Hi guys. I am really ready to lose weight and right now is better than other time. I am completely motivated and excited except for the possiblity of excess skin. I am completely terrified by it.

I am 15 years old, weigh 200 pounds at 5'5 and I plan to walk about 6 miles a day in addition to some exercises like push ups, crunches, squats etc. I plan to drink plenty of water (at least 8 glasses a day) and moisturize my skin everyday. I plan to eat about 1,200 calories per day.

My final goal weight is 120 pounds. An 80 pound weight loss altogether.

I've done some math to determine how much weight I would lose per week and month and I've come to 4 pounds per week and 16 per month.

[To be 200 pounds I need about 2,205 calories a day. 2,205-1000=1,205 intake, and 1000 outake. 1000[outake]x7[days a week]=7000[outake per week] 7000/3,500[calories per pound]=2 pounds a week.

My BMR is 1,700, so 1,700[outake]-1,205[intake]=495[outake] 495x7[days a week]=3465[outake per week] which is about -1 pound per week.

Finally I plan to walk around 6 miles per day at 3mph which is 2 hours. This would burn about 500 calories according to my weight. 500x7=3,500 which is -1 pound a week. Altogether it totals -4 pounds a week and -16 pounds a month]

Would that be too much? I am eating plenty of calories, getting very good exercising, drinking lots of water, and keeping skin moisturized. I think my only concern is that it's double the reccomended weight loss.

My question for you guys is have any of you lost 3-4 pounds a week? Do you have any excess skin? How much? Do you think I should reduce my loss to 2-3 pounds? Do I have any advantage with my plan other than the amount of weight I plan to lose? Please help me this how been a major major problem and has stopped me form losing before. Thank you!

First off, at 15, my guess is that you'd be just fine after you lose the weight. If you were 50 or extremely, morbidly obese I think it'd be different. Once you get close to your goal you may want to work on toning up and adding muscle. A lot of the "loose skin" I've seen is just more or less excess fat the goes away after some hard work and toning up. I dropped about 65 pounds when I was 16 (265-200), and though I never quite hit my ideal weight, I looked just fine. Only I got stupid and put it back on in college.

Secondly, you will lose weight a lot easier and quicker at first. Because as you get fitter, your body will burn less calories, so your calculations will be off more and more as you approach your goal, since you have less mass.

I'm no expert, but the one thing that I have learned is that it's ALL ABOUT a healthy lifestyle. So maybe you should add a few hundred more calories a day, and just commit to being a healthy, active young adult, something you can do the rest of your life. I went back into my old habits and regained the weight because I ate too few calories when I dieted and it was an either or type thing for me. Either 1200 or way too many. Now I'm just living and eating healthy and it's much more consistent and satisfying.

Good luck and keep us updated!

Oh, and the same for excercise. Moving more is great, but don't burn yourself out with 42 miles of walking a week. Exercise is great, but MAKE sure that you take at least one day off a week, just to let yourself recover. And even going a mile is fine. It's more important to develop good lifelong habits and be slow and steady than feel like you have to do your daily 6 or you failed. I've been there.

Hello Khronic,

May I ask you if you are using a book or some kind of counsel behind your plan? The reason I ask is because you say you want to burn 4 pounds a week, I assume you mean "burn four pounds of fat per week". Well, is great that you feel motivated and eager to start working out, that is the first step. However, the safest approach to weight loss is to aim for one or two pounds of fat per week.

This is because by losing four pounds of "weight" per week, there is a high probability that you are losing 2 pounds of muscle. Losing muscle is bad, so my recommendation is to take a slower approach. In the long term is going to be better for you.

Apart from that, don't worry about your skin. You skin will adapt to the change. You don't need to moisturize it. In fact is better for your skin if you drink plenty of water rathern that creams. So, don't worry about it too much, you won't have loose skin floating around. As long as you do a gradual weight loss.

I don't want to bombard you with a lot of information, or a whole page. My recommendation is that you get some good help, and plan things based on the right information before you start.

Have a good day!
Rick

The faster you lose weight, the more likelihood you're going to have skin issues. AT your weight, 4lbs a week is not healthy or reasonable. And the number of calories you've chosen is too few.

You'll be much more likely to lose the weight, keep it off, and do so w/out skin issues by aiming for about 1% of your bodyweight per week - for you about 2 lbs per week.

Also your exercise is (IMO) somewhat unrealistic. I doubt you'll be able to keep up a schedule of 2 hours of exercise per day, every single day. Aside from that, after a while your body will get used to the walking and will begin to adapt. As you become more fit, and as you lose weight, you'll burn fewer calories doing the same exercise that you do when you're out of shape and more overweight.

Setting those types of goals is the thing that sets people up for disappointment and failure. What happens is that you cannot keep up the 1200 calorie diet - and certainly not while walking 6 miles a day and weighing 200 lbs. You'll wind up starving, which will make you have less will power to hold off against cravings.

I know this sounds like I'm not giving you any hope, but I really am. I'm gonna tell you a MUCH safer, smarter, and more sustainable way to do this.

