20 yr old trying to loose weight

N

nedu09

New member
Hey everyone,

My name is Chris and I am 20 years old and I am 5'10". I have been overweight for most of my life. I have tried going on diets but most of the time quiet 2 or 3 days in. I moved out from my parents house about 9 months ago since I got my job. Long story short, for the past 9 months I have been eating 2 meals a day and the 2 meals a day consisted of fast food and nothing but fast food. I would estimate around 4000-5000 calories a day. I went from weighing around 200 pounds to 242. Most of my weight is around the stomach, hips and chest. Legs look okay and arms are ok. I have a little bit of a double chin but not that major. I usually loose the double chin first.

For the past 2 months I have been saying to myself this cannot go on longer and about a month ago I really started doing something about it. I started eating healthy... er and about a week ago started doing daily exercise. (I am a programmer that sits behind a desk 90% of my waking hours so I dont get much of it at all).

So here is my self made diet:

I am trying to keep my calories around 1000 a day.

Breakfast:

Coffee and 2 pieces of wheat white berad with a light spread of nutella

Lunch:

Either a creamy chicken soup at hand or easy mac with lots of water

Dinner:

Hotdog with bun and ketchup or a cold cut roast beef sandwich with a light spread of light mayo.

I know this exactly isnt the best diet or whatnots but I have seen a huge improvement. I currently weigh 228 pounds and am more determined than ever to loose more weight. I have been going for walks and mini jogs for the last 4-5 days straight. I cant really jog because my shin and ankles hurt. Thought it may have been the shoes so I bought running shoes and am going to try it out today. I usually walk around 2 miles a day. I am planning on doing more.

I dont have a lot of time or money to go signup at a gym but I do wish I can go to the gym and get a personal trainer in the future. If it comes down to it thats what I will have to do. I leave for work at 7 in the morning and usually get home around 7 at night. As you can tell this doesnt leave much time to workout outside in the winter. Thanks for reading this huge paragraph and what I basically would like is some more advice or guidance to reach my goal. I hope to be around 180 pounds and I wouldnt mind a toned look.

I do have dumbbells of all weights up to I think 50 pounds (if that expands the suggestion list)

Thanks again!
 
1000 calories is wayyyy too low for you...for anyone really. I know right now you're seeing improvements in your body, but if you keep eating too few calories you'll end up killing your metabolism. There are links to calculators on this site that you should use to find out how many calories you need per day. Or, FitDay.com is even better with keeping track of things.

You probably start diets and quit so soon after because you're making it so that you don't eat much when you "diet". You don't need to starve yourself to lose weight, you just need to eat healthier. And you can still eat some junk food...in moderation.

If you don't have the money for a gym, you could lift some weights at home. Or buy some cheap workout dvds from Wal-Mart or something.

Pretty much, if you read around the forum and learn how losing weight works and apply it, you'll definitely lose weight. I hope you reach your goals, keep us updated!
 
Hey, thanks for the reply. The thing is, with the food I am eating now I am pretty satisfied. I have definitely shrunk my stomach size so to speak. Less food gets me full. For a week I ate about 6 times a day but little portions just to get my stomach size down. Then I slowly started eating 3 times a day with a snack in the afternoon (usually a little bag of fritos or something). I am having a hard time finding a lot of nutritious food. I am not much of a cook so its usually boxed meals. Is there any good resources that tells you what kind of foods I can buy from Walmart etc?
 
Protein keeps you fuller longer. Chicken and fish doesn't take long to cook so you could cook that up and make sandwiches out of it and do different things with that. Whole wheat bread is better than white bread. Fruits make better snacks...less calories and they keep you full longer...and those are always the kinds of foods that are better. Low fat yogurt is good. Yoplait has a ton of different flavors...if that aspartame doesn't bother you. You can always buy some Healthy Choice frozen dinners or Smart Ones. Those kinds of things have a lot of salt so you probably wouldn't want to eat them every night or anything.

