3 Weeks, 8+ lbs, keep it off, NEED HELP, Ready... BREAK!

G

Golfer17

New member
Alright, so as you could see by the title, I want (more like NEED) to lose atleast 8 pounds in three weeks. But here's the trick, I need to keep it off!

A little about my physical being: I'm 17, weigh 183 lbs, 5' 10". Pot belly, love handles, man-boobs, thighs, the whole package deal... Yes I'm overweight but not yet obese. My mom is borderline diabetic and I don't even want to go THAT far. I want to stop the gain now and never even come close to the state I'm in now.

So if you didn't figure, school is starting back in 3 weeks and I want to shed some pounds, gain some muscle, and look decent. It's my senior year so I want it the be the year I change my life. I tried other years, but I just couldn't do it. The summer was stressful because of my parents getting a divorce so eating was my happy place (unfortunately...).

Right now I have started the "Slimfast" kind of diet. Slimfast Optima for breakfast and lunch and then a normal but healthy dinner (low fat, no white bread, only whole wheat bread if any, low calorie).

What kind of exercise should I complement my diet with to achieve my weight loss goal OR MORE?

I tried this thing called Power 90 last summer, couldn't stick with it cause it was too hard and I got bored of the same routine. But I have these things called resistance bands that came with the DVDs. Can these be of use for muscle building?

Tips, tips, and MORE TIPS are needed, because obviously I'm clueless and the only tip my mom gave me was Slimfast.

Thanks in advance! :)
 
to 3 weeks and 8 pounds

I am glad that you have a goal and it can be accomplished but it is not realistic. What you are doing is a quick fix with slimfast. Eat healthy which means cut out all your junk foods, fried foods and fast foods. Portion size your healthier choices and break up your meals into 6 portions a day. This way you will constantly have energy and the more energy you have the more active you can become. Three weeks is a short time to transform your body but yes you can do it and also be sore and uncomfortable.

I dont recommend a quick transformation. It wont last and you will become frustrated. You are still a teenager so do some fun things. Biking, swimming, basketball, soccer, are a few for a start to start your aerobic activities. As far as weight lifting be careful with how much weight you lift. You dont want to hurt yourself and if you do not have perfected body positioning when lifting you will hurt yourself and you wont be isolating muscle groups so you can obtain results.

I actually trained a young man like yourself recently because like you he wanted to get inshape before his senior year. He did give me more time and he did lose and was happy with his results. There are many books and DVD's out there that will teach you proper body positioning. Start with some basics such as push ups, squats and abdominal work. Again if your body positioning is off you will not obtain the results you want. After a few days of these then start isolating different muscle groups. Chest with back, bicep with tricep quads and hamstrings, shoulders and abs and dont forget your calves.

The library or bookstore willhave books on weight lifting I strongly suggest you get some.
Good luck to you.
 
Thank you for your response.

I guess my goal is a bit unrealistic for that kind of time frame, but that doesn't mean I can't work at it until I get there.

The problem with the outdoors activities are that temperatures where I live get around 90 with extreme humidity which creates problems with my asthma. I think push-ups, sit ups, and crunches would be a great thing to start with and I'll give it a try.

Since I mainly want to work on burning the fat, what all can I do for some major fat burning that won't "burn" me out. I have a treadmill, BUT I am not allowed to run on it because the house wasn't built right and the supports are VERY far apart in the crawlspace.

Also, the primary reason I use the Slimfast is because of the low amount of calories, it fills me up, and it's loaded with vitamins and minerals.

Thank you for your response :)
 
Your weight isn't that high. Try joining a gym and starting a program like this:

The added muscle will increase your metabolism, and you will start loosing fat in a couple of weeks.

I know this isn't as per your short term goals, but this is really the best option for someone your age. I was in a similar situation, and after the afore mentioned program, I can see a big difference :)
 
Thanks for your response!
Since there isn't a gym anywhere near where I live and the one at our school was demolished during construction, I think I'll stick with my own resistance bands, I think they actually work because I "feel the burn" when I use them from both biceps and triceps workouts. I have

Do you think a bit of cardio would help as well? Example: I could walk 1-2 miles or for 45 minutes on the treadmill and while I walk work with 5lb dumbbells?
Thanks!
 
When it comes to resistance training you need to do the right exercises.

The burn you feel while doing bicep curls or tricep extensions are superficial. All they are doing is helping you tone the muscle. Toning is useless at this point. Your aim should be to add muscle mass so that metabolism is upped which result in fat being burned even as you sleep.

You can try doing these exercises-
Push ups, squats and pull ups. These are compound exercises, which will work a lot of your muscles. You don't need access to a gym to do them, and as they get easier do more reps or just carry some weight - you can use whatever heavy stuff you have :)

If you can find some dumbbells then add shoulder press (military press) to that list. A description of these exercises can be found in that link.

