Q: Dear Mike, I am 19 years old and I weigh around 85 kg my height is 173 meters. Also my waist size is 43” I am very depressed about my over weight I can’t even do push-ups. Please guide me what should I do to build up my body through a vegetarian diet. Waiting for your reply.

A: Sorry to hear about your troubles. Good news is that you are not badly overweight and are still at the age when your body can relatively easily shed unwanted fat and build new muscle.

Your vegetarian diet can be a very good thing, but the fact that you have 43 inch waist now tells me that it's probably not healthy. All plant-based food starts out as very healthy, but when the primary method of cooking is frying it turns from healthy to very unhealthy and fattening. Eating raw, grilling, steaming, boiling are all great ways to cook food, but if you eat a lot of fried stuff you are setting yourself up for lots and lots of unwanted fat. You didn't describe your diet at all, but I'd be willing to bet that's what happened with you -- your diet must have a lot of fried foods in it. This is the single biggest change you need to make.

Read http://www.mikesfitness.com/content/nutrition -- it does not focus on vegetarian foods specifically, but it mentions all sorts of healthy foods most of which are vegetarian. It also gives you sample diet plans. You should take this plan: http://www.mikesfitness.com/content/fat-loss-diet-1900-calories and modify it to replace all the animal-based foods with vegetarian equivalents. Soy protein, tofu, beans, and lentils are all nearly as good as meat or fish for protein. Refer to my vegetarian fat-burning recipes on the top menu (under "Recipes") for some meal ideas. You goal is to put together a daily diet plan for yourself that has about 1900 calories split over 5 meals with at least 120 grams of protein total (more would be better) and no fried foods.

The other half of the equation is exercise. You should definitely take up some form of cardio. This may be something as simple as walking and as you get into better shape you can upgrade it to jogging and running. Do cardio for up to 2 hours total a week, split into multiple sessions. More importantly that cardio is weight training: http://www.mikesfitness.com/content/weight-training -- this is the big "secret" to losing fat and building muscle. Read the article I linked a few times to really understand it and pick any of the beginner programs linked in it to start with. It will seem very difficult at first. Don't get discouraged and stick with it and it will keep getting easier and easier. After a few weeks you will start seeing results and by then it will probably start becoming fun. The first few weeks are very difficult and that's when most people drop out. You need to stick through them.

The key to all weight training exercises is to pick out the right resistance levels so each exercise is hard but doable. If you can't do a single pushup on the floor, then you need to find an elevated surface to do pushups off. For example if you do pushups against a table (with your feet on the floor) you will find them much much easier. So for each exercise you will need to find a level of resistance that lets you do that exercise between 6 and 15 times (called repetitions or reps) or so in row (called a set) before needing a 1-2 minute break.

If you want my advice and to stay on track I recommend you start a blog on my site: http://www.mikesfitness.com/content/start-your-fitness-blog . I try to check blogs daily and answer any questions right away. If not, then feel free to come back here and post questions like you did now. Good luck!