Okay I just decided to start a diet. I weighed 190-200 for many years but I started eating fast food recently and I am not sure but I think I am up to 220.
I am 5'10/5'11 so I am wayyy overweight. also I am 21 (if that helps).
I have been trying to figure out what I can and can't eat. I am drinking lots of water and drinking orange juice with breakfast.
For breakfast I usually just have a bowl of oatmeal which is 150 calories.
I am not sure what to have for lunch but I have been eating apples for lunch.
For dinner I am eating what my family makes but trying to only eat a small portion. (smaller portions).
No dessert :(
I have been drinking alot of water. Also I am trying to run every day and my brother says the route I go is 1.6 miles.
Is this enough distance to lose any weight, I am not so sure. Also my sister said it would be okay to have a salad with balsamic vinagrette she said that was a "healthier" sauce to put on a salad and also she said I could eat a small piece of chicken.
thanks :)
try eating more protein. a small portion of protein with every meal would be good as it helps to keep you fuller for longer. try to stay away from carbs as much as you can as it stores easily as fat if you don't use it.
i think apples are very good. maybe eat an apple or a fruit before your meal as you'll feel fuller and therefore have a smaller meal.
also, try not to drink too much orange juice as it contains a lot of sugar. it is better to eat the fruit itself.
it has been said that it is not really how much you exercise but rather your diet that really helps you to lose weight so i think what you're doing now is very good. exercise has many health benefits!
keep drinking lots of water and filling up on veggies! they are very good for you.
i hope this helps.
good luck with your weight loss! :)
Ruth_ho is correct, although for many people it's hard to cut many foods completely out of your diet.
You seem sad that you don't eat dessert. The logging feature here on CC is just MADE of win. Set a calorie goal each day for yourself that is about 500-1000 calories below the number you need to maintain (they'll give you an estimate of that on here too). If you make sure that your calories are in line for the day, you can surely have a small dessert. Just be careful not to overdo and you'll be fine. For me, making sure that I have some cals left for a cookie (I swear, I should have called myself cookie monster on here) helps me not to eat TEN when I get the chance.
Okay....I am 30 and have struggled with my weight my whole life. Unfortunately, when I got to be a freshman in HS, I got up to 190 pounds and I am only 5'6". Luckily, I got all the weight off by the end of HS and life was good. I've now been a yo-yo dieter throughout my life. I have discovered the only thing that truly works for me and not feeling deprived...which causes binges, is to do what this website is all about. COUNT CALORIES!!! I like that I am eating healthier, but I can basically have what I want, but look at the calories... and like you said portions! By counting ALL calories, you really see what is in your food. It makes you accountable and at the same time it's a lot like gambling. Make sure you are eating enough during the day. The apples for lunch is not enough and ou ydidn't mention having any snacks! You need to eat every couple of hours. I bet you are totally hungry when it comes to dinner and then again hungry later in the evening. As for breakfast... DON'T drink orange juice. It kills me when I see people getting tons of calories by drinking liquids. In my opinon, I'd rather be putting food in my mouth! =) As for dinner...you need to maybe start making your own food if you don't know what the calories are in dinner. Again, later in the day is the worst time to get the calories.
Don't worry about carbs. I did the whole carb thing and lost A LOT of weight, the most ever. But I gained it all back and then some. Eat what you want, but know what is in it, and learn portion control. For example... I LOVE LOVE LOVE McDonalds. But instead of my usual 2 double cheeseburgers and a large fry, I will instead get a cheeseburger and a small fry. Once you start losing weight, realizing how much calories are in things, and semi eating healthier, you don't really want all the bad stuff!
As for exercise...congrats to you for getting in the 1.6 miles. I wouldn't even worrying about running right now. How long is it taking you to do 1.6 miles? You need to be doing cardio for at least half an hour. It's okay not to run and go for like a 45 minute walk. Once you get the cardio down, it is VERY important that you add weights into your workout. Muscle really helps in burning fat!
You are still young and should lose weight quickly. DON'T GIVE UP! If you need ideas on food... here are things I eat. Also, I stay under 1200 calories.
-microwavable meals (Lean Cuisine...I know sodium, but I count calories)
-breakfast- wheat english muffin with jelly, oatmeal, lean pocket microwavable breakfast pocket... BUT you have to be anal with actually measuring things out
-snacks - toast with jelly, yogurt with pretzals, string cheese (my favorite easy snack), apple, banana, 20 grapes
-dinner - soup, taco salad (romaine lettuce, ground turkey meat, low fat shredded cheese, nonfat sourcream, taco bell hot sauce...yummy!), microwavable meals (love the french bread pizza..you actually get full from it), turkey burger with one piece of bread and 15 baked french fries...AGAIN you can have A LOT, but measure it out and keep track of it!
Hope this helps!
Don't think you have to starve to lose weight. 1200 calories will just about keep a very small, inactive, middle-aged woman alive. You're getting less than that by the look of things. The danger of eating too little is that you are putting your body under a huge amount of stress and you could end up ... still overweight.... but being very sick, suffering from dietary deficiencies, constantly tired & thoroughly miserable. If you starve yourself you're also more likely to binge horribly at some point.
