Looking for advice

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*Ginger*

New member
Hi, i'm a 17 yr old female. I'm 160cm and about 78kg(been to scared to step on the scale for a while) and my BMI is around 30. I also have a rare blood disease so have to take that into account when doing anything.

I'm looking for help as to how to safely lose weight, my goal is to lose about 20kgs, but i'm more concerned about how I look than my actual weight, I think this would be the weight that I look the best. What I really want is a flat stomach and less flabby upper arms and thighs, also for my face to be a bit less chubby.

My worst areas are my stomach, thighs and upper arms.

I never do any exercise, my excuse is that I don't have time, but I know it's more a lack of commitment and not knowing what to do. I have a treadmill in the house but apart from that can't afford any machines or items or a gym membership. I live in South Africa so walking around the block isn't an option, even if I could manage it. I'm really starting to get worried because I battle to even walk to my class form the parking lot(not that far, it's a small school, 100m max with 3 short flights of stairs), when I get there i'm panting and can hardly breathe. My school also focuses on academics so we have a ton of work and no extra-murals so no sport at school,not even pe.

I used to eat fairly healthily but quite a lot, which I suspect is why i'm so overweight. Lately i've switched to healthier bread(Albany yellow bag), and am having nuts and fruit for snacks at school, sometimes a yoghurt rather. For breakfast I usually have two slices of toast, with cheese on them, some days I switch the cheese for eggs but I can't eat eggs every day otherwise I get stomach upsets.. I've never liked cereal, though sometimes eat cornflakes, would they be healthier than what i'm eating? My other thing is I have to stay away from iron because of my disease. I now drink a litre of green tea a day and 2-3 cups of black tea(with a spoon of sugar). Once a week I go to McDonalds as it fits in with my schedule, have started ordering just a burger though, drinking my green tea and cutting out on the chips. For supper my mom cooks, usually fish/chicken and chips/salad, if we have chips we have vegetable with them, though sometimes we have other things. I don't like sweets and stuff much so hardly ever have them. Some nights i'll have a block or two of cadbury's dairy milk chocolate after supper though. I've replaced the 3+ coke/coke-zero I used to have with my green tea.

I really would like to make a change and am looking foe some advice on what to do regarding exercise(short things that I can do, without expensive equipment), eating etc. to healthily get to a better weight and look where I can feel better about myself.

I'd like to reach my goals by the end of October this year in time for my 18th at the beginning of November so I can wear something nice. Is this realistic?

Hope to get some help soon. :)
 
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Hiya Ginger and welcome to the forum! You came to the right place for advice, help, and nice people.

Just one question before anything else...are you sure you have your stats right? You said you're 178 kg with a BMI of 30.....but that weight with that height would put you at a BMI of nearly 70 ! I'm guessing it was supposed to be 78 kg, not 178, or am I wrong?
 
Well I see a couple of things in what you say. You're eating a lot of starchy carby foods, and not a lot of veggies and protein. Your breakfast is not a very healthy one - mostly carbs and dairy based fats. I'd try to add some fruit to that, some eggs maybe? If you need to eliminate some iron, you can eat just the whites and throw away the yolks - the yolks contain most of the iron (but really there's very little in an egg anyway, compared to other foods). Add some fruit in the morning as well; blueberries, apples, strawberries.

Nuts are healthy, but they're also very high in calories and high in fat (although it's healthy fat, so that's good). You have to be careful about how many you eat - as you pointed out, it's possible to eat too much healthy food as well. :)

As for exercise, there are plenty of things you can do at home without equipment. Of course the treatmill is great, but can get boring after a while if it's the only thing you do. : ) What about getting some workout DVDs to try? Also just do a google search on "bodyweight exercise" and you'll find whole lists of things (many of them with video links to help show you how to do them). Things like lunges, squats, stepups, pushups, crunches, dips, etc. Can all be done with just your bodyweight and maybe a stable dining chair. If you have stairs at home, use them - walk up and down the stairs as many times as you can. As you get better, try running up them. Or try skipping every other step and really stretching.

YOu said you live in SA ... are you in Jo'berg? I used to live in Jo and in Cape Town, but it's been years and I know things have gotten a lot worse since I lived there.
 
First, thanx San for the welcome.

And massive oops, you're right, I do only weigh 78kg that was a typo. Another thing, with the supper, when we have chips we have vegetables with it.

Thanx for the reply KC, yes that is my downfall lol, i love savoury food(starchy stuff). Thanx for the tip about breakfast, i do have egg several times a week instead of cheese but can't have it every day as I then get stomach upsets. But there certainly are things I can do to change my breakfast, thanx :).

