265lbs to 190lbs in 7 months. How can I achieve my goal?

I am 16 years old and I am 5ft 6.5ins,  girl. I am going on a trip in June of 2013 and I wanna look great! I really wanna be 150lbs but I think 190 is more reasonable. I wanna know what diets and what exercises I should do. Please help. Thanks. :)

[karilaine]

Hi there, I have a simular goal too, by june 12 id like to be 200 I am 278 right now. I am using the app, my diet diary. I am doing 1200 calories a day and I do zumba. Its super easy. Another really great easy exercise is brisk walking for at least 30 mins every day. Staying motivated is hardest for me, I keep looking at my favorite actresses that I would like to look like. The app is great too, counts my calories and when I workout I put it in and it tells me how many I burned and adds it to the "bank" and you can eat those calories too. I hope I helped. :)

[paulag88]

Hey there, thanks for the advice I just downloaded the app and will be using it :) I need to lose 80lbs as well and staying motivated is super hard but deff. Worth it. Let me know how you guys are doing :)

[karilaine]

Hey yeah let's keep updated any way to friend you on this thing?

[Mary_996]

Thanks so much. :)  my dead line is June 22 and I lost 6lbs as it is. :D.  I eat mostly fruits and veggies for breakfast and lunch but for dinner if eat whatever. I just wanna be a size 10. :(  That's my goal anything smaller would be amazing.

[Mary_996]

I lost 6lbs so far and I am still going for my size 10 but I haven't dropped to a size 16 yet. :/   But I'm close!!! So yeah. :)

[Jwconforti]

That much weight in such a small period of time, even at age 16, is very unhealthy. Trust me.  I've been dieting since before I was 16 and I've done everything imaginable.  The most strict and yoyo your diet, the harder it becomes the next time you try.  

The trouble with cutting calories severely and then increasing your cardio significantly is that your body goes into starvation mode. Look it up. Any diet book, nutrition book, or health book, will tell you the same thing. Your body sees such an immediate drop in calories and an increase in activity and gets scared...so you may lose some weight, mostly a good deal of excess water in your body, and then your system will start to break down muscle tissue, as it's easier to metabolize when the body is full of sugars than fat is.  

If what you are really looking to burn fat, relatively quickly, and not to have to spend every waking moment at the gym, and not be hungry all the time...I would HIGHLY recommend that you look into the Paleo/Primal way of eating.  Remove all the highly processed, artificially enhanced grains, all the gluten-filled flour products, and eat NATURAL foods.  Foods like meat, not meat-product, vegetables, occasional fruit.  

More and more research is being done every day and every day the results are saying that gluten is bad, grains are bad, natural and unprocessed foods are best.  This is how your body works properly.  The better your body works the more fat will burn, because your body no longer believes it is starving and as long as it feels satiated it will burn fat, rather then glucose and muscle.  

Please, before you destroy your metabolism with severe diets and starving yourself, give it a look. Just look it over.  A good place to start, I think, it Marksdailyapple.com.  Lots of good, free information. I never do as well, feel as good, or lose weight as fast as when I eat this way.  The site is also really good for exercise tips.  

[Barb135]

While I agree that eating as close to raw as possible, is best and that the highly processed foods that so  many of us live on, are not good for us.  I don't, however, believe in giving up entire food groups, such as grains. Whole grains are an important part of a healthy diet.  They provide complex carbohydrates that stay with us and keep us feeling fuller longer.  Grains also have protein, and essential vitamins/minerals.

There is no real scientific data to show that gluten is bad....... the only time it must be avoided, is if one is allergic or sensitive to it.

[Jwconforti]

Barb,

Whole grains do have complex carbohydrates.  So do vegetables.  Why, then, are carbs an important part of a healthy diet?  Can you give a reason other than the fact that our government says so?  Grains have less protein than meat.  Essential vitamins and minerals?  So do vegetables, fruits, and meat. Oh, my other favorite argument is fiber.  Grains have fiber.  Well, so do vegetables and fruits, and as a species we've been eating fruits, vegetables and meat a lot longer than we've been eating grains.

As for the scientific data...I work for a research facility and have done my own investigations.  I suggest that you take a look at actual scientific data, such as the kind that can easily be found on PubMed, the NIH's system for tracking and publishing results of all studies done all over the world.

