I'm 19 and 260lbs and I'm frustraited because I have been over weight my whole life! I want to change and im not sure how!

I'm 19 years old and frustraited with being over weight, I've been a big girl all my life and I'm ready to be healthy and fit! I know you have to watch what you eat and exercise but thats about it, any tips or suggestions would be AMAZING!

Thank you,

Courtney-lynn!

Congrats on your decision to get healthier! I know it can all seem very overwhelming, confusing and difficult, but it doesn't have to be Hell on Earth to work. That's the main thing you should know..changing your lifestyle shouldn't feel like a punishment, so don't go too hog wild all at once. If you over-restrict yourself right off the bat, you may end up falling off the plan, or just hating it and wanting to give up. Small changes are best at first.

This site under 'tools' up top has some good stuff..to help you figure out how much to eat in a day, how many calories you naturally burn each day, etc. I would start with that.

But in general, cut out the bad fats, get the good ones, nix sugary, junky stuff and start incorporating fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and definitely get enough water and fiber each day to keep you full and hydrated.

If you can throw in 30 minutes of exercise each day, awesome! if not, working on diet will still go a long way in bringing you to your goals.

Good luck!

Hi Courtney-lynn!

My first suggestion is one you have already begun - use CC!

Log your food every day - as you eat, not all at once at the end of the day. Then it's too late to find out that you ate way more for lunch than you thought. If you know where you stand as you go it can what you pick to eat.

I did not eliminate any food I love from my diet. What I did was to add many new foods - fruits, vege, legumes (ya know, black beans etc), and whole grains. I've made a habit of looking for something new to try - either a recipe or just a fruit I've never had before. Find a bunch of new things to like. People often get into a food rut and think because they've always had something it must be what they want to eat. Expand your food horizons! There's lots of tasty healthy stuff that will satisfy you. You just need to find it.

I strongly suggest journaling, joining groups, and adding friends! The more the merrier!

I think this web site has taught me more than I ever knew about how to eat well and lose weight. I was raised to think all fat was bad....and anything fat free was fine.....so I ate fat free everything in large ammounts (It didn't work...LOL) Now I am knowledgeable (sp?) enough to eat healthy for my body....and the weight loss is sort of a great side effect. When I started, I was heavy, but felt as good as I feel after losing weight after a couple weeks of eating good and excersizing. You can do it! It isn't easy....but it feels good in the long run :) We are all here in the same boat....so use this site...it is great!

As someone who has struggled with conventional "diet" tips all my life and has finally found something that works, here are my tips. Do what you may with them! :)

1) Break your sugar addiction. I cannot tell you what this has done for me. First, it will help you lose weight, and especially in the first few weeks it will most likely come off pretty fast which is a great motivator. Second, being on a no sugar diet (and I'm talking about unnatural, refined sugar) helps you appreciate the natural sugar in foods. It completely revamps your tastebuds to how they are supposed to be. Third, sugar is what causes your blood sugar to spike and hunger to come. It sucks for the first week, but seriously will change your life once you take control of sugar.

2) Don't drink anything but water. If you're a coffee drinker, that has to be your call. I never got into it, but I know that black coffee is supposed to be okay once in a while. Don't quote me on that... but the main point is to cut out soda, juice (unless it's 100% natural fruit juice) sports drinks, whatever. Not only is that all mostly sugar, but it's empty calories.

3) Eat REAL food, and real food only. Don't eat anything out of a box, frozen dinners, weight watchers snacks; basically anything that is genetically modified (GMO), has preservatives, chemicals you can't pronounce, basically anything that isn't natural. This has been one of the best changes I've made is to eat only natural, whole foods. When you look at the nutrition facts, look at the ingredients. The fewer the better. Stay away from things you have no idea what they are. This includes Splenda.

4) Don't go on a low-fat diet. Not only is fat good for you, low-fat diets usually promote unhealthy foods and lots of unnecessay carbs. Low-fat foods are not real food. There is no such thing as fat free cheese, or fat free half and half, or fat free mayo. It is disgusting to think about what is put into those "foods" to make them fat free. (Think high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated vegetable oil, chemicals, etc.) Also, low fat diets are high carb, and not all carbs all the same! Refined carbs (white bread, pasta, rice, cereal) will cause you to gain weight.

