Posts by hayleyjayde

When I was doing my A levels I was majorly stressed about not putting on weight but I was also conscious I'd have to have enough energy to fuel all that brain power! So I ate enough calories to maintain my weight and planned meals and snacks meticulously so I never went hungry and I felt in control. (Which was nice seeing as I didn't have much control over exams)

And by the way, don't give yourself too much of a hard time if you don't do as well as you'd like this year, I remember before I came to uni everything seemed like it had to be done RIGHT NOW to keep up with friends who'd also be moving away, I didn't want to be left behind or miss out. But the truth is you have your whole life ahead and resitting one year of college might be frustrating but it beats pushing yourself too hard through tough health/personal issues and having a breakdown afterwards (trust me, I did this). Take some stress off yourself, it sounds to me like you've had a tough time so don't make it any harder. I also strongly advise you to submit mitigating circumstances for your exams and make your firm and reserve uni choices aware of your situation as they may reduce your offers.

All in all, keep eating healthily, exercise to de-stress and study as best you can, but don't make yourself ill! I'm sure you'll do really well in your exams but if you end up resitting or taking a gap year it's not the end of the world and it's definitely not your fault!

Good luck :)

I'm on day 3 and I have to say I'm becoming evermore convinced that this would be a much cheaper and safer alternative to gastric banding procedures. You think it'll catch on?

Oh yes it was very tasty indeed, worth every calorie :) I'm in the UK so maybe they only deliver here? It's so tempting though, especially when I've been feeling far too lazy to cook and looking longingly at the massive book of vouchers we still have left...

You could've eaten a lot of foods much worse than almonds, raw ones would've been better than roasted but they should still be nutritionally beneficial. Nuts are great for adding calories if you're trying to gain weight and they'll give you plenty of healthy fats and protein. The stomach pains are probably just if you aren't used to eating very much, I wouldn't worry but if they persist or if you get them even when you haven't eaten you might want to speak to somebody just to make sure it's nothing serious.

First of all for your height and weight it's perfectly normal to gain fat when eating above 1500 calories, my maintenance number is about 1600 and I'm 10lbs heavier than you, so don't worry that you've screwed up your metabolism, that's probably very normal for you.

I just want to assure you of one thing, you won't be laughed at by any doctor for seeking help with an eating disorder, I finally overcame my fear of this and many other issues related to getting medical help 3 days ago. Once you explain your issues related to food and your weight it will be obvious that even if your body is still healthy your mind isn't. I was terrified of telling my mum too but it really might help you, no one knows you better than her and she can give you lots of support.

Instead of trying to up your calories by eating a large meal which will strain your stomach try having several calorie dense, healthy snacks throughout the day, nuts are ideal because they're full of protein and healthy fats and are very portable.

If you aren't eating a lot you can't expect to be very regular, when you start to eat more this should improve. Also instead of laxatives try eating fibrous foods, kiwi fruits, drinking hot lemon water first thing in the morning and making sure you drink plenty of water throughout the day.

I also get jealous of other people's confidence sometimes but I use it as a way of proving to myself that my perception of my body isn't what it should be, if other people who are bigger than me are confident and happy, then being thin can't be that important and why can't I be happy too?

I hope some of this helps, feel free to add/message me if you need a friend.

Original Post by kellysuedew:

Anthony Burgess wrote a book called The Wanting Seed. You might be interested in it because it was sort of along these same lines of thinking but fictional of course. Burgess also wrote Clock Work Orange.

On one hand anyone taking a look around would see that this may not be a good period of time in history to bring more children into this world. Further there are so many children already in the system that need a loving environment. We could be adopting instead. Older children, disabled children, siblings...

Although it is human nature to procreate. It would tough to pass such laws or get everyone to agree to this mind set. China has or atleast use to have a one child limit but wait their population is enormous! What happened there???? Or imagine that we could convince the entire world to this arrangement (not likely) and then some power hungry country will sneak and have an unground society for child bearing, like black market child bearing in order to become the next world leader! Then what? Other races will become extinct while one takes over to rule the world. Hmmm....

Maybe a middle of the road answer would be to just act responsibly. Like me...I am an overeater which is why I am on this site. I can contribute to our world's replenishment just by cutting my food intake back. That would impact landfill, cutting down of trees, waste in the ocean, need for health care. If I got healthy I would be more productive and my mind would work more efficiently inorder to make healthy choice, and use facts in order to create viable solutions for our world and our people.

The possibilities are endless.

The whole point of the VHEMT is tht people are VHEMT "volunteers" it's not any kind of organistion, more of a way of thinking. This is what I think makes it brilliant but what is also it's fundamental flaw: it'll never work because everyone won't agree with it. Although the website does state that realistically it'll never work it's best to do what you can for the world. I'm not 100% sure of my standpoint on it but I think it makes sense that not having children would mean I wasn't contributing to overpopulation even if I wasn't solving it.

I've been veggie for 7 years and it's never bothered me one bit, (well I guess I do miss haribo sometimes) I eat so much nonfat yoghurt and cottage cheese that I think I might struggle with this but I'm gonna do my best anyway.

If you aren't sure about making such a dramatic change you could always have a bit of a trial period, like try going vegan for a week or slowly cutting down from pescatarian to vege then to vegan maybe eliminating one more thing every month? Then it wouldn't be as much of a shock to your habits.

I've officially been vegan for an hour and a half now lol! Not that I've eaten anything since midnight (in England btw) but I still like my new vegan mindset.

