Well, Im gonna start by saying im 15, and I weigh about 160, I should be around 130 ish, im overweight, not obese or realllly fat but, fat.

Anyways, I dont know where to start, like what to eat and what to not eat, and what type of exercises to do and for how long.

Any help?

First let me say hello and I am so happy to see someone so young concerned about her health.

Now, I would have to say talk to your parents. While you can change what you are eating outside of the house. Usually the food that is brought into the house and cooked is brought in by your parents.

Let them know you are concerned about your weight and are ready to make changes in how you eat to become more healthy. They might want to take you to the doctor and find out about your general health. You can talk to the doctor then about what is a healthy way for you to lose weight in a healthy manner.

Hey!

How tall are you, imnotfatforlong? That can have a bearing on ideal weight.

Give us an idea of what you typically eat in a day--maybe we can make some suggestions.

Jay

Howdy there, imnotfatforlong and

I also would like to know how tall you are. 160 is pudgy for, say, a 5'3" person but only a tad bit overweight for a 5'6" and not even overweight if you're 5'8" or above.

Also, from my observations, a lot of teenagers are just SO skinny/underweight and will end up filling out in a few years. Maybe you just filled out sooner?

im about 5'3 so yes pudgy, but no i know im overweight because of my past, my parents know as well, which is why they are motivating me with 100$ for 20 LB.

I just dont know where to start.

I eat usually in a day.

what i usually do? like 2 bowls of cereal, maybe a snack, then like lunch say sandwiches, then maybe a snack then dinner.

and maybe a snack after that, which is why I got fat and lack of exercise.

But, i dont know what to eat because if i decided i would probably cut everything out and not eat anything.

Can I pitch in? How about just little things like ... what are your snacks? what kind of cereal? what kind of milk? we can probably even tweak your sandwiches.
Do you have some room you can go to and dance for a half hour each day?

Hey again,

Yes, you can stand to lose some pounds. But it's good to do it in a healthy way, and while you're young!

Your daily meals seem a bit sketchy--and one thing that can help is to have a better idea of exactly what you're eating. For example, "a snack" can mean just about anything. When trying to lose weight, you need to know what your best choices are for a snack--or any other meal.

Of course, I'm not a nutritionist or doctor--we're all just folks like you here, trying to lose weight. So, you might want to see if your family physician has any ideas. We give suggestions, but take them with a grain of salt.

Just not eating is the wrong way to go about it. What works better is to plan your meals and know how much nutrients and calories you're eating. For example, look at the Nutrition Panel on the package of the cereal you eat. That tells you all about the calories, fats, carbohydrates, proteins, and most important, the Serving Size.

Here's what a typical breakfast might look like. I'm just making this up, but I am looking up the calories with FitDay. This is not a dietary recommendation, it's just an example.

cereal, 1 svg, 140 cals
1/2 cup 1% milk, 50 cals
1/2 banana, 60 cals
1/2 peach, 22 cals

So that's a total of 272 calories, which is good for a weight loss plan. In fact, you could even go a little higher.

The first thing I would suggest you do is start a food journal--just in a notebook that you carry with you--and write down exactly what you eat in a day and how many calories are in what you eat. This isn't to change anything, it's just to find out what's what. That's a good starting point.

Check back and let us know!

Jay

Eating snacks isn't a bad thing, imnotfatforlong It all depends WHAT you're eating. Infact, it's an excellent idea to eat breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, then dinner - that way, your metabolism never gets a chance to rest. Just make sure that your choices are healthy!

Jay's breakfast idea is good. For snack, it is a good idea to eat some fruit, or some veggies with dip. Some people here would recommend low cal/ low fat dip, but in my opinion, the dip doesn't even have to be lowfat/lowcal as long as you measure your serving size accurately.

If you don't want to eat something fresh, Kashi GoLean bars are a good snack, as are Nutri Grain bars, Balance Bars, and Fiber One bars - but if you do eat Fiber One bars, limit yourself to one a day.

Sandwiches are good. I'm a big sandwich eater. I suggest making your sandwiches with light whole wheat bread - some of the light wheat breads only have 40 cals per slice. Make sandwiches with lean meats like turkey breast, chicken, and ham, and go light on the cheese and the mayo. If you're looking for a good light mayo, Hellman's is great and so is French's gourmayo.

Cutting out everything is a very bad idea and rarely ever promises permanent weight loss. I battled eating disorders throughout high school and while I remained skinny, as soon as I started eating like a normal person without doing anything unhealthy, I BLEW UP and gained fifty pounds and then was forced to develop some healthy habits.

Think of this weight loss as a lifestyle change. Make sure that whatever choices you are making to lose weight are ones that you can keep (even if slightly modify) once you are satisfied with your body.

Welcome!

I suggest that at your age you should concentrate on eating healthier, so fruit instead of a candy bar, water instead of a soda, some vegetables instead of maccaroni and cheese. That type of stuff. You may be still growing, so you still want to get a lot of fuel in your body. Just make it better fuel.

What you can really do is go out and exercise. Walk or take your bike to school, join one of the teams like frosh/soph soccer or volleyball. Does your school have intramural sports? Take PE your last period or right before lunch so you can shower and really work out instead of worrying about looking sweaty through your classes. Good luck!

Exactly what kind of foods are you eating. Cereal is sugary or whole grain? Milk, low fat or whole? The bread you use for sandwiches, is it white, wheat or pita? What kind of snacks? Snacks could be anything from a piece of fruit to a bag of potato chips. The advice from someone who was in the exact same place you were at your age is 1) don't stop eating that won't work especially if you want to lose 30lbs 2) choose healthier options, low fat, low cal, no fat. Eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
What's your activity level, are you really active? If not then start with light exercises and work your way up to the harder stuff. If you are active there are alot of great dvds available. Anything from Denise Austin, Tae Bo, The Firm, Dance off inches, Turbo Jam is great it help me lose about 15lbs, Hip Hop Abs is great too. And if you can't decide or afford to buy dvds there's always netflix of if you have comcast you can use exercise on demand.

Good luck to you

@jay and nightengle

Well, so Thats good advice, im thinking about just instead of buying crap gettin carrots, apples and so on, then have cereal with low fat milk, then fruit as a snack, lunch, fruit, dinner.

And making meals more healthy, since i do get FAIR exercise.

Heh, today for lunch i brought strawberrys and carrots. what a mistake, my whole backpack, trig and bio books are filled with strawberry juice and everythings red!

LOL! Darn it, though. Gosh, next time try ziploc bags? or some of those plastic containers with lids? The containers aren't expensive and you can reuse them. You can even put the zipper bags inside the containers for added protection.

Fruit as snacks is good! Try also having some lowfat string cheese with the fruit.

jay

It was in a ziploc container thingy plastic.

well off to buy fruit

Darn! Well, you can find a way...

Jay