5) Exercise. This is kind of an obvious tip haha. But all I can say is exercise helps a lot. The most important exercise for me is my resistance training, but I also do a lot of cardio. I think Jillian Michaels has some pretty decent videos and ideas as far as circuits go.

6) Give up wheat. This is really a choice I made for myself and I can't really tell you if it's a perfect tip, it's just what has helped me because I really like the idea of a Paleo diet (which I'll give you a link to in a second.) I find giving up wheat (with the ocassional slice of sprouted grain bread TRADER JOES it's the best!) was not very difficult after a while, and has really changed my body. Pretty much this means no pasta, bread, cereal etc. which is a part of low-carb lifestyle to begin with. 

7) Look into Paleo eating. Alright again I am not an expert this is just what has helped me. I am not a strict Paleo eater but learning about this idea is REALLY an eye opener if you are willing to give it a chance and buy into it.

8) The BEST tip I can give you is think about your health.  I am 100% convinced eating only natural foods (hopefully organic) is the best way to eat. I'm not saying I don't get food cravings and I don't overeat sometimes, but if I do, I overeat on natural foods.

If you decide to go Paleo, glueten free, or just natural, I promise you you will lose weight. My current plan is counting calories. I eat about 60% fat, 25% protein, and 15% carbs. I eat anywhere from 1200-1500 cals a day. I don't know how many you should eat in order to lose weight. I believe you can do that by doing a BMR formula? Google it :) (or look on the message boards.) I admit I'm really intense about calorie counting and put everything into Fitday.com for a really accurate reading of everything I'm eating. My best friend is a food scale. Yes, it's a lot of work. But the truth is, you don't realize that calories really add up, and that can be a big determinate in your weight loss.

Anyways, to sum up my ramblings if you take away one thing just eat real foods. Don't eat sugar. If you want recipes, anything else you want to know if you are interested in Paleo eating, or just want to talk message me! Good luck :)

Also: I read these blogs every day. Marks Daily Apple can explain the Paleo diet better than I ever could.

http://www.elanaspantry.com/ (Elana's Pantry. Amazing gluten-free recipes.)

http://cavemanfood.blogspot.com/
http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/ (Marks Daily Apple... amazing blog.)
http://www.brynith.com/

http://www.foodrenegade.com/

http://www.sonofgrok.com

1) Make sure you don't drop your calories too low; 1200 calories a day is the minimum, and that number is likely to put your body into starvation mode and force it to hold onto weight.  A lot of people make the mistake of eating too little, thinking that's the clear solution to weight loss - it's not.  A 19 year old female should be eating at least around 1600 calories a day.  Don't fall into the trap of the crash diet.

2) Exercise every day; even if its thirty minutes of walking, just do it and you'll see a difference. 

3) Try new things; new exercises, new foods - you may find some healthy favourites.

4) Do not buy into the pills, powders, and weight loss bars and shakes.  They do not help for long term weight loss goals; for the sake of your health, you should do your very best to lose weight at a slow steady pace, don't expect it to drop off all at once, and be kind to yourself. 

5) Take white carbs out of your diet and replace them with whole grain/whole wheat alternatives.  White pasta and white rice have zero nutritional value and tend to make you hungrier while the darker alternative fill you and are good for you.

6) Remove caffeine, alcohol, and sugary drinks from your diet, or at least have them in moderation.  I suggest not drinking your calories at all; stick to water, or water flavoured with lemon.

7) Measure yourself.  Measure around your waist, hips, chest, arms, thighs - this way, if you run into a stall on the scale numbers, you'll be able to see a difference in the measuring tape numbers.  Keep in mind that sometimes you won't see the numbers on the scale move for long periods of time, but if you keep at it, you'll be rewarded for your patience.

8) Talk on the forums; they help when you're frustrated and ready to give up, the people here are supportive and will always do their best to help you.

If you've been overweight since childhood, I would suggest that the first place to start is to learn how to 'eat better' before you go the route of 'eating less'.   This site http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/agesandstages/teens / has some really good ideas on how to get a better diet.... doesn't look at calories at all.   Simple things like starting the day with a healthy breakfast, eating regular meals, getting your 5-a-day fruit and vegetables and being active for half an hour a day.... will positively affect your shape, your mood and your health all at the same time.  

Simple 'swaps' will also help as well.  Swap fizzy drinks (even diet sodas) for water... that helps.  Swap sugary snacks for fresh fruit or low-fat yoghurt.  Swap fried food for grilled foods.  Swap some meals based around meat for meals based around tofu or beans.    Doesn't have to be all in one big hit..... if you improve just a little at a time, you'll see the benefit and you'll be able to keep it going.

