Hey everybody! New here and I need your advice!

J

J-Meister

0
Hi everybody,

So it was around august (when I got my haircut), that I said "Right, its time to change". I'm 16, wiegh about 225 pounds, and I am about 6'0. I need advice on what to do!!! Ill explain everything in these sections....

Background:

I am a jew, and of course my whole family has had issues with wieght problems :)! I gained a lot of my body fat from 5th to 8th grade, and now im dealing with the reprecussions!!!

Diet plan since August

This is what i've done in terms of diet-

-i dont eat breakfast or lunch, and this is easy for me because i go to school.

-When i get home i usually have something that is 200-500 calories (im not gonna starve myself)

-Then of course is around a 600-800 calorie dinner and sometimes a 200-400 calorie desert.

-This means that AT THE MOST im intaking about 1700 calories a day. To me, it doesn't matter when the calories come in just how many!

Exercise

-Starting since october, i've been doing the following:

-100 hands-behind-the-head push-ups. I usually get tired (at this point) at around 80. This is done anywhere from 10 pm-11 pm

-After situps i do 30-40 regular correct push-ups, this is also at 10-11 pm.

-Occassionally i will walk home from school, which is about a mile and a half away. (IF U GUYS THINK I SHUD KEEP THIS UP TELL ME)

-then theres gym class, where we do volleyball, basketball, or swimming.


Results and Suggestions!

Since August, I have lost 15 pounds from 240 to 225. My muscles in my forarms have grown bigger, and my stomach muscles have tightened, but not to a 6-pack-ab degree. Heres my problems...

-at this point, I feel like i can't lose anymore wieght! Is this normal? how do i keep going? I feel like no matter what i do im staying at 225!

-Even though my muscles in the stomach are tighter, i still have a plump belly, not humungus, but still too big. How do I lose this pure body-fat? Are the situps working?

-face fat!!!!! Ahhhh!!! I want my face to thin down and it barely has! What to do!

-Though they're not huge, id still love to get rid of these man-boobs! how! Are the pushups working?

-Lastly, my thighs, how do I tighten them up?!!? My calfs are ok but then my thighs get big!

When all this is said and done, i have seen improvement. For instance, my hands are getting vienier, in other words i can start to see the viens under the fat. My ankles are ankles! woo! My feet are trim! And as I mentioned before, my forearms are getting good, but still a little flappy on the bottom.

So plz! PLZ I TURN TO ANYONE FOR THEIR ADVICE AND WHAT I SHOULD DO TO LOSE WIEGHT AND HELP WITH THE FAT PROBLEMS ABOVE!

Any help is greatly appriecciated!
 
Hi J-meister,

there are many things that need addressing so i will just write a few important points down.

1. You need to eat breakfast-no questions asked. This has a myriad of benefits the least of which is getting your metabolism started.
2. You need to eat more often through the day in smaller portions. This helps keep you full and helps you body in breaking it down.
3. Even though you take in 1700 calories in the day....simply put calories aren't calories. A 400 calorie desert is not the same as a 400 calorie dish of chicken and vegetables. You need to state exactly what you are eating.
4. 100 situps aren't going to do you much good. Sit ups arent bad at all per se but if you are doing 100 of them then it isnt hard enough. Either try an alternative ab workout or add some resistance by putting weight on your chest. Better yet, if you have access to the equipment do squats and deadlifts.
5. You need to implement a full body workout routine. There is PLENTY of information on this forum regarding this.
6. walking is fine but it would be beneficial to implement a more vigorous type of cardio such as HIIT. Done effectively you can do it for 20 mins for 2-3 times a week max.
7. Basketball, swimming and volleyball are all good.

Remember, diet is KEY to whether you are achieving your goals. At this stage, yours needs A LOT of work which is the reason for your plateau.

I recommend that you read the stickies in the nutrition and weight lifting sections come back if you need further help.

