at what age did you become 'diet conscious'?

For me personally, it all started in my sophmore year of highschool, I was 15 years old.  My older sister had lost a lot of weight the before school that year (she was a senior) because she was training for a race.  Everyone- people i knew or didnt know, friends or not friends, would come up to me multiple times a day and go "OMG your sister has lost SO MUCH WEIGHT!" And I would just kinda say yeahhh... but deep inside it hurt so much, i felt so inferior.  Granted, at this point, I was not over weight.. I think I was around 130 and probably 5'4".  Maybe I was a little bigger, but I wasn't significantly overweight or anything.

Idk about any of you, but I didn't know anything about nutrition and I desperately wanted to lose weight and be thin like my sister and the only way I could think of doing that was by throwing up my food.  And so the cycle began... ive been through hell and back it seems.. I am now going to be a junior in college this coming fall semester and I am trying to find happiness in health. 

The reason why I am asking this question isn't for me really, it is my little sister.  I worry about her so much, I never want anyone (esp a sibling) to go through what I have been dealing with forthe last 5 years.  She is a freshman in highschool, and I have noticed lately she is becoming more diet conscious.  Don't get me wrong, I think its great for younger kids to learn about proper nutrition, so that they DONT end up using methods as I did.  But I just worry, she says her friends count calories and won't eat certain things if it has too many cals.  That scares me- ALOT.  I don't want her to go on some extreme diet, she is not overweight- she is 127 pounds and 5'4".  She is VERY athletic and does cross country, indoor track and outdoor track.  She's gorgeous and I just don't want anything bad to happen to her :(

So how old were you when you became aware of nutrition etc? Was your first 'diet' healthy?

Thanks everyone!

I literally never gave it a thought until after I had my first baby at 22 and needed to lose the baby weight.  I never thought about good nutrition until I had children and had to feed them, then I learned a lot.

Before that I was a thin, normal, active girl with a happy life.  I literally never thought about it and had no idea how much I weighed.  Nutrition was my mom's job, not mine.  I just ate whatever they gave me, and that was lots of home made Italian food.  I was too busy with my friends and all kinds of activities and my social life to worry about something as boring as how much I weighed.

I feel so sorry to see girls here agonizing about their weight when they are not overweight, and when they should be out having a good time and preparing for their futures. 

I'm not saying that modern childhood obesity isn't a problem, just that those who don't need to lose weight shouldn't be so focused on it.

i have been diet aware since i was in 7th grade

aware that I "needed to diet" at age 8

began actively dieting at age 12

began exercise regimen at age 13

thought I was fat at 13 when I was 5'4", 130 and very muscular

I'm with Claire, never really thought about dieting until after I was married, didn't attempt any dieting until after my first was born.

I was a skinny kid to begin with. Not athletic at all though. And mom wasn't the greatest cook. We ate a lot of junk food, red meat, ice cream, cakes and cookies. It's a miracle I wasn't overweight. I was definetly out of shape - skinny fat, with really bad posture that didn't help! 

My mom struggled for years with her weight, I remember her going on this or that fad diet and I also remember her consuming an entire bag of M&M's every day around 4 pm when her blood sugar would crash. She was a binge eater.

My older sister (one year older) takes after my mom, both are pear shapes, I'm more of an apple like my dad. My sister always had curves and I felt homely in comparison with her. But she did not develop a weight problem until post-college.

I was an exchange student for a summer around age 16. During that summer abroad, I was walking everywhere, working on a farm, and eating a very healthy, junk-free diet that was high in fruits and veggies and whole grains, and low in meat. Any extra weight naturally fell off of me that summer, and I returned feeling fit and trimmer than ever. I think that was a highly valuable experience - I did eventually correlate in my mind the lifestyle and diet differences, and how much better I felt and looked overall.

I graduated high school at 4'11" and 103 lbs. I graduated college a full inch taller, and 107 lbs. It was after college that I joined my first health club, and got acquainted with strength training - just using the machines. No cardio though (I didn't like to sweat!!).

