Im 19 and you weigh 280 your height is 5 9 what to do to lose weight?

Answer 1

Step 1 -- Go talk to a doctor before doing anything I say

Based only on your height, the U.S. Center for Disease Control says you should be between 125 lbs (56.8 kg) and 169 lbs (76.8 kg).

When you eat more calories than you burn in a day, your body stores that as fat. When you burn more than you eat, your body uses up the fat stores for energy.

You can either decrease the amount you take in, increase the amount you burn, or (preferably) do both.

Step 2 -- Calculate your caloric needs

First we need to know your maintenance caloric needs. The best source of information would be to sit down with a dietitian. Alternately, search the internet for a daily calorie needs calculator. I'm going to assume, that at 280 lbs, you don't lead the most active lifestyle. (I'm not judging you, we just need to be honest with where you're at now if we're realistically going to make some changes.)

If you get little to no exercise, work a desk job, etc... you need 2734 calories per day to maintain the weight you're at now. If you add some exercise 3 days per week, 3132 calories per day. Exercise 5 days per week and you're up to 3332 calories.

Step 3 -- Be realistic

First of all, you have to be honest with yourself. The weight is just a symptom. We're not trying to treat the symptom, we need to address the cause. The cause of your weight is your behavior... your habits. We need to change those if we're going to be successful in the long run. You could go to a doctor and have them cut out big chunks of fat but if you don't change the behavior, you'll be right back where you started in no time.

You can't expect yourself to change deeply set behavioral habits overnight. Don't be too hard on yourself. Accept responsibility and pick one or two habits to work on at a time. Trying to become a whole new you overnight is just unrealistic and would be unmanageably stressful.

It is far better to start something slow that will lead to permanent life changes than to rush into something that will burn you out in less than a week. Be honest with yourself and make small, meaningful changes.

A safe and sustainable weight loss goal is 1 pound per week. You can go up to 2 pounds but I don't recommend more. It can be done but there are consequences.

It's realistically going to take you 1-2 years to get the weight down. But if you take your time, you'll have more energy, feel better, your body will have time to adjust (think droopy skin) and you'll be happier in the end. Most importantly, you'll be building good habits to last you a lifetime.

If 1-2 years sounds like a long time, keep in mind that you can increase the pace as your health improves, but week 1 isn't the time to be that aggressive. More often than not it leads to burn-out and quitting.

Whatever you do, don't get on your scale every day or even every week. Think tortoise and the hare. We are making lasting changes, and besides, it's more about how you feel, and also about how you look in the mirror. Hide the scale! All it's going to do at this point is demotivate you.

Step 4 -- Develop a plan

You didn't put on 111 extra pounds overnight. It's going to take a little while to get rid of it too. Think long term gains, not about tomorrow's weigh-in.

Alright so you need to lose at least 111 pounds. One pound of fat is about 3500 calories. If you didn't change your activity level or exercise at all, but reduced your intake to 2240 calories per day, you would lose about one pound per week.

I would start with making diet changes. First, no more fast food. Limit your alcohol to one drink per week. Get rid of the Soda. Increase fruits, whole grains, leafy greens, nuts, and fish. Foods high in fiber help you feel full. If all of this sounds like too much, take it one thing at a time and adjust. Again, see a dietitian for help if you can.

Step 5 -- Seek support

This is also a good time to find a friend (or better yet, a group of strangers) to lose weight with. They'll help keep you honest, motivate you when you have one of those days when you just don't care anymore, and never underestimate the power of peer pressure, even on yourself.

Step 6 -- Increase activity level

Start with little things like taking a walk on your lunch break at work. Go dancing (not drinking). When that's feeling too easy, make it harder. The best exercise for weight loss for the least amount of time spent exercising are the energetic cardio exercises like aerobics, step aerobics, running, swimming (not floating), cross-country skiing, spinning, dancing...

If you add some good exercise 3 times a week you could increase your caloric intake to about 2500 if you're finding yourself low on energy, but you'll get faster results if you keep the intake around 2240 for now.

Step 7 -- Reevaluate your goal and progress

As your fitness improves you'll find yourself with more energy and able to handle higher levels of exercise. Review your goals, diet, and exercise about monthly to make updates.

By the time you reach your weight goal of 169 or less, you'd need about 2100-2600 calories per week to sustain it depending on activity level.

If you take the time to change the habits instead of just changing the symptoms, I guarantee you won't have to worry about putting the weight back on.

I don't know when your birthday is but you could be celebrating your 21st birthday feeling slim, sexy, healthy, and energetic.

Hang in there and good luck!