Right now. I eat anything I want, eat at anytime, do not exercise, and do not work. (I used to work but the economy has destroyed my job.) I have very limited resources. I can do about anything that doesn't require spending more money than I do now.

However! I want to lose 100 pounds, I am 6'1" 290 pounds now, 190 would be a great weight to be at. As far as my physical condition, today I did some situps, I could do 15, push ups 7, and I walked with a bit of jogging for about 30 minutes. I am just looking for what a good plan would be to lose it in 6 months, I know this is stretching health issues, but I need it to be gone for reasons that are very personal to me, even being close in 6 months would be amazing.

Anyways, here is what I plan on doing now, but ANY comments about what should be altered please tell me, I am desperate:

Wake up at 8AM, eat 1 serving of Whole Grain Oats.
Then do pushups, situps, and walk.
Eat as little as I can for lunch and supper.
Go to sleep at 11PM.

I got nothing else...

Sounds to me like you're going to the opposite extreme - from eat everything to eat as little as possible. To be honest, that's a recipe for failure.

The secret to losing weight in a SUCCESSFUL and SUSTAINABLE way is to be healthy about it. That means eating healthy foods in healthy amounts - not too much and not too little. Losing 100 lbs in 6 months is simply not realistic, safe, or sustainable. You could lose 60ish lbs in that length of time - and do it safely and healthily.

At 290 lbs, you should easily be able to lose weight on 2700-2900 calories per day. Of course that needs to be healthy food, not junk. You want to make sure to get in lots of protein, complex carbs (whole grains, oats, etc.), and healthy fats like olive oil and nuts and seeds.

As far as exercise: walking is good. As you lose weight, you'll be able to add more exercise, including strength training and body resistance work.

Read the stickies in the forums, especially the exercise and nutrition areas. There's lots of good information there that will get you started.

I will check out the nutrition guides. Assuming I shift my plan to 60 pounds in 6 months, what do i need to do then?

A lot of talk goes on in these forums about eat right, and work out. That is not an easy concept for someone like me who doesn't know how to eat right... Or what to look for in food or a workout, and doesn't understand the body at all. I know nothing.

Edit: I just looked at some nutrition guide / starter guide. It seems that if I shifted my caloric intake to about 2700 calories, I would lose weight, just as you said. But what should I eat, I mean, unless I go look at every food item I have, how am I to know what contains healthy fats, and good stuff? Or should I only eat chicken and apples with the occasional salad and sunflower seeds?

By going and looking at every food you have.

Ok, seriously ... you have to keep in mind that this is a learning process. Just as no one expects you to sit down at a piano and play a sonata right off the bat, no one expects you to know how to eat healthy right off the bat. You are going to have to learn as you go along. But ... just like playing the piano, you ARE going to have to practice and learn and put some effort into it.

How do you learn? At first, yes, it will mean looking at EVERY FOOD YOU PUT IN YOUR MOUTH.

Here's my first suggestion: register for a free account on a site like fitday.com or thedailyplate.com and start logging the food you eat. You'll see very quickly how many calories food has in it, what kinds of nutrients you're getting, and you'll start to learn what is good and what's not.

There are four groups of foods you want to focus on:

• Proteins - lean meats, beans and legumes, and low fat dairy
• Veggies - pretty self explanatory - you want to eat lots of veggies in all varieties. The more colors you can get into your diet, the more you'll get in the vitamins and nutrients; leafy greens, carrots and squash, broccoli, cauliflower, beets ... the list can go on and on
• Carbs - complex carbs, not starchy white carbs and sugar. Things like whole grain breads, oats, beans again, etc.
• Healthy Fats - your body does need fat to process nutrients but you want to make sure they're HEALTHY fats: olive oil, nuts and seeds, avocados, canola oil ... these are all good fats and about 20% of your calories should come from them.

Only eating chicken and apples is NOT the right way to go about it. Remember that once you lose the weight, you have to keep it off. If all you eat while you're losing is chicken and apples, what will you do when you've lost all the weight? Will you keep eating chicken and apples the rest of your life? Or will you go back to your old way of eating and gain all that weight back?

Obviously you don't want to do either - you want to learn healthy habits so you can stay at a healthy weight for the rest of your life.

Start by logging your food. Prioritize foods that are "real" - and by that I mean things that aren't found pre-made in boxes. Fruits, veggies, meat, dairy, beans ...

That'll give you a good start.

I will do, thanks, you are a very thorough person.

Holy crap I filled in just what I remember eating today and it is past 4000... man i need help.

That is why it pays to eat healthily. Fortunately a lot of the healthy stuff is low in calories and fills you up for the amount of calories that you have. Vegetables are brilliant for being quite filling and very few calories.

Protein also is pretty filling - so it pays to have lean meat, poultry, fish, low fat yoghurts - stuff like that.

A lot of junk ends up looking like a waste of calories. You should be able to eat quite a lot of healthy stuff on 2700 calories and lose weight at a pretty good rate too.

Walk every day. I did - and still do.

Do not aim so big.
At first you must have a goal of losing only 50 pounds through regular exercise & light diet.
You can also keep your health trainer.
After achieving your primary goal set more goals & then you can achieve it but you need to work very hard for it.

You must? Really?

This is the 2nd post of yours I've read where you make these pronouncements about the way it "must be" or the way "people do". Perhaps you might rephrase that to be what YOU do or feel ... because many other people feel quite differently.

zaduma,

I was a big guy myself and still am in a way. I was 440lbs and am currently down to 268. I did a lot of research when I decidied it was time for a lifestyle change. I myself cut my calorie intake to 2800kcal, but I also started walking every single day and also did weight training 5 days a week. my diet consists of egg whites, tuna, skinless chicken breast, turkey breast, london broil, low fat cottage cheese for my sources of protein. For carbs I like raw oats, ezekiel bread, brown rice. I also take in good sources of fats such as almond oil, olive oil, avocado, fish oil, flax seed oil. I personally do not take in any fruits as I try to keep away from as much sugar as possible. I do not drink soda or juice period. These are changes I made for myself and not everyone is the same way. I realized I wanted to be around for a long time and learned how great life is when you can go out and enjoy it and experience it.

If you want to lose 100 lbs, one thing is certain: you can not eat like this

Zaduma, it's a good idea to keep your target heart rate in mind while you exercise. If you're too far below you won't be working hard enough. If you're too far above you're pushing your body too much and either extreme will not give you the results you want. If you stay between 65%-85% of your target heart rate you'll lose the weight.

However, you may want to consider the 50%-75% range if you haven't done any kind of cardio at all. This is a good range to begin with and stay in to then build up to the higher end (85%) as you get stronger and better at walking or jogging or whatever moderate intensity exercise you choose.

Also keep in mind that your body will metabolize fat after 30 minutes of exercise. So do a warm up and cool down each about five minutes for a total work out of 30 minutes until you can get to 40 minutes or longer. The longer you exercise (don't do more than an hour or you may get sick of it) past 30 minutes the the more fat loss you'll have.

Patience and consistency are very important to your weight loss success.

You do realize you can eat healthy veg and fruit in abundance? When you starve yourself you are actually storing on weight and you wont lose it as fast. So I would look into eating healthy wholesome fruit and veg. Steam it, don't fry it. Look into gillian mckeith, her plan helped me lose 14 stone.

You've been given some great advice above.... specifically from Kara and Omega.

I might suggest reading the book, "Volumetrics: The Weight-Control Plan."

It's very sensible and I think it's probably the best book for someone in your position where you're trying to get a handle on nutrition. I know income is tight but you can pick it up from amazon for very cheap.

So that's why anorexics get fat?

good luck on your journey!