Hi, I'm 17 years old and seriously overweight. I need some advice about trying to lose weight. I started going to the gym last September and stopped going in November because I wasn't noticing any change in my size (I wasn't really watching what I was eating either). I then started again in January this year and again stopped going in February. However, i now feel that I need to change my ways now rather than later as My weight is affecting my confidence (I'm worried about getting a job because of my appearance).
I'm starting the gym on the 20th of October and I'm getting a new bicycle on the 18th and plan on going every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and either Saturday or Sunday so I'm happy with my exercise plan. However, my real problem is my eating habits. My mum is a single parent and never cooks so my diet consists of no breakfast, a little something at college and then either a takeaway or microwave meal for dinner. I'm worried that my eating habits will once again scupper my exercise routine and prevent me from losing weight. Any advice for me? Any would be accepted as like I said, I feel now is the time to get serious about my weight.
Thanks in advance
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ConnorH
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Why don't you try joining a weight loss group like slimming world. You will gain lots of support from others who are trying to loose weight and also discuss easy recipes that you could try yourself. Lots of recipes for healthy - but tasty- food! The support keeps you going for the long journey!
I think that there have been a lot of good ideas and commiting to one or other will probably do the trick. I think that the weight loss group idea has a good amount of merit just to ensure that there is a group of people who are closeby who can support directly. Slimming World emphaisises that it is a way of life not a diet - and that seems to be true. The sessions are also very positive and encouraging. ConnorH's exercise plans also fit in well with the SW programme. Alongside this, there's this forum which is brilliant for encouragement. The NHS 12 week programme might also help is ConnorH does not yet want to join a group. Again, the exercise plans that have been set down would also work well with the NHS Couch to 5K programme.
I go to SW, read this forum, have just got an MP3 player and have a gym subscription. I will follow ConnorH's example to plan my gym visits as I am being more than a little lazy.
It takes a lot of courage to look into your future as decide to change it. So, I am with Buster1 in encouraging you to join a group and to keep on being determined.
It is great that you are taking positive steps and planning a strategy.
The exercise is fantastic for your health, but like you say,, it won't do much for your weight if your eating does not change.
Regardless of your mom, you will have to take responsibility for your own meals. Start eating breakfast - something healthy. There are many choices, e.g. yoghurt and fruit, or cereal, or a boiled egg with a slice of toast and either some tomato or fruit.
Pack a healthy salad for lunch (or buy one if you can afford it), plus a snack like 50 g of nuts, or a piece of fruit, or a yoghurt,
You can steam some veg in the microwave for dinner in 5 minutes, and grill a piece of chicken, fish or meat also in less than 10 min. Soup is good too, but takes a while to cook (you can cook a big batch).
Good luck, and just focus on your 3 healthy meals and 2 small snacks daily!
You need to eat breakfast , lunch and dinner plus healthy snacks in between meals of fruit mixed with plenty of exercise to loss weight. I lost weight 6 years a go was a big eater never eat breakfast but eat rubbish and junk all day with no exercise. Still a big eater and can't eat some portions have tried loads of times failed but very lucky that increasing exercise doing more works and I keep weight off its hard at times doing more exercise but I do it and just get on with it eating less is something I don't think I will ever get my head around love food too much but exercise more does work mixed with healthy eating no junk in my diet what so ever.
I know you have probably heard this before but you need to try and eat breakfast. This is one of the reasons you are eating takeaway for your tea. Even if it is a yogurt and a banana you must try and eat something.
I then have two bits of fruit two hours later then have my lunch which could be soup or a salad. I try and stay clear of bread. After lunch two hours later I have another two bits of fruit. Then after work i do a workout. Then I have my tea. chicken,vegetables or rice. I only eat a little potatoes. I have found the weight falling off and my body getting definition for the first time in years. If you can afford it also try and buy protein shake to take once a day.
Hope this helps. I found it has been the best for me to date.
