My name is Al, I'm 16 years old going on 17 shortly. My current weight is approx. 230+ at roughly 6ft. I've been heavy for as long as I can remember and recently I'm trying to get rid of it. Starting from around July 7th I've been doing 30 mins on the steepest incline at 4mph on my family's treadmill. Every other day I've also been weight training-about 100 reps of 120lbs of lat pulldowns(both ways), benchpress, butterflies, and behind the neck lat pulldowns. I've just started doing pushups, probably 40-50 on average and 40 sit-ups along with my workout. I think my biggest problem is my diet, I just can't help myself with portion control. Whenever my family orders pizza I always think "Well I'll only have 3 slices." but it usually ends up being 5 or 6. Can anyone help me with my dieting plan or give me some tips? Thanks in advance.
-Al

My name is Al, I'm 16 years old going on 17 shortly. My current weight is approx. 230+ at roughly 6ft. I've been heavy for as long as I can remember and recently I'm trying to get rid of it. Starting from around July 7th I've been doing 30 mins on the steepest incline at 4mph on my family's treadmill. Every other day I've also been weight training-about 100 reps of 120lbs of lat pulldowns(both ways), benchpress, butterflies, and behind the neck lat pulldowns. I've just started doing pushups, probably 40-50 on average and 40 sit-ups along with my workout. I think my biggest problem is my diet, I just can't help myself with portion control. Whenever my family orders pizza I always think "Well I'll only have 3 slices." but it usually ends up being 5 or 6. Can anyone help me with my dieting plan or give me some tips? Thanks in advance.
-Al

Al, if you're really serious about this then even three slices of pizza isn't going to cut it. You need to completely overhaul your diet, if your family doesn't cook healthy food you need to start cooking healthy food. It's incredibly difficult (some would even say impossible) to make strong gains while on a poor diet, especially when it comes to weight loss.

There's a lot of information on this site about diets, and what you should and shouldn't eat. Read up on it and get cookin'! :) I wish you the best of luck with your transformation, keep us posted!

Sometimes, doing something big is easier than doing something small.

Look at all the food you eat as one big thing you can change however you want. "Strategize." Don't just bail water out of the sinking ship - get into dry dock and build a better ship! Research, figure out what you want to do with it, get psyched, and don't let anybody push you around! You're doing this for you!

Read the sticky topics, :gl: , and let us know if you have any specific questions!

Good advice so far, start reading here http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=1222

Then, write down everything you eat -- calculate the calories you eat every day. When you go to bed at night, you need to know how many calories went into your body. This will give you a good education, and probably a good wake-up call, too. Once you got the calories in line, then try calculating the percentages of macronutrients (carbs, protiens, fats). Try to get those in line too.

Keep reading. The first step in your transformation is education. You must educate yourself about how the human body works (you need nutritional education first). Then you need to become a student of your particular body, which is different from everyone else's.

Keep on this forum. There is lots of good advice and encouragement. You'll find lots of friends here. Keep us posted on your progress.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the advice.

No problem, hope it helps. Soon, you'll be the one answering questions. Keep learning and you'll be there in no time.

Keep searching these forums, many have writen about the physcological aspects of changing your eating habits. It is going to require a redfinition of who you are in your mind to not eat the pizza when everyone around you is eating it.

This is spot-on!! I was eating almost daily at a local fast food joint before my decision to change. And while I realized that it was bad for me, I didn't realize exactly how bad. Until I figured out the calories that I used to be taking in with just a single meal at that place....the grand total was 1465 calories with JUST my supper. This didn't count my sodas during the day, my snacks, or my lunch....I estimate that I was taking in at least 3000 calories a day. And that was with NO exercise whatsoever!! :spaz:

When you go to bed at night, you need to know how many calories went into your body. This will give you a good education, and probably a good wake-up call, too.