posted 05-06-2001 09:57 PM            

do at least 50 stomach crunches everyday.

posted 05-07-2001 01:11 PM            

1. Nutrition. Watch what you eat. Be conscious about it. If you want to lose weight badly enough, this will not present a problem.

2. Water. Drink lots of it. At least 1 gallon per day. That's 128 oz, or 16 cups.

3. Cardiovascular activity. This is the most important form of exercise you can do. Running, cycling, rowing... whatever, as long as it gets your heart rate up for more than 20 minutes.

4. Stomach exercises. Unfortunately, these will not be very effective until you manage to slim down. You need to go target all the major stomach muscle groups from a variety of different directions. The old situp may have been seen as effective decades ago, but it's outdated.

5. Weight lifting. Muscle burns fat. Keep in mind two things here, though. 1) Just because muscle burns fat doesn't mean that's all you should concentrate on. I know people who hear this and think "Well, I'll just lift weights and not do cardio." Very bad idea. 2) Your build, which I assume is husky, likely makes it much easier for you to build muscle but also easier for you to retain fat. That again goes back to not emphasizing strength training.

Is 13 too young to lift weights? That depends on who you ask. I know that I personally am now trying to make up for lost time and would've loved to have lifted weights at that age. If not now, save it for a year or two, but make sure to follow the first 4 steps (with an emphasis on the first 3).

As far as "ideal weight," don't put too much faith in it. The ideal weight is just a set of numbers that cannot possibly be applied to everyone. If you're happy with the way you look, that's the ideal.

posted 05-11-2001 10:55 AM            

However, having said all that, if you're really serious about losing some weight, then start a really simple routine. Remember, you don't want to start an exercise program where you workout like crazy, lose a lot of weight, get tired of the exercise routine and gain back twice as much weight as you lost (I know...been there, done that....more than once ).

This is what I've started doing:

• Drink LOTS of water
  
• Watch what you eat (don't totally cut out fats and sugars - just eat very small amounts)
  
• Take as many walks as you can. Walk at a moderate pace. Bring a friend to make the walk easier (plus, it's a lot more fun when you have someone to talk to).
  

This helps tone you up and brings up your cardio. Just remember, don't rely on the scale too much. Working out tones your muscles and muscle has more mass than fat. So, although you may not see a change in your weight when you look at the scale, you will have lost your fat and toned your muscles (I always measure myself by how my clothes fit because by looking at the scale, it appears as if I've gained more weight, when in effect, I've toned up and lost my fat. So, my clothes fit a lot better!).

posted 01-17-2002 10:55 PM            

My daughter also went through this. She did like you when developing gained tremendous weight. She got very bummed out about it. How did she loose it. Well a whole lot of positive suggestions, stayed away from those people that bothered her about it and did about 1/2 hour of taebo workout everyday. Took her about 6 months to get down to 130, she took off 40lbs then it just all started to come off. She looks great, feels great and is very proud of her accomplishment.

Now she just seems to like doing any fitness stuff. Fun stuff, like playing tennis, walking, swimming, cause she knows she benifits from it. She did NOT try to change her eating habits too much becaus AS she started to workout and loose weight she became less interested in food and seemed to get "full" on a whole lot less then what she use to.

Seriously if you would like to chat at me or her, let us know, I can relate to all those feelings you are having, and SO can she!

Canasa

posted 01-18-2002 11:26 PM            

OK. Forget that stuff about hundreds of stomach crunches. That will leave you so sore you won't be able to do anymore for a week! I'd also give any weight training thoughts away for a few years.

At your age, you should be out playing some sport that involves cardio vascular exertion. Do some aerobics, go for a brisk walk...get that heart pumping! Drop most of the sugars from your diet, eat more fruit and veggies and drink lots of water. Easy huh?

Aussie Tom