If you don't know where to start, they've even thoughtfully provided a suggested plan of meals for a week to help you  'Eat Yourself Gorgeous!'  Very best of luck

Good for you for taking some steps to improve your health!

Sometimes making 20 changes in a week can be a little bit overwhelming, so I would recommend a few changes at a time if that's easier.

I think the most important ones are 1) consciously trying to get a bit more physical activity into your day, 2) logging every last bite you put in your mouth on CC, and 3) not drinking your calories - stick to water, tea and coffee.

Thank you all for the support, the past three days have been full of salads, apples and water and I really do feel better, there are obvioulsy no changes yet but i feel really good. Thanks again for all the advice

Courtney-Lynn

Good to hear that, courtney_lynn! You not only can, but you will do it!

Dear Courtney,

The other suggestions you have gotten are great, but I feel that they are not good to just jump into.  Try to just become aware of what you are eating and cut it down for a couple of months, this way you will NOT end up shocking your body.  I can use my own story as an example, I started counting and realized I was eating about 3,000 cals per day.  So I very slowly cut back- 2200 per day and I continued eating the same foods I was eating but became more aware.  I did that from januarty to february then realized that I needed to make healthier choices and I was ready to do that, also restrict my cals down to 1800.  (1800 was my original goal at the beginning of jan. but I soon realized that was not practical to jump into hence the 2200)

a thought on exercise: you may want to start doing some walking or something to help curb boredom- which is when you would want to eat.  start slow with the exercise too, you can really hurt yourself if you are not careful, then you can't do anything!

I drink tea when I have a terrible craving or sense of deprivation (hot tea).  It has saved me many times!  I think it is ridiculous to cut out all beverages except water unless you have worked yourself up to that point for personal reasons.

One last thing! you will feel like quitting probably over and over, I have many times.  Just keeping going!  It's okay to feel that way or to overeat sometimes, you are human!

My advice is this: educate yourself about fitness and nutrition from credible sources. There are tons of opinions regarding this subject and although many are well-meaning, they can be wrong. I can't tell you how many times I have heard "certified" trainers give faulty informantion. The best way to lose weight is to delve into the science and biology of the subject yourself. The more you know, the better equipped you will be to discern what is good or bad advice.

Next is to listen to your body, pay attention to what it is telling you. After awhile you will get to know what works for you. Everybody is different and what works for one does not for another.

Lastly, don't try to take on too much at a time. Concentrate on only a few changes at a time. Too much can not only be overwhelming, but discouraging as well.

I wish you the best, you have an entire lifetime ahead of you---make it count.

The best advice I've ever had was to take a couple of days to log everything I ate to get an idea of how much I consumed when I wasn't watching. (Which was horrifying, btw :P) The next step was to look at those days and come up with healthier substitutions, ie - instead of a candy bar in the afternoon, a handful of almonds or an orange. As you go, you'll find it's easier to make those healthy choices up front instead of after-the-fact. Take advantage of the tools here on CC to figure out a healthy calorie threshold (1200 is the number to stay above but if you try to eat only 1200/day to begin with, you're going to have a difficult time sticking with it), and remember the Magic Difference of 750 calories/day: for a sensible rate of weight loss, you'll want to consume that many calories less than you spend in a day. Another calculator that was a huge help to me is http://www.halls.md/ideal-weight/body.htm

The biggest danger I've found is trying to do too much all at once - if you truly want to be healthy, this has to be a lifelong change. Start small - like the fruit instead of a candy bar, or a diet soda/water instead of regular, or even a salad instead of your regular lunch - and don't deprive yourself of your favorite things or you'll sabotage your own efforts. And get moving! Even the tiniest bit of exercise, a walk around the block or taking the stairs instead of the elevator, can help to raise your metabolism and your mood.

Good luck! It's a bumpy ride and you will definitely want to quit sometimes but it's so worth it. And whatever you do, when you hit those bumps, don't beat yourself up over it. We've all been there. :)

EDIT: I lied! The calculator that I love is actually http://www.phord.com/cc/. I was going on about 1500 calories/day and plateau'ing like crazy - once I found this, I bumped up to 2000/day and it kickstarted my weight loss again. The great thing is that it adjusts your intake/output as you continue to lose.