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this is what ive been trying to say-but she says it so much better! thanks jenmcc! : D
hope you dont mind me copy + pasting this


#77 jenmcc Dec 07 2007 17:47 I have no idea what started this whole thread, since the original poster just deleted it, however, i want to comment about whether teens are done growing.

They may have reached their full adult height, this is true. However:

1) Up until about the mid-20s, the body is in peak bone-building mode. It will never be easier to build strong bones. NEVER. Once you reach your mid-20s, it's all downhill. You want to reach that age, and have the densest bones possible.

Bone-building is not just about diet, of course. Exercise and sunlight play a crucial role. But, restrictive diets can cause major problems. This is why anorexics in their 20s have the bones of 80 year olds. It needn't even be that restrictive: there are concerns we are creating a growing epidemic of osteoporosis, kids today have more porous bones ... many think that in addition to lack of exercise and sunshine, too many diet sodas and not enough dairy intake may be playing a role too.

2) Up until mid-20s, the body is also in peak muscle-building mode. Read what I wrote above about bones, and it's the same  idea. Except that you have to add this thought: you cannot build muscle while in calorie deficit!

Now, if you are an obese teen, yes, you do need to diet, because your weight causes all sort of other complications.  But this should be done under  medical supervision to ensure that muscle mass is retained.

3) From about age 12 until about age 21, your brain is growing at an ASTOUNDING rate! This is the latest research. We used to think the brain stopped growing in toddlerhood. It doesn't. It apparently undergoes a second, even more major, even more dramatic growth spurt from age 12 to age 21. Yep, long after you've reached your full adult height.

Starve your brain during this period of time and you are - literally! - preventing yourself from reaching your full intellectual adult potential. Your brain uses something like 70% of all the calories you consume every day. It doesn't like to use body fat either. It lives off circulating glucose, glucose from what you eat. If it doesn't have that, it'll break down your muscles next, instead of your body fat.

You also need healthy dietary fats - it has something to do with mylenation... I'm not an expert here. But this is critical to have when your brain is growing and making all these new connections.

The three reasons above are precisely why the recommendations for teens are always HIGHER than for adults. And if you do some surfing, you'll see that the experts all agree teens need more cals than adults - but little agreement on how *much* more. It is quite likely that the recommendations will be revised UPWARD again. And note, since these three things are going on up into the mid-20s, I would say that those in their early 20s may also want to reconsider dieting.

So, what do you do with this info, if you are a teen or early 20s?? It's absolutely key to get good and adequate nutrition. If you are obese, yes, you probably are better off on a carefully supervised diet and dropping the weight. It's a trade-off, medically speaking.

If you are only overweight, however, you are probably much better off NOT dieting. Eat a healthy, clean diet with a lot of variety, stay away from sodas and junk food, and get a balanced range of carbs, protein, fats. Don't eliminate or cut any of these too drastically - you need them ALL.

Then strive to Grow into your weight!! YES. Not talking here about growing TALLER. I'm talking about growing:

1) Denser bones

2) More muscle

3) A bigger, smarter brain

All of that takes calories. Any weight loss should be gradual and gentle.

And highly important: GET MOVING. This will encourage stronger bones, more muscle, greater connections in your brain. It'll make your body perform like it's intended to perform.

Ultimately, a healthy weight will follow. And you will reach your peak in your mid-20s with maximum lean mass, meaning you will have a much easier time managing your weight going forward.

I SAW AN AD ON TV THAT SAIS IF U MIX TACO BELL SAUCE LEMONS AND WATER AND DRINK IT EVERY DAY ULL LOSE 50 POUNDS DOES IT WORK??!?!?!!1

I am all for teens trying to be healthy and whatnot, but I am not for teens, or anyone, obsessing. You ate a piece of cheesecake you didn't plan on, oh well, put it into your calories for the day and get over it. Everything is ok in moderation. I never looked at calories as a teen, I used to say that if it wasn't full fat it wasn't full flavored. I have always loved to cook and one of my fav sayings is that you can't trust a skinny cook. Anyway, to teenagers and older people alike, we are all trying to be healthy and it is not healthy to obsess. I am not saying don't calorie count, I am just saying if you go over, too bad, get over it. Now if you are (like me and others on this board) a person who truly binges I can understand being upset about it. I can also understand being a little hard on yourself for falling off the wagon. (I can barely see the wagon I am so far off right now) I just can't understand why people get upset over an extra couple hundred calories, chances are you burned them without knowing anyway. Ok time for me to go to bed now, sorry if this doesn't make any sense.

BTW I am only 22 and very new to dieting so this is def all my opinion nothing more

I WANNA LOOK LIKE A SUPERMODELLLLLLL BUT IM NOT GETTING THE CONCEPT OF GOODZ LIGHTING AND PHOTOSHOP, HOW CAN I LOOK LIKE 1 W/O THOSE 2 LIKE CAN I EAT A BAGEL AND THEN RUNZ FOR LIKE 4500 CALORIES?

