How much do I actually EAT on a DIET????

Question

First I was told to eat 6 times a day ,3 small meals and 3 smalls snacks. Then I was told not to have so many snacks in one day. So here's my question, HOW MUCH DO I ACTUALLY EAT TO LOSE WEIGHT, YOU'RE CONFUSING ME!!!
If this helps any I am 17 years old and 25 pounds overweight.

Answer 1

3 meals and 3 snacks is wrong- you should be having 5-6 small meals a day instead of 3 big ones - that way your body gets energy it needs at the moment and doesnt have any extra left to store in fat reserves.
snacks are supposed to be things like - peanut butter on a whole wheat bread or fruit salad with cottage cheese or yogurt or granola bar or trail mix or apple slices with peanut butter etc. not candy, chocolate, chips, ice cream etc.
find daily calorie intake calculator on the net, enter all your stats and it will tell you how many calories you need a day to maintain, take off 300-400cal off that number and thats how much you need to lose.
5-8 servings of fruit and veggies a day
8 glasses of water
have complex carbs for breakfast - they give you energy
have protein (lean meat, legumes etc) for dinner - repairs muscle
cardio is the only fat burning exercise and burns fat all over your body (running, jogging, swimming, spinning, elliptical etc) 4-6 times a week for 30-50min (ideally 45min because the first 20-30min body burns carbs and only then starts burning fat), weight training a few days a week but never work on the same muscle group two days in a row (more muscle=faster metabolism)
dont consume foods that are made of white flour (white bread, cakes, pasta etc.), sugar loaded foods (cookies, icecream, candy etc) and nothing fried, oily.
ofcourse you can spoil yourself once in a while with a little treat:)

Answer 2

The simple answer to any weight loss program is to consume less calories than you burn off. It is basically that simple.

The complexity and controversy of the many forms of "diets," is in what works most quickly, what is easiest, and, hopefully, most important, what is healthy.

These details are NOT the same for every individual. What a young, growing body needs is not the same as what a middle age person needs. An older woman's nutritional needs are very different from those of an adolescent male.

If your confusion is due to the variety of advice you get from Yahoo Answers, you shouldn't be surprised. Most of the thousands of people that pop in to answer diet questions are NOT professionals. Most of us get our information from TV shows, magazines and from the myriad other non-professional people with whom we come in contact. What works for some, may not work for others. That person that gives you a flat "1200 calories" as the point at which your body will go into "starvation mode" is offering dangerous advice to some people. Too many factors are involved, such as the highth, age and overall condition of the person. 1200 calories for some is an extreme, but still healty enough intake for weight loss. For others, such as much larger, morbidly obese people, this "starvation mode" begins much higher.

There is no way that we, or, even a trained dietician can know your entire medical history from a paragraph or two that you post. And, without a complete knowledge of your health history, analysis of your lifestyle, your food preferences and eating habits, you will NEVER be able to know how much you ACTUALLY eat to lose weight.

Except for what I mentioned in my first paragraph. That is where any weight loss "diet" must begin.

Answer 3

Here's a great rule of thumb recommended by the American Diabetics Asssociaton. It's great for diabetics, loosing weight, or going low-carb. Take your average 12 inch dinner plate and divide it into fourths. Fill 1/4 with carbs. Fill 1/4 with meat or meat substitutes like tofu or beans. Fill the remaining 1/2 with non-starchy veg like leafy greens, green beans, and most salad veggies. On the side, have one serving of fruit and one serving of low-fat dairy. For breakfast, you can skip the meat and non-starchy veg if you want. You can even skip the non-starchy veg for lunch. You can have snacks during the day if you want. I save my fruit from my all my meals and eat them as snacks mid-morning and mid-afternoon. In general, you don't want to eat anything within an hour or two of going to bed because your body will usually hang onto those calories instead of burning them. As a teeneager, you should not go on any type of low-calorie diet because you're still growing. If you cut too many calories or don't get enough vitamins and minerals, you'll set yourself up for diabetes, osteoporosis, and other diseases later in life.

Answer 4

Think of your body like a machine. Your machine does a certain amount of work in a day. It burns a certain amount of fuel in that same day. If you put in more fuel than you burn, then you have a gain.

You have two options. One, you can increase the amount of work you do in a day to match the amount of fuel you put in your machine. Two, you can decrease the amount of fuel you put in your machine to match the amount of work you do in a day.

As long as you are eating a healthy and balanced diet, the amount should be balanced well by using your appetite as a basic judge. Don't eat when you are nervous. Don't let yourself starve. Light and healthy snacks are good for you.

My story: I am trying to gain weight in a healthy way. I started exercise through strength training/weight lifting. My appetite has nearly doubled. I am slowly gaining weight because most of the food goes to energy for work. The rest goes to build muscle weight.

You would probably go with a combination of aerobics and light weights. You might even find yourself eating more as you lose weight. As long as it's healthy don't worry about it. Exercise and diet work together. Good luck. You might want to find a friend to workout with. Buddies always help you to keep going when you don't really feel like it.

Answer 5

the calorific value of the food should be less than what u burn every day.that is if you burn 2000. calories a day u should take 1800/=calories till your weight is reduced by 25 lbs.this diet should be supported by regular exercises.change to 5 meals,
snacks 2, meals 3,should not contain more of sugar, or salt,0r potato or oil.consume early morning and before going to bed
2 glasses of warm water.

Answer 6

Eat what you like as often as you like up to 1200 calories a day. Any less will shoot your body straight into starvation mode and you'll never get anywhere. Hit the running track or gym or whatever you like and sweat for 30 to 40 minutes a day. You'll drop about 2-3 healthy pounds a week without starving yourself. that's all there is to it. If eating every 10 seconds works for you then go for it. I eat 4 meals (300 calories each) a day cause I have to work for a living and don't have time to eat every few minutes. So whatever works for you so you don't feel deprived or hungry up to 1200 a day and you'll be good to go. Good luck!

Answer 7

buy a copy of Kevin Treudeaus new book on ...hold on .let me go get the book, I'll be right back. The Weight Loss Cure by Kevin Trudeau. This book leads you through how to reset your hypothalamus gland. This will cause your body to reset its natural weight. All the exercise and dieting in the world may or may not work for you. The food industry, unless you grow your own puts things in the food to make you fat on purpose, then the same people in charge of that industry turn around and sell you diet pills and all sorts of other sh*t. Check out his book. about $25 at Barnes and Noble

Answer 8

Oh my God, why do you even worry about 25 over weight? I love girls with little extra meat on them. So don't worry and eat healthy that's all. Don't go and have junk food so much. Eat about 5 times a day but in small increments. Your body will store more fat if you go on a diet. And diet is not healthy. So just stay active and eat healthy and don't go straving yourself. I hope that helps.

P.S. Skinny girls are gross!

Answer 9

well i think that you should have 3 meals and 3 SMALL snacks and exercise regulary

Answer 10

Keep it right around 1000 calories / day and you will drop about 2lbs/week.

Makes no difference whatsoever who those calories are spaced out throughout the day, as long as you stay around 1k cals.

Spacing out the cals will keep you more full.

Good luck!