Put me on a diet Talk Tennis

[Viper]

Let's start out with this: 16 years old, 230lbs, 5'11.

Yeah, I know, "I'm a teenager, it's part of growing up" and all that, but honestly I'm sick of it. The pressure is on me to lose weight to both look good, and to be healthy, both of which I don't feel like I'm fulfilling.

I want to cut down to around 205lbs, light enough to improve my tennis game, and yet still enough weight for me to hold my own during football. I've already started with cardio, which is running at least 3 miles a day, even more if I'm bored (I like running ) but I haven't been able to find myself a diet that keeps me full so I don't snack. Can someone please construct me a diet and some guidelines?

[superman1]

The optimal diet IS snacking. A little meal of protein/carbs every 3 hours. Plenty of water in between. Fruits and vegetables are free (except for bananas and other higher calorie foods). If you get hungry, fill up on nuts, not junk. You're young and heavy, you'll lose fat extremely fast if you stick to it. It's better that you do the research and come up with your own diet, though.

Cardio is actually secondary to diet. Personally, I only do cardio for my heart health, because I know that busting my *** on the treadmill is the equivalent of not eating a cookie.

Cardio is also secondary to weight training when talking about weight loss. You play football so I'm sure you do enough of it.

[Rickson]

We can't give you a full fledged diet, just advice. I'd recommend approximately 2500 calories daily. The rest is up to you. Good luck.

[cncretecwbo]

make sure youre lifting with that cardio.

[Serve em Up]

Eat less.
Burn more.

Try to eat less commercially prepared foods, substitute salad , fruits, whole grains. Cut our empty calories like sugared cereals, sodas, and junk food.

It is that simple.

If you need to, write down EVERTHING you eat (including portion size), measure the calories, and also log your excercise, and the number of calories. You will lose weight.

[JSE]

Diet?

Cut out any and all fried foods.

Cut out white flour and white rice and go with whole wheat and whole grains. You can get whole wheat/grain pastas and brown rice.

Limit your dairy intake (cheese!).

Try to each foods high in fiber and low in sugar.

Eat until your satisfied and not "stuffed".

Just a few tips.

[WildVolley]

Let me suggest to initially try to cut down on simple carbs. That means fewer processed carbs in the form of sugar, chips, potatoes, bread, and corn. Eat more vegetables and fruit instead of simple carbs and softdrinks.

For some people this makes a huge difference.

It really is going to be best for you to get your body fat lower before you are 20. From my casual unscientific observation, people who are overweight as teenagers tend to suffer from weight problems the rest of their lives. Those who are fit at 18-20 tend to have an easier time. I can think of exceptions, but I think a healthy and varied diet is a habit that you should start building now.

[Fee]

Stop drinking just about everything sold in a 20 ounce bottle at 7/11. If you cut the high fructose corn syrup out of your diet the weight would probably drop off - soda, bottled iced tea, energy drinks, gatorade, vitamin water, and even some juices. Read the labels, and don't drink it or eat it if it has corn syrup in it.

Funny how so many people are against white rice, yet a huge percentage of Asian people can eat it without getting fat. Hmmmmm......

[Murray_Maniac]

Eat whole wheat bread (ya may not like it at first, but you'll get use to it)

Dont eat ice cream, cookies, brownies, etc except on special ocassions

For snacks, I recommend eating granola bars, because their healthy and delicious (for example quaker, nutrigrain, nature valley)

Dont drink soda on a daily basis, even diet soda is really bad to do so

Eat fruits & veggies that you enjoy


These are my guidelines, and it works pretty good.

[dave333]

Eat less overall, with more fruits, veggies, etc.

That same advice always works.

You can eat some junk in moderation every once in a while, just as long you keep your overall caloric intake relatively low for quite a while. When buying stuff, always look at calories, fat, calories from fat, protein, and avoid stuff that has excess amounts for a given serving. Summer is a great time to lose weight; without school, you can go to the gym more, do more exercise, etc. Drink lots of water, and try drinking some cold water right after you wake up to kick up the metabolism a bit.

I also used to have a weight problem but I guess the difference was that I grew 3inches last spring/summer in addition to all my exercise, so I got a lot leaner.

Good luck.

[Tofuspeedstar]

Make some time..good stuff right here...

http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/dieti...t%20levlel.php

[baseline08thrasher]

One tip:
that I've seen done in a professional health class.
Log everything you eat.
Measure all of the calories.
Eat sensibly,
it's common sense to know which foods to stay away from, and pay attention to all of the things you are eating.
Treat yourself once in a while, but don't go overboard.
Go to an online calorie transferer to see how much you are burning when you are exercising (for running and tennis)
and do the math.
it should be fairly easy,
also dried nuts are very good for athletes and are good sources of protein.
EAT FRUIT AND VEGGIES. ;D

[baseline08thrasher]

And when you have no choice but to eat at fast food,
make sure you order a chicken sandwich, and just the sandwich, and make them take off the bacon if any, and drink an iced tea, but the brewed kind.
This should help considering the calories of a burger, fries, and a 42 oz. soda.

[EricW]

What to eat: Plants
What to drink: Water
What to do: Physical Activity (Tennis, Running, Lifting, etc)

This is a very extensive and extremely complicated plan, no?

[superman1]

Originally Posted by baseline08thrasher

Log everything you eat.
Measure all of the calories.

I have an easier method. Log everything you eat for a day or two. Then just eat variations of the same thing every day. Sounds dull, but you should be eating the same sorts of things every day - fruits, vegetables, whole grains, all of that isn't going to change. You should be able to get to the point where you have a good estimate of how many calories you have eaten without having to actually count them.