WILL U TELL ME TO GET OFF MY BUTT AND DO IT CUZ W/O YOU I WONT HAVE MOTI.. MOTI.. WHUT DA WERD?

I stopped growing when I was 12. So, I don't see the problem with 14,15,16 year olds wanting to lose weight. Many times, these teens can be overweight because many parents tend to over-feed.

 Now that they want to make a change in their lifestyle, is that so bad?

Well I was obese even at 12 years old so some kids really just do need help. But yeah, the 120 pounders looking to lose 30 pounds piss me off, lol.

I 8 AT MICKEY DS EVERY DAY AND I GET THE LARGE FRIES BIGMAC AND COKE BUT NOW I GET DA DIET COKE BCUZ DIS WAY I CUT CALORIES BUT NOT SEEING RESULTS WTFS

If this thread were a bus, and every poster was a rider on that bus, and this bus then crashed, and then there were no survivors... i wouldnt be sad.

I'm a teen and I'd like to lose weight. I've also stopped growing.
I think it's good that there are teens on this site, where they can get sound, healthy advice from people with knowledge. There are many other sites on the web about weight loss, (fad diets, pro-ana, myths, etc.,) that *don't* think about health. This is so much better.

Original Post by giggle_puppy:

If this thread were a bus, and every poster was a rider on that bus, and this bus then crashed, and then there were no survivors... i wouldnt be sad.

And now your on the bus too genius.

 

You probably thought your post made you look cool and better then others huh? lol...

you dont know me well enough do you, you are newer arent you...

Original Post by misspriss316:

I SAW AN AD ON TV THAT SAIS IF U MIX TACO BELL SAUCE LEMONS AND WATER AND DRINK IT EVERY DAY ULL LOSE 50 POUNDS DOES IT WORK??!?!?!!1

I can't even begin to imagine how bad that would taste.

Seriously, this thread is rather insulting!

I'm 14. I've stopped growing for the most part, and I'm trying to lose about 40 lbs (that'll put me at about a BMI of 23, so it's NOT too much).

 I know a lot about nutrition, and I eat quite healthily(around 1900-2000 kcal), and run about 20 mi/week.

I think that the problem isn't age so much as maturity. Maturity has nothing to do with age.

Many people are wise beyond their years and are capable of using this site correctly, to it's fullest.  Many people... are not so wise.

This thread is making me laugh.  Or LOL as you teens like to say.  Okay, just kidding....

But I hardly think anyone's stopped growing at 14 or 12, like the above posters say. 

Original Post by jackattack07:

Well I was obese even at 12 years old so some kids really just do need help. But yeah, the 120 pounders looking to lose 30 pounds piss me off, lol.

 

Well I don't think it's the people who need weight help that are being discussed. I can think of three people who make repeated posts like will water make me fat OMG or lets BOLD CAPITAL ITALICIZE EVERYTHING. These are the ones who have journals that tell me they have anorexia at least and probably should be seeing a psychiatrist.

 

What is worse is when you see someone who is 15 and so underweight that they should have an IV drip of calories immediately and people answer their question without a thought. Yea go get that plastic surgery or cut your calories to 800 because I did when I was 13 and I was a super model.

With regards to when a person stops growing - I'm 29, and I've grown 1/2 an inch since I was 14.  And that 1/2 appeared from nowhere sometime after I turned 20, I only discovered it about a year ago, thinking I was still 5'5.5 when I am really 5'6.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand.  I agree totally with HK.  As evidenced by many, many, many posts on this site from users well out of their teens, age has absolutely nothing to do with maturity in most cases.

Height is only part of "growing" especially for girls. Young girl bodies are growing in different ways to get the body ready for child birth. (Even those of you who don't want children.) Some girls do stop getting taller at 12 or 13 but their body still continued to change until into their twenties.

Playing off the age versus maturity, I'm not a teenager anymore.  And I don't act like a teenager.  I act like a pre-teenager.

At least I've got the guts to admit it, though.

LAWLLLLLLLL WHERE DO U TINK I GETZ MUH TYPING FROMZ!!?!?

Mintberrykin is absolutely right - the growth goes past height. Those girls/women who say they stopped growing at 12 - do you still have the hips and boobs of a 12-yr-old? If so... sorry?

And it's true for guys too - I remember so many guys who sprung up like beanpoles in their teens, and didn't fill out til college. Some of that was beer filling, granted. But just like girls grow hips, boys grow shoulders.

Original Post by giggle_puppy:

you dont know me well enough do you, you are newer arent you...

 

Well you have been here a whole 3 months more then me... either way, you don't get extra rights or leeway because you post on here a lot. I had a problem with what you said and how you said it. How long you have been here wouldn't effect that.

I can appreciate the attempt at deflection though! Good job!