[Aisley]

Hello everyone.

I am only 25 years old. I am six foot one, and I weigh the most I have ever weighed before in my entire life. I have scoliosis so it's really hard for me to do a lot of things. I know that added to my weight is what is hurting my body though. I want to eventually have surgery for my spine, but first I need to do this.

I thought I weighed around 230lbs. I decided to get the wii fit game and low and behold I weighed in at a very scary 321lbs. That's only 9lbs away from the 330lb limit on the wii board. Since then, I've dropped 7lbs. I am at 314lbs today. I have a lot of issues though. First of all, my husband and nephew will not let me keep soda out of the house. No matter how much I beg them to because I know I will want it. Secondly, we buy the same things over and over. We don't know how to eat healthy and on a budget. That is really discouraging to me. I figure we can't afford it so I just continue feeding us boxed meals and such... and I just have no idea what to do.

Someone point me in a direction pelase!

[xRiotGirl]

My sister has scoliosis and really can't do much either. And honestly, I don't have much advice there. She will join me on walks sometimes but I know that still that is even a struggle for her. However, she does enjoy it! Like I said, I don't have much advice on this because she isn't really a health nut of any kind. Exercise is a no go for her, and I don't know if that is just the way that she lives or if that has to do with the discomfort she has felt from it all of her life because of her scoliosis.

As for the pop, here is my experience. Once switching to water ONLY, I haven't wanted pop. Even when it's around. I just don't prefer it anymore. So, you could try that out and see if it works for you. Otherwise I would do either diet pop or flavored seltzer water. You can also work down from pop > diet pop > seltzer water and see if you can eventually get to water then from there. Don't forget about tea! It's another good one! And since it's hot, you can sip on it for a while instead of chugging it down.

As for boxed meals - much as I love food, I don't do fresh food very often, besides when I decide to make a salad or sub sandwich. I pretty much only eat boxed foods. It works for me because I'm counting calories, so as long as I stay under my goal, it doesn't really matter whether it came from a box or the produce aisle. NOW, that is only for weight loss. If you're looking to incorporate healthy eating rather that cutting calories, you probably want to look into meal planning. Get on Pinterest, there are hundreds, probably thousands, of easy healthy meals. You can do freezer meals so you don't lose the convenience of easy cooking/low prep, you can do crockpot meals, you can just do regular ol' prep and cook right now meals. It sounds like meal planning will work for you because you don't have to worry about what's the easiest to grab and make fast from your pantry, food is already planned out a week in advance.

Hopefully these suggestions can actually apply to you in someway and help. I remember starting in February, I wrote out a thread about how working retail and trying to lose weight is impossible. And back then I really felt like I was backed in a corner and wouldn't be able to do it. But I've lost 15 pounds since and I have a full fledged system at this point that is working for me, despite my initial fears. You just gotta try things until you find the system that works for YOU. It might not be immediate - it could take some trial and error - but you'll figure it out. The most important thing is to not give up on it when the first thing you try doesn't work.

Best of luck to you.

[lucindaarrowspark]

My daughter who is also your age, went cold turkey and did a two week juicing only weight loss kick start. I bought her an $89.00 Jack La Lane power juicer from Kohl's. She bought celery, cucumbers red/yellow peppers, apples, pears , strawberries and beets. All fresh, nothing frozen/canned. She lived off of this combination of food for two weeks. She lost 20 pounds the first two weeks, Then she added back in plain chicken breasts, tuna and a banana a day. Whenever she feeeld crazed with hunger she juices a carrot, an apple and some toamatoes too. She feeld great and she is still losing weight.

[yoyoma]

Sound like you are in a tough situation!

In terms of meals you might make, there is a whole forum devoted to eating healthy on a budget called shoestring meals:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/shoestring-meals-235/

Once in a while, someone will also post a board about it elsewhere, so you can try the search function if you want more ideas.

Regarding the pop, is there some flavor that you like less that the rest of your family is willing to drink? Can you keep it on a separate shelf for them, or ideally in a separate fridge? Can you buy some drink that you enjoy that is healthier? Some new kind of tea maybe? Flavored seltzer?

It sounds like you've already gotten started losing weight, which is fantastic. Hopefully the information and support available on this site will help you continue towards your goals. Good luck!

[firegirl441]

Welcome! Your weight loss has started off really well. What kind of eating plan are you wanting to start. Do you know? I am losing well on the Atkin's plan which is low carb. It is a pretty structured plan. You have to like meat to go on that plan. Others don't follow Atkins, but they cut out anything white which includes sugar, potatoes, pastas, flour etc. You can lose significant weight just by doing that. There are many good plans on here. Another plan is to just consciously cut back portions that you would normally eat and only eat healthy snacks. There are many recipes on this forum that you can learn to cook easily.

As far as exercise, I am permanently disabled due to a work related back injury. My neighbor has scoliosis also and she weight 370 lbs. We both go to the county pool and exercise. Per doctor's orders, I can't stand or walk more than 15 minutes at a time. You would be amazed at the exercises I can do in the water and the differences they make in my body. I walk 20 laps, jog in place for 30 minutes and do 100 crunchies (bring knees to chest) each time I go and I go at least three times per week. If you can't find a pool to go to, find some type of exercise you enjoy because I have found from my experience that if I don't enjoy the exercise, I won't keep at it.

My final piece of advice is to drink 100 ounces of water per day until you get below 200 lbs then drink 1/2 your body weight in water daily. I contribute my past weight loss success to exercise and water drinking.