I'm 22 years old, about 5'7 and weight 210 lbs. I'm trying to lose about 20-25 lbs and I have no clue where to start. I go to West Virginia University and have 15 hours of classes and I work 35 hours/week (gotta pay rent/bills/beer, etc.) My problem is that sadly, I'm a smoker but I feel that if I started to exercise it would help me quit smoking but I can't find time. My friends and I do ride bikes but nothing too strenuous (sp?). Any suggestions on a better bike riding regime and how to eat healthy when I have no time to cook? Thanks

P.S. My brother is getting married in a year and I would like to not be fat for his wedding.

i was also wondering what is a healthy amount of weight to lose in one month?

My advice would be to start a food diary to assess what you're eating. Then you can go from there and decide what you want to change and what's feasable considering your busy college schedule ( I know, I take classes too, lol). You could do that just on a tablet or you could use the diary/journal section here to post. What's great about that is often you get feedback when you hit a wall on stuff you could modify.

Really it's up to you but the big thing is to try and eat healthier and pick an eating plan that works for you that you can stick with. Then from there incorporating the right exercise, again that fits you. One of the things I love about this forum is nobody is doing everything exactly the same. That means there's TONS of info to read through and something may hit you "hey thats for me".

I'm sure somebody will say if I don't, go through and read all the sticky post threads at the tops of the main topics...those help alot. Also just something to consider...most colleges/universities have fitness buildings available to all students. The biking your doing already sounds great but on a tight schedule maybe you could keep a gym bag in your car and squeeze something in here and there as you're able to. I keep telling myself I'm going to do that but haven't yet, lmao.

Anyway good luck reaching your goals, they're very realistic and you shouldn't have too much problem. Just for something to think about to encourage you, my husband had only been watching his food intake with me for the last 6 weeks and he's already lost 18lbs...not even working out. I'm so envious that men lose weight so much faster, lol. Welcome to the forum

If you cut out the beer, you might not have to make any other changes. 20 pounds in a year is only a 200-calorie-per-day deficit, which is about 9 beers a week.

Too bad in College you can drink that in one night, easy.

thanks for the feedback...recently i've quit drinking pop and have started to drink water all day in hopes that i can cut back some of the calories from the pop and i know cutting back on the beer would be beneficial but that will be tough...i'm pretty sure i drink way too much and cutting back could be my next goal to complete...i feel that if i cut back on the beer, it would help me cut back on smoking (when i drink i smoke heavily) and by cutting back on the cigarettes, i could exercise for a longer amount of time. once again, thanks for the feedback.

sounds like a good plan you'll have to keep us updated on your success so we can cheer you on!