Question about weight loss

I'm 17 years old, 6ft2 and weigh about 180 pounds. I am not really very muscly and want to lose weight primarily.

Since last Friday I have started to do swimming every day (and will carry on for the rest of the year). I do 40 laps of breaststroke which takes about an hour, which adds up to about 2000 metres. I also cycle to the swimming place which is one mile, two miles there and back (that's every day too).

I usually eat about 500 cals a day, sometimes up to a 1000 but rarely though. I don't eat fast food at all. I have two tins of tomato soup a day, not very nutritious but it's really low in fat (1.5g per tin) and I also have some bread with it too (plain, no butter). I have no trouble keeping to this diet, been using it for months but since I don't excercise and ate a lot over the summer I have put on some weight (was a lot thinner last year).

Also drink a lot of water.

Will I start to lose weight this way? I feel fine and would just like some advice about whether I am just going to put on weight, remain the same weight or lose weight.

thanks

-tom

i think you will begin to lose weight, but it sounds like your kinda starving yourself. as long as you eat small meals throughout the day it will keep your metabolism up, thats important when your trying to loose weight. but it seems that 500 calories isnt enough if your exersising regularly.

You're exercising a lot and you are NOT consuming too many calories, so you probably will lose weight. I am trying to lose weight right now too, but I intake too many calories, although I am trying to walk for about half hour each day. That helps.

Good luck!

You need to diversify your food intake or you're going to do some serious damage to your body. You need to get vitamins and minerals from other fruits and veges. You'll also have more energy to do more exercise. Its not recommended that you go below 1000cals a day. You won't lose weight this way, you are actually causing your body to switch into a metabolic mode where it conserves cals more because of the lack of intake. Eating more healthy foods; fruits, veges, whole grain, lean meat, and you have a better balance in your body.

Thanks for the fast replies everyone

CarnelianButterfly, I forgot to mention, I have a bowl of cereal with skimmed milk every other day, it's like wheat flakes, like SpecialK (dunno if you've heard of that) with banana in. And also eata banana or grapes every other day as well.

I'm vegetarian so can't eat meat. Will I really not lose weight even if I'm burning more cals than I'm eating? If I feel hungry I eat, but I just don't feel hungry that often. I'm not starving myself on purpose.

You really should talk to a dietitian. I don't think you need to worry about weight loss for your height anyway. You should look at strength training and shaping your body and not just cutting intake.

It is possible slow your metabolism so much that it won't burn energy well. You need protein from other sources if you don't eat meat. If you work out you are actually breaking down the muscle and it rebuilds itself but bigger to resist being broken down again, to effectively replenish that muscle you need carbs and protein. Energy and building blocks. Instead of meat, eat nuts, lots of beans, eggs, more milk than every other day. Eat "fake" eggs instead of whole eggs and you avoid the cholesterol, I eat vegetarian fed whole eggs and they are less cholesterol too.

Please do not confuse losing weight with not eating. You must eat and you must drink water.

It is so cool, once you realize you can eat and lose weight. It is quite liberating.

Also, 6'2" and 180, does not sound like you have to lose weight.

Is there something I am missing here?

BTW, you SHOULD ALWAYS have some kind of protein at every meal.

hey first thing that struck me is that a 17year old who is 6'2" and 180 lbs is not overweight.

you seem to have self discipline with your workout regimine, but I initially see you limit of 500 calories a day to be harmful.

I have some medical training and I can tell you taht although it is beneficial in the LT to live a vegetarian lifestyle, it can be difficult for someone your age to do so while at the same time ingesting the proprer amount of nutrients.

1200 calories a day is considered by the World Health Organization to be a starvation diet. You are well under that.

Do you understand that when your body goes into starvation mode your metabolism slows down and your body will start using your existing muscle tissue (including your heart) in order to keep itself going? Once you starve yourself, your body becomes much more efficient at storing fat because it doesn't know/care that you are doing this on purpose and it doesn't know when the next famine is coming. This is why weight loss diets, over time, tend to make people fatter than they'd naturally be if they never dieted.

I'd strongly suggest you see a nutritionist or registered dietician and get some professional advice on what a proper healthy diet for someone of your age/activity level is. Further, you should probably seek out a nutritionist/dietician who has a background working with people who have disordered eating patterns. After reading your post my thought is that if you haven't already developed a full-blown eating disorder, you sure are laying the groundwork to develop one in time. I've been there/done that...trust me, you DO NOT want to go there.

You would be doing yourself a huge favor to consult a professional now, get some decent advice, some counseling if you need it, and get it nipped in the bud before it takes over years of your life.

Please note that if you suddenly exercise a lot, you might GAIN weight, because muscle is heavier than fat. Don't look at the scale too much, but kinda look at how your clothes are fitting you.

Another good point to look at is that when you are skinny, it is difficult to build up muscle mass. When you are slightly overweight, working out turns the fat into mass you didn't have before pretty quickly.

6'2 @ 180 pounds is considered underweight believe it or not. At 6'2, you should be around 195 - 200.

i agree with everyone ... go to your doctor and ask for a recommendation on who you should see to talk more about your nutrition and such. you got the excercise down, but the eating's gotta change.

actually where i work out, they're doing a "best your best body" challenge and the personal trainer/instructor who is assisted the owner with this challenge, said that the problem isn't that people aren't working out enough, it's that people need to change how they eat. really weight loss is probably like 80% based on what you put in your mouth. anyway can go run, bike, box and so on. It's how much food you eat and what KIND of food you eat. and you gotta bump up your intake a lot.

alright thanks guys, I will try find some more info and get a proper diet, cheerz.