Hey Everyone!
I'm new to joining communities about dieting, but I've tried dieting in the past, and I've always been missing that element of encouragement, so I'm hoping being a part of a community where everyone is looking to loose pounds and gain confidence, I'll be able to stay on goal. Anyway, I'm sixteen, I've been struggling with my weight for about 9 years now, I remember looking in the mirror when I was about 7 and thinking, "My stomach is bigger than my friends" I've been struggling with eating disorders, awful body image issues, and a lack of any self-esteem or self-confidence. In the past I've done the South Beach Diet, I didn't follow it correctly, if you're familiar with it, I stayed in the Phase 1 level for 5 months, eventually eating only 1 small Cesar salad a day, I ended up in the hospital, and I've gained back all the weight. I wish I could tell you my weight so I could get a starting point, but I'm too scared to even step on a scale. I'm hoping to not diet, but to eat differently, looking at food differently. In the long run, I'd love to gain self-confidence, and not worry about how I looked, because I'm afraid that all my issues have lead to missing out on a lot of fun things I could be doing. I would say I would like to be this or this weight, but honestly, I don't know what weight I want to be, I just want to be HAPPY, that's my main goal. I'd like to look forward to shopping, look forward to summer and the beach and not worry about how I look and just have fun. I wouldn't say I'm overweight, I'm about 5'6 and my guess is I weigh around 155-157 pounds, at my lowest before I was in the hospital I was around 130, unfortunately, I looked in the mirror and all I saw was what I used to look like, even though my clothes were falling off me. I realize that loosing weight alone will not lead to self-confidence, because been there done that, if anything it ruined me even more, knowing that I could stick with something, loose weight, and then gain it all back. I'm currently taking body image group classes, as well as going to a psychologist for body image issues/eating disorders. I want to try and stick with a modified version of SBD, as far as eating veggies, lean meats (Personally, I only eat chicken and maybe lean ground beef once in a blue moon). Well, if you've read all this, thank you.
Anyway!
I'm Ellie, I'm 16, I'm from Florida, and I'm hoping to loose weight healthfully, and maintain a lifestyle that I can manage to maintain for the rest of my life.

Hi, Ellie. I like your avatar!

Because of your age and past problems why don't you sit down with your doctor and see where you are now and where you need to be to be healthy.

Take care of yourself sweetie

First off, thanks I love, love, love Grey's Anatomy.
Yes, I've talked to my doctor, and they've told me that the principles of South Beach Diet, good carbs, good fat, lots of veggies, is something that everyone should adopt. They also informed me not to do Phase 1 for any amount of time.
I asked if I could do a modified South Beach while counting some calories to keep track, and keep a food log, (Fitday), while tracking my moods, and they were perfectly fine, and encouraged that, with exercise, which I plan on doing. I found this link on the forum with a template for how to run 3k a day, by slowly increasing your time/distance over a 2 month time period, so I'm really excited for that!

hi ellie! welcome! sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders, good luck!