need to lose weight

i need to lose weight bad. i wear a size 16 pants. i'm so envious of those that wear a 7 or 5 or a 3. can a girl who wears a size 16 ever lose that much weight to fit in a size 7 again? can anyone give me some good tips to help me lose weight? i don't have any exercise equipment so can you do excersice w/out it? i hear water helps you lose weight? is that true and what does it do? how much water do i need daily? sorry for all the questions but i'm just so sick of being big. anyone see the swan last night? they were beautiful at the end but they had painful surgery. i hope i could lose weight w/out surgery and stuff like that. i just want to feel good about myself & look good.

Losing weight is going to take some time. You need to permanently change your habits, not go on a crash diet. The absolute best way to lose weight is a combination of diet habit changes PLUS exercise.

Striving to reach a size 3 from a size 16 is probably unrealistic. However a size 7 or 8 might certainly be achievable. But its going to probably take a year.

You can certainly exercise without expensive equipment or joining a fitness club. Talk walks around your neighborhood. Buy or rent some tapes on Tai-bo, Pilates, or some other fitness program that looks interesting to you. Take the stairs instead of the elevator.

Talk to your doctor or a nutritionist about a sensible diet program. It does not have to be radical to work. The most effective diet and exercise program is the one you'll actually DO.

I went from a size 13 to a size 8 in about 5 1/2 months. I lost a total of 24 lbs. It definitely does take time, and you can't expect miraculous results instantly. You'll become discouraged. And if you're an emotional eater, that could lead back to your old eating habits.

However, you cannot lose weght without exercise. I can promise you that. To lose weight, I ran. I would run 1-2 miles a day. Believe me, I am NOT a runner whatsoever. It took a lot of conditioning. But do as avman suggested... just walk around your street. Walking is better than just sitting there.

I also lost weight by cutting out high carb foods. I wouldn't eat bread or pasta, I would only drink skim milk and water. I resisted eating when I was bored, which was extremely hard because I'm an emotional eater. You should check out the South Beach diet. Thats basically the plan that I went on, but I changed some minor things around. I ate a lot of yogurt too. And yes, water is definitely important. I would drink 2 or 3 bottles a day. You're supposed to have 8 glasses but realistically, I know I can't intake that much.

You also have to look at your genetics and your body frame. Your bones could be too big to fit into a size 3. You definitely have to think realistically. Also, aim for only a couple sizes down at first instead of "3".

I definitely wish you luck. If you would like anymore imput, feel free to email me: email removed

I was a 16 also and I found a diet that changed my life. Its called the heart smart diet and it is a variation of Atkins, which I think is a little too strict. Do a search for it online. Basically you cut carbs, but you get a "free weekend" every other week to eat carbs if you want. You can have as much meat and veggies that you want!!!! I never exercised on this diet but I think it is very important to do that. Plus it will speed up the whole process. I went from a 16 to a 10 in like 5 months! I almost fit into a size 8 prom dress my senior year of high school! I think you should give it a try. Its the easiest diet I have done. Good Luck!

Despite all the diets books out there, the best way to lose weight is quite simple in theory:

Exercise more, eat less.

Basically, eat less calories in a day then you burn in a day - exercising increases the calories you burn, and will motivate you and help you feel better. You can get exercise walking, jogging/running, swimming, cycling, anything that gets your body moving!

To lose a pound a week (which is a reasonable goal) you need a deficit of 3,500 calories a week (or 500 calories a day).

Start keeping a food journal...write down EVERYTHING you eat, even if it is a bite from someones chocolate chip cookie. Look online for sites that have nutrition calculators that can help you figure out the calories in what you are eating. Do research on portion sizes and stick to them! You might be surprised by how much you are actually taking in! An average woman around late teens to early 20s need for BASIC maintenance (meaning before exercise) about 1600-1800 calories a day. Myself, due to the amount of training I do (I am a competitive cyclist) I can add anywhere from 500-thousands a day depending on the event and training, but I make sure to not eat more than I burn.

Eat a balanced diet. You don't have to give up ice cream forever, but stick to portion sizes and eat it less often. Eat more fruits, veggies, lean means, whole grain carbs. Make sure you get some calcium in there - it has been shown in studies to help with weight loss/maintenance, but eat it in lean varieties like skim milk, light/low fat yogourt, etc. Do make sure you eat enough though for your exercise/life routine. Maybe talk to a nutritionist about this.

