Am I doing this right?

[aligator1]

Hey guys, I'm new here, and I recently started dieting to try and achieve a healthier lifestyle. In October of 2009 I became a vegetarian. Since November, I have lost approximately 10 lbs. I'm 5'5", 17 years old, and weigh about 245 lbs. I take my dog for a walk regularly, and they're usually 30 to 45 minutes long. The following is my normal diet:

Breakfast:
Mini wheats cereal and 1% milk (I may change this to oatmeal soon.)

Lunch:
A sandwich and usually 3 fruits (grapefruit, orange, apple, or banana) OR I'll substitute one of the fruits for raw carrots or pretzels. I drink a bottle of water.

Snack:
Varies greatly, sometimes fruit, special K, popcorn... etc. Just something to take the edge off between lunch and dinner.

Dinner:
Usually varies. I eat things like veggie chicken nuggets (like from Morning Star), rice, salads, whole wheat pasta, broccoli, cauliflower, other veggies... normal kinds of things. It's really hard to be specific because it changes all the time, but it's usually quite wholesome. Friday nights we order cheese pizza or sandwiches and I'm usually sensible about portions.

Dessert (if any):
Either a Vita Top (100 calories + 6g of fiber) or some rice pudding. That kinda thing, just a little sweetness to make me happy. Sometimes I'll just have a diet Coke.

I drink as much water as I can, and basically all I wanna know if is this seems like a good start. Should I be changing anything? Eating less, exercising more? Ideally, I would love to lose 100 lbs, but I know that things like this take time. For the most part I just want to be healthier and live a long life without worrying about heart disease or diabetes! (Also - sorry if this is in the wrong section. I decided this was probably the best one?)

Thanks for any help,
aligator

 

[L.Scott]

Your on the right track. A lot of ppl don't count calories because they thinks its to much for them, or they get confused but you need to watch your calorie intake. There is a book that i have an love called "The calorie king" you can get it any where for $8. It can give you a lot of info on how many cals. you should be taking in. as well as other thing too. and you don't have to be a vegetarian to lose weight. you can eat what you want you just have to watch the calories. And those morning star things are BAD BAD BAD. there is like two paragraphs listing what they put in them. If you want meat get extra lean beef
ground turkey an chicken breast.

good luck with you diet.