New Member... Hi everyone!

[Brandon Drapeau]

Hi everyone,
I am currently at an age in my life where my weight impacts every aspect of my life. I am 16, Sophomore in high school. I play baseball, I am 6'2. But I know it's a lot, but I weight right now 313 pounds. No, it is not my parents fault, my whole life they have made my portions smaller and brought me to workout. They have given me less money when I go out with friends but I find ways to get more food.

Here's the problem, I hate being fat. All my friends are getting girlfriends or at least having girls show interest and I am unintentionally the DUFF of my friend group.

So I want to do something about it. The hardest part for me is the food aspect. I am very active for someone my size- I actively have baseball practice and workout at a gym near my house with my brother whenever I can pretty much 4-5 days a week. Its been a month since I started working out, at one point I was down to 308, but I gained it back to where I am now. My goal is to get under 280 by March 3rd- first day of tryouts. I want to impress my baseball coach this year. I thought I would reach out to a forum for any meal ideas and all the motivation I can get. I know I wrote a lot, but I'm starting to hate my life and I need a lifestyle change.

Can't wait to hear what you say,
Bdrapes15.

 

[SmilingPS]

Hey Brandon,
Don't feel disheartened by it!
I am sure if you really want to do it, you will.
My brother is about the same weight and height as you and he has recently started going to gym too.
He has his good days and bad ones..but he keeps on going. I don't know what keeps him motivated, i am sure you have that you must have some source of motivation, focus on that. My brother is highly active too, that is why it gets difficult for him to loose weight as his body is already used to working out, you will have to put an extra effort as you start loosing weight to keep the process going.
I hope you all the best and many girlfriend's in near future.

PS

 

[Luke Bengel]

Hey Brandon,
I was just like you till I turned 17. I worked out on and off with my friends and played HS sports. I was a pretty good baseball player but could never compete with the skinny kids when it came to base running and in basketball I was always the last one down the court on D. I tried every short cut in the book and it became very disheartening. Every time I would get motivated I'd go out w my friends and load up on junk food. I'd blow what I had spent all week doing. Then I got so upset one day that I said no more! I realized that I was doing the same thing over and over again expecting some different outcome. Here is what I did. I took a picture of myself in my boxers, sent it to my email and every night I would resend it to myself so when I checked my email I would be reminded. I looked on line and stayed under 1100 calories a day. This was a way for me to see what bothered me so much and drive me to change. I started counting calories like with a weight calculator on line. I ate no more than 1100 calories and none were sugar. If my friends were eating pizza, I would take the cheese off of my one slice and toss the crust, this wasn't easy but allowed me to be with friends and not waste my efforts. This created a spark for me and I did not deviate from my plan. Once I dropped twenty five lbs I couldn't believe how different my face looked. Then I started sending two pictures so I could see where I was going. I dropped 60 lbs and stopped counting calories but watched out for the pitfalls of poor food choices and my life really changed. I had never gone out with a girl till mid way through my junior year. Girls liked me as a friend but you know how that go's. Then a girl who I thought would always just like me as a friend asked me to Jr prom and we went out for a while. I ended up as the starting center on basketball senior year and got a lot of colleges asking me to play for them. I currently pitch for my college in PA and play on the club basketball team. I'm not the last guy down the court anymore lol. The one thing that I do now is eat what seems to be a normal portion but don't add anything like unnecessary calories. You know what I mean, bread and stuff like that. I don't eat any more than the people around me and its easy.
As an athlete in college I studied nutrition and eating habits which was eye opening. I learned a lot about myself and people like us that struggle and there's light at the end of the tunnel.

It really is going to take a life change for you to get the results you are looking for. You cant starve yourself for 5 days and then stuff yourself for two but you can hold to a steady consistent routine that no longer feels like a routine.
Have faith in yourself and you will persevere.

Luke