Q: I'm 15, weigh 230lbs, and I live in the middle of the country. There are no gyms around and I certainly don't have enough money to buy all the training equipment. School has a lot of tempting foods too, but none of them healthy (what else is new?). How can I lose weight sufficiently (I know about 1-2 lbs a week) when I don't have the resources available, and I don't have as many food choices?

A: As far as equipment, take a look at this program. I wrote it up for higher rep training, but if you can get several different weights of dumbbells and bring reps in each set to below 12 to failure, it becomes as good a program as anything you can do in the gym. Having a pullup bar is a big bonus, but you could just do more bent-over rows for the back muscles. Here're the dumbbell types you'd need for this program:

• Heavy DBs for squats, deadlifts, lower-rep bent-over rows, lower-rep overhead extension.
• Medium DBs for lunges, shoulder press, higher-rep bent-over rows, higher-rep overhead extension, lower-rep bicep curls.
• Light DBs for side raises, kickbacks, and higher-rep bicep curls.

So you can see you only need 3 pairs of dumbbells to go to failure on all the different exercises of that program in 12 reps or less. I can't tell you the exact weights to get because everybody's strength is different. But a good ballpark is 15-20 pounders for light, 30-40 pounders for medium, and 60-70 pounders for heavy. You can also buy adjustable dumbbells (small short bars + weight plates) to get even more flexibility.

Best place to get weights is at garage sales! But even if you buy new all these dumbbells should cost you well under $100 and maybe even under $50. If you get a weight bench, you'd also be able to do more chest exercises, including bench press and flies. A good weight bench will run around $100, though you'll find cheap ones for $50. Just make sure they feel sturdy.

As far as eating healthy, I would recommend that you talk to your parents about it and get them to help you with buying more fresh veggies, fruits, meats and fish. I am sure that no matter where you live you can eat healthy. Things like lettuce, broccoli, dry beans and lentils, and plain oatmeal are available everywhere and could be a great core of your carb intake along with some fruit here and there. Lean beef, skinless boneless chicken breasts, canned tuna, eggs can make up the core of protein intake and is similarly widely available. The olive oil and dry-roasted nuts (or even natural peanut butter!) will take care of healthy fats. Check out http://www.mikesfitness.com/content/junk-food-served-at-school for some other ideas how to eat healthy as a student. Get your parents on board with your plan and I'm sure they'll help you get the healthy foods you need. Good luck!