Someone with your stats and running a mile and half each day needs around 2500-2800 to maintain their weight. So you could start your weight-loss at 1800-2000 quite easily. Which is plenty to go at!!! Make sure you eat & snack regularly, choosing a good variety of wholefoods like vegetables, grains, meat/fish, beans, fruit....
Breakfast could be the bowl of oatmeal plus a banana and a slice of toast all washed down with some orange juice and totalling 400 calories. Lunch could be a chunky wholemeal chicken sandwich with lots of salad, a pot of yoghurt, some more fruit... Much nicer than trying to scrape by on apples.
Use the CC food log to plan what you eat in advance, perhaps? Then you can see what you're really getting & if you need to add in some more snacks
I don't think you're eating enough. I ran your stats and determined that you burn 2200 calories just by being alive without any exercise added in. That's what you would burn if you stayed in bed all day and just existed. Since you exercise you burn more. Therefore, if you want to lose a pound a week, you could do so by eating 1700 calories/day without exercising and even more when you figure in your running. I agree that you probably do need more protein. Also I would recommend that you keep yourself from going more than 4 hours without eating something. You need to make sure you are getting enough lean protein and vegetables and make sure you're getting enough fiber. You should also find something for a reasonable dessert so that you don't become discouraged. Also remember, nothing is forbidden food wise, you just have to plan for it. If you really really want a hot fudge sundae, for example, you can have it, and just make sure you allow for it the rest of the day by eating and exercising accordingly. Make sure you log your calories in and those burned with exercise. That will give you the real picture of what you're taking in and you can more easily control intake with burn rate. Also I can't overemphasize the importance of drinking plenty of water. That's all I can think of for now. Good luck!
thanks for the tips guys
hi im 223 pounds,i started only having 1200 cals ,yes i lost 3 pounds that week but as it was pointed ut to me if i hit a plateau i cant reduce,so the next week i upped to 1500 and i started going to the gym i prob burn about 500 cals there as im only just starting out,but i have breakfast snack lunch another snack then dinner plus a weight watchers dessert they are delicious and quite low cals,i guess im trying to say you dont need to deprive yourself if you make healthy choices your claories for the day can go a long way..
Don't think of anything as off limits! Just count it and make sure it falls into your daily allotted calories. This is the only "diet" I could stick too because I could still eat the things I liked without depriving myself.
Just please use the tools. Count the calories and factor in how much you burn. Make sure to never burn more than a 1000 more calories then you eat. It's simple, easy math. =)
Good luck!
One of the best pieces of advice I received was not to deprive myself. As I said before, if you want something, you can have it as long as you plan for it. I had a piece of ice cream cake last night because it was hubby's birthday. I enjoyed every bit of it but didn't feel guilty because I planned for it. Of course it's not a good idea to do this every day because your nutrition will suffer, but the really important thing is that if you really want it, you can have it. After a while, you'll stop craving some things because you don't want to waste your calories. Good Luck!
I dunno if any of you guys care but I have an update.
Its been almost two weeks. More like a week and a half lol.
anyways I didn't weigh myself before I started but last time I went on the scale I was around 220 so I could have been a little over that cause I was not eating well.
I weighed myself today and I am at 212 :).
I have been running every day and started to do 50 situps and 25 pushups. I tend to do the pushups/situps lesser than the running.
Also I have been eating a calorie breakfast consisting of oatmeal or low fat kashi cereal.
For Lunch I usually have a broccoli lean pocket, a chicken sandwich on whole wheat bread (no mayo or cheese) or some other low calorie stuff we have.
and for dinner I usually just eat a small portion of what my family makes cause it fits into my daily calories. If they get pizza or something I have been getting salads.
so ya its going good so far. And I have been drinking lots of water and eating apples and stuff for snacks.
Excellent! I'm so happy for you!!!
Just make sure that with your excerise you're deficit (the difference between what you burn and what you eat) is not more than 1000 calories. So if you burn 2900 then make sure you eat at least 1900 calories. You will lose weight quickly at first having a higher calorie deficit, but if you have one higher than 1000 calories you're weight loss will eventually stall.
Congrats on your loss so far! It's quite encouraging to see those numbers fall. =)
Congratulations on the weight loss!
I'm guessing by the amount of weight you lost in a mere week and a half.. that you must be male.
I don't think you are eating enough especially protein considering the running. Add in a snack or two of low fat mozzarella, a handful of nuts (good fat), low fat yogurt, or such. You might be losing a lot now but if you are not eating enough you could totally ruining your metabolism. Believe me, unfortunately I learned this the hard way.
You are really doing excellent! Keep up the good work!
Best thing to do is track what you eat.....limit the carbs(not cut out completely)...and keep the calories down. I've tried many ways to lose weight and now just watch overall calories. Tracking food here in CC section really helps because you see your totals as the day goes on. Helps me put the brakes on intake by dinner time.
Have one salad a day as a meal either at lunch or dinner....and a healthy salad with lite dressing, minimal cheese or pastas......makes losing easy.
I'm going to give another update at the end of this week.
Hopefully I can keep on losing some pounds. I have been exercising alot and cutting the calories
so we'll see.
ATM my loss is about 8-10 pound