If I eat fritos or any kind of chips/cookies, I buy those 100 calorie packs. It's just easier already having it measured out already.

As long as your calories are in check for the day and you don't go over, you can pretty much eat what you want in moderation. Like, in the beginning I still ate some kind of candy bar like every other day, I just made sure it didn't make me go over my calories for the day. So, you can still have something you want, if you want it.

I think the site is CalorieKing.com and you can type in a bunch of foods and search for their nutritional values on there.
 
I tried those healthy choice meals but I hate those. I COMPELTELY cut out soda out of my life. I used to drink many cans of sodas a day (my company has a fridge full of whatever soda you can think of). I haven't drank a can of soda in about a month. Those little bags of fritos are about 150 cals and like 30 or 40 fat cals. From what I was reading you are not supposed to eat foods that have mroe than 30% of fat cals than the calories per serving.

When I first started I thought I can eat a salad or something from mcdonalds for lunch. Is that a good idea?

I really hope I can go down to a good weight and keep it off :S.

PS: Is salmon just pan fried with a bit of oil good? I love salmon. Also the yogurts. Love them too haha. Thanks!

Also, looks like you're about to reach your goal. Congrats!
 
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Yea, watching how much fat is in your diet is important too. Low fat helps. I don't know about the salads from McDonald's. I don't see why not...salad is salad I think. Just watch with the dressing because a lot of them are fattening.

I've never cooked salmon so I'm not sure. I suck at cooking so I'd probably cook it the same way. I think grilled is better though. Maybe look into getting one of those George Foreman Grills. Make sure to read the nutritional values on the oils you use. Some are better for you than others and you shouldn't use too much.

You'll get down to the weight you want to be if you really want to. You just have to look at it as how much better you'll feel overall. And after a while of eating healthier, it gets easier to avoid all the stuff that's bad for you. I used to love Burger King and now from never eating it, it makes me sick. Your body can adapt.

:)
 
Actually I kind of hate fast food now. Been eating it every day for the past 9 months. The thought of it makes me want to puke. I guess thats a good thing haha. I am going to get one of the george foreman grills. I am buying a 85/15 fat burger then grill it to get all of the fat out. Thanks for all your advice!
 
I am trying to keep my calories around 1000 a day.

Breakfast:Coffee and 2 pieces of wheat white berad with a light spread of nutella

Lunch:Either a creamy chicken soup at hand or easy mac with lots of water

Dinner:Hotdog with bun and ketchup or a cold cut roast beef sandwich with a light spread of light mayo.
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This is an absolutely horrific diet and if you keep this up you're going to make yourself ill, not to mention totally stall out your weight loss.

First of all, eating 1000 calories or fewer is not the way to go. It's not healthy. At your current weight of 228, you should be eating around 2000 calories a day in order to lose weight at a healthy rate.

But even more importantly if you want any kind of healthy "toned" look, the utter crap you're eating is not going to get it for you. I'm serious ... and I don't mean to be blunt or rude but just very direct here. All I see in your diet is processed food, sugar, fat, and starch. Where are your veggies? Where are your lean proteins? Where are the healthy fats? Where's the fruit?

You really really really need to totally revamp your ideas about food if you want to become lean and healthy and fit looking. Because what you're doing isn't going ot get you there.
 
Hey no offense taken. I came here for advice. I really despise eating veggies but I am going to start eating some salads everyday. I just started today eating a mixture of strawberries and bananas. I dont think I am hitting 2000 but I am more than likely eating more than 1000 calories a day. I agree that what I am eating is not so great but I think it is a step up from what I have been eating for the past 9 months. Its pretty hard just to do a complete 180 from my usual diet. Thanks for the reply!

Also is v8 juice a good way to get my portion of veggies? I have heard people say that before.
 
