So I live in a house with unhealthy eating habits.
I'm a 15 year old girl, I will be 16 in a little over a month. My starting weight was 251, and I got down to 198 (maybe 194 at one point, but I don't know if the scale that said that was accurate) I did this all in under a year, despite my family's unhealthy eating habits. I was happy for myself, and I could finally look at myself in the mirror for once. Anyway, around Thanksgiving and Christmas, everything started to change. My brother moved back in around September, causing me to only maintain my weight because I had to eat unhealthy food (we have to hide food from him because he eats everything) The cold winter stopped me from walking to the gym, along with school. I ate a lot due to the holidays. Eventually this all started to backfire. I saw that I was gaining weight, but I still ate a lot. I now weight 214 pounds. I am ready to lose this weight, but its going to be hard cause of my family's unhealthy eating habits. My mom is going to buy me a small amount of healthy food though soon.
My family is very unhealthy, my mom and one of my brothers are overweight (the brother who eats everything) He has moved out though. My dad is healthy and not really overweight though. My mom tends to buy A LOT of unhealthy food(that I love) Like ice cream, chips, cookies, cake, pie, pizza etc. Can I have some support and advice on how I can lose weight despite the unhealthy eating?
I can fit any "junk food" I want into my diet, I just can't eat as much as I want. Disclaimer: This approach does not work for everyone. Some people find it challenging to moderate their intake and avoid trigger foods all together.
Is your mom supportive? Can you ask her to buy fresh fruits and vegetable you - or go shopping with her to make sure you get your healthy food?
I don't think (sadly) your folks are going to change their eating habits for you, but if you can influence the food that's available to you, you've already won. Then you can just eat with them, but have half the burger (no fries) or half the pizza portion you would usually have, and supplement the rest with fresh vegetable.
As for sweets, nobody can force them cookies and icecream down your throat Trust me, I know it's difficult to not eat what others are having, but you can do it. I eat no sweets, no bread, no pasta whatsoever (and I still cook all them for my family), and I can sit next to my husband who is eating chocolate and not be tempted to have it too.
Try talking to your mom about taking you to the grocery store to buy healthy food for you. Don't try to make her change her habits, just try to get her support in changing your own. Once you're cooking your own healthy food, make some for her too - most moms appreciate when their children cook for them.
Maybe you could also convince her to keep the most tempting food under lock and key, or to not eat in front of you as often. Or perhaps you could keep some fresh fruits and veggies up in your room so you don't have to walk past the bad stuff every time you want a snack.
Whatever you do, find a way to make it easier for yourself to eat the healthy food rather than the bad stuff. Doesn't really matter how you do it, as long as it's done.
But, like others are saying, portion control is really key when you eat unhealthy food.
I have no idea how to help you, it wasn't until I moved out of the house that I was able to help myself.
What worked for me for awhile was taking over the cooking and sticking to a diet that others would be willing to follow. Which probably means a Sonoma or Mediterranean diet but starting with phase 2 or even 3. This will make weight loss much slower for you but at least it is a start.
Eventually I stopped being able to cook because of extracurricular activities and such and my mom just worked too much to really devote time to healthy eating.
ShelbyJo, is it possible that you could start back exercising? I don't know where you live, but on days where it's not too cold outside is this an option? I agree with Missy Krissy about fitting junk food into your diet with portion control. Doing simple things like only eating the top (or bottom) portion of the bun when u have a hamburger and skipping the cheese, or peeling the skin of your fried chicken. You can also bake your chicken and French fries when you know mom will be frying. I'm not sure what kind on unhealthy foods you guys eat but I know those are some of my favorites .
I know how hard it is to be surrounded by food that we shouldn't eat when on a diet.
Is it possible that you can take one shelf in the cabinet and/or one shelf in the fridge to keep all of your "diet" food on?
Even though it's just me and my husband at our house, I keep all of my diet foods separate. I only do it so I know that all of the foods are all approved on my diet and already loaded into myfitnesspal and easy to account for. Now, my husband can eat anything he wants from "my" food (it's really our food) but I don't eat anything that isn't on "my" shelf. I hope that makes sense.
If you could keep low fat/low calorie foods separate from the rest of the family's, then you won't (hopefully!) reach for the bag of chips but you can take the baked lays on your shelf. (Or whatever snack you buy.) Or if you keep some frozen Healthy Choice meals in the freezer for when you are in a hurry, you won't be tempted to make a frozen pizza instead.
Mentally seeing what I can have on my diet rather than searching for something every time I get hungry has helped me so much. I hope it might help you too.
The cold winter stopped me from walking to the gym, along with school.
If you can't make it to the gym, invest in some DVDs or watch at home on youtube. There is a whole channel on youtube (BeFit) and hulu with full DVDs like 30 Day Shred, WATP, etc
Is it at all possible for you to get a part-time job and maybe make a bit of money to buy some of your own healthy food? I know that there are many reasons that this might not be possible when you are so young and still at school but I thought I would suggest it just in case. If you are not able to get a job, could you maybe do chores for your parents for extra pocket money and use that money to buy your own food? I think if you can have your own food you can make healthier choices and you will have the supplies there to make your own meals when your family are having something unhealthy. If neither of those things are possible, it might just be enough to show your family that you are serious and to get them to provide some support for you. I know the things I have said all depend on a lot of factors, so they are just suggestions in case they might work for you!
I also agree that DVDs would be helpful for when you can't leave the house. You can also use things from home to work out when you can't get out and about - tins of food as weights, for example!
It's a good thing that you are recognising where you might struggle and working to find solutions. Don't give up!
I have no additional advice but I wanted to say good for you in recognizing the need to get healthy at such a young age and I wish you all the success in the world with your journey and hope that your family will do what needs to be done to help you be healthy.
So I live in a house with unhealthy eating habits.
Trust me, I know it's difficult to not eat what others are having, but you can do it. I eat no sweets, no bread, no pasta whatsoever (and I still cook all them for my family), and I can sit next to my husband who is eating chocolate and not be tempted to have it too.
.
