Diet/Excercise help?

[bananalova669]

So basicaly, I don't really have anything planned out. I don't even know what I want to do or should do. So here are the facts: I'm a 16 yr old female and a weigh about 170 I think, I really should invest in a scale, and I am 5'7. I don't really diet, I just eat what I want whenever I can. And I don't excercise much because I am lazy. I love DDR though, last summer I used to do it for like an hour every day, and I had the time then. Now I work from 8:30 to 5:00, and I can drive...and so, when I can get out of the house I can. And I eat while I'm out a lot also, because I can't reall eat without permission or being sneaky at home.

It's hard for me to come up with a diet even to start you with. I am super picky, and I love my chocolate. I don't cook but my mom does, and so what I need to eat my whole family has to eat, and that just makes it hard. But here is what I would like.

--> Breakfast: Usually a Slimfast meal bar thing, they have chocoalte and stuff, and they are GOOD
--> Lunch: Salad. I like lots of stuff on my salad though. Like PEAS...yum.
--> Dinner: Some sort of healthy, balanced, low fat/calorie, meal.

I hate Onions just for the record...and EVERYTHING has onions in it, makes life hard. I love chocolate. Peas are the best green thing, I like more fruits than I do vegetables, but I am super picky about both.

Excercise is hard. I honstly feel I don't have that much time in my day, what with work and all. I need the internet, I do, because honestly I love it. And television rocks. So between everything I feel I have about 5 mins of nothing time. I don't like dancing in my house because I don't really know, I'd rather do it in front of a bunch of people at an arcade and be crappy than be at home, do go, but have my parents see me.

Recently while visiting a nearby town, we danced for the first time in about 6 months and man it hurt. But now, I'm very like *hops onto mat* FWAP FWAP, HA! with it. I was thinking about doing some sort of yoga/pilates/ddr/joggish/crunch thing with some sort of diet, but I doubt I could keep on it for more than a day or so. And just a random though...I hate Atkins, it is stupid, everyone does it, and I already eat enough meat, I don't want to replace my beloved pasta with an extra slab of steak.

So, really in closing, please vote for me. Or do me one better, help me lose some weight I figure *counts on fingers* 50 pounds before school starts, so like 1 1/2 months, if not, at least some, and noticably as well, I want people to be like woah, she's not the fatest girl in school, which by the way I am. It is true. Anyways thank you.

[abrannan]

Okay, good a blank slate to work with.

First off, the bad news: You're not going to be able to burn 50 lbs in 1.5 months. The most weight you should lose safely is 2 lbs per week. Which puts us in the 12-15 lb range.

The good news is that the 50 lbs is very doable. Possibly even by the end of the next school year.

The first two things I'd do are 1) buy a scale and 2) buy a journal/notebook. Every day, *EVERY DAY* weigh yourself at the same time, wearing the same amount of clothes. Note your weight in your journal. Keep a record of the number of calories you eat, that may mean buying a food counts book, but a lot of the information can be found on the internet. Along with what you eat, also write down why you're eating it, and how you're feeling. According to my calculations, you burn about 1600 calories par day just by existing. Each pound of fat is 3500 calories. What you need to do is make sure what you eat, minus how much you work out, is less than that 1600 calories. Consistently doing that will get weight off. Try not to drop too much below 1200 calories eaten, or your body will go into a starvation mode where it will drop your metabolism rather than burn fat.

AS far as exercise, DDR is good, but if you can't do that, a simple walk at a brisk pace for half an hour each day will do wonders for your body, your mood, and your self-esteem. Ideally you'd want to get your heart rate up for 30-45 minutes, but you can work up to that. Exercise is good, it raises the metabolism, which burns more calories, and produces endorphins, which make you feel good.

As far as planning a diet goes, at first I'd just look at your journal, and look to see if you're eating out of boredom or other "non-hungry" eating. Simply dropping 1 20oz bottle of coke and 1 candy bar from your diet each day will burn 1 pound off per week. Then, as you reach for food, you can ask yourself if you're eating because you're hungry, or because you're bored/sad/whatever. Once you've got that down, you can start substituting other lower calorie, healthier foods for what you are grabbing. Portion size control can help too.

Okay, that's a lot of information I just threw at you, but the important stuff to start with is to get a scale, and a journal. I'm on these boards nearly every day, and am happy to answer any questions you come up with. Just post here, or send me a PM if you'd rather not share with the group.

Congratulations on making the decision to lose weight. That first step is the hardest one you'll take.

[bananalova669]

Hmmmm, you are...amazing...thank you x way too many to count. I'll be sure to do that.

[abrannan]

bananalova669 said:

Hmmmm, you are...amazing...thank you x way too many to count. I'll be sure to do that.

Aw, shucks. I'm not that amazing, but thank you for the compliment. I'm just a guy who's done a whole lot of reading on exercise, diet and weight loss, and like to help people who want to help themselves.