Hola, from washington. :)

[AndreaKidd]

Welll, my name is Andrea. I'm 15, about to be 16 in march. I came here for support and tips in my journey to weight loss. I know I'm pretty young than most of you out there, maybe even way younger. But I have been struggling with my weight since puberty. I wasn't over weight, but I was definitely a little over than I guess the "average" weight 9 year old should be, I look back now and I think to myself "what was I thinking that I felt bigger than all of the other girls?!" Because you couldn't see it. I looked normal. I became self conscious in 3rd grade. I would suck in my stomach because I didn't want anybody to think I was over weight. 4th grade I started puberty, I was still in the normal range, but I still saw girls were tinier than me. I think it was just my body built that threw me off. 5th grade came around, I was gaining weight fast. I was in the 140 range. I told my mom I hated being fat, I was made fun of in school by all of the boys. I hated school, I hated myself, I hated life. I went through this "emo" stage around 5th, 6th, 7th grade. around 7th grade I was in the 170's. Well I'm in 10th now, and I still haven't done anything I'm about 250 now.

I'm so embarrassed. I have always wanted to do something about it but I never disciplined myself. I told my mom a few times I really wanted to lose weight, but she kind of forgot. My whole family is obese, or at least some are a bit overweight. After struggling since 7th grade with an anxiety disorder, I found out just recently my thyroid is a bit abnormal, so I'm starting my thyroid medicine. It's 2010, I have been through so much, loss of friends, people backstabbing me, being in and out of school, my sister joining a psycho church and abandoning us, my grandma dying. I have finally learned not to let people walk all over me, and if they want drama I'm done with them, And that I'm stronger than I thought and I will lose this weight. Tis burden that has been keeping me from making friends and having boyfriends and even fitting clothes I want to wear.

I'm sorry if this is a super long thread but my point is, I have been through so much shizz, and I think I deserve to get healthy, and help my family healthy too. I don't want to lose weight so I can "fit in" or make boys like me, but I want to do this for my health, my mom has recently been diagnosed with diabetes. She has lost 30 lbs in a year, I am proud of her so I have decided that with her, and two of my other friends who want to get fit as well, that we will help each other, and we all can live a better, healthier life. (haha Yeah I know I sound a lot older than 15, I observe the world, and I'm more mature than most kids my age who only care about boys, money, material things) My mom has bought healthier food ( I don't really eat that bad, I just don't like seafood, certain veggies and meat really, though I like chicken) I have decided to start taking my family, my dog, and me on a 30 minute walk everyday ( I live near a park, like literally across the street) and right next to it is a high school, so I want to see if we can go each week at the pool.

I want to start out slow, since I'm usually home 24/7, and then once I get used to exercising daily, I want to start doing more exercises that target my stomach and thighs and stuff. I'm glad I found this site for support! and sorry for the super long thread. haha.

My goal is to get about in the 140/150 lb range, and even to 130 if I can, I forgot to mention when I was a baby, I was a little bit underweight, I had low iron too. I'm not sure if that somehow could play into why I'm heavier now, or that's mostly because of lack of discipline. Haha.

 

[Camy]

Hello Andrea,
at your age the very best thing to do would be to go and see a doctor. Even the same one that gave you the thyroid meds (I assume it is Thyroxine, because your thyroid is a bit underworking?) and ask him for some help.
You sound very mature, but your body is still that of a child, so your needs are a bit different from our "grown up needs". This is good because probably you can lose the weight much faster than we do! But also it means you need to take care of yourself a lot, and just medical guidance while you do this is very important.

I like your approach though, just making small changes, however you will need to get a lot of information, you can read the stickies here in the forum and again ask your dr. You need to understand how many calories are in which foods and how they affect you, how to work out, what to do, etc...
Also it is great that you want to make your family healthier, I am sure that if maybe you and your mom take a healthy cooking class together you could have a brilliant time and learn how to make yummy low calorie meals. But don't get upset if they do not manage to lose the weight or even to stay motivated. Losing weight is a lot about disposition and about a certain "clicking" moment. I tried to lose weight for a few year and it never came to anything, then it clicked one day and it worked. I had to be ready, physically and mentally to make changes and to stick to it.

I was actually similar to you, I was really rather skinny in primary school and puberty hit me hard. My family is very thin, my sister and mom are both in the size 0 region, so I felt very bad and my mom would try to push me to diet all the time. Even though I was still in the normal weight region they would tell me I was fat. I did a ton of sports but I also ate a lot of food, I really love food. I was never obese just overweight but because of the feedback at home and at my dance school was so strong I felt like I weighed 600 pounds. However only when she stopped saying that and I had come out of the quite toxic dancing world I managed to lose the weight and now I am back to liking my mother and the sport that is my passion.

I wish you all the very best, Camy