I remember my sister went on her first diet before her wedding. She wanted to get skinny for her wedding. I still have the pictures, and man, she was skinny!! Shortly after the wedding, her weight blew up, and she has been morbidly obese ever since, despite numerous yo-yo diets over the years.

I once caught my mom and my sister talking about me behind my back, making fun of the fact I'd joined a gym. My mom said something about how it was "inevitable" that I, too, would develop a weight problem just like they had, once I settled down and got married. That stung, and I never forgot it. My sister and mom are apparently resigned to the fact that being overweight and unfit is inevitable for married women.

Well, I got married, moved away from my gym, and sure enough, within a very short time span, my weight ballooned. I gained about 50 lbs or so. I was miserable, not just the vanity thing, but my health was very poor. And then I got pregnant, and packed on yet more weight.

After my daughter was born, I decided that was that, and I bought tons of books on exercise and nutrition. Covert Bailey, Susan Powter, Jane Brody, Joyce Vedral were a few of my gurus. I taught myself everything about nutrition and fitness. I became a vegetarian. I started a walking program, which led to a running program. I joined another gym, and began strength training like a body builder 5x's a week. I also started training to run a marathon.

Despite a divorce, custody battle, periods of unemployment, and repeated back injuries that made me stop weight training and running for years- until this past year - I've maintained my weight within +/-5 lbs of 110 since my second daughter was born, she is now almost 13.

During all this time, with the exception of this past year, I was not on any particular diet, and not calorie counting. I just learned how to eat healthy and make good choices, practicing portion control. I have arranged my lifestyle similar to the european way, living in an urban area that enables me to walk more than drive. And eating tons of fruits and veggies, limiting sweets and junk food, etc. It works. Any time my weight would go over 115, I'd simply cut back here or there, or move a little more. It wasn't until last year that my weight jumped suddenly to 125 virtually overnight, and then cutting here or there wasn't working, so I have started calorie counting again.

Okay that was a missive!!! Probably more than you wanted to know!!!!!!

i'd been diet conscious since i was 9. started cutting back on lunch when i was 10, and got into the cycle of binge/starve when i was 15. i can totally relate to you, ana311309, and how i would never want ANYONE to go through that cycle, especially having gone through it myself. in a sense, it's almost like a curse, because i'll always be obsessing over food, that mentality never goes away.

Even though I was very skinny for the first part of my teens (under 100 lbs at 5'6"), my mom was always dieting, and I just assumed it would be something I would have to do as an adult.

Then at age 16, I "broke" the 100 lb mark, and started putting some meat on my bones.  It really scared me, because even though I was still really thin, I could see my weight increasing rapidly, and it just bore out my earlier feeling that I would have weight problems as an adult.

I never really did, though.  I gained a lot of weight a few times, but lost it very easily and rapidly through exercise and sensible eating habits, which my mom still somehow managed to instill in me. It's still hard to get over that feeling of panic that strikes from time to time: "omg, I'm so fat- I have to go on a diet!"  I believe it's called classical conditioning. :-)

jenmcc,
Whew, what a story! And you're showing them that you can be healthy! Go you! That's so awsome =D 

i've been weight conscious since about 8th grade. i started acting on it and dieting in about 9th, then it was off and on but nothing really serious. now as a junior i'm eating well and exercising to lose weight.

I was in the 8th grade when I became aware of how the "pretty" girls looked, and in 9th when I began to actively "try" to diet by following diets in magazines my mom bought. 

When I look back, I was not fat, but after I turned 11 or so I always felt that I "should" diet, because my older sister (by one year) was always so naturally petite (I got tired of people asking if I was older).  She's a tiny bit shorter than me, and only broke 100 lbs when she got pregnant in her thirties.

So even when I figured out in gym class in 9th grade (when they made you shout out your height and weight in front of everybody - yikes!) that I was the same height and weight as the "prettiest" girl, I never felt that I looked as "skinny" as she did ... and so continued to battle with my "supposed" fat, which created some unpleasant repercussions in my later teens.