Oh my goodness! This is actually identical to the way I've passed the last few days and I'm also at least 5 lbs heavier now, not just water weight either, I'm talking serious, full on binge eating fat weight and I also decided that Monday 1st September will be my fresh start (new week, new month, great minds think alike eh?)

Anyway I've also been thinking of becoming vegan for a while so I think at the stroke of midnight I may commit to this decision or at least begin a bit of a trial of the vegan lifestyle. Maybe you'd like ot join me? Or if you aren't up for something that extreme you could try eating clean or giving up alcohol/refined sugar etc. completely?

I can't count how many fresh starts I've had up to now, let's help eachother stay on track :)

But what stops it growing? How does it know it's reached its correct functional length, that's what confuses me

Most of my meals are the exact same as a non vegetarian meal but I just use a meat substitute instead, so vege chili, curry, shepherds pie, bolognaise etc.

Then there are lighter meals perfect for lunch like omlette, jacket potato, soup which are vegetarian on their own if you choose the right filling or whatever, I usually have these with a salad or something.

Snacking rather than eating meals isn't necessarily a bad thing if it's convenient and doesn't bother you, it'll keep your metabolism up. Just make sure you're getting all the right nutrients.

I also bloat quite a bit the week before my period and retain about 2lbs of water. I'm not 100% sure but I think this pre-menstrual bloating is due to water retention, it kind of makes sense though, I mean the water has to be retained somewhere right? I'm also on BC, and I know certain types of pill are better for reducing water retention, Yasmin for example. Try switching and see if this improves, though you may have to stick it out for about 3 months on the new pill before you see any difference in your symptoms.

How about herbal teas? Some herbal teas taste great cold, you could make a big jug in the morning and refrigerate it so it's ready for whenever you want it. My favorite is pomegranate and raspberry tea when it's ice cold, really refreshing.

Your BMI is just over the border of obese (31.5) and a waist measurement of over 32 inches (for a woman) greatly increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, and diabetes. That probably sounds scary but you are still young and it's a good thing that you've noticed your weight gains early. If you do something about this now you can reach a healthier weight and learn some new habits to set yourself up for a lifetime of eating well.

The worst thing you can do is "diet", the best thing to do is decide to make lifestyle changes to stick with forever, and achieve a slow and steady weight loss. Whatever changes you make have to be reasonable, so that you're prepared to stick with them for life. I'd advise you to log everything you eat for the next few days so that you can see where all the extra calories are coming from, food doesn't have to be "junk" to cause weight gain.

Exercise is also an excellent habit to begin early, if you don't feel like joining a gym then maybe you could go for long walks, or try running, buy an exercise dvd, or a wii fit if you have the money, anything to get you moving and burn calories.

You mentioned that you feel snacking is a problem for you, positive snacking can be a good habit, it keeps the metabolism going and stops us getting too hungry so that we don't make bad food choices at meal times. Good snacks to choose are fruit and vegetables, they're low calorie, nutritionally valuable and contain lots of water and fiber to keep you full. Protein is also really good at suppressing the appetite and reducing the need to snack. Try eating low fat yoghurt, porridge made with skimmed milk, peanutbutter, wholemeal bread, eggs etc. with your breakfast to keep you full for longer.

One other major calorie expenditure you might not realize is alcohol, one alcopop has around 200 calories in it! And does nothing to fill you up. Since I found this out I drink very rarely, when I do drink I have vodka and diet coke (around 60 calories) The other positive of this is that I've realized I can go on a night out and have a brilliant time without drinking. I never spend much more than about £15! Whereas most of my friends spend double or even three times that.

You may also want to check your portion sizes at mealtimes, you might be eating quite healthy foods but if you eat too much of them the calories can really add up and cause weight gain. Again, I suggest counting your typical calorie intake and using the tools on this site to figure out what you should be eating to maintain or lose weight. If you need anymore help please feel free to add/message me, I'm the same age as you and have gone from around 150lbs 2 years ago (UK size 14) to 115lbs (UK size 8) now. Good luck!

If I did it all again...

- I would only weigh myself once a week (and hence wouldn't have developed my obsession with the scale)

- I would have taken measurements from the beginning (to gauge my progress better)

- I wouldn't have completely disregarded calories over Christmas, my birthday and holidays (to avoid the yo-yoing weight I've had for months now)

- I would try to lose weight without counting calories, because I'm too much of a perfectionist and count everything down to the last gram (now I know the calorie counts of everything too well and find I can't help calculating)

- I wouldn't have told people I was trying to lose weight (so I wouldn't get judged when I do indulge in the occasional chocolate bar)

- I would have used calorie count right from the beginning

It all depends on height and body shape. When I was a UK size 12 (US8) (i.e the men's "preferred" size) at 5'1" I was overweight and would be described more as chubby than curvy. Now I'm a UK 8 (US4) and for my height I look a lot better. It also depends on your body shape and tone, some people hold extra fat as "curves" whereas I just have "love handles" and flabby thighs. The size 16 girl in the photo is nothing like the typical average woman, I'd say she's much more toned (and airbrushed).

Another thing is that younger guys prefer skinnier girls, one particularly shallow male friend of mine looked at a photo of a severely underweight anorexic girl in a story in a magazine and commented on how "fit" she looked, when we all said how sick this was he replied "Look how slim her legs are, you just wish you were that thin!"