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Ok ... here's my philosophy on the whole "I despise veggies" thing. :D It's direct - but then I'm a direct and blunt kinda gal. ;)

There are literally thousands of different veggies in the world and easily a dozen different ways to prepare each. The combination of veggies, ways to prepare them, and ways to serve them easily numbers in the hundreds of thousands. So when someone says "I despise veggies" ... I just roll my eyes.

What someone is really saying when they say they despise veggies is that they're unwilling to open their minds and try new things and new ways of preparing them. Or they're saying that they have palates that are stuck in 3rd grade and refuse to mature.

Either way ... it's a really silly thing to say. :)

Everyone has something they don't like. I don't particularly like lima beans myself, no matter how they're prepared. And I don't like veggies that are cooked a certain way - boiled to mush or from a can. But I would never make a statement that I don't like ANY veggies prepared any way. If there's something I don't like one way - say, steamed - then I try it another - maybe grilled.

I don't like red peppers when they're cooked, but raw and crunchy as a snack or in a salad, they're great.

I discovered just this past year that although I don't like brussels sprouts when they're steamed or boiled, when they're roasted with a drizzle of olive oil ... I love them.

I don't like okra when it's boiled, but last night I threw some on the grill as an experiment and they were delicious grilled until just barely crispy!

So ... the whole "I don't like veggies" thing holds no water with me. :)

And even if you can honestly say that you don't like ANY veggie in any way, shape or form that it's prepared (which I think is crazy) ... well, sometimes you gotta take one for the team. I don't like getting up in the morning and going to work, but I do it because it's the adult responsible thing to do. I don't like paying my bills (especially my electric bill this month - ack), but I do it because it's the adult responsible thing to do. And maybe I don't particularly want to eat my veggies at night - I'd rather have an pepperoni pizza - but I skip the pizza and eat my veggies because it's the mature, adult, responsible thing to do.

There ya go ... for Monday morning, my veggie lecture. :)

Oh, and as far as V8, yes, you can get a serving or two of veggies from V8, but you can't get everything you need from juice and it's not an overall substitute for a healthy balanced diet. It's also pretty high in sodium, unless you get the low-sodium variety, so I wouldn't overload on it.
 
KaraCooks said:
Ok ... here's my philosophy on the whole "I despise veggies" thing. :D It's direct - but then I'm a direct and blunt kinda gal. ;)

There are literally thousands of different veggies in the world and easily a dozen different ways to prepare each. The combination of veggies, ways to prepare them, and ways to serve them easily numbers in the hundreds of thousands. So when someone says "I despise veggies" ... I just roll my eyes.

What someone is really saying when they say they despise veggies is that they're unwilling to open their minds and try new things and new ways of preparing them. Or they're saying that they have palates that are stuck in 3rd grade and refuse to mature.

Either way ... it's a really silly thing to say. :)

Everyone has something they don't like. I don't particularly like lima beans myself, no matter how they're prepared. And I don't like veggies that are cooked a certain way - boiled to mush or from a can. But I would never make a statement that I don't like ANY veggies prepared any way. If there's something I don't like one way - say, steamed - then I try it another - maybe grilled.

I don't like red peppers when they're cooked, but raw and crunchy as a snack or in a salad, they're great.

I discovered just this past year that although I don't like brussels sprouts when they're steamed or boiled, when they're roasted with a drizzle of olive oil ... I love them.

I don't like okra when it's boiled, but last night I threw some on the grill as an experiment and they were delicious grilled until just barely crispy!

So ... the whole "I don't like veggies" thing holds no water with me. :)

And even if you can honestly say that you don't like ANY veggie in any way, shape or form that it's prepared (which I think is crazy) ... well, sometimes you gotta take one for the team. I don't like getting up in the morning and going to work, but I do it because it's the adult responsible thing to do. I don't like paying my bills (especially my electric bill this month - ack), but I do it because it's the adult responsible thing to do. And maybe I don't particularly want to eat my veggies at night - I'd rather have an pepperoni pizza - but I skip the pizza and eat my veggies because it's the mature, adult, responsible thing to do.

