Need help losing weight.

[turkishbabe101]

Hi im 17 years old and currently 5ft1 1/2 inches tall and 160 pounds. Thats very unhealthy for my height and age. Allthough i dont look 160 pounds i am and it disgusts me. Ive been losing and gaining weight on/off for years. Ive allways been a chubby kid. Its not my genetics because neither of my parents or grandparents are overweight. I blame my mom because when i was a baby she really did everything in her power for me to get fat. She even told me. So of course over the years the baby fat stays on and it just escalated from there on. About 3 years ago i weighed 150 pounds i got really sick of being overweight so for over one month and a half i was on a very strict diet and worked out at a gym for about a month and the pounds flew off i went down to 127 pounds! It felt great losing all that weight and my confidence went up. But of course over time i gained it all back from poor dieting and lack of exercise. now im once incredibly unhappy. I cant stick to a diet for more then a few days its torture. To be honest im a big boredom eater so when im bored i eat. I hate it so much because i know i have the potential to be much better then what i am. Its just not easy as the first time i did it. Please help do you have any advice or tips on how i could lose atleast 40 pounds it would be great =]

[Barb135]

I guess it doesn't really matter whose fault it is that you got fat, at 17, it's your responsibility to try to get it off.  

First off - if you eat because you are bored, then you need to find things that you enjoy doing so you won't be bored so much!!  Instead of grabbing something to eat - go for a walk the next time you are bored.  

I'm not a big one for "going on a diet" - your diet is whatever you eat, whether it's good for you or not.  You need to learn to make healthy choices when you eat - instead of eating a candy bar - grab some carrot or celery sticks, cucumber slices, etc - you get all kinds of nourishment for very few calories.  Stick with whole grain breads, pastas, brown rice instead of white, etc.  

Make sure you eat protein with every meal/snack as that will fill you up and stick with you longer.  Get at least 3 servings of low fat/fat free dairy every day.  This can be milk, yogurt, cheese, etc.  Also make sure you get 5-7 servings of fruit and veggies every day - fresh or frozen are preferable to canned, but if you are going to used canned, make sure you get the "no sugar added" fruit and low sodium veggies.  

You need to start out slowly and make changes in your habits that you can maintain for a lifetime.  For instance, to begin with - switch from sodas to water; from white bread to whole grain.  

It would be a good idea to start using the food diary here on Med Help - it seems to help keep us more accountable when we know we have to write down every bite that goes into our mouth.  I'd sure rather write down "2 bottles water" instead of "2 - 12 oz sodas".......

You can also start using the exercise tracker here on Med Help to keep up with the exercise you do.  Again, when it's down in black and white, it seems to really bring it home that we might not be doing enough........

Walking is always a good exercise - try for 30 minutes/day and increase as you can.  There are a lot of other exercises you can do without joining a gym.  Do a search for "free exercise videos" and you will come up with all kinds of things.  

The best thing to do is to try to make a plan and stick with it as much as possible, but be realistic and expect to slip up once in a while - forgive yourself and move on.  Remember - if you're bored - go for a walk or find something else to do that you enjoy besides eating.  I find that it's best to eat ONLY when I'm hungry, but to not let myself get to the point that I'm totally famished or I feel like I could eat a house..............lol

Good luck and stay with us -

[Lucey12]

First off. Its not your moms fault. The hard truth is its yours. You need to recognize this. Babies need to have fat on them to live, its healthy. You are not carrying around baby fat at 17. Its just fat. Im the same height and weight as you but Im 20. Im losing weight but have had many stand stills. The only way to lose weight is to work through the stand stills. Do exercise because you enjoy it, not to see results. Find something you like to do, find some healthy things you like to eat and get to it. When you are board and just want to eat, make sure its healthy. Or chew some sugar free gum instead.