New member, Hi, advice and tips welcomed.
 

Hello my name is Kate, i'm 22 years old and i'm planning to go down from 16 stone/236lbs to 12 stone/168lbs in 8 months, in preparation for visiting my relatives abroad for the first time. I have been trying to lose weight for 6 years with no success.

Diet and Exercise as started 01/01/13
:Exercise:
I'm currently doing on average 10 1/2 hours a week exercise, a mixture of cardio dance using the kinnect software, small weight lifting when sat down [3kg total], and walking.

: Diet :
I am limiting my calorie intake per day to 1500 as I find this a comfortable number to work with over a large time scale, my diet mainly consists of rice, vegetables, and none cream based soups. My portion sizes are that of a child's plate per meal and I will eat up to 4 times a day maximum. I have cut out all snacking and now drink water if I start to feel peckish.

I would like as much advice as to shed the pounds as there is available. I am very worried about my weight, and want to get down to a healthy weight as soon as possible in a lasting way.

Hello, Kate, and welcome.

I think your goal is reasonable but challenging, about 8 pounds per month. Keep in mind that everyone hits plateaus; the important thing is to stick with it and not let the scale not moving discourage you from doing what you need to do.

One hint I could give is that you may want to include some protein and some healthy fats in your diet. These will both keep you feeling fuller longer and will also help your body burn fat.

Also, make sure that whatever you are doing is something you can stick with for a long period of time. Ideally, you should eat the way you can eat the rest of your life, not just as a "diet" you will go off of eventually, because then the pounds will come back.

Have a look around the site; there are lots of threads and posts with great advice! Feel free to post and chat; we are looking forward to getting to know you :).

Hello Kate,

You're in the right place and I think you'll be glad to have found this site.

One bit of advice I'd give besides agreeing with cjohnson728 (love your posts!) is that snacking is healthy and will help you stay on track. Buy any raw veggies you like, clean them and cut them up for fast snacking. I keep bell peppers, carrots, green onions, broccoli, cherry tomatoes and cauliflower in bags and snack on them through out the day. This way I'm getting some much needed filling nutrition without calories and I don't get peckish anymore. I'm so thankful my family doctor recommended this to me be because I've been loosing ever since and not had one ubber hungry day since. I sure hope this helps.

Good luck and keep on posting!
Sarah709