Most grains and legumes contain a compound called antinutrients.  These compounds actually block the body from absorbing vital nutrients in the body and are responsible for some of the inflammation that occurs within the body's systems. Stress is also a contributor.  Inflammation is one of the key factors in cholesterol build up in the arteries, thus heart-attacks. The government likes to tell us that cholesterol is bad.  It's not.  The body needs cholesterol..we need it to survive.  The body makes very little of it's own, so it needs cholesterol from the foods we eat. The body doesn't actually NEED grains.  Grains provide the body absolutely nothing that it can't get from a healthier source of food.

Have you ever wondered why so many people are now becoming more concerned with gluten and carbs in general?  More and more people every day are being diagnosed with gluten-intolerances, Celiac disease, etc.  You see people regularly who suddenly feel so much better, look so much better, and all they have done is remove gluten containing foods from their diets.  This has NEVER been said by people who have lowered their fat intake.  

On my low-carbohydrate, all natural foods diet I typically eat about 1800 calories a day.  My majority of calories comes from:  spinach, eggs, mushrooms, steak, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, berries, chicken, broccoli, cauliflower, coconut oil, kale, and other occasional fruits, veggies, occasional pork product, etc.  I may be over 250 pounds and dropping but I have PERFECT blood sugar, my cholesterol is shockingly good, and I just happened to have my thyroid and heart valves checked due to a completely unrelated matter, and the doctors have all been completely floored that I am such a "healthy" obese person, considering what my diet is.  

In a long-winded, round-about way, I agree that removing ANY one food group is worth doing a little research, but it is NEVER a good idea to assume that what you hear from the government offices is the truth.  Do a little digging.  Research both sides of the argument. My favorite questions are WHO is funding the study?  Usually it is the organization or lobbying group trying to promote their particular version of the study....that's why I work for  Non-profit research company...no one tells us what to study and how to do it, they are just interested in what can be found.

For a great podcast, if you don't have enormous article reading time, I suggest the series from Latest In Paleo.  Sure, he's a bit more low-carb than anything else, but he actually shares interesting stories from the news on both sides because he likes people to think about things rather than take his word for it.  It's also occasionally funny, which is nice.  

[Mary_996]

I know everything your talking about already but you know what? I'm not starving myself i am just slowly eliminating fatty foods. Instead of a bag of potatoe chips i eat an apple or a bowl of carrots.

This isnt aome dumb yoyo diet cause i made it up and i am not just relying on the diet alone. Of course i increased my workout time and i lose about 200- 500 calories just walking around at school! I am just eating well and increasing my workout time to workout an hour a day and it works.

And it would be appreciated that you be more supportive instead of dashing my dreams cause i can do this!!!! And i will! :D

[Jwconforti]

Mary,

No one is dashing your dreams.  We, and I think I can speak for us all on this board, are trying to make sure that you are aware of what extreme diets can do to your body in the long term.  Many people, especially in their teens, want amazing results fast and take dangerous methods to get those results.  You never mentioned until now what you were doing to lose this weight, you were asking for advice.  The truth to real, sustainable, long term weight loss is not flashy or amazing.  It's watching what you eat, moving more, and time.  

You say you want to lose over 70 pounds in 7 months.  To those of us who have been where you are...that is a red flag.  Even a 16 year old's metabolism, 10 pounds a month is not HEALTHY.  Not impossible, but absolutely not healthy.  You very well could push yourself, but slowly reducing your caloric intake and exercising more is not going to get you a 10 pound a month loss.  That is where my concern comes in.  

No one on this board comes here to berate, to put down, or tell you that you are foolish to even think about losing weight.  We are trying to encourage, but to encourage based on what we know.  What I know, after years of research on my own, watching what this particular diet does to my body, and seeing what the scientific community has studied, is what I am now trying to tell you.

If you are following a healthy diet and moving more, you are bound to see results, regardless.  Anyone who wants to get healthy and eliminate processed foods and move more is to be commended.  None of us said anything different.  We just want to make sure that you are treating your body well, that you understand your body's limitations, and that you learn from our own mistakes.  

16 is a wonderful age.  I, myself, spent that age attempting to stick to Weight Watchers and losing a pound a week, feeling hungry all the time, exercising nonstop, and getting more and more depressed that I wasn't seeing much of a change.  I wish I had known then what I know now. That is why I am trying to tell YOU what I know now.    

Your body is your own experiment.  We've already spent years experimenting with ours. A smart person learns from other people's mistakes.  I wish I had been a smart person when I was your age.  You asked for advice and we gave it.  It's up to you to decide whether you take that advice, who's advice, or do your own thing.  I wish you only the best of luck with whatever you do, Mary.  I truly hope you succeed.