Q: according to the calculator you link to in one of your articles, i am supposed to be on a 1500 calorie diet a day. i dislike eating animal meat, but on occasion will eat chicken or turkey. so, how am i supposed to get 1500 calories if i don't eat meat so frequently? are we non-meat eaters doomed? and if i did have a meal plan in place, are you telling me that if i stick to a 1500 calorie diet and do the no equipment weight training in addition to 15 minutes of HIIT and 15 of walking at a fast pace on the treadmill 6 days a week, that i WILL shed pounds? how soon before i see results? however, i think my body has been on starvation mode for years. though, my weight has remained the same in these years (150 lbs.) i am constantly hungry yet i swear i have nothing 'worth' eating in my house! like today, i only had frozen strawberries and a glass of skim milk. no lunch. 10 glasses of water. rice, chicken, lentils, and green beans for dinner. that's all i had for the entire day. am i on the wrong path already? again, am i doomed? i might as well save up the $$ and get lipo or something. the problem i seem to be having is finding foods that are nutritious and having the time to eat them. it's times like this that i feel like giving up and crying. please help.

A: Don't stress! Yes, it definitely sounds like your body is in starvation mode now so we'll need to fix up your diet and rev your metabolism back up. No, you do not need to save $$ for lipo.

What what you're describing you're eating less than 1000 calories per day, which of course is too little. Your dinner was good except you'd probably want to lose the rice and add a little bit of olive oil instead for a perfect healthy balanced meal. Your goal will be to find time to eat five nutritious meals like that every day for 1500 calorie total. That means no more wimpy breakfasts or skipped lunches.

This will be your dietary goal. Because you don't eat meat or chicken much, you will need replace them with other sources of protein such as more lentils or other beans or cottage cheese or whey protein powder or more green veggies in general (lots of spinach + a little feta cheese is a very good and tasty combination, for example). Between all those choices, you'll need to find some good source of protein for every meal. You'll eat LOTS of veggies, preferably raw if possible. Pretty much anything goes there except starchy veggies like potatoes or corn. Also stay away or at least minimize other carb-heavy foods like bread, pasta, rice, etc. Veggies are your best friend!

Because your metabolism is so run down and your body is so starved, add to your diet slowly. Take a full month to go from what you're eating now to this 5-meal/1500-calorie diet. Remember that 1500 calories is not much at all (think 3 slices of pizza!) and split over 5 meals, all your individual meals will be pretty darn small. So again, be careful with portion sizes. That should take care of your diet.

For your exercise, what you described should be perfectly good, at least to start. As you become stronger and more fit, those bodyweight exercises will cease to be as effective and at that point you may want to either join a gym or get some dumbbells for home which would allow you to continue to work your muscles at high intensity with this program. Remember that when weight training (with or without equipment) your goal will be to push yourself with such effort that you can only perform any one exercise 12 times before needing a break. In my no-equipment or dumbbell-only programs I write to perform each exercise 10-20 times, but ideally you want to pick such weights that the lower end of that range poops you out! And you will get stronger every week, so in a month or two doing 10 or even 20 lunges will seem pretty easy. That's when you'll know to get those dumbbells to increase intensity. You can do HIIT and regular cardio as you described, in addition to weights.

How long till you see results? It'll take a few weeks because your metabolism is in deep slumber now. In fact it may even be possible that you'll gain a pound or two as you start eating more. Don't panic if and when that happens! If you are careful about your portion sizes (especially with calorie-dense foods like olive oil, cheese, oats) and continue to do weights and HIIT at proper intensity, the weight gain will reverse fast enough. You will probably stay roughly at constant weight throughout the first month (except those 1-2 possible new pounds) and after that you should start losing weight at 1-2 pounds per week.

Remember that all of proper diet, intense weight training, and HIIT are important parts of your overall program -- don't neglect any of them and push yourself in training with every workout. Post back here with any other questions and good luck!