Hello, and any ideas?

[zbstarwars]

Hey guys -

First of all, I am glad to be here, and thanks beforehand for reading this. Just beware: I am probably going to complain and give excuses, so please don't write me off yet.

To start off, I am almost 15, and taking 2 AP classes as a sophomore, in addition to church and XC. With that said, you might be able to tell that I don't have a lot of time for exercise. My mom is an amazing cook, so I eat a lot and have a higher body fat ratio than I would like. My parents made me join cross country, which I stink at, and so I have maybe 3-4 hours every night, most of which is taken up byhomewor.k I want to get better at exercising, but all my plans in the past have failed. I found this site, and I am hoping that somebody can bestow some words of wisdom to help me. I feel terrible being last in all the sports I like, such as tennis and basketball. Any ideas?

[Razor]

Effort. Everything you do takes effort. If you want an awesome body, if you want to be good at sports, if you want to change yourself, you need a whole lot of effort or a whole lot of money (and the latter won't get you very far in the long run).

First, ask your mom to cook healthier stuff. Offer to help her or go with her to pick out groceries (or write a list). Next, check out the assassin's guild. They have a TON of body-weight exercises you can do at home, in your own room or in the yard or hallways or what have you.

If you truly want something, you'll do it no matter what excuses you can come up with. Especially if you're very busy, you don't have to put forth all your time into it or even do it every day. But a certain level of dedication is required.

Good luck! I hope you find the support and knowledge here that you need

[tricky]

Welcome aboard, ZB. We're glad to have you. Unfortunately, I have to echo Razor's answer to your query: effort is the key. But nobody said that effort had to be super time-consuming. If you take a look at the resources on the site, especially the Rebel Fitness Guide, you'll find some pretty efficient workouts that won't take you too long once you've mastered them.

[cammocat@gmail.com]

Hey there, champ! Another "effort" person here.

Try not to worry about your body fat right though - you are still growing. See if you can convince your Mum to cook a little healthier, and work out when you can. I think "Better at exercising" sounds like a good aim.

Also, maybe talk to your folks about cross-country - spending time doing a sport you hate is a guaranteed way to bum you out.

[rtalencar]

What have you done in the past? What parts did you like/dislike about those attempts? It's very difficult to give any kind of meaningful advice without knowing a bit more.

Off the bat 'dieting' at a young age can do more harm than good. Your body's still growing and you don't want to stunt that. While to an extreme it can of course be an issue, in general focusing more on eating healthy foods in reasonable portions and staying active is better than eating at too high of a deficit.