Starting my journey to being in shape today

rickster1

New member
Hi everyone! Found this forum today while googling for ways to lose weight. Looking forward to read and learn about ways to get in to shape.

A little about me: I'm 20 years old, 5'7", 175 lbs., a student at Ottawa U, so that means I'm poor, avid fisher and movie watcher, and no longer a smoker.

My weight history has been pretty on and off. When I was 16 I was well underweight and when I was 17 I was slightly overweight, I think because I began to work and had extra money to buy junk-food. When I was 18, I went to go live with my mom in Florida for a little over a year. In Florida where I was staying there was no public transit and shamefully no sidewalks, so I was limited to driving everywhere. I would buy fast-food for its convenience while working with my mom at her restaurant. I began to eat unhealthy and not do any exercise apart from walking from my bed to the car, and going up and down the staircase. I gained a tremendous amount of weight and I remember weighing myself at 211 lbs. I cut back a little on fast-food and before I left Florida I was 202 lbs. When I returned to Ottawa I had no car to use and very little money. I currently live with my older brother, who is broke but able to manage, and he has so far sheltered me. We both have poor diets, and my older brother is clearly overweight, but very active. I live beside a city gym and I signed up in December and would go atleast twice a week. I began walking to school instead of taking the bus and I stopped buying junk-food. I weighed myself in May and I was 175bs. In July I weighed myself and I was 172. Yesterday I weighed myself and I currently weight 174lbs. So yes I have been eating pretty bad and I haven't been to the gym in awhile. I calculated my ideal weight should be between 150-160 lbs. So this is my goal. To be 155lbs.

Now food is an issue since I don't have much money to spend. My brother always packs the fridge with coca-cola and buys lots of Chunky's can food. Today I just started eating the frozen veggies I just found in the freezer.

So that's a little about me and my background.

I want to ask you all, if I keep a strict diet and become more active, let's say 3 to 5 times of going to the gym for 1 hour during the week, how much would I weigh around December? Also, what should I buy thats very cheap and healthy. I keep a budget of 120$ for food a month and I'm pretty clueless on nutrients, but I have the idea of eating lots of vegetables, which I like.
 
Hi Rickster. Welcome.

First of all let me say that I got to spend a couple of weeks in Ottawa last year - once in Feb and once in Aug and I absolutely fell in love with the city. What a fantastic place ... I could easily see myself living there. :)

To answer your specific question: No one can say for sure how much weight you will lose - but if you eat healthily and reasonably and work out, a good goal to set is 1% of your bodyweight per week. For you that would work out to between 1.5 and 2 lbs per week. Given that there are 22 more weeks this year, you could lose 33-44 lbs by then.

Now, that said, some people are really lucky and can just lose on a steady rate and some people hit stalls and plateaus along the way. It's good to have a goal, but don't get disappointed if you don't make it. Long term, any weight you take off is good weight! :)

As for food: Beans, lentils, yogurt, fresh veggies in season, brown rice ... all are good, cheap ways to get in good nutrients. Also I use canned tomatoes a lot - I don't use much canned food, but tomatoes are a staple in my house. I think you could actually do quite a bit with $120 a month - but you'll have to plan carefully.

When I was there in August, I spent some time wandering around the Byward Market and there were lots of deals to be had on fresh veggies and fruits and even some preserved stuff. I know there are other markets there in Ottawa, so check them out, too.
 
Thanks KaraCooks, Life_after_30, and changes.

Yeah, Ottawa kicks butt. The ByWard isn't so bad, i live 3 blocks from it and it still smells like fish.

I'm thinking about putting everything in a blender and drinking it. And I'm planning carefully what to buy. It's probably gross but tossing can tuna and veggies in a blender and taking that concotion is what i want to do. I have a horrible habit of not chewing my food properly.

anyways, thanks again guys. i'll keep everyone posted on my journey.
 
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