65 lbs

Question
QUESTION: im 14 years old and i am 5 foot 3. i weigh 175 lbs.my goal weight is 110, but i want to know how long it will take me.is it opk if i lose 5 lbs per month. and to achive this how many calories should i intake, and how much should i burn per day.i really want to get to  my goal weight by the end of the school year, when my school goes to the water park. tnx im rlly willing to try anything that will help including weight loss pills

ANSWER: Dear Angie,

I certainly hope you don't end up resorting to weight loss pills--mostly because they could be dangerous, but a close second is the fact they do not work!  Think about it... if diet pills worked why would there be anyone out there now who is overweight??

110 is actually a pretty low weight for your height. I would suggest you start with a goal of 135 pounds and see how you feel when you get there--you could always lose more later.

So let's look at a weight loss of 40 pounds in 4 months.... That's 10 pounds each month, or 2.5 pounds each week.  Difficult, but do-able.

Try looking into some of the websites that let you log your daily intake of food and daily calories burned through exercise, such as Livestrong.com, The Daily Plate.com, MyFoodDiary.com  and Spark People.com.  Just scroll through these and see which you like best--they all do virtually the same job.

You enter your height, weight, and goal. They tell you the daily calories to aim for. You log in what you eat and track your calories; you also log in your exercise and they tell you your calories burned!

If you are willing to try "anything" I would suggest taking a look at the food guide pyramid (http://www.mypyramid.gov) and following these guidelines for a healthy diet: no fast foods, no fried foods, no pizza, no soda and no candy until water park day! Lots of fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy products (1% milk,yogurt, string cheese and other low fat cheeses), and whole grain breads (do NOT skip out on breads and cereals!)
Then add an hour of exercise each day. It could be walking, dancing, skating, ball-playing, or whatever floats your boat! Start out slowly and work your way up--you don't have to be huffing and puffing for an hour--just move :)

Since your parents will have to be providing different foods around the house in order for you to change YOUR diet, please have them get in touch with me if they have any questions.

and good luck to you! I would love to hear how it's going!!

Laurie

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: tnx, i have a another question about a calorie deficiency, and how mamny calories should i eat a day and how many do i need to burn. tnx so much

Answer
Dear Angie,
Any of the sites I referred you to (including the food guide pyramid) calculate your calorie needs based on your height, weight, age, gender, and weight goal.
As you follow along each day, recording your intake, the programs will guide you through how many more calories you can burn by being active.
There are several different formulas used to calculate calorie needs, so your answers may vary by a few hundred calories. Don't worry--it's not an exact science.
Just eat less and MOVE more and the weight will come off :)

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