New here, and need some help...

[cool_romance]

Hello everyone. I am a 19 year old female with a bit of a weight problem. I am by no means very overweight/obese, but I am a bit on the chunky side these days. You see, I used to be nice and thin back then but that all changed when last year I experienced a very heartbreaking break up. I've been through so much hard changes, from losing my first boyfriend who probably never loved me as much as I loved him (and who cheated on me big time, the damn dog...), losing all my friends because my ex literally had them turn against me, and losing my best friend of 3 years. Not to mention now my father is unemployed now, and that is just icing on the cake; I also suffer from moderate depression and it's really hard especially when all of this stuff happened and have had experienced emotional/mental/verbal abuse from practically everyone in the past year.

To soothe myself, I began to stay up all night, sleep all day, eat a lot of food, and cut myself. Thank God I didn't go to far with the cutting, I've longed since stopped for several months now. But it's not easy to have a family who will bring in so much junk food from outside and then call me a fattie. I am not looking for sympathy; Far from that. I need some sound advice about how to get my life back. I have provided some pictures below of my current body that I just took now. I am 5'4 and a half feet tall, and weigh 135 lbs. My measurements are 34-27-34. I carry all my weight in my midsection, as you can see. I have a medium body frame and my body fat percentage is around 25%. My BMI is 23.2.

My goals are to lose some weight, (As to how much, I am not very sure.) tone my body all over, achieve a nice flat tummy, have a nice toned butt, and lose 3 inches around my waist line so that I can have that beautiful hourglass figure. You know how Megan Fox and Salma Hayek has both hourglass figures? But yet Megan has a much "slimmer" hourglass shape, while Salma has a much "curvier" hourglass shape? Yeah, I want Salma's shape! If I can achieve all of this, I'll feel so much better about myself and maybe my depression will lighten up a bit with a new, healthier lifestyle.

So what should I do to achieve these goals? What exercising and dieting methods should I apply to my lifestyle? Thank you all so much!

 

[KaraCooks]

Hi and welcome.

The first thing I'd suggest is figuring out how many calories you need to be eating by reading this thread: http://weight-loss.fitness.com/nutrition/40273-how-many-calories-should-i-eat.html

Then register for a free account on FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal or Calorie Counter, Diet Tracking, Food Journal, Nutrition Facts at The Daily Plate and start to log your food. This will let you see how many calories you're eating and how your nutrition levels are breaking down. Once you know that, you'll be able to see more clearly where you can make adjustments, cut back, change your nutrition, etc.

The next thing I'd suggest is checking out the various sticky posts in the exercise area of the forum (Weight Loss Through Exercise - Weight Loss Forum). There are some very good posts on exercise, both cardio/aerobic and on incorporating weight lifting into your exercise plans.

I'd also suggest starting a diary in the weight loss diary area (Weight Loss Diary - Weight Loss Forum) as well as reading and participating in other diaries. This is a good way to make updates to your progress and to get support from others. It helps to find the diaries of people who have successfully lost weight (or are losing weight) and reading through them as well. Following the diaries of those who have been successful is both inspiring and informative.

Finally, I'd say you should read as much as you can of the posts on the board, especially anything that's marked "sticky". There is a ton of good information around here and a lot of times questions that new folks have has already been answered very thoroughly - so do take the time to look around and read.

Hope that helps you to get started.

 

[cool_romance]

Hi and welcome.

The first thing I'd suggest is figuring out how many calories you need to be eating by reading this thread: http://weight-loss.fitness.com/nutrition/40273-how-many-calories-should-i-eat.html

Then register for a free account on FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal or Calorie Counter, Diet Tracking, Food Journal, Nutrition Facts at The Daily Plate and start to log your food. This will let you see how many calories you're eating and how your nutrition levels are breaking down. Once you know that, you'll be able to see more clearly where you can make adjustments, cut back, change your nutrition, etc.

The next thing I'd suggest is checking out the various sticky posts in the exercise area of the forum (Weight Loss Through Exercise - Weight Loss Forum). There are some very good posts on exercise, both cardio/aerobic and on incorporating weight lifting into your exercise plans.

I'd also suggest starting a diary in the weight loss diary area (Weight Loss Diary - Weight Loss Forum) as well as reading and participating in other diaries. This is a good way to make updates to your progress and to get support from others. It helps to find the diaries of people who have successfully lost weight (or are losing weight) and reading through them as well. Following the diaries of those who have been successful is both inspiring and informative.

Finally, I'd say you should read as much as you can of the posts on the board, especially anything that's marked "sticky". There is a ton of good information around here and a lot of times questions that new folks have has already been answered very thoroughly - so do take the time to look around and read.

Hope that helps you to get started.

Thank you so much, I will look into them!

 

[cool_romance]

Wow, I have not returned here in so long. Well anyway... I've been running a lot, and now I'm down to 130 lbs. So I lost 5 lbs, which isn't much, but I'm happy. My perfect weight is between 130-131 anyways since it works for my height and body frame the best.

Now all I need to do is to maintain my weight and to see what I can do lose 2-3 inches of stomach fat from my gut. Any ideas?