Getting rid of all this fat

Question
Hello, my name is Alex, i am 18 years old, and i am TIRED of living this way, i weigh 200-ish pounds, and i am ready to get rid of it.
i know that my 2 main problems are...
1) Not exercising.
other than the usual, walking around school, i don't do ANYTHING physically demanding throughout the day
2) Junk/Fast Food
junk food is such an easy way to calm a craving, and fast food is convenient, but both are KILLING me.

I am an utter noob at any of this and didn't know where to start, what do you reccomend?
(Food, exercise, got to start out small and work my way up as my body adapts)

Please respond, the sooner the better :)

Answer

1-2-1 Nutrition Traini Alex,

It is commendable that you are being very honest about your situation. However, you are truly not alone. Many people are in the same boat as you.  Some might tell you to suck it up and just eat right and exercise often.  As you well know, that will be too much at one time and probably not last long. Anytime, we binge on exercise and eating right, we realize quickly that it is just too much work too soon. As a Wellness Coach that helps people to accomplish life long changes, here are my suggestions:

1.  Take the time to determine exactly what you want to be doing in twelve weeks. Separate those into categories of eating right and exercise. Only make 3-5 goals total.

2. Review your 12 week goals to make sure that they are action based, measurable, have a time component, and that you are confident in actually being able to do it. Keep in mind that making health changes is a life long process.  You do not have to fit every single tenet of healthy living into a three month period. Start with what you KNOW you will do. A poorly conceived goal is: In twelve weeks I will exercise a lot. A well conceived goal is: In twelve weeks, I will actively be walking 2 miles per day four days a week on Monday, Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday. The key here is to be specific.
3.  Now that you know what you want to accomplish, break it into chunks.  Each week (and set a day & time to do this that you can rely on) write a list of 3-5 goals that you are willing to do to move closer to the 12 week goals.
4.  Review those goals by first looking at each goal and truly making sure that it meets the guidelines of a goal in #2. Make sure that you are confident in your ability to make it through the week doing what you are setting out to do.
5.  Now, think about the obstacles that have and might come up when you have attempted this before. Brainstorm and list them. Then come up with the strategies that you will use to over come them. Those strategies may even include support people. Most importantly, USE THOSE STRATEGIES!

Last, I want to mention that you may come up short in one or more goals some weeks. Well, life happens! Do not take it a failure. Sit back, determine what percentage of completion you had for that goal that week (you might surprise yourself of how well you actually did), and figure out what the problem was. Then, learn from it. Brainstorm it. How can you prevent it in the future? What did you learn? Do you need to revise the direction you're taking?

How to start? Write a comprehensive list of nutrition and exercise changes that you want to make. (i.e. take out hydrogenated oil, stop eating fast food, start juicing, eat more vegetables, run 2 miles a day, etc.) Make this your "Big List of Things to Do" and start using that in your 12 week goal session! A great resource for exercise challenge is http://hundredpushups.com/week1.html Also, I offer a nutrition education program called 1-2-1 Personal Nutrition Training at www.MyCoachLaura.com.

When it comes to health, if it is truly important to you, make your own rules of how to get to the goal of great habits. Take on only waht you are confident doing. I have a very healthy lifestyle. However, I am still learning and making changes. I imagine I always will. So will you. At 18, time is on your side and every little bit that you do is cummulative and will simply add to your health!

1. Prev:Recipe substitution
2. Next:weight.