Weight-Loss Need some help with my diet!

[Scot]

Hey guys. Well im 16 year old, 6 foot bob on and 200lbs. I lost alot of weight around a year ago and since then ive just been living like a normal teenager, eating crap and not really thinking about what im putting into my body.

Basically, i want to start cooking for myself. i love chicken breast and normally lean mean grill it . I would like to get to around 150lbs i think, but im more focused on what i look like than the numbers. I want to keep going until i like what i see.

1) Im unsure how many calories i should be eating a day. I will be going to the gym daily probably doing 30 minute cardio and 30 minutes on the weights.

2) Im not bothered by boring diets, i ate chicken and steamed veg for almost a year without hardly any variation. But since im cooking for myself, i would like your guys suggestions on what vegetables i should be eating.

any help would be awesome!

 

[Silvx]

6'ft, 200lbs and 16 you're pretty close to me. I'm 6'ft 180lbs and 17. I've been using a 2000 calorie-ish diet, There's a calculator somewhere on the site you can use, it's inside the Nutrition 101 sticky I think you can use if you want an exact number. If I may suggest, perhaps do the alternating routine on Cardio / Weight training. I.E.

Monday - Weights
Tuesday - Cardio
Wednesday - Weights
Thursday - Cardio

That way it'll keep you from being tired for your second half of your workout - your resistance training, or vice-versa.

2) Eat the rainbow, each veggie has it's own good nutrients so try to swap them up often. Although I feel like a hypocrit saying this because I can't stand certain ones ^^; (Damn you cauliflower / peas)

I'm not much of a chef myself, I usually just throw some spices, or sauces on stuff to give it some flavour.

For Chicken breasts I either prepare some whole wheat pasta, then veggies to go in the sauce (Green, red peppers, carrots, broccoli green onions whatever I can find) and chop up the chicken breasts to go in the pasta, or just eat it on the side with some BBQ sauce. For sauces I mostly just buy the little packets of powder from the store you add milk to and thicken, Rose sauce is good =)

Another way I prepare them is Put them in the oven, cook halfway then when it's time to turn them I pull them out, put Oregano, Lemon Pepper, and Lemon juice on them, put it back in until it's cooked. When cooked I repeat the spice step, add some lemon juice and put some feta cheese inbetween the 2 beasts and let it melt a bit > enjoy.

I need to learn of some ways to prepare veggies,

 

[Shep031]

I just buy the bags of frozen mixed veggies or broccoli or whatever kind of you want, normally SteamFresh brand, where you can put the entire bag in the microwave and steam them...then when I take them out, I use some sort of seasoning (Mrs. Dash or whatever I find at the grocery store that looks appetizing at the moment) or sprinkle a bit of cheese on the veggies for some flavor. I have like 20 different seasonings so I never get sick of them...something different, but it works for me.