Any teenage boys losing weight for vanity?

Reading around I feel like the only male teenager trying to lose weight on this site.

I'm a 6.0" 15 year old, from England, and weigh 183lbs, 3lbs from my starting weight of 186 two days ago but the rate of loss seems to be slowing way down..

Whilst I know tonnes of girls my age who are overweight, I am practically the only overweight boy in my year other than a friend of mine who makes me seem dainty in comparison.

I want to lose weight because:

1) I'm sick of feeling ashamed of being shirtless- making swimming and changing awkward.

2) In the last year, no matter how baggy my T-shirt is my unsightly man boobs are still evident.

3) I want to feel attractive, as if I'm actually an option for women more than a guy constantly 'friend-zoned'.

Are there any other guys on here in a similar position, or am I the only man willing to put kebabs and booze on hold to lose my belly?

well, i'm not a guy, but i wanted to say good luck :) and when it comes to girls i promise to confidence will make you attractive even if you don't think you are. plenty of overweight guys have a good chance with any girl because they have confidence in themselves. being funny helps too :p

Original Post by elaks:

kebabs and booze

At 15...?  Glad you've seen the light.  Booze does much worse things to your body than a few spare lbs and if you knew what went into a kebab you'd probably feel quite queasy... LOL!

I'm not a teenage boy either but just wanted to encourage you to take heart.  Because you're so young and burning energy like a patio heater on a cool evening you'll probably find that you don't need to consciously cut calories at all.  Instead, you'll get amazing results by simply adopting a healthier (kebab & booze-free) diet and getting more exercise.

Take a good look through this website which is all about healthy eating for teens...  http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/agesandstages/teens /  There's even a sample menu plan.  Eat better with more vegetables & wholegrain foods etc., and your body shape will change straight away.  Assuming you don't do the grocery shopping, talk to whoever it is that does so that they know what you're trying to achieve and the right stuff ends up in the trolley.  At the same time... do you cook?  If not, there's another great opportunity.  People who can prepare simple, healthy meals are usually slimmer than ones that are always getting takeaways etc.  You don't have to be Jamie Oliver and guys who can cook are very attractive people!!

On the exercise front, aim for an hour a day... Anything goes.  Swimming, kicking around a football, cycling.  If there's an explorer scout group in your area you could join that, get involved in all kinds of activities and boost your self-esteem at the same time.   If you increase your exercise you'll slim down in no time.

Very best of luck.

if you knew what went into a kebab you'd probably feel quite queasy... LOL!

I know. In fact, it was sitting with my friends in a sleazy south London kebab shop, watching the greasy slab of meat they severed chunks from to put in the kebabs rotating and sweating with fats made me conscious of what I was putting into my body in the first place.

I'm not a guy, but part of the reason I'm losing weight is due to vanity.  Of course I want to look like every other pretty girl in Southern California.  Especially when guys have so many girls to pick from.. why would they want the nice, chubby girl with a pretty face, when they could have a nice, skinny girl with a pretty face?

More than anything, though, it's for my health and own self esteem.

Hiya, so I am also not a guy, but i must say that i totally agree that confidence is key to getting girls!  We can tell when guys aren't confident, and yes, there are some girls out there who only want guys with perfect bodies, but there are so many more girls who understand that it really doesnt matter how much a guy weighs as long as he's a good guy!  I totally support you in your weight loss journey, as I am losing the last few pounds for vanity reasons as well!  Just remember not to change who you are in your efforts to lose a few.

Best of luck! =)

I am a guy, however I'm not trying to lose weight..

I know exactly how you feel....I am 21 (not a teen anymore) but was like 270ish (much higher than you now) at 5'7'' in my late teen years....I am 140 something now...so it's definately possible!   good luck!

Kebab comment: if you make them yourself, they're delicious and healthy! All you need is some meat, some easily skewerable veggies, some seasonings, and a grill w/ charcoal.

'Kebab' in this context is not a tasty grilled skewer laden with chunks of meat and vegetables.  LOL!!  

Because the OP is English he'll be referring to a Turkish style Doner Kebab i.e. a rotating 'dead man's leg' of extremely greasy minced lamb that passes in front of a stationary grill element to warm up.  http://berlin.metblogs.com/archives/images/20 06/11/doner.jpg The kebab shop operator pares thin slices of the cooked meat from this disgusting slab and flops it onto a pitta bread with some shredded lettuce and a bit of chilli sauce.  Very popular with the after-pub crowd!!!  Few people ever eat the  awful things sober....

Just a heads up.. if you are worried about 'man boobs' you might be barking up the wrong tree.  Its good to lose weight, however be aware there is a condition called gynecomastia in which males develop breast tissue usually around the age of 13.   It's a far more common condition than you might think.  The problem is that the tissue that develops is not always fat;  those that have this condition (including me) almost always have to have the tissue removed by surgery at some point.   Doctors recommend losing weight first before having surgery, however losing weight alone will not cure the condition for most people.

