Heyas! My name is Regina and I'm a 17 year old high school senior from Indianapolis. I'm about 5'5", weigh 233lbs., and I'm a size 18. My goal is to get down to around 170lbs. by the end of March. I know that this is a very big challenge but I have to accomplish this. I joined this forum because I don't have anyone to talk to about my weight issues, and I'm hoping to make friends who will support me for the next 6 months. I have just made this goal so I am in need of any exercise plans and meal plans anyone is willing to give me. Any suggestions or advice will be much appreciated.

HI there,

welcome to the forum, I am certain that you will find the motivation you need. There are many very knowledgable members on this forum. Take a look at fitskis diary for example. He has an excellent diet and workout plan and he lists it in detail. If you have any questions, please just ask away. As for eating tips...you'll have to find out what works for you. My suggestion is to write everything down that you eat. That gives you an overview and us the opportunity to point out, where you might be able to make changes or what you might be missing.

Good Luck - hope to read from you soon

I agree with Lisa. The best is to keep a journal of everything that you intake as well as exercising. For starting out exercising, if you never exercised before walking is always a good start and you can expand from there. Keep us posted on your journey and don't be shy to ask questions.

Welcome to the forum

I wish you all the luck with your goal. You sound very positive and I am sure that this will help you along the way.

I agree with Lisa, tell us what you eat (quantity included) on a regular basis ... maybe keep a journal for a full week and then write it in the forum, and we will try to take what you normally eat and make some modifications. The easiest way to go on a diet is to try to keep your diet the closest to your normal eating habits as possible. As for exercise, catwomen is right. Do about 2 weeks of just walking ... about 3-4 times a week for 30-45 minutes (you can even break this into 2 parts - 25min, 25min twice a day, if you have problems finding the time). Then slowly progress into a light jog. Setting goals for each stage that is a bit of a challenge ...
For example:
Week 1: Walk 30 min, 3 x week
Week 2: Walk 45 min, 3 x week
Week 3: Jog 10 min, Walk 30 min, 3 x week - this can be done in spurts - run 2 min, walk 6, repeat
Week 4: Jog 20 min, Walk 30 min, 3 x week
Week 5: if you have access to a gym, you may want to add a workout routine in the 2 "off" days - muscle burns fat - but, you can no longer use the scale for progress as muscle also weighs almost 2xfat.

Anyway,
Good luck, and I'm sure we can give you the support that you are looking for.

Thank you to everyone for your advice. I really appreciate it. I am going to start writing down everything I eat tomorrow and I'll post it in a week from now. I am also going to plan out an exercise program and I think I will use AllCDnBoy's example for inspiration.

I've lost 5 lbs in two weeks! So, I started to write down everything that I ate on my PC for a week straight. I then modified my diet according to the advice that I've gotten. The first week I cut out A LOT from my diet, mostly carbs. I realized that what I was eating was mostly carbs and that I was eating too much of them. It was a very BIG challenge for me to resist the temptations and by the second week I started to give in a little, but I'm back on track right now. My PC crashed while my food journal was open and so it didn't get saved which totally sucked because it was such a big accomplishment for me. But anyways, my daily diet went something like this:

Breakfast- Atkins or Slim Fast shake
Lunch- Yogurt, fruit, carrots, skim milk or salad, fruit, carrots, skim milk or soup, fruit, carrots, skim milk
Snack- Diet Pepsi and a fruit or a little bit of fat-free ice cream
Dinner- lots of fruits/vegetables and seafood/chicken

I also drank a lot of water (3 water bottles during school and a couple of glasses at home each day)! So...what do you guys think?

...I've also been doing Pilates 3x a week.

Congratulations on your success. That's the best motivation you can get!!!
You changed your diet and you exercise, that is very good.

Are you always eating three meals a day, or do you spread what you eat over 5 or 6 smaller meals.

In order to avoid feeling hungry, you should actually eat every 2-4 hours, depending if the meal consumed was a real meal or just a snack. Reason for this is that your blood sugar stays level, which means that your body is sufficiently supplied with what it needs throughout the day.

Good job ....nothing taste as good as the success and that can be our motivator. I will also be using the tips you have received so far. Eating every 2-4 hours to keep the blood sugar level and writing down what I eat.

I found that this website is really great for keeping track of what I am eating and doing during the day. I urge everyone to check it out!

fitday.com