Any 18-25 year olds, over 200lbs?

Hi guys! I'm 20, Male and 297lbs!!

There are so many threads on this site dedicated to specfic groups and situations that i thought one was needed for overweight uni students!

It's tough being overweight (or as BMI is indexing me - Obese!!), especially with other young adults being stick thin or supermodel look-a-likes.

It would be great to share support and maybe even discuss good/bad experiences and hopefully advice too!

Anybody in the bracket please post!

I'm not over 200, but I will be 20 in August and I will be a Junior in college this Fall. My highest weight was 173 in February of this year. I am now down to 152. I know this isn't what you were looking for but I am willing to help you out if you want any suggestions/ideas/or simply some motivation :-)


Hope you find what you're looking for!! Good luck with everything :-)


-Elyse

Im an 18 year old girl and I weigh about 228 lbs.  My highest weight ever was 252 lbs in the eleventh grade.  I've been overweight my whole life and I started calorie counting about 2 weeks ago.  When I started calorie counting I was at 231 lbs.   

Well that's 1.5 then so far :)

Spikey Blue, i wonder what did you do to lose those 25 or so pounds since 11th grade? Just naturally or a sport or a diet?

Honestly, I'm not sure how I lost the other 20 or so.  I dont play sports and I dont think I just lost the weight due to growing or something like that.  Over the years I have done a variety of fad diets (nutrisystem, atkins, south beach diet, etc...) and I have lost weight on all of them and then gained some weight back after I went off of them.  I wish I could tell you specifically what I did, but I dont know sorry  :).  I can say however that calorie counting seems to work for other people that are on this site and it seems to be the healthiest way I have heard of so far to lose weight and like you said I did already lose some weight.

I can't imagine trying all those diets!

I mean, i'm overweight, and now i've honestly taken a look at myself and i'm going to do something about it. But i had always assumed it was the case of eating healthy and doing exercise. How is it that the obvious stuff doesn't work, and the extreme diets don't work, but now this easy system does?

And has anyone seen the Paul McKenna 'I can make you thin' series? I liked alot of what i saw and it seems a meld of body, mind and calculation tables really are the best medicine :P

I think its so ironic that for years I have been looking for "the secret" to weight loss and tried all those stupid diets that are so hard to stick with, yet I avoided the obvious solution of diet and exercise  as if it were the plague.  I like calorie counting.  I must admit that I am kind of a nerd/braniac.  I do really well in school and I tend to be very analytical and I like that I have complete control over how many calories I eat and I like that in order to succeed all you need to do is know how to add numbers.   For the first time ever, I feel like if I really stick to this I will actually get healthy for the first time in my life.

Hi,

I just made it! I'm 25 years old and over 200. (Actually, the last time I checked I was over 300, but I don't weigh in again until tomorrow)  I've been overweight my entire life and what really scared me was one of those infomercials in the middle of the night.  The guy was talking about diabetes and its effects.  The next day my doctor told me I should start thinking about surgery.  I think the combination first made depressed (being that I went from the doctor's office and ate a bunch of junk), but then I figured I wanted to try one more time on my own without surgery.  I am glad I found this place.  Since the middle of April, I have become very aware of everything I buy and everything I put in my mouth. 

I know how hard it is and I wish everybody here (including me) nothing but success.

I just found this site and am SO glad I did.  I just turned 25 a couple of weeks ago.  It was a real wake up call for me.  I have been overweight my whole life as well.  It's gotten really bad in the past few months.  I started my own business and now work solely out of my home.  I think being able to eat out of my own fridge whenever I want and not having to see people daily helped me pack on some extra pounds.  I just weighed myself for the first time in a long time and I'm at 270. 

I feel like this weight is keeping me from living my life.  I turn down invitations to do things all the time because all of my friends are skinny.  I just feel completely miserable in public.  I am so self conscious of my looks.

Starting today things are going to change.  I have tried all of the diets in the past.  I think the problem was that I just wanted to be skinny by the end of the month and not have to work very hard at it.  I'm going to go about it the right way this time.  If the weight loss is slower than I would like, that's okay.

If anyone needs support or wants to become my "weight loss buddy" just e-mail me.  Good luck everyone.  I know we can all do it!

Lisa :)

I'm 18 years old and I'm around 267 now. I started CC at 280.

Hi everyone!

I'm 24 years old and weigh over 300 pounds. This is my story :p

I've been overweight my entire life. My mother was always trying to help me to lose weight and we would often go on "diets" together. I remember going to my first weight watchers meeting. I couldn't have been more than 10 years old. We also went to see a hypnotist, who tried to convince everyone that hypnosis could help us lose weight...along with the supplements he was selling of course.

