[Edwina D]

Hey everyone

I started my junior year of high school about two weeks ago. This year - after years of wanting to lose weight - I'm finally going after my goal. But, I'm having trouble doing with school being part of my routine.

The thing is, I know many people, in high school and in college alike, have lost weight during the school year, but for me, it has been a major obstacle in terms of reaching my goal.

My stats are as follows: 4'11, 200 pounds, BMI 40.4

As you can tell, I'm not in great shape. Any tips on what I should start out with, in terms of dieting and fitting in excercise? I know compared to other obstacles high school is not much of one, but is for me.

Help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks everyone

[Mermom]

Do you have a friend or a buddy you can pair up with? I know how social high school is and what pressures you are under. Maybe you can make your own "Healthy Chicks Clique".

[swiminky]

Start with the food. Are you able to do your own shopping for groceries? When I was in high school, once I could drive, my mom gave me cash each week to get my own groceries.

What I'm doing right now could work for you: eat the same things each day, Monday through Friday and plan a new menu each week. Here's an example:

Breakfast - Mission carb balance tortilla with ricotta and blackberry preserves
Snack - celery and hummus
Lunch - peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat bread
Dinner - chicken breast and baby spinach salad (throw in chopped vegetables, use flaxseed oil and balsamic vinegar as dressing)
Dessert - 1% fat milk, banana, whey powder blended with ice

Nothing complicated, nothing time-intensive. What should take time is the planning for the week. That's it. Once you have created a meal plan for the week (count your calories, protein, fat, carbs, and whatever else you need to track), you'll have an easy shopping list, easy food prep, and you won't have to think about meal planning except for once a week.

Don't drink calories. Switch to just water. Get a Camelbak spill-proof water bottle. That Crystal Light stuff is horrible for you. If you need to, sprinkle a tiny bit into your water for flavor until you can get used to just straight water.

On weekends just count calories, nothing else. Have a little more freedom. If you want to eat half a pint of Ben and Jerry's, go for it, just remember include it in your calorie count. You are already making sure you are getting good nutrition 5 days a week.

[Edwina D]

Mermon-All of my friends are pretty slender and don't have weight issues. I do have a few friends that I talk to about weight b/c they've been overweight as well.

swiminky -I'm getting my permit soon, and six months thereafter I'll be free to drive myself around.

The meal planning sounds like a great way to start. I've often heard that limiting your food choices is a key concept in weight loss.

Thanks for the help you two.

Anyone else?

[charolastra00]

Stick to your guns. I tried to diet in high school, and now am in college, and the hardest thing are friends saying "one time won't hurt" or forgetting that you're on a diet. I also have celiac disease (can't eat gluten- which is practically everything) and a dairy allergy which makes eating on campus a huge challenge. My friends mean well when they ask me to go grab a bagel at the local deli or get Chinese food, but I can't eat it on so many levels that it's hard.

Maybe come up with a menu each week? Also, try to get your family involved. I know my parents would never stop buying several desserts in a grocery run (which was several times a week), white bread, or stop frying food so it was a huge burden because they made me buy my own healthy food- which is impossible to do without a job in high school. All my babysitting money went to food rather than towards college books like it should have. Some parents are better about this than others, but the more that you can involve your whole house, the easier it is.

[afb0407]

well...in a normal day your spouse to take 10,000 steps.....so....instead of going to the bathroom right down the hall....double time it and go to the next one.....take extra steps!!!!! drink alot of water!!! maybe do one diet drink a day!!!! (if ya have too) NO SWEET TEA!!! (lol that was my weakness when i was in high school) and eat LOW carbs.....grilled/baked chicken.....veggies like green beans/corn/asparagus......also im a BIG fan of potatoe's...and have found that if you buy red potatos there not as bad as the regular ones....i bake red potato fries alll the time!! and there GREAT!!! leave off the butter.....and the mayo.....use a LIGHT dressing....or even better a vinegarette!! and try to exercise....maybe walk 15 min in the morning....and 15 min at night...and then do your tummy crunches at night!!! you'll lose weight....good luck!! i know...trust me i know!!! how hard it is to be the chunky butt in highschool!!! Good luck to yoU!!!!

