Newbie who needs a little direction wanting to lose 100 lbs. in 12 months.

[What]

THE GOAL : Lose 100 pounds (or more) in 12 months.

ABOUT ME :

I just turned 18 last month, for the majority of my teenage years I was in and out of the mental hospital, suffering from a rather strange case of schizophrenia. In any case, it wasn't until very recently when all the experimentations with medications and therapy really paid off. I am now in a somewhat healthy mental state, and I realize in this state, that I really need to lose these pounds I've gained. I work as a freelance graphic and web designer, and I live alone.

Gender : Male
Height : Exactly 6 feet
Weight : 300 pounds

MY CURRENT ROUTINE :

I haven't really started changing my eating habits, all I've done is decided to eat 3 small meals a day, spread out from each other, and just generally eat less. I really have no idea what to do with the nutrition aspect of things.

As for exercise, I've been walking 4-5 miles a day, sometimes very fast walking. Is this enough? I'm not sure because walking (even fast) isn't very intense exercise, sure it takes me an hour, but it's not exactly rigorous, should I start jogging instead or bicycling? Say I bicycled 6 miles per day, would that be enough?


Try to keep my goal in mind, 100 pounds in 12 months. Is what I'm doing now enough for that? Honestly I doubt it, but can you tell me how much I need to improve to reach it? Please don't go overboard, just tell me what I need to do to reach my goal, no overkill, I'll decide if I'll do that myself. Due to the nature of my job and living alone, there is no aspect of my schedule I can't revise, so this makes changing my lifestyle convenient.

 

[tc57]

Well first off good to hear you are feeling better and starting to get yourself back healthy again.

Now here is my opinion. Since you have internet access I suggest that you spend 30 minutes a day studying about nutrition. Learn about what is good/bad. What your body needs to function properly. You can start right here. There are a lot of stickys to give you a great start to eating healthy.

Next do some searches on "nutrition mental health" search both words together. You may find that your problems can be controlled by giving your body what it needs to function properly. This is just me, but I firmly believe that mental illness is more of a hormone imbalance, than what doctors call a chemical imbalance.

Also try doing a search for these words "serotonin, tryptophan, melatonin"

Knowledge of nutrition will take you to a higher level than you can imagine. Researching it will do you way more good than for me to give you a list of what to eat. Heck you may not like the foods I suggest. At your size and age you can probably eat 2500 calories or so a day with some exercise and still drop weight. That is a boat load if food if you are eating properly.

Exercise is very important. If you are just starting out 30 minutes a day is ok. Walking or just jogging in place..anything is better than nothing. Again find something that you can do and stick to it. Then when you feel like more, add more.

Don't focus so much on just "losing weight" Focus on eating helathy and exercise, and the weight problem will take care of itself. So will your mental attitude.

Good luck to you.

 

[Ando3242]

I can give a little advice about the exercise aspect. Instead of walking for an hour, try 30 minutes and try to go as far as you can without overdoing it. Jog for awhile if you want and if you have to walk a good portion that's ok. You will steadily improve if you keep your heart rate up. While just walking at a normal pace, yes you will burn calories but you won't steadily improve if you don't keep your heart rate up. You will burn more and more and stimulate your metabolism.

I would also recommend doing some weight lifting or some sort of muscle building. The aim here isn't to become a body builder, but the more muscle you have the more calories you will burn- even at rest.

Since you have an open schedule this is perfect for eating. Instead of 3 meals a day try 5 or 6 smaller meals at regular intervals such as once every 3 hours. This will again improve your metabolism and keep you from getting overly hungry between meals. For a lot of people this isn't very convenient but you have an opportunity to do this with your open schedule.

Good luck.