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Please read this! Ok my name is Farrah and i am a 13 year old girl who is pretty obese. I get embarrased all the time with my friends because they are all skinny. I am tired of being fat!!! Does anyone have anyone good diets easy to make and good. Maybe even some good exercises that are also affordable and easy. Any advice will help and some personal experience would be greatly appreciated! PLEASE HELP! -overweight Farrah

Hey there.

First off, sorry to hear about your situation, however I think its great that you want to do something about it. Being determined to change is the most important first step.


Diets:

What you really want to do here is to stay away from fad diets. In the long term (for sustainable results that dont make your weight yo- yo back and forth), the key is a lifestyle change. The difference between a diet and a lifestyle change is that "diets" by defition are temporary. They also often ask you to live in a way that is unrealistic in the long term (e.g. the no carb diets). That is one reason people put the weight back on.

So, here are some general nutritional tips (its ok to implement these gradually):

- Eat many small meals a day, about 4- 6 spaced out every 3- 4 hours.
- Create a calories deficit, i.e. eat about 500 calories a day less than you burn. Practically this should leave you feeling a bit hungry, not starving.
- Eliminate empty calories from junk foods, anything with sugar added to it, etc.
- Stick to wholesome non processed foods
- Eat carbs moderately in general. Also do not eat many/ any carbs before periods of inactivity- typically late in the day. The last meal closest to bedtime should largely consist of lean protein.
- Minimise saturated fats. These are found in animal products. Whenever possible stick to low/ no fat animal products and lean meats.
- Include daily sources of essential fatty acids, particularly omega 3. Good sources include oily fish, flax, canola, walnuts, etc (a quick search online will give you more detailed info). The amount needed is quite small (e.g. a serving of fish or a handful of walnuts usually covers your daily requirements). Supplements are also ok here.


Exercise:

This is tricky to answer without knowing what you have been doing so far. So again, I will give some general tips:

- Cardio is key. It burns calories and has countless health benefits. It should be done at a steady pace for over 20 minutes. If you are out of shape and overweight, often walking will elevate your heart to the right level. Otherwise biking, jogging, stair machines, etc are good options (particularly the latter if you have access to the equipment).

- Interval training. This is pretty intense stuff, but more and more is being written about its effectiveness for fitness and weight loss- particularly on its effects on metabolism. For now, I would just stick to the cardio, but as you get fitter and more used to exercising, keep this option in mind (lots of resources online on it).

- Resistance training. Great for preservation of muscle mass during weight loss- i.e. preserving your metabolism. Not a must, but really useful if you can do it.

- Sports: Great way to burn calories while having fun (hopefully anyway). Sports like soccer are particularly effective since they are almost identical to interval training.


To answer your question directly, cheap and easy exercises that are very effective basically would include cardio. Nothing cheaper than going for a jog/ walk. So, aim for about 4- 6 sessions a week of at least 20 minutes. Start off slowly though.

Beyond this, anything else you can add is great but not mandatory. You can of course also lower the cardios if you are say playing sports...

The key here is not to shock your system and/ or get injured. Implement things slowly and sensibly.

Hope this is helpful for you.

Good luck.

Alin 34/m

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(Rating: 5) Great answer thank you

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