Also keep track of your exercise - how many miles you walked, or ran, or how long you swam for. Underestimate how much you actually burned according to the exercise calorie calculators (look online) as this could help you burn more. Exercise IS very important, trust me! But, you don't not need to go to extremes to start out, in fact don't as you do not want to injure yourself or burn out.

Remember it is a life STYLE, not a diet that will help you lose and maintain it.

GOOD LUCK!

i am 19, and I was always the chubby kid. I weighed more in elementary school than I do NOW! I was really heavy...forget chubby! it wasn't til the summer before I turned 13 that I lost 30 lbs in 4 MOS! And the funny thing is that I did it all by myself. Ive always been very determined young girl and I knew since a yung age that you had to work REALLY hard for it. So my little 12 year old self would wake up every hot summer morning and go running/jogging/walking (combinations are great) for about 45mins-1hr EVERY day. I started cooking my own meals, more greens, no rice, no pasta, no sodas, nothing with flour, starch, and too much sugar. Lowcarb low fat smoothies by dannon are wonderful for breakfast as well as fruits. For lunch I would have chicken breast with salad, and for dinner I would have fish and veggies. between snacks i would have a few nuts to keep my metabolism going. But the KEY is to excercise. You can diet all you want, but nothing will ever get you there as fast as excercise! It is such a wonderful thing gives you so much energy and helps yu look great. NOTHING beats a good healthy diet + excercise = happiness

I am now 19, and since then I've always been anywhere from a size 0-3. I was a size 11 when I was 12...and it took me 4 mos to get to a size 1! I am so greatful that my mom was so encouraging and i had so much support to start that young because my body was able to go back to being tight and I was able to shape it just fine. The longer you wait the harder it will be to get rid of the extra fat and your body will find it harder to get rid of flab even if you lose weight.

Maybe it was due to how young I was and how hard I worked at it, but I've kept it all off for the past 7 years and now my body has gotten so used to being kicked up by excercise and eating so well all the time, that I can afford to butter up my popcorn every now and then at the movies and get some ice cream every now and then...but its all due to my excercising habits and healthy eating...PLEASE REMEMBER HEALTHY EATING DOES NOT MEAN FLAVORLESS BAD FOOD. People always make that mistake and bad assumption. Excercise isn't a punishment, it will make you feel better than anything else. You will eventually get to a point like me, where I eat well and excercise not even for my looks anymore, but mostly to feel good and live a healthy life.

YOU CAN DO IT, WE ALL CAN!!! Remember it takes a lot of work, commitment, and dedication. It does not happen over night and do not weigh yourself or measure yourself everyday. Pick a day out of the week, and on that same day every week, right when you wake up measure-weigh yourself.

GOOD LUCK and remmeber YOU CAN DO IT!!

ps: Best time to excerscise is in the morning, with no food in your stomach you burn a lot A LOT more calories. but if you can't there is never a wrong time to do it at Drink a lot of water, and fruits like grapefruits, full of calcium help burn of fat.

I have just one thing to add to what everyone has said above, and its a very simple thing. When you are going about your normal business, do things the long way.

Here are a few examples of what i mean:

- Park further away from work and walk the extra five or ten minutes to get there.

- If you need to go to the shop for some groceries or something, dont go in the car. Walk there and if you have time then take the longest route possible.

If you can get into the habit of working out a long way to do something then you can easily burn a few extra calories a day. Perhaps invest in a pedometer (measures the number of steps you do in a day) to see exactly how many calories you burn as you go about your daily business, you can then find ways to increase that amount.

Good luck!

Want to know the way to do it in detail?

Read this forum:

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Its from people that are dedicated to lose fat and be healthy and that actually did it. All you need to know about food, exercice and about how to lose weight.

There's no way around it. Exercice, healthy way of eating, calorie deficit.

Good luck.

I think going from a size 16 to a 7 is VERY realistic. I wore a size 9 two years ago and then I got chubby and now wear a 13. Funny thing is, my stomach is flat. It's my HIPS that are big. I'm extremely curvy. And that SUCKS.

But you can do it. Cut down on your food intake, stay away from carbs, drink plenty of water. You said you don't have use of exercise equipment, but you can always go outside and take a walk! Walks are wonderful. They tone up your legs and butt, and slim down everything else.