I only have very few nuts at a time, I find they full me up quickly which stops me from eating more than I should as I used to have an also healthy but much bigger school lunch. Oh ok, I didn't know that about them, thanx. I've heard lots of places they're so healthy that's why I started eating them.

Thanx for the exercise tips, ya the treadmill does get boring, that's why everytime I start I end up stopping as I do find it a bit boring. I'll definitely look up the others though, thanx. Unfortunately no stairs, but there are plenty at school and one set that no one uses which I could use during my frees.

Ya, I live in Joburg. Things aren't great no, that's why I said no chance of walking round the block, some people do, but I don't feel very safe doing it.

Another question, everyone tells me I have terrible posture, could that be contributing to my stomach problem? And if so, how do I go about fixing it.
 
The posture thing is the other way around actually; because you're out of shape, your muscles probably don't have a lot of strength to support your body. As you start exercising and working your core muscles, you'll find that your posture improves. Those strong stomach and back muscles are what are needed to keep you centered and upright. :)
 
Hey =)

I'll just tell you some stuff I do, I used to be exactly like you at exactly the same age and height!

Breakfast:
-porridge made with water, with banana and either half-fat milk or lighter syrup (made from a cactus, dont remember which!)
-RiceKrispies with half-fat milk. I don't drink skimmed cuz doesn't taste haha.
-1egg+ 1 egg white+ skimmed milk omelette with a small piece of baguette and a slice of ham.
-wheat toast (25 kcal each) with light butter and ham.

+ some dried fruit (2-3 pieces) and a 0% fat fruit yogurt (if I have bread)

Nuts: 4-5 nuts have 100 kcal.. beware. =)

Starchy food: It's not necessary to remove it all. I haven't removed pastries or cookies or pasta or bread or rice from my diet! As carbs are the body's main fuel, I eat all of those but more of the later than the earlier ones. If you look at my breakfast, it's mostly carbs. I eat mostly carbs. Doctors recomment mostly carbs ( and veggies) .. In fact in a healthy diet, meat is only recommended once a day with carbs, veggies/fruit and dairy as the base. Of course protein do keep you fuller and needed to avoid muscle loss, so to lose weight, it might be a good trick.

Which reminds me I need more veggies too.. hmm gotta work on that lol

Exercising: Threadmill actually. It's boring but I've set myself another goal. Run the city's half-marathon event so I got another motivation than weight loss. Step classes: classes are a great way to force yourself to move it, and it's fun too. Walk about.. everywhere. I find walking stops me from eating.

=P that's it, good luck and keep us posted! and feel free to correct me if I've said something silly.
 
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Nuts: 4-5 nuts have 100 kcal.. beware. =)
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Mmmm .. not exactly. :)

1 oz of almonds (about 23 of them) has 160 cals, but it also has a large amount of healthy fats, 6g of protein, is low in carbs, and high in Vitamin E.

They're actually a great, healthy snack, as long as you don't eat handfuls of them. But the thing about almonds (at least for me) is that because they're so high in protein and healthy fats, they help you feel full longer. So 20 or so almonds actually makes a good snack, especially right before working out because they won't sit heavily in your stomach like larger/heavier snack will. :)

Obviously some people prefer to spend those calories elsewhere, but I do add almonds to a lot of things for the extra protein and healthy fat boost - as well as the flavor. It's all about figuring out what works for you.
 
*Ginger* said:
First, thanx San for the welcome.
Another question, everyone tells me I have terrible posture, could that be contributing to my stomach problem? And if so, how do I go about fixing it.
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Very common in girls who don't work out. Let me guess, lower back pain? Your pelvis tilts back slightly? shoulders slouched? Those are the 3 most common afflictions i see in people who don't workout. And by workout I mean resistance training.

Bad posture specifically with shoulders slouching means a lack of anterior based resistance training so that the muscles normally used to hold everything back there tight have atrophied. A common way to see if this is the case is to flare your shoulder blades out. (touch your hands together in front of you arms stretched out). Get someone to see if they are then able to take their fingers and stick them under your shoulderblades. If so, then you have no meaningful musclemass in your back. So doing things like rows, chinups, pullups, deadlifts, and other back based compound movements will help with that.
 
=3 I have brazil nuts.. those big fat ones.. haha. Not saying you should not eat nuts, just that I know it can get a little out of hand quickly.. (talking about self here, yes I eat nuts lol just not that often mainly because I get bored of any food fast)
Just gotta weigh them beforehand... but you're right about almonds =)
 
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