The first time I tipped the scales at 300 was when I was 17 in my last year of high school. That year I stopped playing sports to focus on school and theater, at the time my passions. The effect was quick and obvious. The more I gained, the more I ate. I was definitely a binge eater then and still struggle with that today.

When I was in college my weight continued to go up, eventually reaching about 320. I went on the Atkins diet and lost 40 pounds. Like most people on that diet, after losing 40 pounds I gained it all back. In my last year of school I was back up to 323. I joined ediets, which is a really great weight loss tool in my opinion. I lost close to 60 pounds! I would have continued to lose had I not lost my focus and stopped visiting the ediets website, counting my calories, and living a healthy lifestyle. I stopped losing and started gaining again, until my weight crept up to 340.

Since then there have been a few half hearted attempts to turn my life around, but it was only this April when I realized I was ready to make a serious change...for good. I didn't go back to ediets, because it's too much money for me right now (hopefully soon I'll be making more money, in which case I fully plan to get back on their program, if only for the recipes!) but I started logging my calories (not on calorie count actually, but another site that I found before. It's basically the same idea, but all my favorite foods are saved there already, so it was too hard to make the switch when i found cc!). What I like about this site is the message boards. I've been browsing for a few weeks now, and this is my first post. I hope to find other people in similar situations to communicate with. This group seems like a good start!

Since mid April I have gone down to 322. I am not sure of my exact starting weight this time, but I believe it was around 335.

A little bit more about me: I currently live in France and teach English at three elementary schools, but I'll be moving back to the states in a couple of weeks!

tackster: thanks for starting this group!

mathwiz: I agree with you about weight loss surgeries. I really want to lose this weight on my own without the help of gastric bypass. I believe that surgery may help you lose weight, but doesn't correct the real problem of your mindset. I know people who have had that surgery, and they are losing weight, but...they refuse to exercise and I wouldn't call their eating habits healthy, just extremely low calorie. it will be interesting to see how they do in the long term.

Lisa: I feel for you not wanting to go out in public! Just remember, your friends love you no matter what you look like. I mean, are you friends with them because they are skinny, or because you like their personalities? I'm guessing it's the latter! Don't let being overweight prevent you from enjoying your life now! I think you've got the right idea about slow and steady weight loss, so it sounds like you're in a good place right now. Good luck and I would definitely like to be your weight loss buddy!

Thanks for listening everyone, and keep posting!

Julia

PS: Is there any way the moderators can delete crypto's post? The tone makes me think he was kidding, but it's irresponsible to post something that promotes bulemia or other eating disorders when so many young people read these boards and already struggle with those problems. Thanks.

im 21, 5'5", and 245 lbs.  i wear a size 18.  I've got lots of muscle, and lots of fat.  most of my fat is on my back and belly and arms though.  My legs are more muscular than anything.  I guess makes me apple shaped?

so i just recently decided to try to be proactive about my situation, because: 

• i'm tired of going to clubs, and having guys not dance with me, but dance with my skinnier friends. 
• im tired of not getting hollered at at parties. 
• i'm tired of having to go to the big-and-ugly clothes section of department stores, which ironically, is right by the drapery section. 
• i'm tired of seeing pictures of myself on facebook that other people tagged, and being like "damn, do i really look like that?!?!" 
• i'm tired of not being able to find a sexy young dress for formals.  why do i always have to dress like my grandmama?
• i'm tired of being self conscious about the muffin-top, jiggly-arm, back-rolls, phenomena that big women experience
• i'm tired of my family and friends always asking me if im ok with my appearance or telling me that i need to lose weight before i end up like all my other obese relatives
• i'm tired of being the fat side-kick.  i'm ready for my own spotlight.
• i'm tired of being the slow walker in the group, because if i walk any faster, the friction between my thighs might start a small fire.
• and i'm tired of the lower back pains.  geez.  what's with that?  am i the only one that gets those?

so.  clearly, i'm tired of being the way i am.  and, hopefully, i'm going to change.  i say this reluctantly, because i can't even commit to a simple thoughtless decision, much less a life-changing momentous one.  everyone says, losing weight is a lifestyle change.  thats scary.  i mean, thats a huge step.  lifetime?!?!  like, rice cakes and celery sticks for the rest of my life?  and exercise?  whoa.  i love food way too much.  eating is like a culinary art.  i can't just throw that all away.  and exercising, despite what all these billy blanks already-in-shape 7-minute-abs people say, IS NOT FUN. 

so whats a fat girl like me to do?  well, for starters, instead of binge eating out of nervous habit at 4am in the morning when i'm trying to cram for an exam, i might pick up another nervous habit that is less threatening to my heath/sexappeal.  like, sugarfree gum chewing?  (i'm really gonna need some suggestions here, because i need another way to relieve stress besides eating).  and i guess i could fabricate some new fun ways of exercising so that it doesnt seem like exercising.  like cleaning-my-room aerobics!  or power-laundry! 

