Diet/Exercise Advice?

[Fraido]

I'm wanting to make improvements, now that I'm moving back with my mom I can fix up my diet because I'll actually have a say in what gets made for dinner, plus I just finished highschool and am planning to take some time off school/work stuff and focus more on improving myself and figuring out what I really want to do. It will probably be at least a year.

So anyways! I'm looking for suggestions regarding a super cheap healthy diet I can follow, I want to eat healthier and I also want to start some sort of simple exercises I can do st home to help me tone up and lose some belly fat... I'm 5'2 and I think just above 140lbs so I'm apparently overweight?? 😳 I'm not a fan of the belly flubb.

We're like, ultra poor, and I'm a complete noob with the whole healthy diet scene and there's just so much information that you'll find online that is not true at all. So here I am asking real people!

What can I do? 😊 I feel like I keep repeating myself in each little paragraph, I hope it wasn't annoying to read.. as a side note I'm not a good cook. I'm just literally not sure of anything here, all I know is I want to improve my body and my health. I'd really love help making a schedule of some sort to follow, regarding the diet and exercise, I have no issues eating pretty much the same thing all week (I mean like, something different each day but keeping it the same each week for simplicity).

Right now all I know is that I'm going to be drinking only water, no junk food/less sugar, and more salad (I love salad/pasta salad).

I'm sorry I'm dragging on... I just wanted to add that another big reason I want to eat a specific healthy diet is because I'm always tired because of my current crappy diet and it's hard to exercise when you're always feeling so lazy and crappy, which doesn't go well with the fact that I'm not too pleased with my body right now. Ya know?

Again, apologies for the long post, hopefully people here can help? 😀

[highqualityballz]

Look into intermittent fasting. IMO its the best for fatloss, plus it has way more benfits than just fatloss.

[redshepherd]

I was a serious competitive swimmer for 8 years, so I'm familiar with nutrients and foods and all that, unless research has changed in the past 5 years. I can provide some basics on losing weight purely with diet.

If you're going to exercise very lightly just for burning fat, maintaining a weight-loss diet really pretty simple. Simple carbs (bread, pastries, anything from bakeries, potatoes, noodles, white rice... but carbs in general) and total fat in a food are really 90% what contributes to weight. Avoid all of those foods completely and utterly. Sugar is unhealthy and slows your body's healing processes, but honestly matters less when it comes to weight, just in itself. Avoid all all of those foods, and just stick to brown rice and maybe a bit of pasta for your carb intake, but keep it minimal.

Main diet should consist of 80% vegetables and fruits (boiled, baked, anything more true to the source... not sure if that's the right wording), around 10% protein (best is if you have the heart to only eat chicken breast for protein), 10% brown rice, and nuts. Don't get your veggie intake from tv dinners or pasta sauces or mixed with heavy creams... just pure, fresh veggies. I used to just bake vegetables with salt and dip them in balsamic vinegar.

In addition, eating smaller meals throughout the day helps lose weight, instead of three giant meals. And this might sound weird to some, but never eat until you feel "full" or stuffed. Just feel "satisfied". LOL. Stomach capacity is also a big contributor on what prevents some from losing weight. Stomachs will adapt and shrink a bit, depending on how much you eat, and you will end up feeling comfortable with whatever amount. Just don't eat too little all at once, or your stomach will yell that you are constantly starving.

That'll get you started...

As for light exercise that you can do at home, you can follow pilates and yoga videos online. There are a lot on youtube, that are just 30 minutes~2 hour long videos following the yoga instructor, like if you were taking yoga classes.

[Fraido]

HQB, I just did a little bit reading on intermittent fasting, sounds like something I could do.

Red, I actually enjoy chicken breast, best part of the chicken! When you say "more true to the source," what exactly do you mean? I don't understand. So, it woud be good if I could do chicken breast and brown rice for dinner, along with lots of veggies. Would salads be more beneficial than boiling or baking? Or are they pretty much the same and I can really just choose whether I feel like cooked or raw veggies? Perhaps my lunches can be my fruits. I've been looking into Yoga, and was actually considering just buying a DVD.


Of course I post this and I get given some weird chips and cake and squares.. 😂 though in my defense... my birthday's tomorrow!

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[EmilyandArlo]

Hi, Fraido! Congrats on finishing high school

It definitely sounds like you are off to a good start by drinking only water and cutting out any junk food. It is amazing what a difference it makes to simply not have it around. A lot of what helps is meal planning and grocery lists...eliminates a lot of the temptation.

For healthy breakfasts, OATMEAL. Cheap, filling and you can always change up what nuts/raisins/fresh fruit you add to it. If you have a decent blender, green smoothies are nice too (but can get a bit expensive).

I also agree with the other posters that eating more plant based (and this is coming from a girl who loves to eat meat) can do wonders. Even just cutting your meat portion in half and doubling your accompanying veggie. A good sized sweet potato simply roasted can be almost a light lunch on its own. And veggies like Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus are all super easy to prepare roasted with just some salt and pepper.

Soups are a really good way to go, too. Find a good recipe, make a big batch and have it for breakfast, lunch or dinner throughout the week.

Sorry if that was a bit disjointed but those are all things that have worked for me


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[Fraido]

Thanks! 😁

Meal planning and grocery lists, definitely. I've always planned on doing that, knowing exactly what I'm going to be making each day and buying what I need for the week!

It will be difficult not having junk food around though, as I can't control what my mother and boyfriend eat... Lol I think I'll manage though, just always have bananas or apples or some sort of berries if I get a serious craving. The boyfriend is a huge pain in the butt because he refuses to drink water, ugh

I'll be honest I'm not much of a breakfast person. (One of the reasons why I'm considering that intermittent fasting thing, plus I like what I read, haha.) If I don't though, oatmeal will probably be the route I go, I like the variety you can creat with it. LOVE smoothies, too... I used to have one of those blenders where it blends in your bottle thing, I wish I still had it! Perhaps I'll invest in another one.

I love all those veggies! Aside from sweet potato.. 😋 I am definitely all for the veggie scene.

I'm a paranoid eater when it comes to eating leftovers, I don't know if I could manage a big batch of soup and eating it throughout the week. I do like soup, though, so maaybbee. Haha

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[highqualityballz]

HQB, I just did a little bit reading on intermittent fasting, sounds like something I could do.

I find it to be the best fatloss tool that helps you lose fat and maintain muscle.

[EDR]

Do what i do. Stay so busy you forget about food. I usually only eat 2 or even 1 real meal every day and i'm generally a skinny guy so i'm sure it plays a role though i also have a lightning fast metabolism. I'm glad i don't eat as much cause i think there's a lot of crap ingredients in food now and days. My worst intake is probably corn syrup cause i'm a soda junkie got a serious weakness for dr. pepper. But anyway i think a good cheap suggestion to help with your weight i'm thinking ramon noodles. You canadians know what ramon noodles are right? Girl you need to buy like a whole box lol which shouldn't be a whole lot. And yes the ramon noodles and whole box are a serious suggestion. Also happy birthday fraido.

[Fraido]

Lol to be honest I don't overeat for the most part! It's just that the crappy diet makes me lazy and tired, so I just kind of sit around all day leading to the whole weight gain and what-not. Not sure if I could manage a whole box of noodles. 😂 And thanks! 😀

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[EDR]

Well the whole box is sparingly over time of course lol.