The first thing that you have to remember is that losing weight is a MOVING TARGET. What I mean by that is this: You'll start at one level because you're more overweight and less fit. As you lose the fat and gain strength, you'll adapt and change your plan. And then you'll do it again. And then you'll do it again. By the time you lose 80 lbs (which is ENTIRELY possible ... I did it!), you'll have altered your plan at least 2 or 3 times, if not more. So don't get hung up on one way or one plan or whatever.

Start with setting your calories to around 1800 or 2000 day. Make sure that the majority of your meals are veggies and protein. Fill in around that with fruit and complex carbs - whole grain breads, oats, etc. It's a little harder when you're younger and living at home, because you aren't in total control of all of your own meals, but hopefully your family supports you and will help you by cooking healthy meals and helping you figure out good portions.

For exercise start with 30 minutes a day of BRISK walking. I mean arms pumping, legs lifting, get your heart going, get you sweating type of walking. Alternate slower walking with faster walking - even a little running if you can. Ideally you could walk for 5 minutes, then run/brisk walk for 60 seconds, then walk for 2 mins, then run/brisk walk for 60 seconds, then walk for 2 mins ... and repeat for a full 30 minutes. This is what's known as interval training (you might see it referred to as HIIT). This type of alternating slow and fast movement is MUCH more effective at burning fat and helping you lose weight. And you only need 30 mins of it as opposed to 2 hours of it.

If you feel like you can, lift some weights or do some body resistance training. If you don't have access to a gym or weights, you can do things like squats, lunges, pushups (start against a wall or table if you have to), dips, crunches, etc. Again, 20-30 minutes of good solid weight/resistance training is FAR more effective than 2 hours of low cardio.

When you combine a healthy diet with lots of protein with strength training and HIIT, you are helping to prevent lean muscle loss and encourage fat loss. Which is what you want!

And at a slow and reasonable rate of 2ish pounds per week, you're far less likely to have skin issues.

Also as was mentioned above, drink lots of water. Skin moisturizing happens from the inside out .. lotions are good - I moisturize my skin every day - but making sure you drink enough water is much much much better.

Good luck to you and keep checking back in and letting us know how you're doing.

Thank you guys so much for responding! This issue had me worried to near tears. I am not using a book no, but I have done hours and hours of research over a span of 1 1/2 years where I learned of this 'excess skin' possibility in the first place.

I think that from what you all have told me, and from almost every other source losing weight slowly is one of the best ways to prevent loose skin unfortunately for me I was really hoping that if I was motivated and could keep up that I could do it, but if it's not healthy that defeats the purpose.

So I have definetely decided there will be no extreme 4 pound per week weight loss. I think it's REALLY important to work my thighs because they are very large, and I want them to be very toned and tight, which is one of the main reasons I choose walking.

I recently started walking home from school which is about 3 miles, I started doing this in 85 degree weather wearing black sweatpants and lugging around a bookbag so I was naturally uncomfortable but I'm not sure this amount of exercise was really "pushing it" which is why I thought 6 miles would be better.

But what you guys are saying is that I cannot start out doing alot of exercise and severely restricting calories because after my body 'gets used' to it then I'll need to do even more exercise?

So if I walk say 3 miles a day (allowing 1 day for rest as you suggested!), do toning exercises (squats, crunches, push ups, etc) and eating 1,800 at the beginning I'll be better off and lose more weight in the long run?

It's very hard to target specific areas for fat loss. In general you will just lose weight all over. However, it will work your muscles in your legs obviously, which will help with definition once you do lose the fat.

And I think it's great that you're able to incorporate exercise into your daily routine, as that will make it much easier to keep up with!

I think the main thing is that with all that exercise your body is gonna want some dang energy to keep it running. So a really restrictive diet like that tends to backfire since it's so much harder to stick to it, you give into cravings more as Kara said, etc.

I've found it much easier to lose weight by eating MORE. It gives me more energy to work out, and then I stick to the diet as well.

Seems like you have a reasonable plan though, but keep reading the stickies around the forum. Tons of great info!

Yeah, kinda. If you start really extreme, you have nowhere to go when you hit a plateau - and you probably WILL hit a plateau at some point. When you start out with reasonable amounts of calories and exercise, you have wiggle room when your body starts adjusting.

I really think so, yes. Based on all of my research and my personal experience, you're better off with a combination of cardio and "toning" ... and enough food to sustain that.

It really sounds like you're motivated and willing to work at this, and to be honest that's a HUGE part of the equation. You're already way ahead of a lot of people. Keep reading, and keep working at it and I know you'll make your goal!

Hello Khronic,

You see, the problem is not that your body adapts to the exercise. That is normal, and is a sign that it has improved. What is important here is the diet. Because if the calories are too low, there's a high chance the metabolism in your body would slow down.

Your metabolism is the rate at which you burn calories. So, to burn calories at a high rate you need to promote a fast metabolism. The solution is simple: cut your calories a little, and exercise more. By keeping a high metabolism you also avoid losing muscle at a fast rate.

Hope that helps!
Rick.