do i have to workout?

Every 3500 calories you burn, or don't eat is 1 lb. of fat. So figure out what you need in calories to maintain.
Here is a website to calculate - http://www.caloriecontrol.org/calcalcs.html
Ex. 2000 calories to maintain weight
1200 calories eaten
200 calories burned through exercise
so you are in a 1000 calories deficit for the day. Three and 1/2 days equals 1 cal burned!

1000 calorie defecite for a non-obese person is a little scarey. Lets look at this logically. 1st I'll put out a few things to keep in mind.

-The human body doesn't like to gain or loose weight in large amounts, it likes status quo. Which is why working out isn't a "pleasureable" experience in and of itself.

-1200 calories is a meaningless figure unless you can tell us what your BMR is. You can get that from the tools section. If 1200 is your Base Metebolic Rate, then MAYBE that is where you could be at for loosing weight. But almost all nutritionists agree that your BMR is where your low end of calories should be AFTER all exercise calories. I mean the very low end as in, they don't recommend that low, but it isn't really dangerous as long as you don't stay there every day.

-2 lbs a week weight loss has many notes that go along with it. It is a highly aggressive strategy and difficult to maintain first, second, the body doesn't like doing that on a regular basis, especially a body that isn't already in peak condition, it means you must be working out pretty hard (600 plus calories a day atleast) or you are eating well under what you normally would. In either case you are putting tremendous stress on your metabolism, and must keep a very close eye on when and what you eat.

Now, that all being said. I would like to offer some opinions if I may. My biggest one is, don't treat weight loss like some kind of sprint. The reason why most people don't keep off the weight they loose isn't because they don't know how to, usually they do, it's because they have drastically changed their lifestyle either through massive changes in routine, or big eating changes, or both. This is ok if you do it slowly and allow your body to adjust and adapt to it, but if you try to change everything drastically and suddenly loose 20 or 30 lbs in say 6 months (note that this is MUCH less then your plan) your body will change, yes, but unless you keep these changes for the rest of your life, your body will bounce back to where it was, and FAST too. The body has tissue memory, it will return to where it was comfortable, if your drastic changes are fast, the body percieves this as "painful" and will want to leave that state, thus, change slowly, over months, and keep it there for the long term. Make it a lifestyle change as opposed to a diet.

I can't stress enough about this being a site dedicated (for the most part), about becomming more healthy in general. Personally I don't like seeing people propose massive dieting strategies, because while it works in the short term, its a generally accepted fact in the health care community that long term lifestyle changes are the only way to loose weight and KEEP it off without dangerous surgury or drugs.

I hope this helped, I'm not trying to be cruel or knock down your strategies, I just want to make sure people are informed. I really hope everything works out for you. I love this site and everyone on it, and I just want sucess for us all!
Best of luck

-Steve

Yes, yes--I agree with banks1850...and I'd also like to add my short answer:

Yes, you have to exercise. No exceptions! Everyone can do something. I see you're very young and if you start now, you'll set yourself up for a long, healthy life.

The health benefits of exercise extend well beyond weight loss. I know that's what we focus on here on MFP but keep the big picture in mind as well: If you don't exercise at all, you're setting yourself up for a very uncomfortable, ailment-ridden, limited old age (and less of it!). Why do that when you can help your mobility, strength, flexibility, cardiovascular system, mental health, and so many other things with just 30 minutes a day of exercise (really - many studies have shown that you do NOT have to be an athlete or a body builder (but you GO, songbyrdsweet! :flowerforyou: ) - you just have to do a modest amount every day - like take the stairs at work, park in far-away parking spaces, etc.--it's definitely a lifestyle issue.

And that was not a "short" answer, was it? Oops. :blushing: