Girlfriend, the last year of high school can be really hard! No wonder you are feeling overwhelmed!
If there is one thing that I could suggest to help, it would be, set regular meal times and snack times. By that I mean, eat breakfast in the morning, even if it is only a Kashi bar or other food bar and a glass of lowfat milk. Eat a snack mid-morning. Eat lunch at lunchtime. And so on! That way the food part of your life doesn't get all messed up like the rest of your schedule. Yes, it may be hard to do this at first, but make it a priority.
You'll find that you are more relaxed about food if you know WHEN you are going to eat and WHAT you are going to eat. It doesn't have to be a rigid plan--you can have choices--but for example, busy people sometimes rely on health bars, vegetables like carrots and celery, fruits like apples, Lean Cuisines... The best food? The best way to eat? Probably not... but we have to deal with reality!
You are eating poor quality food and to MUCH stress. That is just not good Try to make better choices. Losing weight, even though is really hard is not rocket science. You need to create a calorie deficit. Try to count calories eatimg wholesome foods for one week and maybe you will feel better.
One more thing concerning the calories in vs out philosophy:
Don't forget about the thermic effect of protein, fat and carbs. If you eat fat, your body can convert it to energy so efficiently you can get about 96% of the calories of that fatty food. If you have carbs, it's in the 80's -percentage wise.
With protein, it is so much harder to convert to energy, your body wastes about 30% of it converting it to energy..So not only is fat way more nutritionally dense, but you still get a calorie savings of up to 30% when you eat lean protein vs fatty food
It is so easy to go over on your calories too if you aren't measuring and weighing. For most overweight people, the eyeball method is not reliable. Even if you used to weigh and measure, it's easy to "forget". If you continue to weigh and measure for now, you can be certain of your calories. Try it for a week. What you are currently doing is not working, it's time to switch things up a bit ! You might be one of those super carb sensitive people who REALLY has to watch their carbohydrates. You could try not eating starchy or sugars after your afternoon snack (ie only lean protein and veg for supper, and only a very small snack after supper).
Good luck to you!
I think its all been said. Stress can add to weight issues. And yes, eating the wrong foods can too, regardless of calorie counting sometimes. Some foods work better together, they break each other down to work in your system better. The wrong foods can make you tired, and so can stress, or eating too few calories. So the tired feeling may not even be remotely related to exercise. As well, our minds can sometimes tell us we're tired, just to give us an excuse not to exercise. I battle with it all the time. I have to determine if I'm really tired or if I'm just trying to talk myself out of exercise.
As for the calories, they are VERY easy to underestimate. Why not carry around a notepad and jot down everything you eat. Then you can enter it all into Fitday at the end of the day and see where you stand and make adjustments to your eating as needed in the future.
First of all, I want to point out that, if you are a HS senior, you or what, 17 years old? At age 17, your body is still growing, and maybe that has alot to do with the weight increase over the last two years. Maybe not everything, but it is a contributing factor. You are just judging your weight increase, but weight takes every part of your body into consideration. At 17, your body will be alot denser than at age 15. Your bones, your muscles, your organs, and and your skin tissues have all grown, not just your fat content. It is healthy to grow at your age...
Secondly, I was told long ago that if you deprive yourself of needed calories and nutrients, or starve yourself, that your body will begin to think there is a famine going on, and it will go into starvation mode. As a result, your body will react in a way that every bit of calories that goes in will be stored as fat, as a natural survival mechanism. If you look at it this way, it kinda makes sense. Humans have been dealing with this since the dawn of man...
IMHO, if you eat 1500 - 1600 calories of good and healthy foods in regular intervals every day, drink plenty of water and and exercise regularly, and be more consistant with your meals, timing, and portions, your metabolism will get out of stravation mode, and begin letting go of the fat... But this is up to you.
How badly do you really want to lose this weight? Enough to make a lasting change in your diet? Enough to eat healthy all the time instead of some of the time? Halfway doesn't cut it. Trust me, I know. Eating things like brownies, pizza, and ice cream are not going to make that happen. I know you say they are only examples you were using to prove a point, and maybe they were, but I am just saying that brownies and ice cream, though they may have some nutritional value, they are not the equalivant of a healthy balanced meal, and pizza, though some may consider it to be a tasty meal, it is loaded with carbs and fat and calories, so much that every slice is probably 300 calories or more. These sorts of foods, if eaten at all, should be a once in a while treat and eaten in moderation. You seem to be a very intelligent girl, and you should know that these kinds of foods are not helping you in your weight loss journey, but are only holding you back...
As for me, my weakness if Popeye's Fried Chicken. Sometimes I want it so bad I cannot stand it. It's like my fix... And every now and again, I will allow myself a piece. But it is so very bad for me, like 350 cals a piece. If it weren't for that, I would have no problems eating properly. Why did I tell you this? To show you that we all have our struggles, just as you have, but we all must fight to stay on track. Many of us work full time, and come home and work some more (tending kids, cooking supper, cleaning house, mowing grass, etc...), but most of us manage to fit in time to manage our meals and attempt to eat properly, even when our families don't support us. And, we sometimes manage to find time to exercise. It is not impossible and it can be done, you just have to want it bad enough to make it happen... This is a lesson I am trying to learn myself. You are not alone.
I'm not trying to be rude to you or make you feel worse, so please forgive me if it seems that way. I'm just being real and giving it to you straight...
Last edited by cajungal328; 04-25-2007 at 11:42 PM.
I'm just bringing this topic up to thank you all for your responses. I really needed some clear and straight-forward advice.
I'm going to print this whole thing up, and read it when I'm feeling hopless, as I did before because it really helped me open my eyes.
I'm working on sleeping enough hours right now and, like you all said, eat healthier. Excercise will happen when I get the time, but right now, I shouldn't stress too much about it. And it's true; do I really want a slice of cake more than I want to be fit?
Try to make better choices. Losing weight, even though is really hard is not rocket science. You need to create a calorie deficit. Try to count calories eatimg wholesome foods for one week and maybe you will feel better.
