, if you're thirsty, drink WATER. Not pop.

At the end of the day, by eliminating the pop, gum, and doritos you're probably down 500 calories. And since you went for that regular jog that you've added to your daily routine, you're burning an extra 500 calories.

And a 1000 calorie swing means you will lose >1 pound a month. More like a pound a week I predict for a girl your size. So in 3 months, you'll be like 170 or less and you haven't even dieted. AND, you're stronger then ever because of the extra daily workout.

AND don't watch the scale, just stick to your exercise + no junk. Because what you will do is build muscle while burning fat and the scale might not move too quickly. But your body shape WILL transform into something really sharp (have you ever seen an unattractively-shaped aerobics instructor, regardless of weight? )

Best way is to get used to the idea of having 5 meals or so a day. Have a good breakfast, a snack at around 10am or whenever you can around that time, then lunch, another snack in the afternoon, then dinner. Drink plenty of water, and if you can, exercise some. A lot of my female friends do some type of dvd aerobics. Of course, also try to have a healthy diet.

Look at the food you're eating now and see how much of it is empty calories (chips, sodas, cookies and such); you can still have those, but don't have them every day. You can lose weight just by getting rid of sodas; and avoid diet sodas too, if you can. If you're addicted to them like I used to be, start weaning yourself from them.

You can always go to the bookstore and get a book on nutrition. You'll be surprised to learn that once you develop fat cells, you can shrink them, but you'll never be able to get rid of them. That's why is easier to get fatter once you keep piling on the weight. Also, plenty of books out there on exercises you can do in your own room.

Anyway, If you lead an active lifestyle, eating shouldn't be a big deal. Problems happen when you eat way too much, but you're too sedentary.

As far as the other comment of letting your body catch up with you---well, newsflash is that as you get older, your metabolism slows down. And yea, that means that your chances of getting more weight only increases as you get older. Unless of course, you're blessed with a fast metabolism since birth, but if you're worried about your weight, like me, most likely you have a slow metabolism.

So best to start taking care of the weight now, and you will also feel better and be healthier. As the saying says, don't leave for tomorrow what you can do today!

I think the best possible healthy ways to lose weight are to give up fast food (that helps SO MUCH), don't drink soda (if you are addicted to soda, try Arizona green tea- it has the energy in it without all the sugar), don't eat late at night, and work out a few times a week. Good luck!!

WHAT THE HECK! You are not fat! Yeah we all need to lose weight! But you have the rest of your life. Let your body catch up with you. As you get older you will probably thin out. Just watch what you eat and when you eat it! Like one of my rules is that I don't eat after 7 o'clock. Try that.