You got to eat Breakfast your body needs food when you wake up you can't decide if you have it or not its what you body needs. People that have breakfast tend to be slimmer people. You can't skip breakfast even if all you have is one slice of toast. Its wrong to make out we don't need breakfast you do your body needs the food first thing in the morning. I used to hate breakfast when I was big now I make a point of always having it even if all I have is one slice of toast or bowl of cereal. I always have something. I find it helps me to not snack on crap If I want something mid morning I will have fruit or a dry cracker etc just to keep my energy up and body going until lunch.
You got to make time for Breakfast and your body come morning needs food so you got to eat even if its just a tiny amount hungry or not. Get up a bit earlier and make something even just a slice of toast or something.
Zennette offers some excellent advice, take responsibility for what you eat. Have a chat with your mam, is she supportive of your weightloss? Will she support you by buying fresh food? Is it that your mam can't cook or that she has no energy left when she gets home from work? If you offer to help prepare meals for the two of you (plus any siblings) can she she teach you to cook? Or if she can't teach you to cook teach yourself. Timings are a little tricky to get used to but you will get used to them And i'm sure your mam will appreciate not having to think about putting food on the table.
Soups are fantastic as you can make a big batch then freeze some, that way when you can't be bothered to cook you can just defrost some in the microwave and you've got tasty food ready. I'd recommend making small changes, start by cutting out the ready meals but still have some take aways, have a look online and you can find healthier options. I still have a chinese once a week and i'm loosing weight. If you don't want to make every meal about just meat and veg you can incorporate them into other meals, such as a pasta bake. Pasta is carbs so I wouldn't recommend too much but you can add meat and veg to a pasta bake with a nice tomato sauce and a little cheese on top. It's also really easy to make and can be easily microwaved the next day so you can make a tray full.
I would add that you also need to watch what you are drinking. If you drink lots of fizzy cans you will be taking in a lot of sugar. Go for water. Fizzy drinks have lots of chemicals and additives, the sugar free ones can also give weight gain problems as the body expects some calories when you taste them but the calories aren't there's so you get hungry.
So, summary, drink tea (any sort, no sugar. Lots of antioxidants in green or black tea) coffee (no sugar, small amount of milk - not a late or a cappuccino!) coffee helps suppress the appetite so it may help you if you feel hungry - but not after 1pm or it may stop you sleeping, water - if you don't already drink water you will get used to it! It is calorie free and additive free!
I agree that a slimming club will help though, it will help you learn about food and diet and maybe you can teach your mum what you learn!
Well done for taking action and taking responsibility for your health. Read as much as you can on the internet about healthy eating - there is a lot on the internet that is rubbish though so keep reading and try to filter out the myths. Here is a starter for 10 (and always having breakfast is one of them! If you don't feel hungry then don't eat! - but don't snack. 3 meals a day at most to give your system a break from insulin)
You said it! Insane! Wean yourself off sugary fizzy drinks and onto drinks that are good for you - don't go for fruit juice either. People think it's healthy because it's fruit but it's very high in sugar and has no fibre so spikes your blood sugar. Get used to water. Cut down slowly because you will probably get withdrawal symptoms!
Don't rely on your mum for cooking! And you need some breakfast. A boiled egg and a slice of wholemeal toast is the simplest, easiest and quickest breakfast you can have. Simple cooking is easy and it's something that everyone needs to learn at an early age. Do you know someone who could help you learn? If you want a book, Delia Smith produced a simple cookery book some years ago and it remains worthwhile. Or watch Jamie Oliver or Nigel Slater doing quick meals. You will never be fit and healthy if you rely on takeaways.
it's not about exercise it's about food! Porridge for brekky. Fish/chicken/quorn plus veg for main meals. Muller yog/some fruit in between. Get your calorie needs by calculating your BMR and eat under that amount. No harder than that! Start today!
Exercise is a big part in losing weight and keeping it off sadly I know what I am talking about I lost a lot of weight 6 years ago and have maintained the weight ever since. Its not just about what you eat exercise does play a bit part but you don't always need a gym to loss weight. I never been to one in my life and I am only size 8
That's really good and I envy you. I was a competitive sportswoman for 30 years, but am now a wheelchair user, managing to lose weight by calorie counting alone. Never had to watch what I ate as I was always running and jumping. Sadly now, calorie intake is the key.
