2013 Was Good, But 2014 Will Be Better

[Omninick]

I'm fairly certain that I'm unknown to most of you, save for a few. To keep introductions short, my name is Nick. I'm a 15 year old boy from the UK. I play lots of video games, I love food too much and I have an unnatural obsession with TV shows like Sherlock. I'm lazy by nature and my environment at home isn't the greatest for physical exercise. I've been wanting to make this for a while, since I really don't have much time left before the weight loss becomes a lot more difficult due to hormonal changes and whatnot. I've also got a gym membership that I can't pay for anymore when I hit 16 (5th September) because it's too expensive and we have family troubles atm. I weigh in at about nearly 14 stone at 15 years old and am around 5'11". According to a teenage BMI calculator, that's bordering on obese if not on it and my physiotherapist says it was the cause of my kneecap dislocations I've constantly been having for years. I know my weight isn't healthy, and I really want to change it, but I also want to change my whole lifestyle as well. I spend far too long on the sofa or in front of the laptop and it's started to really have an effect on my weight. Back in 2013, I started a weight loss/lifestyle change and lost 17 pounds and could really see and feel the difference, but problems with parents work and school have made it all come back. I need a workout plan or some sort of plan that will have me doing work over the week and will provide the kinds of results that will help me keep body fat off and at a nice low level so my body can start to develop muscle.

What I need is a primarily fat burn-focus workout that can be done at the gym and fits into a 1 hour time slot. I also need a form of dietary plan that will suit it, even though my taste in food is quite picky. I don't want to be cutting out meat from my diet at all but I think what I need is a consistent plan that covers 5 smaller meals a day to prevent me from being hungry. I went to a staff member at the local gym and he said a lot of stuff like needing to eat around 2300 calories and stuff like that which just sounded rather untrustworthy, so I thought any advice from you guys would help me judge where I need to be going. He said stuff that didn't sound correct but he did mention something about boosting metabolism, which I hardly know anything about. He suggested green tea, and that tasted foul, so I don't really want to be drinking green tea. I would love to do metabolism boosting stuff, but I don't know if it's right for my age, body type, or whatever. So really, I need good suggestions from you guys on this forum for teenagers. What helps to slowly burn fat and keep it off? What is good exercise for patella dislocation injuries? Anything that can contribute to the structure of a good diet or fitness regime is helpful. Even if it isn't very intense in exercise or whatever, I just need suggestions that I can piece something together from. Any good resources would also be great. Thanks in advance.

-Nick

 

[Omninick]

Also, as an added note in case you read this, methods for dealing with lack of motivation and snacking. Those are my 2 very bad problems that hinder my success, and I can't find any forms of motivation nor can I exercise any amount of self-control. Advice for that is also greatly appreciated as well, thanks.

-Nick

 

[AthalaRanger]

Hmm, coming up with an exercise plan would be difficult if it isn't a trainer the one who does it, especially considering your injuries.

Having said that, you can get cardio done anywhere and in a lot of different ways. The only reason for which you would really need a gym is weight lifting. If that's the case, having a trainer who can teach you proper form and how to work around your injuries would be idea.

Now, the main focus of weight lifting is to either build muscle mass (kind of difficult while on a diet) or preserve it while you are dieting (you want this). You still use calories, but when it comes to total calories burned, actual cardio plays a bigger role here.

It's better if you don't cut meat, since you need a proper protein intake to preserve muscle mass (both weight lifting and protein intake affect this).

Onto calories; using a fixed number is wrong. You can pick a number from a calculator, but you will eventually have to adjust that number (either up or down) based on real world results and how fast you want your weight loss to be. If it says 2000 calories to lose 1 pound / week, and you are not losing that amount, then your real maintenance calories are lower and you need to adjust that.

Do keep in mind that your weight will fluctuate from week to week and you might stall a few times, so you need to have a reasonable time frame before making adjustments.

The people that think you can 'boost your metabolism' are not very... reliable. Green tea will not do much for you, neither will coffee, cold showers, drinking cold water, etc. You get the idea.

For your diet you can either count calories or macros. The latter one isn't really necessary if you aren't a bodybuilder, and in my opinion it's more trouble than what it's worth, I'd suggest you just count calories and make sure you get some protein from day-to-day.

For exercises, I'm really not sure of what to suggest because of your injury. You would be better suited consulting a professional for that.

Well, I hope that helps. You pretty much just need to calculate your TDEE and count calories, and do what you can in regards to exercise.