Cheers
 
J,

First and foremost I congratulate you on making the decision to lose weight. Our bodies evolved from a time when food might be scarce and so we learned to store fat when we had excess and slow our metabolism's down when we didn't. Being Jewish I can assure you our "stock" tends to be heavy and metabolically challenged. We also love to get diabetes, heart-disease and other health issues...genetically the cards are stacked against us. When they say we're the "Chosen people" they mean chosen to be the first in line at the buffet!! ;)

Before going further, I want to run something by you. Today I am 42 and if I could go back in time and change just one thing...it would be to travel back to when I was a teenager and beg myself to lose weight. Please believe me on this. My experience was that being fat was like a badge of disgrace; why would an attractive girl want to be with some heavy sloth? Kids teased me and the torment burrowed deep into my self-esteem. The entire course of your life will be determined by your own self-image and how you feel about yourself. Nobody can hurt you if you don't let them...and if you don't feel good about yourself, then yo have no foundation to build upon. From this premise we could expand to many areas of how being overweight can affect you...but all psychology aside I can assure you losing weight will help ensure a more healthy life..and that alone is worthwhile enough a reason.

From what I gather from your post, you certainly have passion, enthusiasm and the will to do something about it....but your current course is not very sound. Skipping breakfast & lunch just tells your body you have no food coming in and your metabolism will slow down (sensing a famine)...then in the evening you're giving your body a bunch of fuel/calories. It's just not good. I've read that of all the people who have dieted and kept the weight off, one of the things they all had in common was that they ate a proper breakfast!

So yeah...you've got the desire, will and intent...but let's put some education behind it. I'd highly suggest the following books:

ULTRA-METABOLISM by Mark Hyman, M.D.
YOU ON A DIET by Michael Roizen & Mehmet Oz, M.D.

and if you're older:
SOUTH BEACH HEART PROGRAM by Arthur Agatston....it will scare the crap out of you by making you realize just how horrible being over-weight and eating bad is for your heart. A must-read for any yid.

In general:

1) Read the books, learn about diet & exercise OR get a counselor who does
2) Start eating well-balanced, healthy meals....about 4-5 per day and 1,800 per day sound fine. Learn about food; it's not all the same!
3) At least 3x per week get a good hour of cardio
4) Do some weight-training 2-3x per week
5) The key to losing weight is calorie-deficit....eat less then you need
6) Move more, eat less...and eat smart
7) Stop touching yourself so much ;)

Don't diet harder, diet SMARTER....

Go to the gym or mall and look around. Look at the attractive woman with the nice figures...and then look at the flabby sows: which do YOU wanna be with? Then ask yourself....what do you look like and what are you offering the woman? How can you expect to score a hottie if your a blobbie? Oh, I'm sure there'll be all sorts of comments about how shallow this line of thought is and how we should love someone for who they are and see the inner-beauty....but I'm here to tell ya; it's a dog-eat-dog world out there! Don't waste your youth meandering from diet-effort to diet-effort....you will regret it later, dearly. Get up off that thing and get it done. At first you'll miss multiple slices of pizza, Doritos & Snicker's bars...but in no time you'll get used to not riding the white-horse (sugar) and find pride & pleasure in being fit and feeling great about yourself....no food is better then that feeling!!!

Now here's the tough part....if you fail to follow-through with all this, you'll have to one day reflect back on this post and regret not taking this advice!

One other bit of advice...be careful of those Jewish princesses, most of 'em think they're Goddesses and have an attitude. They don't want to work, expect things to be given to them and they'll take you for granted faster then Paris Hilton will violate her parole! Take your time, choose wisely and remember each day on the planet is a gift.

Oh...sorry if I seem down on woman....it's just hard to trust anything that bleeds for 5 days and doesn't die. :D

Good luck kiddo!
 
Please keep your comments focused on the question at hand, and in relatively good taste. That last line there leaves is borderline inappropriate.
 
Do you want your muscels looks bigger or your weight goes lower? When I started working out my weight didn't go lower, it went higher. In my case musceles weighs lot of more than fat.

And if you want muscelor tummy, take more weight with exercises.

I hope you get your intention! and I'm sorry my bad english : )
 
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