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      05-08-2012, 10:57 AM   #16
BoostedE90
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I definitely admire your goal, but this will have to be a lifetime commitment. This will not be a "diet"... this will be a lifestyle change that you will follow for the rest of your life. Like many other memembers have mentioned you need to clean up your diet and quit smoking. The internet has tons of information on healthy eating so do some research. However, everyone's bodies react differently. So what may work for one person may not necessarily work for you. So it will be trial and error until you figure out what works best for you. But with that said... the basics are the same. If you want to loose weight you need to burn more than you consume. Plain and simple.

Best place start is by tracking your caloric intake. You need to know what what is going into your body and how much ie... Fat, carbs, protein which all add up to calories. Anyone can go to the gym walk/run on a treadmill, push some weight around, do some abs and call that working out, but those that are serious make the effort outside of the gym just as much as when they are in it. And where that effort comes from putting good sources of nutrition in your body so that when you're in the gym your body is a factory to burn off those calories. Balancing out what you eat is a good place to start. Each meal should consist of good sources of fat, carbs, and protien. They are all equally important. I know the big kick now is to eat as little carbs as possible but that is bad idea. Everything you eat must be in moderation and carbs are just as important as fat and protein in your diet. So cutting them out may yield immediate effects but your body needs them and uses them for specific functions and depleting your body of them can have long term effects. But limiting the amount of simple carbs (sugars, white flour, etc...) and substituting complex carbs is a good area to focus on.

Another good point is not to become obsessed with how much weigh. Yes it is a meassure of progress but getting on the scale everyday can be counter productive. Your weight can swing throughout the day (and from day to day) depending on how much you eat and how much you drink. Perfect example... a gallon of water weighs ~8.35lbs. You can weigh differently throughout the day just based on how much water drink. The best idea is to pick a day to weigh yourself and do it on that day at the same time at each interval you chose whether it be once a week, or every other week, or once a month. The ultimate measurement of how you are doing is body fat percentage. You need to take your body fat % now and once a month have it taken. If you losing weight and not losing BF than you're not really doing yourself any good. Whether you weigh 300lbs at 25% BF or you weigh 200lbs at 25% your overall weight is still made up of 25% of fat. Does loosing BF and you're overall weight correlate... of course they do, but if only lose a pound or two but drop a BF% or two that is a much better mark than losing 10lbs and staying at the same BF%.

The best supplement is a good multivitamin. If you are eating well your body will get all the supplements it needs. Stay away from fat burners, carb blockers, and all that other hype. Like ObeyMyFast mentioned you're not trying to be a bodybuilder so there are no reason to take supplements. When you get to your goal and want to start building muscle then supplements can be helpful.

I realize you are 20 and when I was 20 the idea of preparing my own meals was totally out of the realm for me. It was much easier just to go to the college cafeteria. But try to start preparing your own meals this way you know for sure what you are eating. And if you have to eat out make smart decisions on what you order. And who cares if your friends make fun of you for odering a chicken salad with dressing on the side with no cheese, no bacon, and no crutons. If they are not concerned with the fact that you are trying to better yourself than they aren't your true friends.

You have a long road ahead of you. Don't try to do too much at one time or get in a hurry. This process takes time so you have to stay focused and don't give up no matter what. There has been plenty of people in your shoes and it has worked out for them so you know this is doable. But utlimately it's going to come down to you and your determination to reach your goal. You can never fail if you never give up!

Feel free to PM cause I am always willing to help out as much as I can. Best of luck mate!

Last edited by BoostedE90; 05-08-2012 at 11:09 AM..
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