Sorry to hear this maintain weight or losing weight is not always easy for everyone I have to exercise more to keep my weight off its hard at time doing more exercise than normal person but it works. Never had to cal count before so don't know what its like. I wish you all the best for the future.
1: juice clense: for three to five days you should eat nothing but freshly made fruit and veg juice. You dont have a juicer at home then eat them whole but DO NOT cook them. this will clense your system, clear your skin and reset a part of your brain that deals with cravings that fast food actually alters. this will make everything else easier. dont drink anything but the juice or water. hetbal tea with no sugar is ok.
2: give up alcohol and cafeen. these pack on calories. replays with herbal tea like chai or green tea.
3: pakea diet. this means eating meat, fish, nut, eggs, fruit, veg. basicly if a cave man could eat it, to can you. this means no sugar, no wheet, no dairy, no pressesed food, no potatos, avoid oil- olive oil is ak if not in quantity.
4: replase sugar with honey. honey and sugar are both sweet and yummy, only difference is honey is healthy, completely naturel and goes with more things, doesnt kill your teeth, doesnt go off, doesnt get that gross stale smell. its better all round.
5: drink LOTSof water, 8-10 glasses a day.
6: have a big breakfast, small lunch, tiny dinner. dont have time for breakfst, wake up earlier. have eggs, muslei, fruit, juice or tea abd water.
7: laugh, dance and be merry. stress helps put on weight so avoid it, pluss, if you are happy then you are motivated.
8: meditate. just half an hour every day will help a lot.
9: Finally, dont do it alone. get your mother or a close friend to do it with you. you can motivate and help each othet and that will make it eadier.
Omg. Honey - still sugar so still causes blood sugar to rise so causes insulin to rise and this makes your body lay down fat! fruit juices - sugar again!
There is no evidence that drinking veg and fruit juices 'cleanse' or that it is a good idea for weight loss. It might work for you but 3 days on fruit/veg juices would have me running for the comfort food (actually 1 day!) and I'd be back at square 1 diet fail again!
Not all sugar is bad for you. Naturel sugars in fruit are good. Also there is no sugar in honey. Bees make honey out of pollen and spit basically. Used in old times medicinally.
forgot, dony weigh yourself. muscle weighs more than fat and doing exersise will give you muscle. look in the mirror, youll know if your losing weight. back streight, smile on, do a twirl and be confident.
I know, I made the mistake of not counting a gain in muscle mass as part of my weight. When I was going to the gym frequently in september-November I definitely noticed some tone and definition developing in my arms. Thanks for the advice
Hi ConnorH. I am going to deliver a workshop next Tuesday about weight management . I think you may be interested. I will make sure to provide useful, info advice and a personal plan to achieve goals working on your diet and daily habits. I am inviting people who want to know better and effective ways to have a happier and healthier lifestyle throughout introducing successful and natural lifestyle changes in our daily routine and diet.
For this reason, I'd created a workshop called Detox and Weight Management that will be held next Tuesday 14 October from 10 to 11 in the morning. As a professional in the health area, I will talk about weight loss, and provide information about health's implications of obesity / overweight and also show an effective and sustainable ways to have the right weight without exposing our health to yo-yo diets which are not long-term functional and may affect our health.
If you are interested in participating and wanting to bring someone else, feel free to do so but please RSVP 7angels4you@flp.com or call 07413824183 Angel.
The activity will be on 30 Richmond Road, CR7 7QB, my house a quiet and comfortable environment. I would like to make you feel very welcome, for that reason it is necessary to confirm attendance.
I am a nurse. I worked for several years in cardiovascular services such as Cath lab and cardiac surgery. I am also doing a diploma in management in health and social care here in the UK and setting up a health club which involves networking. I am organizing activities like Zumba, health' workshops and Qigong according to the needs of the groups I am in touch. If you want to have more info inbox me 7angels4you@flp.com
Hi Penel. I am not advertising. I am developing workshops and activities for people who are interested on improving their health and well-being. It is just throug hadquiring knowledge that we can make changes in our lifestyle and stick to it.
