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I'm 5'8, 158 pounds, 15 years old, not active at all.
On this coming monday, im starting a diet which will hopefully help me lose 1 or 2 pounds a week, but I need to know if it will work. Here is my daily plan:
Breakfast: Honey bunches of oats cereal, 1% Milk
Lunch: Fruit salad, water
Supper: Anything my mom makes (healthy)
I will also be running on the treadmill for about 20 minutes at 4m/h. I've sort of been using the calorie-counting method.
Anyways, will I lose weight with this, or is it a waste of time? What can I change?
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There's one important point: When you're exercising, you need to work out for at least thirty minutes STRAIGHT. Sorry to disagree with SC, but breaking it up into ten-minute sessions won't help you anywhere near as much.
If you can do a cardio exercise for at least 30 minutes straight (and more is better), you'll boost your metabolism rate for the next 24-48 hours. Your body will burn fat at a higher rate, even when you're sleeping. And you'll have more energy.
Ten-minute sessions won't affect your metabolic rate.
It would be a good idea to try other cardio exercises too, just to give yourself some variety and to keep your body from getting into a rut. Consider different kinds of cross-ramp machines (some have arm levers, too), jogging, swimming, rowing machines, and biking. As long as you can keep it up at a brisk pace for 30 minutes, they'll help. And you need to do that at least three times a week.
Weight training will help you too. You can use weight machines, or free weights; you'll probably be more comfortable with machines. You don't need to build up huge muscles, so don't lift the very heaviest weights that you can stand; don't hurt yourself.
But if you put in some good effort, you'll find that by developing and toning your muscles, you'll also be burning more fat. Your weight might go up a little, temporarily, because muscle weighs more than fat. But you'll shrink, and your new muscles will actually burn the fat in your body.
4 miles per hour on the treadmill isn't bad, but if your machine has a heart rate detector, you might want to give that a try a few times; it will help you find out if you're in the "zone".
About food: if you always eat the same thing, your body eventually adapts and makes it harder to lose weight. So vary your diet.
You might also want to take a multi-vitamin. And, of course, drink plenty of water.
Good luck!
FOLLOWUP:
When it comes to diet - that is, the best foods to eat for weight loss - start with the food pyramid:
http://www.mypyramid.gov/
As for proteins, they are primarily found in meat, dairy, eggs, and nuts. A more detailed list can be found here: http://www.weightlossforall.com/protein_content_from_good_source.htm
Any vegetable should be fine, likewise most fruits . Well, technically if you go absolutely crazy and eat insane amounts of the worst fruits, you could harm yourself - but veggies and (to a lesser extent) fruits are great for snacking. Dips can be risky; you need to know what's in them, and how many calories (and calories from fats) they have.
Cheese tends to be high in fat, so go easy on that. I believe that low-fat cottage cheese isn't too bad for you, though.
One thing I forgot to mention: avoid diet drinks. They're really not good for you. You'll be best off if you drink water. For variety, try squeezing a slice of lemon or lime into a glass of ice water . It's incredibly refreshing, and (of course) much cheaper than soda.
Calorie-counting is great. It sounds like you're really starting this off intelligently. Keep with it, and you should see the results you hope for!
Oh, and if you DO fall off the wagon, don't let that stop you. Make sure to start right in on your program again.
I've heard that the best way to lose weight is to determine what your normal calorie intake should be to maintain your weight, and then to take about 10-20% off of that - since you're young, let's say 10%. Here's a site that lets you calculate your maintenance calories: http://www.caloriecontrol.org/calcalcs.html
Good luck!
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Rating: 5
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Thank you, but is it possible you could respond to the additional info I added to my question?
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