Luckily, I got over it, and have been quite satisfied with myself for almost 18 years, but my "weight consciousness" did start early, and I, too, would never wish the unpleasantness I went through for 7 years on anyone.

About 10 years old, fifth grade. I think that was the earliest. I specificially remember "going on a diet" that year -- counting grapes and popcorn. Nobody ever made fun of me or told me I was fat. I decided that on my own. Looking back I don't think I was fat at all. Maybe only very slightly chubby. I remember starting out that school year in "slim" jeans and ending it NOT in those jeans. lol All that was going on was puberty, I'm positive of that. PERFECTLY NORMAL. I think it's sickening, sad, and pathetic to think of a poor ten-year-old CHILD "dieting." And I've been on a "diet" EVERY DAY since then. Of course, now it's a "lifestyle," and I do know a LOT (about nutrition) for which I'm so grateful, but still ... it's always always on my mind. 

lol, i became aware of it in 7th grade where we had p.e. and everyone would look at me cause i was fat. Even the coaches would start to look at me.

I was wholeheartedly against dieting until I was 17.  Before that, I would eat what I wanted when I wanted, and however much I wanted.  I did not exercise portion control and I wasn't a very healthy eater.  During my 17th year I went on a very unhealthy restrictive diet.  Now, at age 18, I'm actively working to eat normal portions of healthy food and exercise on a regular basis.

Although I was always thin, I decided that I wasn't good enough when I was around 9. My family stopped having family meals together. I didn't actively start 'dieting' or learning about nutrition until I was 11. I was healthy for the most part for a few years, although I had a lot of family and friend problems. Then I decided that at 15, (probably around 125 lbs at 5'7") that I was too fat and had to restrict my eating. After that, I just went downhill from there. So my first 'diet' was definitely not healthy and any attempts probably haven't ever been since. I've learned a lot about nutrition and working to put that knowledge into practice now that I know that I am the only one who can help myself.

I was "body conscious" at age 11, especially when I lost inches through swimming.

I became diet conscious around 16 when I was at my then-highest weight and my mom was losing weight.

I think I was about 7 or 8 when I thought I was too large.  I weighed 40 lbs and wore a 6x ... I was in no way too large.  When I was 11 I made up a workout routine I would do in my room after track practice, and I skipped breakfast, ate half my lunch my mom packed, and barely touched my dinner. 

Then at 12 people called me "chicken legs" and as my friends started getting hips and such around 13/14/15 I fell behind.  I gained weight because I thought I needed to (and kind of did, though I was healthy thin) by sitting on a computer and eating brownies.  Sadly, puberty hit and my habits didn't change so here I am ... 5 years later still trying to undo what I did.  Hmph.

At about 5th grade.  I've been chubby since birth....and I totally blame my parents for it.

I started being diet concious at 8 years old. I would try to cut back on junk food and almost all meat products because of how they were cooked. I hated the taste of meat. I had a fear of fat in any kind of food. It was repulsive to me for some reason. It was the texture of it that bothered me. I was always really picky. 

That lasted until I was about 15 when I was put on some medications that gave horible side efects that made me gain a ton of weight (about 40 lbs in about a year). Then I stopped caring all together even though I was a vegitarian and excercising 3 hours a day, I went into a deeper depression because the weight kept piling on. I stoped taking my medicine about 2 years ago, and I finally started to lose some weight. But I've basically always been very diet concious.  

thanks all for sharing your stories!

Hey all,

I guess i've been diet conciouse all my life. I grew up ery close to my mum - who (even though she was , and still is  , tiny) has her own body issues - which i guess reflected onto me.

After we moved i saw al lot more of my family. I seem to be the only one not blessed with the "skinny gene" in my family. And it became apparent that being fat was "taboo" in my family.

Going through puberty was worse - not only was i the only fat one i was the only one who didnt develop boobs - still trying now lol.

Recently though its got a lot worse so im trying to loose for the summer -  i want to start my final year of school off looking good. Im 5'7 and 126lbs - aiming for 110 - wish me luck

xXx

eeek - sorry if not a lot of that made sense , im terrible at typing!

xXx