What I find a help is the weight management program from the nhs on line, there's all the tools you need ,being young you would probably find it interesting being its on the internet.the key is changes,small changes,there may be lots of them you need to make,but just 1 or 2 a week, will help,take a look and see what difference it could make to your life style that will help ,good luck
Lassenri, I'm sorry to point this out, but I do believe in good information, and you are spreading an incredible amount of disinformation... it would be good for everybody but especially for you if you could do some research before posting unrealistic facts.
Yes, honey is better than refined white sugar, but it is still mainly sugar...
It is true that honey is natural, and that it contains many more nutrients than REFINED sugar, the chemical composition of Honey includes
82% of carbohydrates - and here I quote:
The carbohydrates present are the monosaccharides fructose (38.2%) and glucose (31%); and disaccharides (~9%) sucrose, maltose, isomaltose, maltulose, turanose and kojibiose. There are also some oligosaccharides present (4.2%), including erlose, theanderose and panose, formed from incomplete breakdown of the higher saccharides present in nectar and honeydew.
My advice to you is to start at the place where you actually are at.
You are currently eating and drinking what you are eating and drinking. By that I mean the types of food, the amounts of food and the frequency of food. (You probably ought to have a good slow long look at that and been ruthlessly honest about what, how much and how often you are feeding yourself).
And that has left your body storing fat and becoming overweight.
So, you need to take control of your eating habits. There's plenty of good and free advice on the NHS live well lose weight web pages. You'll also find lots of good and free advice there about diets and nutrition, but especially you'll find a 12 week plan which many people here have found useful, whether they have followed it religiously or adapted it in parts to fit in with their lifestyles.
Some points I would like to make though.
1. Don't exercise to lose weight - exercise to improve your fitness, i.e. strength, stamina and/or flexibility. The connection with weight loss is that upping your exercise/activity levels helps to re-set some of the hormone levels that change as you become overweight. That they change as part of you body adapting to you eating too much / too much of the wrong stuff, is one of the reasons why overweight people have a real tendency to become more overweight, because the body has adapted to increasingly storing fat rather than burning it. Remember, that exercise/activity does not have to be 'sporty' or gym-based. It could be all sorts of activities including housework, car-washing, gardening, etc., etc.
2. Getting yourself into an appropriate, healthy and helpful eating regime will massively help your weight loss efforts. Personally, I mainly did a meal - snack - meal - snack - meal - regime. That is, three moderate, healthy, nutritious meals with small sensible snacks to skate the hunger off of be in between meals. You'll need to find one that fits in with your life, but try not to go without any food for more than about four hours - have a small low-calorie snack of some sort.
3. It's not just about calories. Nor is it just about fats or carbohydrates. Especially when you are eating less quantity of food (as in being on a weight reduction programme), it's important to take in the FULL range of nutrients so that your body functions optimally. So you need your vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, anti-oxidants, phytochemicals, etc., etc. Generally, that really comes down to eating good quality food (but not in huge quantities).
4. It's just so about changing your eating habits. Yes, it will feel strange and challenging at first, but in time as you get more used to it all, you will find those new eating habits will become your usual eating habits and having good, healthy, sensible eating habits will be the basis of you controlling your body weight for the rest of you life.
Finally, be assured you CAN take control of your eating. You say you are seriously overweight, though you don't say by how much. I presume that is based on your BMI - if not the NHS site has a BMI calculator. Well, I lost over four stones by doing nothing other than taking control of my eating habits - OMG did I have some bad eating habits! - and upping my exercise/ activity levels.
I now eating much more sensibly, many times more healthily / nutritiously and no longer have to cart that extra four stones around with me 24/7. Compared to how it was a couple of years ago, as well as having reduced my risk of a wad of health issues, I am now much fitter and it's like moving around in someone else's much lighter, much easier to move about in, body.
Hi, i noticed this post is old but wanted to see how you are getting on?
Im 20 and need to loose alot of weight, and I have the same issue as you with that I struggle to eat breakfast, when I wake up early I always feel sick! I've started to use a meal replacement instead and I drink that once I get to work, an hour or two after i've woken up. Only just started this whole diet thing so havn't weight myself again!
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When your weight controls your entire outlook
Advice needed - low carb and ketogentic diets