Cardio: In order to lose fat you definitely need to do cardio. You are a young guy, who isn't that heavy. You need to start RUNNING. Its easy, in the beginning its more of a mental issue but once you realize how to overcome those obstacles you'll start liking it and you'll burn of the fat very quickly.
Here's an excellent program, that I personally used when I started running.


Walking is good, but you won't see the results as quickly as you will with running.

And you can never hear this enough: The most important thing is your diet. Eat too much you're going no where, eat too little you decrease your metabolism, eat junk food and your doomed. Stay away from high fructose things, that means almost all packed cookies, candy and sodas. Increase your protein intake and eat healthy - you should do fine.
 
hellomoto said:
When it comes to resistance training you need to do the right exercises.

The burn you feel while doing bicep curls or tricep extensions are superficial. All they are doing is helping you tone the muscle. Toning is useless at this point. Your aim should be to add muscle mass so that metabolism is upped which result in fat being burned even as you sleep.

You can try doing these exercises-
Push ups, squats and pull ups. These are compound exercises, which will work a lot of your muscles. You don't need access to a gym to do them, and as they get easier do more reps or just carry some weight - you can use whatever heavy stuff you have :)

If you can find some dumbbells then add shoulder press (military press) to that list. A description of these exercises can be found in that link.

Cardio: In order to lose fat you definitely need to do cardio. You are a young guy, who isn't that heavy. You need to start RUNNING. Its easy, in the beginning its more of a mental issue but once you realize how to overcome those obstacles you'll start liking it and you'll burn of the fat very quickly.
Here's an excellent program, that I personally used when I started running.


Walking is good, but you won't see the results as quickly as you will with running.

And you can never hear this enough: The most important thing is your diet. Eat too much you're going no where, eat too little you decrease your metabolism, eat junk food and your doomed. Stay away from high fructose things, that means almost all packed cookies, candy and sodas. Increase your protein intake and eat healthy - you should do fine.
Click to expand...

THANK YOU! I will give all of these tips a try, hopefully I can see SOME results within 3 weeks and look a bit better than I do now. Hopefully I'll FEEL a lot better too! Thanks again!
 
hellomoto said:
Your weight isn't that high. Try joining a gym and starting a program like this: Guide to Novice Barbell Training, aka the Official Rippetoe-Starting Strength FAQ - Bodybuilding.com Forums

The added muscle will increase your metabolism, and you will start loosing fat in a couple of weeks.

I know this isn't as per your short term goals, but this is really the best option for someone your age. I was in a similar situation, and after the afore mentioned program, I can see a big difference :)
Click to expand...

Great link.

Rippetoe is the man.
 
Your nutrition is off, mate.

I'd love to know how many cals you're consuming a day. Eating too little will lead to some quick weight loss. But it will stall, and chances are, leave you worse off than before.

Doing this right means finding a healthy combination of increasing energy output and minimizing energy input.

Simply starting to exercise via some plan someone gave you on the web without *walking into* it slowly and starving yourself is a recipe for disaster.

My suggestion would be to first and foremost, work on your nutrition. Maintenance intake is the point of food intake that where calorie input will equal calorie output and weight will be steady. There are many ways to go about finding this number, but in simplistic terms, it can be estimated at 14 calories per pound.

From this number, start with a sane deficit of say, 20% or so off of maintenance.

Suppose this ends up being 2500 calories.

It's up to you to fill up the *calorie bank*.

Protein is critical. I suggest getting somewhere around 1 gram per pound.

There are 4 cals in each gram of protein. Same with carbs.

Next I'd worry about your fats. Something like .25-.5 grams per pound is a good starting minimum. These should be comprised of the good stuff primarily. Things like fish, nuts, peanut butter, flax, and the like.

The remainder of your diet can come from carbs and/or more fats.

If you want serious results, you've got to get serious about your approach. Sure, you can guzzle down some slim fast and start walking.... but with no rhyme or reason to what you're doing, chances are very good that you'll end up right where you started or worse. Think about how many people fail at this. The reason they fail is usually poor planning and lack of management of expectations.

While you're figuring out your nutrition, which by the way, a great site to help you is , I'd suggest simply start becoming more active. If you're really out of shape, start walking. Each week, increase the intensity. If that means 3 weeks of walking before you start lightly jogging... so be it.

Those first 3 weeks, simply increase the distance covered on your walk. Eventually, as long as you continually add *intensity* to the workout, you'll improve in terms of fitness.

I'd throw some body weight exercises into the mix as someone stated above a few times per week. Get your body used to resistance training. Those bands probably aren't going to give you enough resistance to make it worth your while.

Stick with pushups, squats, and if you can hang a pullup bar, that would be great.

Stay focused and stick around the forum. I'd certainly read through the "words of wisdom" stickie found in the On Topic section of this site.

Best of luck to ya.
 
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