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coffee

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So I was looking up how many calories a day a teenage girl would need and it took me to this forum which seemed great.

I'm in my third last year of high school, just over 5'8" and weigh 196 pounds.
I really want to lost about 60 pounds before the end of the year so in about 8 months? I don't get teased at all about my weight but I do get some small comments made and I want to feel better about myself.

Do any of you have any advice as to how to start off? It's morning here in Aus (we use the metric system so I had to convert everything) so I just had a grilled avocado and cheese sandwich. And can anyone recommend what to eat? I don't eat meat. Oh I might add that I also really like to drink coffee and energy drinks.

Thanks! :)
 
Hey, I'm trying to lose that same amount of weight about.

I started by cutting out all sugary drinks. That's all your sodas, fruit juices and the like. Those can sneak in 500+ calories a day without you even knowing it, that's a meal right there.

The next step was to make a time for myself to stop eating completely. I'm not sure if eating at night does or doesn't affect your weight loss process, but limiting the time when you eat can help you maintain how much you eat throughout the day.

Next I started to count calories; I wrote down on a notepad how many calories I ate throughout the day. This will help you realize how much you are eating and help you be aware of where your weight gain is coming from.

Then it was a matter of getting the amount of calories I needed in a day and slowly cutting them down. If you eat 500 less than you use, then you will lose around half a kg per week.

If you want to lose 60 pounds in 8 months then you will need to do a fair amount of exercise and be completely dedicated to your diet. I would recommend setting small goals like losing around 2kg in a month or something like that. You will be motivated by achieving your small goals which will help you stick to your plan in the long run.

I'm not nearly as experienced as others here, but I thought I would give my two cents. Good luck.
 
Starve.

That's what my doctor basically told me to do. An overweight person can survive on as little as 400-500 cal per day as long as they get protein and some carbs. The first 7 - 10 days will be terrible because you will feel extremely tired and lethargic and be very tempted to binge on something. That's when most diets fail. But if you can get through that period, it gets easier and easier to eat less. Maybe you don't have to start eating only 500 calories per day, you can try for 1500. I actually started with 1500 myself and now I aim for ~800, but usually end up eating 1000. 500 is very difficult but my doctor said to go with that if I could manage it. But he's glad I'm losing weight even if I can't eat that little.

Also remember to take a multivitamin and calcium pill every day because there's not enough vitamins in 500 calories to keep you nourished properly.

Once you get down to a normal weight you will need to pay more attention to how many calories to eat because starving at a normal weight can be unhealthy and you'll start burning up muscle instead of fat.
 
Okay I will start off by cutting out all the chocolate and sugary drinks.
Are breakfast drinks alright? We have a drink here called Up & Go and I love that stuff.

Has anyone got ideas for exercise? It's starting to get cold here so I can't really go swimming and it feels weird to go running by myself. And ideas for what to eat? As in should I have cereal for breakfast or toast?

As for starving, I don't think my mum would be too happy about that I mean she might be happy about me losing weight but there is now way she would let me starve. But thanks!
 
I looked at up & go and it looks like crystal light. Use that when you need a little flavor, but it still has calories I think. Drink maybe two glasses a day to get you between meals. Water is your friend for weight loss, it fills you up and I'm pretty sure your metabolism will work better if you're hydrated.

Cereal is great if it is low in sugar and high in fiber. Have it with 1% milk too, (work your way down to 1% with 2% if you dont like the taste). Make sure you follow the serving suggestions, though, cereal can have a lot of calories if you just pour it into the bowl. Toast is great only if you use whole wheat bread and stay away from butter/marg spreads. A little jam is fine, it's not healthy but we cant sacrifice taste if we are aiming for a long term diet. Honey is great too in small amounts. Breakfast shakes can be good, but that has to be your entire meal pretty much.

Other breakfast ideas can be some fresh fruit or granola. Search around, there are tons of good ideas for breakfast out there.

For exercise, you can walk if you prefer not to run. 45-60 minutes of walking a day will burn off a nice chunk of calories. Not slow walking, like medium pace.

You might not want to do this, but here is what I like doing for cardio:

I picked up boxing some time ago and I like to shadowbox. Shadow boxing (if you put in a lot of movement) is a very good for cardio and will burn a fair amount of calories. Watch some videos on youtube and you will get the basic idea around it. It takes a lot out of you and your arms will be sore for a few days after each session, but it is a nice option.

Something else I like doing is stacking some books and doing steps accompanied by arm movement like clapping or punching. Those exercises don't do as much as jogging, but they help.

While doing all that, maybe throw in some crunches and pushups. When you get skinnier, no doubt you will want to tone your body, so it might help to do a little in preparing for that. Not too much, just 3 times a week.

Remember: don't make big sacrifices right away, work your way down. Diets always fail because they are only for short term weight loss. You will lose a lot of water weight in the next few weeks, probably, so don't expect to lose the same amount of weight each week. Fat loss takes time and dedication, look in the mirror each week and you will see where you are at.
 
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Thanks so much!
Um, this might be a stupid question but is there a possibility I could put on weight by drinking heaps of water?
But I have been eating good cereals and granola :D
As for exercise, I've been going bike riding and walking a bit but I plan on jogging next week. Still worried about looking weird while doing it though.
Also I'm not that noticeably over weight. My weight says I am but if you looked at me, you wouldn't notice it that much.
 
Yes water will make you gain weight. But, it's just water. It inevitably comes back out. So, feel free to have some.
 
coffee said:
Also I'm not that noticeably over weight. My weight says I am but if you looked at me, you wouldn't notice it that much.
Click to expand...

I can understand that, that's how I am. In fact if I hear one more person tell me (with a surprised look on their face) "You CAN'T weight 200 pounds" I think I'm going to throw something at them. I gain and lose proportionally all over my body. Which not only means that I don't notice any gains until they are quite noticeable, but also don't notice losses that quickly either.

My big thing is coffee too. But instead of cutting out the coffee, I'm trying to cut what I put in it. Like today I went from 4 tablespoons of half and half per cup down to three. I never use sugar in my coffee though. And even though there's a coffee shop two blocks away I'm avoiding all the fancy stuff because of the added fats and sugars...you have no idea how trying that is because I can actually smell it from my house. But it's been three weeks and no coffee shop stops.
 
Yes, water weight can confuse your scale sometimes. It comes and goes quickly so it's nothing to worry about.

Just listen to music while jogging and that should take your mind off of looking weird.
 
I haven't had coffee in about 3 weeks as well now! Quite an achievement :p

Wait so, with water if I put on weight. Wait. If I drink lots of water to keep me full and put on weight, when I lose all the water will it make me lose weight after that?
As you can see I am extremely new to all this.
Have there been cases when people put on weight even after being on a strict diet and exercising?
 
Of course, if you keep yourself well hydrated then you will drink around 80oz of water a day which is 5 pounds. When you sweat, cry, bleed, pee, etc all that water gets used and your metabolism soaks up a lot of water too while burning your calories. It is temporary weight, but don't let that stop you from drinking a good fill of water. Not all at once though!
 
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