I REALLY NEED TO LOOSE WEIGHT AND GAIN SPEED!!

Question
HELLO IM LONNIE

OK LISTEN IVE BEEN PLAYING FOOTBALL SINCE 7TH GRADE IM NOW IN THE 11TH BUT I USE TO PLAY STRONG SAFTEY BUT I GAIND ALL THE WEIGHT I USE TO WEIGH 180 BUT I WASNT FAT NOW IM LIKE 200 BUT ITS FAT I NEED TO SLIM DOWN  FOR NEXT SEASON BUT IM GOING TO A FOOTBALL CAMP IN JUNE I REALLY NEED HELP SO I CAN PLAY MY POSITION!! PLEASE HELP

Answer
Lonnie
Thanks for the question, it is a bit outside my field as you are asking a nutrition and fitness question.  However, there are a couple things I can help you with:

First you are in the 11th grade so naturally your body will grow in height, size and weight/mass. So understand that you will grow and your weight will increase.

Second, you state that you weigh 200 lbs. but it is fat.  Three things come into play, your genes, your diet and your exercise program. You can't change your genes but you can change your diet and your workouts.  An expert in weight loss out you doctor can help you best with this.  You need to find out what you are eating and how many calories and how much fat you are consuming.  Start writing down a log of everything you put into your mouth daily for a month.  Review it and see how much you are eating that is causing you to be fat.  Counting calories and being aware of them as you eat will do a couple things, it will cause you to think what your want or should be eating to loose weight, it will make you aware of the not so healthy things, it will slow your eating down and help you loose weight.    Cut out the fastfood and soft drinks!  Cut out friedfoods, sugars and cut back on the carbohydrates that you take in.  Watch your bread and dairy intake.  Start eating more vegetables and fruit.  SLOW DOWN ON YOUR EATING. DON'T INHALE YOUR FOOD OR EAT QUICKLY! It sounds funny but if you can draw out the time it takes you to eat a meal to 30-45 minutes you will feel fuller faster and not eat as much.   Drink lots of water daily.  Make water your drink of choice and drink it frequently.  Lastly portion control.  Eat smaller meals!!!!!!!!!!  Don't go back for seconds.  Eat breakfast everyday; eat lunch and dinner and have 2 small snacks a day (i.e. a piece of fruit and string cheese, etc.).   If you eat two sandwiches for lunch - DON'T!  Eat one sandwich for lunch and if your are going to eat a second sandwich eat it after school as a snack (sandwiches are a minimum of 500 calories and if you cut out the second sandwich a day you cut out 3,500 calories a week).

You are a football player, so you need to be working out in the off season.  you should be running at least 2 miles 3-5 times a week and you should be doing sprint work and cardio workouts come April, May, June, July and August.  You also need to be in the weight room 3-4 days a week.  Talk to your doctor about your eating and ask him/her for his/her input.

You said you are going to football camp in June. You need to get into shape now!  Start now.  Start running every day!  Follow up your 1-2 mile jog with 30-60 minutes of sprint work [10, 20, 40, 50 & 100 yard sprints]  also work on back pedaling, cutting and quick feet drills.  Do your sprint work every other day (3-4 times a week) on your off days do a 30-60 minute cardio workout on a bike, jump rope, precore machine, stair climber, etc.  Play basketball, etc.

Please report back to let me know your progress.

Best of luck,