[Justwant2Bhealthy]

HEY EDWINA ~ there's an even easier way to eat healthy to lose weight than counting calories; USE PORTIONS; by using a dinner plate or bowl to serve your food in.

DINNER ~ 1/2 plate VEGGIES; your choice
1/4 plate LEAN MEAT like chicken, steak, fish, turkey
1/4 plate WHOLE CARB like potoatoes, brown rice, beans, pasta

LUNCH ~ one sandwich of your choice + one fruit + 1 or 2 % milk (have soup on weekends, or a cup-a-soup; so ez)

BREAKFAST ~ small bowl of whole grain cereal with milk + one fruit OR vary with toast and cheese or peanut butter on weekends

DESSERTS & SNACKS ~ any fruit, handful of nuts, 1 oz cheddar cheese; once a week have some low-fat popcorn (say on weekend night); once a week allow yourself one light dessert with your family.

For exercise, start off walking the halls at school; walk to school if possible; walk after school in a park; work your way up to speed walking and carry some music to make it fun. In the evening, try some toning stuff like stomach crunchies (as mentioned), hand weights, jumping jacks, or steps to bouncy music. Can you join any intermurel sports in the lunch hours that you like? For instance, basketball or soccer really burns the energy fast! So does hiking!

I am also short and was your weight in my late teens; if you eat healthy like this ALWAYS, you will lose the weight; and will not gain it back (I wish that someone had told me that back then). The key thing is to get the junk foods out of your menu; they are so high in calories that they pack the pounds on. When I choose foods now, I ask myself this question ~ IS THIS HEALTHY FOR ME, OR NOT?

That is not to say that you can never have your favorite foods again; the issue is how often and how much! One slice of pizza with a salad is OK for a treat once a month when you are trying to maintain your loss. Right now, you are trying to lose some weight; so cut that stuff out for now and have a pizza omelette instead. Use your imagination and you'll come up with some great substitutions ...

I don't know exactly how old you are, but if you are in junior high, likely early teens; you must eat balanced to make sure you stay healthy (as in still growing). Take a daily vitamin to make sure you are getting all your nutritional needs met; and talk to a doctor to make sure you have no health issues before starting to lose weight. I hope some of these ideas are helpful to you ... ROSEBUD

[sunflowergirl68]

Just make sure that you let your parents know that you want to lose weight and get their support. The one way to gain support is to just be positive. Be happy. One of my biggest pet peeves that I find with people who want to lose weight but complain that they can't, is they just don't eat healthy enough or don't seem to want to eat healthy enough. One girl I lived with would roll her chicken in flour and fry it in a frying pan (instead of baking it) and would sit around and complain that she was overweight. And then she'd snack on sugary cereal, etc.

Another girl I know is just so overweight and I worried about her a lot and I lost a few pounds and tried to get her encouraged and all she said was that her mom never buys healthy food and if she does her brother just eats it. So I suggested that she start buying her own groceries, no, her brother would just eat it and I suggested she buy her own mini fridge and she even said that her brother would go into her ROOM and steal her food while she was away! I just knew that was a load of BS and that she was just making excuses and only wanted to complain. Well the funny thing is that both of her parents AND her brother all lost a ton of weight. She just keeps making excuses. And she's gained probably another 15-20lbs since then.

I doubt your mom or dad would be against buying you healthier food because your health is way more important than money or buying extra groceries. So you can offer to pitch in and help out cooking dinner too.

The best advice I can give is to just be positive, especially with your peers and parents and when you ask for advice be careful not to sound like you're complaining. I quit trying to help my friends because they were just so negative.

You sound very positive so just keep up the good attitude! I know you can do it, it's just hard to get over that first hurdle, and believe me, I know what it's like to be overweight and in high school. I went to a private school in Orange County, CA, so you can imagine the kind of girls I went to school with and it was very hard.

You're on the right track coming here, you just have to buckle down and do it. The people here have awesome advice. And if you ever need to vent, this is the perfect place to and then you move on and carry on with your diet.

Good luck!

(one more thing about positive thinking..... if you keep positive, even if you have a relapse and gain some weight back, you're more likely to stay on track if you don't get negative about it. If you get negative and start beating yourself up you might relapse even more)