Hi, I'm new to the forums and sorta new to seriously working out.

I am male, 5'8, and currently 180lbs. My goal is to tone up my stomach and lose about 15 to 20 lbs.

I'm not really a diet expert or anything, infact I know very little about diet, but so far I considerably cut back my food intake to about 2 small meals a day, mostly fruit or instant noodles (I don't know how to cook and I don't have much time to cook anyway).

I also excerise 7 days a week. I do 15 minutes of cardio on the treadmill (5mph, no incline) and do about 50 crunches.

Is this enough to drop the 15 to 20 lb in a reasonable amount of time? Or do I need to step up the cardio or maybe get a new diet? I could use some guidence here.

Thanks.

I vote for new diet and for you reading the stickied threads in the exercise forum and nutrition forums.

Instant noodles, like those of the ramen variety are absolutely horrible for you -they're deep fried and the flavoring packet is more sodium than anything else -you'd be better served by eating the packing materials and tossing the noodles.

2 small meals a day, doesn't say a lot but what you're describing sounds very low calorie and won't serve you well long term. Fruit is good for you,but you need to incorporate protein and fats and well real food into your diet. Get yourself an account at FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal and keep track of your calories and other nutrients.

Not knowing how to cook or having the time to cook is really no excuse. Cooking isn't difficult -Chicken breasts can be economical, and take little time to cook.

Auntie Mal says that if you want to impess the opposite gender (or even the same gender depending on your preference) knowing how to prepare some simple meals is a good thing and scores major points

That's a recipe for disaster in terms of physique, performance, and well-being.

wanting to impress young ladies with culinary skills is a recipe for disaster? harumph...

Sorry I sounded like a idiot earlier but I really don't know anything about diet.

I really don't know how to fix my diet into something that's reasonable. I signed up for that FitDay website and did a sample diet of what I plan on eating tomorrow, heres what I'm planning:

Apple for breakfast with water and coffee (6 oz w/ cream and sugar).
For lunch a plain hamburger with bun, with water.
For dinner, canned beef soup with vegatables.

According to that website it came out to 900g of calories, 28g of fat, 112g of carbs, and 48g of protiens. Is this reasonable or do I need to intake more calories/protiens? I also try to drink a lot of water throughout the day.

It's waaayyyyy too low in calories man, not to mention the poor food choices.

Sorry man, but can you give me some suggestions? I really have no idea what I need to eat. How many calories should I be going for in a day? What about protien?

Instead of hamburger for lunch today, I'm going to be eating sushi (nigiri, just fish and rice). Is this much of a improvement?

Since your new to this, I highly suggest reading through the stickies. Particularly the 'words of wisdom' thread. Rather than having me repeat everything that's already been stated here, I'd rather you get a basic understanding by doing some reading and then clearing up any questions you have at that time.

Does that seem fair enough?

Wow dude, I eat more than that. 900 calories?? I eat between 1500 and 1800 myself and I am losing. Like Steve said look around the site and read up on nutrition elsewhere as well. But I can say this: An apple for breakfast isn't enough. Your diet seems to be lacking complex carbs, more protien and much more veggies/fruit.