15 year old need help

G

GuitarBeast

New member
Hey I am 15 years old and am about 5'9". I am between 200 and 210 pounds (last time I checked). I don't know my body fat percentage.

I dont normally eat breakfast because i dont want to gain weight, lunch i usually eat the school pizza because its free lunch and i cant afford to buy a lunch or bring a lunch to school and my grandmother always cooks a sort of big dinner. I try not to eat a lot of it but its hard after dinner i am constantly snacking on anything i can get my hands on chips, peanuts, candy its all unhealthy

I dont get much exercise though i will this summer i want to lose a lot of weight this summer and will be trying to stay as active as possible (jumping on a trampoline almost everyday) seeing as how we just got one

I just need help and advice i dont like how big i am getting and want to lose weight i feel really unhealthy ( i know i am) and i dont want to get diabetes

I try to diet but i get embarrassed around my family if i tell them i am dieting. But this summer i am going to and i dont care what they think i want to turn my life around and get skinny I am tired of all the fat jokes and i want to get skinny for my last few years of highschool my goal is to get down to 140-150 then lower if it is healthy

I don't have any medical problems (yet) or injuries.

So what i would like to know is what kind of exercise should i get daily what foods should i eat basically i dont know what i should do at all to lose weight and i need all the help i can get. Thanks in advance!!
 
GuitarBeast said:
Hey I am 15 years old and am about 5'9". I am between 200 and 210 pounds (last time I checked). I don't know my body fat percentage.

I dont normally eat breakfast because i dont want to gain weight, lunch i usually eat the school pizza because its free lunch and i cant afford to buy a lunch or bring a lunch to school and my grandmother always cooks a sort of big dinner. I try not to eat a lot of it but its hard after dinner i am constantly snacking on anything i can get my hands on chips, peanuts, candy its all unhealthy

I dont get much exercise though i will this summer i want to lose a lot of weight this summer and will be trying to stay as active as possible (jumping on a trampoline almost everyday) seeing as how we just got one

I just need help and advice i dont like how big i am getting and want to lose weight i feel really unhealthy ( i know i am) and i dont want to get diabetes

I try to diet but i get embarrassed around my family if i tell them i am dieting. But this summer i am going to and i dont care what they think i want to turn my life around and get skinny I am tired of all the fat jokes and i want to get skinny for my last few years of highschool my goal is to get down to 140-150 then lower if it is healthy

I don't have any medical problems (yet) or injuries.

So what i would like to know is what kind of exercise should i get daily what foods should i eat basically i dont know what i should do at all to lose weight and i need all the help i can get. Thanks in advance!!
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What I normally say to people your age is that you really should talk to your parent or legal guardian about this (and they will also decide whether they will support you, take you to see a nutritionist/doctor, or they will advise something else all together for you.)

But I will address a few things you mentioned:
  • "I dont normally eat breakfast because i don't want to gain weight"
Eating breakfast doesn't make you gain weight. I'll try to put it in this way--> Eating 3500 of excess calories (more than your body needed) will cause you to gain 1 pound.
  • I try to diet but i get embarrassed around my family if i tell them i am dieting.
Seriously, there's no shame in trying to have a longer future. But since this is an issue, instead of saying "I'm dieting" tell them "I am trying to get healthier". Let them know that you want to get to a healthier weight and have less risks of illness/disease.
  • I try not to eat a lot of it but its hard after dinner i am constantly snacking on anything i can get my hands on chips, peanuts, candy its all unhealthy
It seems that you already know that you shouldn't be eating all of the junk food that you're snacking on. Next step is to develop habits that prevent this. (in order to find ways to prevent snacking it's my opinion that you should first know why you snack in the first place). Are you snacking because you are bored? Do you feel hungry? Are these foods that you just find tempting no matter what?

Others will probably come and offer advice about your main question but I hope I at least helped a little regarding the other things you mentioned.

 
Here's one that works (sometimes) for me on bored snacking.

I ask myself, "Am I hungry, or just bored. And... am I hungry enough to eat celery?"

If I really am that hungry, I'll go have some celery. If I don't want to eat celery, then I know that really I'm just bored and not hungry.

... Celery without anything else is just so... BLAND.

As for exercises, you may want to do a strength program. Do push-ups, squats, lunges, fill up old milk jugs with water and lift them... a lot of stuff you can do at home. 15 is a great age to put on some muscle because it means you're more likely to keep it when you're 70 years old and don't want to get your hip replaced ;)
 
As previously mentioned breakfast in and of itself can't be called out for weight gain, but skipping it can be. It is called breakfast because you are breaking your fast, during which your metabolism decreases and in turn your calorie expenditure also is decreasing. By eating breakfast you are helping to get your metabolism moving once again increasing your resting metabolic rate.

Another problem with skipping a meal is it may be used by some as an excuse to eat more during the next meal, overindulging and possibly resulting in unnecessarily large calorie intakes that the body can't utilize fast enough, when this happens the macronutrients you are taking in are more likely to be converted to fat for storage. Space out your meals, it is better to eat 5 small meals throughout the day than to eat 2-3 large meals. Try to make your breakfast, lunch, and dinner account for 3/4 of your total caloric requirement for the day (determined by one of many calorie requirement calculators available on the web), and have a snack between between breakfast/lunch, lunch/dinner, and/or dinner/bed time that accounts for the other 1/4 allotted calories for the day. Doing so will keep your resting metabolic rate up and reduce the amount of macronutrients being converted to fat for storage because your body does not need them in such abundance when you are taking them in.