A lot of guys didn't even know there was such a thing as gynecomastia until years and years go by.   My advice to you would be to see a doctor who will be able to tell you if it is pseudo-gynecomastia (fat instead of breast tissue) or gynecomastia.   It may save you years of frustration and embarassment that many have gone through before deciding to do something about it.

Check out http://gynecomastia.org for more information; they have a forums section there thats pretty good as well.   Good luck and I hope for your sake its just weight that can be lost. :)

http://berlin.metblogs.com/archives/images/20 06/11/doner.jpg The kebab shop operator pares thin slices of the cooked meat from this disgusting slab and flops it onto a pitta bread with some shredded lettuce and a bit of chilli sauce.

ARGH! I'm salivating just thinking about the bloody things, but it is true, I've yet to eat one sobre.

Check out http://gynecomastia.org for more information; they have a forums section there thats pretty good as well.   Good luck and I hope for your sake its just weight that can be lost. :)

I'm pretty confident I don't have Gynecomastria as my man-boobs are not disproportionate for my weight, but I will certainly do further research if they do not decrease further down the line..

I just joined this site. I'm a couple years past being a teen, though. And yes, I'm in your position, in a sense. I'm 5' 9" 165lbs. Probably about 26ish% body fat, just trying to get leaner. Keep up a good diet, make it a lifestyle and exercise. Results will come fast depending on YOUR level of dedication. Good luck, man.

right im a 15 year old boy from england aswell :D. TBH with you it really isn't easy to lose weight but you have to persevere with it because you'll get there; i have lost about 10lbs. BTW im 5ft9in and 122lbs and my goal is 110lbs. I wish you luck although im sure you don't need it ;)

Original Post by rp1993:

right im a 15 year old boy from england aswell :D. TBH with you it really isn't easy to lose weight but you have to persevere with it because you'll get there; i have lost about 10lbs. BTW im 5ft9in and 122lbs and my goal is 110lbs. I wish you luck although im sure you don't need it ;)

 Jesus... I'm happy at 5'11 and 130, which is as skinny as BMI charts deem healthy.  5'9 and 110 is dangerous.

Original Post by rp1993:

right im a 15 year old boy from england aswell :D. TBH with you it really isn't easy to lose weight but you have to persevere with it because you'll get there; i have lost about 10lbs. BTW im 5ft9in and 122lbs and my goal is 110lbs. I wish you luck although im sure you don't need it ;)

 I was technically considered underweight when I was 110, and I'm only 5'6". If you got to that weight, you'd be waaaaayyyyy underweight! Heck even 122 puts you at slightly underweight on the BMI scale. The last thing you need to do is lose weight..

Damn, I'm only 1 inch taller than you, the same age, but my target is 40lbs higher? I'll just assume it's because I'm so damned muscled... *lies*

Original Post by rp1993:

right im a 15 year old boy from england aswell :D. TBH with you it really isn't easy to lose weight but you have to persevere with it because you'll get there; i have lost about 10lbs. BTW im 5ft9in and 122lbs and my goal is 110lbs. I wish you luck although im sure you don't need it ;)

http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/bodycomp/bmiz2.html

You're just about inside the healthy weight range for your age/height at the moment but the last thing you should do be doing is trying to lose another 10lbs.  At 15 your body has another 6 years of growing to do and for that it needs good nutrition.... not calorie-restriction and weight-loss.

15 year old boy here, from Canada. :P

5'6" starting weight 168; current weight 143; goal 130-135

I'm a male teenager, I'm 17, from the US, 6' tall and right now weight 225 lbs.  I am a large framed guy but 225 is about 65 lbs too heavy for me.  I started my "new lifestyle" about 2 months ago at 249 lbs, so I've lost 24 lbs so far.  I want to get down to about 160 lbs and then maybe go down to 150/155 lbs depending on how I look.  Then I'll probably try to bulk up and add some muscle up to about 170 to look buff instead of skinny.  I know how you feel about the moobs (man boobs), they suck.  and being "friend zoned" all the time is the worst, it happens to me all the time. 

Original Post by gerbology:

I'm a male teenager, I'm 17, from the US, 6' tall and right now weight 225 lbs.  I am a large framed guy but 225 is about 65 lbs too heavy for me.  I started my "new lifestyle" about 2 months ago at 249 lbs, so I've lost 24 lbs so far.  I want to get down to about 160 lbs and then maybe go down to 150/155 lbs depending on how I look.  Then I'll probably try to bulk up and add some muscle up to about 170 to look buff instead of skinny.  I know how you feel about the moobs (man boobs), they suck.  and being "friend zoned" all the time is the worst, it happens to me all the time. 

 Dude, 150/155!? I'm 5' 9" and right now 162ish. If I saw someone who was 3 inches taller than me, but only 150lbs, I'd afraid of breaking them if I shook their hand. It's good to have goals, albeit they need to be healthy ones. 160lbs sounds a little more reasonable, assuming you have no muscle mass....