I used to barely be able to jog slowly for a mile, so far this year I’ve done four half marathons (all around 8:30 miles) and 2 sprint triathlons, and actually won my age group in the last one (though it was a fairly small one, but I like to forget that part!)

1.Eat when you are hungry: because if you eat when you are full you are just stretching your stomach tissue and if you starve yourself that’s when you lose muscle and your body will expect you to keep starving yourself which slows down your metabolism.

2.Take your time: when you eat fast you want to eat more because you cant tell when you are full. If you eat slow you will realize you are full when you are full.

3.Take walks and drink water: walks are a pretty easy exercise but it is still exercise and drinking water cleanses your body and if you drink a cup of water before every meal you won`t eat as much.

4.No artificle stuff: soda is horrible when your on a diet this may sound weird but especially diet soda. Diet stuff is the exact opposite of what it sounds it may have less calories but all the chemicals in it make up for that.(Also an other reason people say you also lose muscle mass and strength.)

5.Abs: when you are relaxing like watching TV if you sit it a position like this your abs will burn fat _/. Also slow leg lifts help too.

6.Thyroid?:If you do not lose any weight in 5 weeks ask your doctor if you have thyroid.

Eat healthy – don’t cut the calories too much, but do eat a smaller amount. Eat fruits and veggies, lean meats, and whole grains (100% whole wheat bread instead of white, brown rice, etc.)

Drink water – cut out the soda/pop. Try to get 8 cups (measuring cups – 8 ounces) of water each day.

Couple a healthy diet with cardio workouts – 3-5 days a week, 20-30 minutes per session to start. You can walk, jog, bike, play basketball, do aerobics… whatever you enjoy doing that gets your heart rate up. You don’t have to work out so hard that you feel like you’re dying – work out to the point that you can talk fairly easily, but not jabber on and on.

Do strength exercises to build muscle (yep, I’m suggesting this). Building muscle helps you lose fat even faster by speeding up your metabolism. Sit ups, push ups, squats, lunges… all these will help. Do these only every other day – don’t strength train the same muscles two days in a row.

Hope this helps! I also recommend sparkteens.com, a free web site that helps you track your nutrition and fitness, plus gives lots of good information and encouragement.