Well . I am in need of weight loss [freshman year] [loose weight]
Reply:Everybody else is already giving you some great advice. Like someone mentioned, you might be able to turn to your campus dining program. I don't know what your campus is like, but I know mine offers an All Foods Fit menu specifically for those who are health conscious. The foods are low-fat, low-sodium entrees that are usually quite good (for school food anyways
) My only biff is that the foods are almost always carbs (pastas, rice, etc) and they don't really serve meat in them. I usually combat this by keeping some lean sliced meats in my fridge, and putting kidney beans instead of dressing on my salad. If you have a meal plan, then your school just might offer something similar. Just watch your portions, since they tend to heap things on in the serving lines. As for your food from your mom, you could ration out your portions of it. As long as you watch your servings you should be fine. Or, if you feel like you might be tempted, you could share the food among your friends or donate the non-perishables to a shelter or the food bank (that way it doesn't go to waste).
I don't know if you have a rec center/gym at your campus, but if you do you might consider going there. You probably already have free membership as a student if there is one, and if you're worried about being embarassed you can try to go during non-peak times. I know for my rec center they tend to be between 7-10 am or so. I can work out for an hour and see only 1 or 2 people. Just find a place where you can work out comfortably or you won't want to do it.
Good luck ^_^
PS Mac and cheese is my fav food. You can probably find some healthier recipes for making it online if you just search for it on one of the search engines. They have healthy recipes for just about everything now.
Reply:So your mom brought you all those high-fat/high-calorie foods, but you seem to already know that they aren't what you want to be putting into your body at this point. If they are too much of a temptation, can you let your friends/floormates have them? Yes, it's a waste of money, but you could think about it in terms of your health being much more important than a grocery receipt.
Alternatively, you can exercise your self-restraint and just keep them in your fridge for portion-control eating, and let your mom know what healthy foods you're going to be eating from now on!
To lose weight, you will need to make sure you don't consume more calories than you burn off in a day. This is very important! Based on your height, age, and weight (I used 285 lbs), I estimated that your body needs 2640 calories to function (your basal metabolic rate, or BMR). Factoring in your activity level, I'm guessing you'd need 3400 calories to maintain your current weight. I would cut this amount by 500 calories and aim for 2900 calories a day (for a weight loss goal of about 1 pound per week). This is a rough estimate. You may have adjust it — eg. decrease caloric intake for the same total energy expenditure.
As for diet, you might have to go grocery shopping again 
Or do you have a meal plan? Scope out the healthy food choices available on campus. Regardless of whether you makeover your fridge or eat on campus, I would:
- Choose: lean fish/meats, fruits and vegetables, whole grain products (eg. high fiber cereals, breads), low-fat dairy products
- Avoid: processed white flour (eg. white sugar, white bread), too much saturated fats, processed prepackaged foods which often contain trans fat — the words "partially hydrogenated" will be on the nutrition label (eg. cookies, donuts, cakes, chips), sugar-filled and alcoholic drinks
Again, keeping track of your total calories is very important! If you find the temptation to overeat, or the desire for other not-as-healthy foods, try to keep a food journal — having a record of the foods that you eat in day makes it easier to see where your diet needs special attention, you can keep track of your food intake, see patterns in your eating habits, or how to spread out your caloric intake without feeling hungry, etc. You can also make a food plan (what foods you're going to eat a what times) and try to stick with it throughout the day.
You will also need to start an exercise program to use up the calories you are putting into your body. Aerobic exercise is the best for burning lots of calories. Resistance exercise will also help you burn calories, as well as build muscle (and preserve muscle mass during weight loss), which in turn will help you burn calories.
If you've never exercised before, I would initially focus more on the duration of the exercise rather than the intensity of it. When you fitness level improves, you will want to be exercising at a workload that raises your heart rate for some period of time. The other posters suggested some good ideas for aerobic exercise. You can also buy dumbbells or exercise tubings/bands for resistance exercise, or even do calisthenics. Start slowly and listen to your body to see what you can tolerate and always stop immediately if you experience any type of chest pain/shortness of breath. You may want to get clearance for exercise from your doctor first, if you feel it's necessary.
As a final note, you don't actually NEED to exercise to lose weight if you just cut back on your calories and watch the composition of your diet, as many weight studies have shown. However, it is usually the people who combine both exercise and a reduced calorie diet that have the best success at losing weight AND keeping the weight off in the long term. Good luck and it's great you're making the effort to be healthier!
Reply:First off,
You MUST lose the denial.
Buy a scale and weigh yourself daily….log that number; every week should average lower than the week before (it's quite easy)
and you can contimue to eat your favorite foods:
1.) Pizza (1 sice)
2.) Maccaroni and Cheese (1/2 cup)
3.) Hot dogs: 2
4.) Meat sandwhiches with american cheese (1 a day…less than 1/2 inch thick)
5.) Fish sticks (4)
etc.
See what I mean. Portion control will let you eat whatever you want….just not as much.
It's going to be Springtime in a couple weeks (we PRAY!) Get out and walk in a different direction fairly briskly for an hour EVERY DAY….buy an umbrella for April Showers.
By next year at this time with just a measly one pound lost a week, you'll be 52 pounds lighter!
Reply:well first of all, if you have the receipt for the food your mom bought you… you can always try to go and return it. you don't HAVE to eat it just because she bought it for you and it was expensive. that is just an excuse you are using to convince yourself that it's okay to eat that stuff…
if you're embarrassed to work out in public, then you will have a hard time getting in shape. yea, changing your diet to be well rounded and healthy is great, but if you don't work out, you will never truly be "in shape". you should exercize, not only for your physical appearance, but for your health in general. at your weight, you could benefit from just going walking. i know a lot of people that are not used to working out start at a walking pace and then gradually build up to more miles and faster times. any exercize is better than NONE, always remember that. so what if you're not running 10 miles, someday maybe you will! 
another thing you can do is try and make sure that you aren't lazy… meaning, don't take the elevator, don't park at the closest spot to the mall, don't take the bus around campus, etc. There are so many little things you can do that will add up.
and in regards to your diet, that HAS to change. those foods you listed are only okay to eat as a special reward every couple of weeks, they should not be your "staple" foods.
i won't lie, you have a long/hard road ahead of you, but you can do it!! good luck and let us know how things go!!
Reply:My advice is to dump that diet and pick up some books on nutrition.
I would start walking for 30mins to an hour a day.
