lose 200lbs in less then a year ?

well done for taking this on!
You don't need a scale to start off with. Get a ball of string, wrap it around your middle, get a sharpie and draw on it where they meet. Cut the string, and keep it safe. Then once a month wrap it around you again and mark the difference. As long as you are getting smaller and fitter who cares about the numbers, right?
And take that dog out...

Hi I just wanted to say my son started last year at 402. He had been gaining weight since a kid and no matter what, when I was in charge of what he ate he still put on weight despite keeping him low calorie and following all the advice from doctors etc. I then read about the low carb and Keto stuff and Metabolic Syndrome (The Diet Delusion Gary Taubes) I thought this made some sense and especially as I knew just restricting calories didn't seem to work for him. Still he was an adult now and I was no longer in charge and anytime he tried he failed again because he hated not having bread and pasta and rice. Last year however he became type 2 diabetic and he decided to try again. Together we found some great recipes for low carb bread and also managed to find very low to zero carb rice and pasta which meant he felt he could follow a low carb diet and still eat 'normal' food. This, with starting to take some exercise, a little at first and increasing very gradually, has made a total difference to his ability to loose weight and he is now 290. He now trains regularly and feels so very much better. He knows that when he eats carbs he puts on weight and that staying low carb (he now does Keto) he looses weight. He tried recently to follow a more normal calorie diet and it just doesn't work for him, as soon as those carbs go in the weight goes on. So although some people may say not to: I say give low carb or Keto a try. Some people's bodies just can't deal with carbs!! Look at the Diet Doctor web site. It's great and free and you can sign up for the two week challenge and give it a try. They don't charge you at any point to do this and there is lots of information and it's easy to use the site. Good luck.

Wow good for you that you are tackling this problem early in life. I waited until I was 59 years old to finalloy lose weight. Great advice here. Be patient and remember that 200 pounds is a great goal but your losses will slow down as time goes by so celebrate every 10 or 20 lbs. You will feel so much better even with 50 pounds off that you won't want to stop. Find a plan you can live with for life rather than expecting to be quickly thin (believe me I tried all the quick weight loss gimicks, they don't work). You want to be able to live with the changes. Take your time and eat at a reasonable deficit so you don't lose too much muscle and walking is a great idea! That's what I did and I'm down 100 lbs.

Being male and young are all great advantages to help you lose quicker and have less loose skin after. No matter what, being thinner is way better than being overweight and you are gonna feel so much more confident and healthy. Keep coming back here for support, this is an amazing group of people and many of them have done what you aspire to do.

Also wanted to mention the Garmin Vivofit2 is the tracker I use and it was less expensive than FitBit. Just a thought since you said you were saving. Good luck my friend and keep posting so we can see your progress.

bjcrewe i have sent you a friends request, and message-19 months ago i was 456lbs, and am down to 307lbs (so150 lost), losing the weight isn't easy but is definately doable. But you have got to focus on it and really want to do it. i believe mindst is everything..... regard Jon

bjcrewe wrote: »

Had 500 calories for breakfast. Not easy to eat healthy when you cant afford to buy healthy foods but ill make due with what i can get.

the good news is that if you just eat less of whatever you were eating before - you will save money. it will cost you LESS than whatever you were doing before.

I had a $200 a month food budget for two people, so this post will be long, but full of everything I learned about shopping and cooking for more nutrient dense foods on a shoestring.

I'm in the US so I doubt this chain of stores exists up in Canada, but if you have a WinCo check out their bulk foods section. If WinCo doesn't exist there are sure to be other stores with bulk food sections, you just have to look for them. I have to drive thirty minutes to get to WinCo, but I save enough money that it's worth it.

I eat about 50 grams of oatmeal every other morning for breakfast. A box of the cheap oatmeal at my local HEB is 2.50 and weighs, oh maybe a pound. Lasts about a month if I eat oatmeal daily.

WinCo had a 25 pound bag of oatmeal for $15. I had to buy a five gallon bucket to put it in, but now I have oatmeal for a *year*. I put a smaller amount in an old HEB oatmeal box so I'm not fighting with a fine gallon bucket every day.

Oatmeal can be used to make vegetarian burgers. It's a good source of long lasting fuel for breakfast. And it's cheap, especially if you can find a deal like I did.

If you have a crockpot buy dry beans instead of canned. A pound of dry beans costs as much as one can and will make like four cans worth of beans.

Throw a pound of beans (or two if you have a six-eight quart pot) in the pot, fill the pot half-three quarters full of water, cook on high four-six hours. Don't even have to soak the beans. I do recommend looking though the beans for stones that might get mixed in with the dry beans. Also throw out any beans that look "funny". And rinsing is a good idea, but soaking isn't needed. Unless you're prone you gas from beans, then just soak them overnight in the fridge. Drain the water before cooking.

Portion the beans into freezer containers with a little juice and freeze for up to six months. Get a roll of freezer tape (regular tape won't work, the adhesive won't stick in the freezer) and label your container so you know what it is in six months! Thaw in the microwave.

Buy rice in bulk. If you have an Asian store near you they usually have really good rice (i like jasmine) at GOOD prices. 25 pound bags for like $18. That's a years worth of rice.

Rice is easy to cook in the microwave. Throw two cups of rice in a two quart glass bowl. Cover the rice with water, oh about half an inch or so. You'll learn how much water to use, and err on the side of too much at first. You can always drain it in a colander. Microwave it for ten minutes. The water should be absorbed by now, but it needs more. Add about a cup, cup and a half. I'm not real exact on this. Again, better to have too much. Microwave for five more minutes. Done. If there's excess water (there probably won't be) drain in a colander. This makes a lot of rice. Rice keeps well in the fridge, just add a bit of water for steam (a few tablespoons, not much), and microwave for a few minutes.

Rice and beans go well together and are a "complete protien". That means they combibe to have all the amino acids your body needs to be healthy.

If that's too much rice for you find a friend and go in with them on it, save you both some money.

Frozen veggies are usually just as good as fresh and usually cheaper. Avoid canned veggies, the canning process cooks the veggies and the flavor isn't as good. They also add a lot of salt to most canned veggies. Some veggies dint freeze well, I don't like frozen summer squash. It gets soggy.

Buy big bags of veggies, they are usually cheaper per ounce than the smaller ones. Always look at the price per unit or per ounce to see what the better deal is and get the best deal you can 1. Afford 2. Store 3. Use before it goes bad.

Don't buy too much. If the price per unit days the biggest bottle of sour cream is the cheapest, but you only need sour cream for one meal that week and the rest will go bad, it's obviously not a better deal. That's a duh, but I wanted to say it anyway, because it's a lesson I learned the hard way by throwing out a LOT of food.

Likewise, if you don't eat leftovers (I hate leftovers) scale down your recipes to make only one serving. MFP recipe builder makes that easy enough and calculates the calories for you.

I think that's enough for now. Your poor head is probably spinning and going "does this girl ever shut up?"

I hope this helps a little.