There ya go ... for Monday morning, my veggie lecture. :)

Oh, and as far as V8, yes, you can get a serving or two of veggies from V8, but you can't get everything you need from juice and it's not an overall substitute for a healthy balanced diet. It's also pretty high in sodium, unless you get the low-sodium variety, so I wouldn't overload on it.
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Hi Kara - I would love to see a post where you define/explain all of the various ways to cook veggies. Just giving a little description of 'roast' 'grill' etc... and which veggies are good for each style.

I'm also a picky eater and would love to try veggies in a new way, but I have no idea about how to start.

what are some good introductory veggies?
 
I would love to see a post where you define/explain all of the various ways to cook veggies. Just giving a little description of 'roast' 'grill' etc... and which veggies are good for each style.

I'm also a picky eater and would love to try veggies in a new way, but I have no idea about how to start.

what are some good introductory veggies?
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I'd be happy to do that. Sure. In fact I can take some photos of some of the veggies we cook and maybe that will help.

:)

Check out my journal here on the site (the link is in my signature) in a couple of days and I'll have a nice list of things to try.
 
KaraCooks said:
I'd be happy to do that. Sure. In fact I can take some photos of some of the veggies we cook and maybe that will help.

:)

Check out my journal here on the site (the link is in my signature) in a couple of days and I'll have a nice list of things to try.
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Awesome, I can not wait! :drool5:
 
ur diet seems to be really bad, ur eating high fat foods.

I would ditch the hot dogs, and mac n cheese.

stick to turkey and grilled chicken. veggies and fruit. be careful you dont eat enough
 
dwwise83 said:
Hi Kara - I would love to see a post where you define/explain all of the various ways to cook veggies. Just giving a little description of 'roast' 'grill' etc... and which veggies are good for each style
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Agreed.

JeremyRice said:
ur diet seems to be really bad, ur eating high fat foods.

I would ditch the hot dogs, and mac n cheese.
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They have been ditched :)


JeremyRice said:
be careful you dont eat enough
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Eating a lot more now. A lot of fruits lately. Trying not to go for the sweet ones.
 
some good into veggies IMO are peas, grean beans, and sweet potatos. You can chop up sweet potatos toss them with a bit of extra virgin olive oil and throw them in oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes and have some yummy sweet potato fries. (or you can just buy them in your grocerers freezer section)

Do you like the taste of pumpkin at all? If you do you would probably also like acorn squash and perhaps even spaghetti squash. Squash is incredibly yummy in my opinion but I know many many who wouldn't say the same.
 
One salad I really really like from Mcdonalds is the southwest salad. Cant wait, in 21 mins I will get to have another one!
 
My favorite salad (I've been getting it every day) is Chick-fil-a's Grilled Chicken Garden Salad. Just leave off the sunflower seeds and croutons, get a light dressing, and your lunch is just under 300 calories!
 
If you get the southwest from mcdonalds it is 140 calories if you dont eat the chicken. With grilled chicken it is 320. Salad comes with on top of the regular stuff corn, beans, cheese, spicy tortilla chips. Just a fantastic salad for the calories if you ask me.
 
I'm here for you.

Hey Chris, i am in no way, shape, form or fashion an expert. But I can completely sympathize with you. I have your similar body build but I stand at 6'3" and at my heaviest I was 345 (I lost 40 lbs in 3 months).. And I also am a computer 'Geek' and do not have the resources to attend an high end gym. But I can tell you this.. I'm not trying to advertise anything but.. I got a hold of these P90X videos and it changed my whole thought process. I learned that I didn't need a gym or a trainer to be active and lose weight. All I needed was motivation and determination. But trainers do have a great insight on how to attack those curtain areas that you might want to deal with. SO I JUST ONE TO ENCOURAGE YOU. One Techie to another. And remember Chris, take it one day at a time. And don't be afraid to fail... Just remember to get back up.
 
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