As far as constant snacking goes you can help prevent this by making the snacks less readily accessible. If the room you spend most of your time in at home has snacks in it and especially within arm’s reach you are more likely to reach for them without a second thought. If the snacks are in the kitchen in a cupboard on the top shelf where they are harder to reach you will have to put more thought into what you are doing when going for a snack and more likely to question your actions if you are about to snack because you are bored.
 
I can't really give much help with losing weight cause since I'm basically stuck in the same boat you are. I'm 15 and I'm 5'7 and 200+. I want to lose weight to so your not alone here :p I might suggest joining a local YMCA or weight loss program for children and teens cause thats what I plan on doing when I move.

Also its a good idea to eat every daily meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner and maybe even a small sugary/healthy snack?) but portion your meals right and stay away from starches, and breads. Cardio sounds like it'd be best in your situation (biking, crunches, power walking, swimming, and just staying active).
 
I'd second the recommendation for breakfast, particularly in your case. If you have a big, filling breakfast (say oatmeal, which is very cheap) then you're probably not going to want as much of that pizza, which is good for financial reasons but very bad for a diet.
 
Thanks everybody i will be sure to use all of your advice and i will eat breakfast everyday i didnt know it was so important thanks again for all the great advice :)
 
My tips

eat the majority of your food before 3. Big breakfast, snack, & lunch. Smaller supper. Can you bring an bloied egg and salad perhaps for lunch?
 
Is this food enough to eat for breakfast and lunch or should i eat more or less? Breakfast: Oatmeal and milk Lunch: an Apple and some water and Dinner: A small portion of whatever is cooked not to much but not to less
 
I'd add a little more at lunch, especially something with protein in it... what options do you have at the school lunch? Maybe some cheese?
 
GuitarBeast said:
Is this food enough to eat for breakfast and lunch or should i eat more or less? Breakfast: Oatmeal and milk Lunch: an Apple and some water and Dinner: A small portion of whatever is cooked not to much but not to less
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I don't know the amounts of oatmeal and dinner but it really sounds like you need to eat more GuitarBeast.

You seem to be willing to take our advice and it's good that you've added breakfast.
But an apple and water for lunch doesn't sound too great. Is this all that you could get at the time or did your school not provide anything better for you to chose from?

We've given you so much useful information. There is great support here for you and we're trying to help you.
If you want to be healthy you have to give your body healthy things in healthy amounts.
It seems like you're really trying but I suggest that you read through the posts again honey. Notice the foods that the friends here suggested. ^_^
 
alright i understand i reread through your guys posts and i am going to change my lunch around. The school if offering salad which i am going to eat, it has lettuce, tomatos, some pieces of meat (everyday the meat is different sometimes chicken,turkey,ham,etc) and some more vegetables in it like carrots, cucumbers ( but i dont care for cucumbers so i would just throw that part out) and i think there might be more i dont know off the top of my head
 
Ok so i ate the salad today and it was delicious a lot of vegetables and i didnt use all of the ranch they gave us i used a little bit and it was still good. Also in the salad they had cheese is this alright to eat it was shredded up and tasted good with it but if its not good for a diet then i will try to pick it all out next time
 
That's really good! The salad is a much better choice than the pizza, and the less sauce/ dressing the better (well done for not having so much of it). The cheese depends- the calcium is very good for you but it is quite high in calories. My temptation would be (without knowing your exact calorie intake, which isn't going to be possible) to do what you did with the dressing- pick some of it out, but leave some of it in. Say get rid of half of it.
 
GuitarBeast have you thought of starting a Diary/Journal here? There you would post as often as you want about what you're eating and/or how your workouts have been. Or you can just talk about something in your life in general and get things off of your chest. Or shout out about how happy you are about something!
You can get a lot off feedback from the members there too. ^_^
 
A salad with only a little dressing wont do much harm so a little cheese is fine. A good idea is to put the dressing in or on something separate and just dip your fork into it between bites. That way you get the taste of the dressing but use much, much less :)
 
If you can just eat moderate portions of all these foods you will be doing fine. Its only when we can't control our portions and eat too much of things like cheese that its a problem.

You definitely need three meals a day.

The reason why i don't eat cheese is because i find it too tasty and tend to end up eating too much of it. Cheese is quite salty and such strong tastes tend to upset my whole appetite. Its the sort of thing that makes me want to eat more and more. So until i reach my goal weight, i'm cutting it out. But as said hard cheese is good for calcium and healthy bones. If you don't eat cheese then you should be eating milk and yoghurt for your bones. These are lower in calories and fat and still high in protein and carbs.

Have you been to a doctor yet? Or talked it over with your family? What is your relationship like with your family?
 
No i havent been to a doctor yet i have to go in for a shot (its mandatory for all highschoolers something about whooping cough) and i am going to talk to him about it then i should be going in sometime soon idk when my grandparents are making the appointment. I told my family about it and to my suprise they are 100% behind me. I have a pretty good relationship with my family just sometimes it can get out of hand or people take it to far.
 
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