I feel like i'm facing this big fat beast square in the eyes, and i'm scared, and i don't know how i'm going to get through this, or even if i can.  do i want this bad enough?  should i have to change myself just to get other people to like me?  am i just setting myself up for failure?

help.

I relate to everyone here. I too am over 200 and I am 23 years old. I turned 23 in March, and life it seems is closing in. I dont see myself with a great future, with a life, with love, with anything. And thats because I dont love myself, atleast I'm starting to get to that conclusion.

Why? I hate how I look. So I will try and eat better, and I will do my 60min a day on the treadmil. Maybe take 1 day off a week, depending on soreness until I get more used to it.

I guess if your not like 'us' people dont undestand. And that makes it even harder to set goals and accomplish them. But all we can do it try I guess.

I'm 180cm high(5.9 feet) and a 22 year old male. It was about 2 Months ago when I realized, that it can't go on the way it is. I hit 99 Kg back then which is aprox. 218 LBS(if the e-calculator I used isn't lying^^) and 100 is something like a magical step, like 200 lbs must be for others...
At that time I started to look for ways to reduce that weight asap. Well I guess I succeeded, I just stopped eating junk, no chocolate, other sweets or crips, popcorn and other stuff that is almost completely based on fat, sugar and/or salt.

I eventually searched the web for people like me, who tried to lose weight and failed, and for those who suceeded. I learned from their mistakes and came to the conclusion that a simple diet is just a waste of time, since you gain at a 90%(at least there where much more that regained their weight after simple diets than those who kept their low weight after them) chance all the weight back after you finish the diet...

What to do then? Sports? Nah... I have not the motivation to run arround my house for an hour or so, nor do I like to go to clubs where dozens of mad people with allready nice stature go daily to pump that bizeps even more up. I never drunk alcohol and have a relatively "moderate-activity" job after all, that might be my luck after all, about 10 hours a day I am up, standing, walking, lifting (light)stuff and so on.

So I realized, sports won't help, change the other thing, the other thing was food of course. - What to change? hmm.. I thought about it and looked at various websites, they all tell the same, don't eat bad qualitymeat -food like sausages, burgers, fries and so on. I really like meat, so I started to eat the other stuff, like ham(heck didn't even knew back then how low it is on fat after all, even ham where you can see a little bit of the fat on the outside has so much less fat inside than all kinds of sausages.

About two weeks ago I found this website, I allready lost 5kg(11lbs) since the 99kg time back then. Now I'm keeping track of my weight daily and try to use the calorie counter as good as possible. My total nutrition grade is at B which seems to be relatively good and I eat about 1.000 calories less than I "should" a day. I don't necessary avoid fat foods completely, I still eat yoghurts with some fat in it(those 0% fat stuff just tastes awfull) and also like smoked salmon once a week. I eat turkey and chicken instead of pork, after all I eat a little less than I used to before and of course, I haven't eaten anything sweet but a cake at the birthdayparty of a friend a few weeks ago. The only thing I drink is mineral water or normal water, I don't like softdrinks anymore,yuck ;)

Oh.. now I am almost under 200lbs, a little more to go, I lost 2 kg the last two weeks since I am here, that's another 4.5 lbs and now my weight is 92kg/202.4lbs :) -the clothes of mine allready don't fit allright anymore, but I won't buy new ones real soon, they should fit at least for another 20lbs loss, then I might need to change them lol.



PS: My hint for everyone is: be patient! It takes as much time to lose weight as it took to gain it, if not more! I am the same as the poster above, only that I realized that I'm too fat and have to change it a year earlier, that's all. I don't believe anyone with too much weight is happy about it, even if they talk to others like they would be. It's not funny to be fat, even a little, when you have thin or "normal" weight friends that all get dates when you stand aside watching cause you're so damn fat and ugly, but soon we all will be able to watch in the mirror and laugh, mark my words!

I am a 25 yr old female.  5'4" and 219 (down from 248!).  I have also been overweight for my whole life even though I was raised on very healthy food and plenty of exercise.  If anyone wants proof that some people are just genetically proned to be overweight, then send them my way.  I look at pictures from when I was 4 and think, "Man, I was screwed from the beginning". 

Luckily I have a very supportive, loving fiance who eats all of the healthy food with me (he just eats twice as much and a lot of ice cream), even though he is the type that can eat anything and not gain an ounce.

fsrogers . . . I love your bullet points, I definitely see a lot of the things that motivated me to finally not just try to lose weight and actually lose it.

