What can I do at 17?

[lurker]

I want to lose some weight, but I'm 17 and can't afford supplements or expensive equipment. I try to eat right, but its hard when you're on the go often to measure your food. Any suggestions on what to do?

[akm3]

Supplements are just that: supplements. They aren't REQUIRED.

The second best thing you can do at 17 is to eat as healthily as possible (skip the McDonalds with your friends, bring food from home as much as possible, etc. Or when FORCED to eat out choose healthier/smaller portions).

The first best thing in my opinion to do at 17 is to increase your activity level. A lot.

I don't know what your personal activity level is like but if it was like mine when I was 15:

Stop playing video games (Except Dance Dance Revolution)
Stop watching TV
Go on walks
Go on hikes
Go on runs
Ride your bike
Shovel snow
Anything anything that keeps you moving dramatically more then you do now will greatly enhance fatloss efforts. Incorporating friends into these activities help too!

Don't feel that you can't achieve results without money: Remember, it is having all this 'free time' and 'money' that got us fat in the first place.

Our ancestors were not fat, they couldn't afford to be.

-Allen

[zamboni]

Another very important thing to remember is that if you're taking supplements, don't use them to replace food too.

[uberzone]

Originally Posted by lurker

I want to lose some weight, but I'm 17 and can't afford supplements or expensive equipment. I try to eat right, but its hard when you're on the go often to measure your food. Any suggestions on what to do?

if your on the go, measure your food the night before. it's not that hard to pre-make your food a whole week in advanced if you really wanted to put in some effort. here is a link you should check out. www.fatlosstips.com

[Naytch]

start by keeping track of your food intake.

[Gohan]

Cutting soda out of your diet would be a big help as well.

[zamboni]

Cutting soda would probably be the first thing you'd wanna kick out of your diet. For some people, just doing that can take out anywhere from 200-1000+ calories a day out of there diet. These calories are also empty calories and have basically no nutritional value. I wouldn't even recommend drinking diet, since that's kind of like nursing the addiction instead of dropping it entirely. Cram 8+ glasses of water a day and that you make sure you don't even think about drinking more.

On a side note, chance are, your school has a decent gym, that's worth looking into

[Avec]

Originally Posted by akm3

Supplements are just that: supplements. They aren't REQUIRED.

The second best thing you can do at 17 is to eat as healthily as possible (skip the McDonalds with your friends, bring food from home as much as possible, etc. Or when FORCED to eat out choose healthier/smaller portions).

The first best thing in my opinion to do at 17 is to increase your activity level. A lot.

I don't know what your personal activity level is like but if it was like mine when I was 15:

Stop playing video games (Except Dance Dance Revolution)
Stop watching TV
Go on walks
Go on hikes
Go on runs
Ride your bike
Shovel snow
Anything anything that keeps you moving dramatically more then you do now will greatly enhance fatloss efforts. Incorporating friends into these activities help too!

Don't feel that you can't achieve results without money: Remember, it is having all this 'free time' and 'money' that got us fat in the first place.

Our ancestors were not fat, they couldn't afford to be.

-Allen

Allen, I do not agree totaly with you. I do agree that it is important to activate your body. But TV and computer games can very well be something a 17 teen year old boy can spend time doing. But it should not be the only thing. In between training sessions everybody must rest. How you rest is not important. TV and videogames could be the reward after a training session for example.

Junk food, candy, popcorn, crisp, soda, shocolate, fat foods, etc should be avoided. To loose weight you must eat lesser calories than you burn. And you shold eat healty low calori food, and quess what. Also eat often and less at the same time. Drink much whater all day.

Exercise is important. Health gains from training comes very quick. Biking, playing soccer, going for a walk, running etc, is important. Tips: to burn fat keep your hartrate low(50%-65% of max hartrate) for more than 20 minutes to get the effect. In your case this could be something like this:

Max ht: 220 - 17 = 203
Fatburning zone: 101 - 132
(203 x 0.5 = 101, 203 x 0.65 = 132)

-Avec