Please HELP!!

[Babygirl]

Hi everyone

I am 18 years of age turning 19 very soon. I have had alot of stress in my li8fe this year which caused me to gain the most weight i have ever had, 142 lb. I am so embarassed and ashamed but i have been working out doing the usual sit ups, crunches, push ups, and running. NOTHING seems to be helping!!! Please someone help me, give me some suggestions or information of what i need to do. I willl do whatever it takes but i need to be pointed in the right direction first. I need to know what to eat, when to it, what my work out schedule should be like.....everything and anything i HAVE to do.

Thanks everyone!!

[cujo66]

There is lots of information on this site to point you in the right direction, just gotta scout it out. Look in the diet section.
The first thing to cut out is carbs, stop the white bread. You need to eat lean protein and simple carbs, like whole grain bead and rice, brown rice, and sweet potatoes.
This is what I'm currently eating
Breakfast; 3 eggs, scrambled, 3 strips turkey bacon, 2 strawberries, 1 cup oatmeal
mid morn; 1 can tuna
lunch; lean meat, chicken, fish, steak, etc. and salad with small amount of low fat dressing
mid afternoon; energy bar and protein shake.
dinner; lean meat, brown rice or sweet potatoe, steamed veggies.
evening snack; 2 tbls fat free peanut butter
post work out protein shake.

Being a woman your calorie intake should be lower.

The key to losing weight is your diet, people think that eating less is how you lose weight, that is half right, eat less more often. The body needs fuel to function, your energy comes from carbs, which the body stores in the form of fat. If you reduce the amount of bad stuff coming in, the body burns fat for energy. Good luck and as I said before there is lot's of information here and plenty of good people around to help you out.

Oh, almost forgot, drink water lots of it, and only water. The body also holds on to water and the more you replinish your body the less it will retain it, which is a problem for women. Keeping the body hydrated can shed a few pounds of water retention and cleanses the system.

[Insex]

Give us some more information about you to better help you.

Age? Gender? Height and weight?

[Babygirl]

Thank alot for all your helo cujo66.....i have been doing most of that you have mentioned and water is all i ever drink. I usually eat jello as a snack or a granola bar. for breakfast i have some rainonbran cereal and a protein shake, lunch i usually have a salad, and dinner i usualy have stir fried veggies or steak or stuff like that....im not a big fish fan hahaha. Could you tell me about how i should be working out?? Thanks again for your help.

Insex.....im 19, a female, 5.3, and weigh 140!!

[stephenlavin]

Are u exercising already ? If so what are u doing ... ?
Maybe someone else can fill me in but why the protein shake ?
I think you should eat more like 5-6 smaller meals a day ...as for exercise its difficult to say cause i dont know if you are only a beginner ..
The average adult requires 30 mins exercise a day to keep fit and healthy ..
Why not start with walking .. a nice quick walk for half an hour a day ...its great exercise and can be a foundation for future exercise. Best thing is the outdoors but if you cant then a treadmill will do fine . Thing about walking is if you do it correctly then it will be a challenge . Its very hard to begin something at a very hard level ...like if you were to start running for 20 mins then its hard work and harder to continue...Thats why i think walking is a good way to start (sorry if this is a bit jumbled) . |As you progress then you can incorporate jogging into your routine and you can also increase the time of your exercise ...I.e walk for five mins and jog for 2 ...you ca increase your joggin phase as you get more comfortable.
Also if you wanna lose weight then lay off beer and such ...for a couple of reasons
1. its full of yeast
2. its so easy to chow down on fast food on a night out

What i am saying to you baby is that losing weight requires patience and discipline. I am of the opinion that you should set reachable goals and this is harder to do if you begin on an extremely hard level . Start at something which is challenging and then progress onto something which is harder ...after a while your capability levels will increase and you will be able to work much harder
...Just reread your post there ...sit ups crunches and push ups seem to incorporate a lot of your routine ...Good exercises to tone the muscles but the main focus of your routine should be cardio.
Also like cujo said your diet is vital ...you need to really focus on your intake . If you are then you will see results ..but just be patient and give it time

[cujo66]

The most important thing is eating, from what you say, you're not eating enough. I know that goes against all fad diets, but it works. It's complicated to explain.
As far as your work outs, cardio is the key. It sound's like you you don't have a gym membership but thats not a problem. You can put together enough equipment to get a descent routine going at home for not alot of money. If you can scrape a few bucks together, any of the "mart" stores have bikes for around $60 and a weight set is usely less than $40. I think the sets with changable weights are good for someone just starting out because you could buy a couple of 5lbs dumbbells, but what do you do a month later when that's to easy. Til then , you can use items around the house, curl some cans of beans, do squats holding the yellow pages or put two half gallons of milk on a broom stick.
As for the bike, it's a good cardio exercise with low impact.
Would could also help is drop down and knock out some push ups through out the day. The best shape I was ever in was after basic training and we did push ups all day long. If you wanna lose wieght the military will do it. Not that I'm recommending that.

[Babygirl]

Alright excellent, all of your advise is excellent and very helpful. I have a tredmill and weights here, i use them on a daily basis, as for my eating habits i use the protein shake in the morning because if i dont have time to eat something then it fills me up and replaces a missed meal. I have looked into alot of what im doing. I heard that if you want to lose weight you shouldnt only focus on cardio, all that does is burn calories and increase your heart weight giving your body exercis, i heard its not a great way to lose weight like i want to which is why i do incorperate it into my daily exercise but also incorperate other things. Im not a beginer either, i am a gymnist, and i also play rugby, i also do cross country and track n feild. I do alot of athletic things a day. My problem is knowing how long to work out for and knowing what i should eat a day. Thanks again for your advise and help....if you have any other information that could be he;pful please feel free to send it out to me. Thanks again!!!

[sexigurl]

I just turned 19 too. I am about to have a lot of stress also. This stuff will help if I gain a lot of weight. I only weight like 105, but i havent been eating that much. So hopefully my metabolism doesn't slow down....

[ProfGumby]

Stress....

We all have it, but if you (Babygirl and sexigurl) are under so much stress it is effecting your eating and health, take this advice.

Find a way to cope with and overcome your stress or you will have a real rough time. Do not internalize or ignore it. There are a ton of studies past and present showing that people who are unable to cope with stress have a lot of issues, mental and physical. And their health is generally not as good as it could be.

I know, great you say, I just stressed you out more. I hope not. And the fact that both of you have said you know the stresses in your life are creating issues of it's own is the first step. You said you had a problem and are looking for an answer.

But in all honesty, just be a little dilligent in finding ways to releive the stress and half the battle is won!

Check out this thread if you have not....if you have check it out again...
Stress and Teens