I'm a 22 year old female, 6'0" and 217 (down from 250) I started cc in April of 2006 lost 45 lbs in 5 months. Then feel off the wagon in a way. I still read the forums but I stopped counting. That went on for that last 7 months till I realized I was slowly gaining the weight back (though 12 lbs in 7 months isn't that bad could be a lot worse) So now I'm back ready to get serious about this again and drop to a more healthy weight level. My 1st goal is to be under 195 by Aug 15 ( I have to get fitted for my wedding dress then) and then to stay mainly constant till after the wedding. :)

Good news here!!!

I usually weigh myself on the little square scale in my job's office bathroom.  Since I've been counting my calories (about 3 and half weeks) it says I have lost 6 pounds.  Today was the first day it read under 300 and I was extremely excited. 

BUT...

After work I went to the  nurse's office (I work at an elementary school) and got on the balance scale like they have in doctor's offices and it read 282!!!! I was shocked, thrilled, in disbelief, etc...  I got off and did it again to make sure I was doing it right.  I knew when I started that it would take long for me to lose the weight (being that it took me 20+ years to gain) and I was truly happy with the 6, but this takes the cake (doesn't eat it though lol)!!!  It means since I got my last official weight at the doctor on  April 26, I've lost 23 lbs.  It just proves even more to me that I made a right choice changing my eating and excercise habits.

Sorry for the long post, but I had to tell people that would understand.  I told my aunt and she was like, "good for you, you need to lose it" in the tone that says "so what". 

you all should be very proud of yourselfs for taking control of your lifes, keep up the great work.

mathwiz37, i absolutely adored that story!! wouldn't it be great to wake up one morning and realise i had a bad scale!

unfortunately i don't think statiscally that's likely, but then again, you're that maths wiz!!

Anyways i'm not going to say i'm glad to say there are so many of us but i can really relate to some of the things i'm hearing here! Sometimes it's scary and i don't know whether i'd personally go for hypnosis or pills and such. Is it difficult to take steps like that or do you feel it's the only resort?

It seems like there are so many success stories in the making on this site. But i'm afraid there's a couple of people hiding behind the curtains! Anybody having a bad experience counting calories?

I'm on day 2 and so have no weight loss to report just yet. However i'm really psyched and reading these posts really gives me drive! Thanks for sharing!

Lastly, some of you seem to be edging that 1500/1200 cals per day minimum. Even lower! Any side effects? Do you not feal tired or nauseous or always hungry?

Everybody keep up the good work! If you need encouragement or want to tell us a story..!!

Hey tackster! No, I dont think pills or hypnosis are the way to lose weight. I don't think my mom, who took me to the hypnotist, really thinks it works either. But we weren't informed back then. We went through this phase where we tried all kinds of fad diets. It isnt difficult to try something like that when you don't know what's really going to help you. Now I know the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in! Right mathwiz? :)

I definitely eat more than 1200 calories a day! I dont think I would be able to survive one day like that. I eat anywhere between 1800-2000 calories a day, sometimes more if i am really active that day. CC.com actually recommends that I eat 2350 to lose 1.5 a week, but that's usually a little too much for me. If I don't make it, I don't force myself to eat more. I do a lot of walking so that helps. I feel like it's best to eat a good amount, stay really active, and lose weight at a slow pace rather than eat minimal calories, lose weight really fast, then gain it all back when you're sick of feeling deprived.

Mathwiz: I loved your story! Are you going to buy a new scale or just rely on the doctor's scale from now on? (it's probably the most accurate one anyway!) Congrats on the loss, that is amazing. Keep up the good work!

Vendetta: Congrats on the loss! Are you from Europe? I notice you mark your weight loss in kilograms. I am living in France right now so I bought a scale that doesn't convert to pounds. I have to go online and do it myself. But weighing in kilos is fun too! Also, I can relate to standing by and watching my thin friends get dates while I am the wallflower of the party. I don't necessarily think it's all to  do  with my looks (yes I'm overweight, but me ugly? Hell no! :) but more with my  confidence in social situations. Oh well, I'm working on that too!

Keep up the great work everybody!
Julia

Well, I am 23 and I just dropped for 203 to 198. I am naturally muscular but after have 2 babies I needed to tone. It is true some people are just naturally big. Everyone one in my family is well over 300 on my dads side. I feel that is you are really determined and really want to change yuo lifestyle you will do it. If you know geneticly you are big you know you have to be extremely carefull with every calorie you consume. One thing that get's down people who are naturally big is looking at other people we are not big. You need to understand you are an individual and every one is differenet and carry weight different.