Hello!
I stumbled onto this forum after resolving to finally take control of my weight this year. I'd really, really appreciate anyone who is similar to me (or just knows a lot about weight loss) to help me!
I'm a 17 year-old male and I weigh around 206-209 lbs. I eat what I consider (generally) to be a healthy diet; I've never been a huge junk food person, and in the past year I mostly cut out soda and other non-fruit beverages. There's a lot of unique things about me and my situation, so please read on, if you'd like.
I think it's a necessary background, but if you want to skip it, please do.
The Long Story
I always remember myself a little pudgy, but I was never obese (or at least became extremely self-conscious about it) until I was around 13. I never had a flat stomach or anything like that, like most of the other kids did, but I was not heavy. In fact, I played tennis for 3 years, and I was an active participant in a summer playground program with tons of physical activity, and I was in pretty good shape then.
I don't really know *when* it happened, but I somehow got up to my present weight when I was around 14. I had stopped playing tennis by then (broken arm, but I won't get into that!) and my physical activity pretty much dropped to 0.
Then I weighed in at 218 lbs at the doctor's in June 2007 (16 years old). I'm a tad below-average height (~5' 8'') for my age and sex, though still growing, so my weight is not good. I resolved I would no longer keep living my life feeling so separated from the other kids. However, I've never really had a capacity to lose weight normally as other kids might.
Why? Well, the answer is I'm homeschooled. And I'm a intellectual, not a big sports man, from a rather big sports family, and we eat out a lot. So, aside from that tennis stint, I've never had the easy opportunity (or the desire, nor the time) to play consistently in sports teams. When I was entering in my teen years, I had no physical activity aside from the occasional basketball game or something like that.
This is not an excuse. However, there's no denying it's a big problem for keeping in shape. To be honest, I'd probably have the same problem if I were public schooled, because I see tons of homeschooled kids in shape and tons of public schooled kids out of shape. But, anyway, moving on!
Since that appointment I totally cut out soda except for eating out or special occasions. I replaced that, and gradually am replacing iced tea, with water. I often drink four or more 500 mL bottles a day.
I don't think I really let anyone know how much my weight affects me emotionally. I've never really been picked on, because my weight doesn't really show as a huge stomach, but I have been the butt of a few recently - which is fine. But I think the thing that bothers me the most is the little jokes that people don't mean anything by; ones that assume I'm a certain way because I'm overweight, for example "Wow, you're not on the computer?" or "We're talking about sports; but you wouldn't care about that.". What they don't know is that I'm not on the computer a whole lot, and that I habitually watch baseball. Anyone who's gone through this knows what I mean. Don't get me wrong, I don't go home and cry about it, but there have been times when I've felt so ostracized from the rest of my friends who have no (apparent) issues with their weight, and I so desperately do. What bothers me the most is that I finally realize people notice my weight. The friends that I have are true friends, but they're also skinny friends... and that just makes me feel abnormal.
After that phase I fell into a few fads (say that 10 times fast!). I first tried the juicing fad. While I did feel better, my parents quickly grew tired of spending so much money on fruit, particularly organic ones (although I did convince them to always buy organic milk, thank God!).
After that, I turned to the South Beach Diet. My mom, who was a member of Curves, and her sister had great effects through that diet with exercise, so I figured I'd give it a try. I also ran on our exercise bike for ~30 minutes about 3 times a week.
I fended off the cravings of carbs for almost all the two weeks of the first phase, and I got to my lowest weight to date: 199 lbs. I felt so proud of myself. However, when I phased some bread and other carbs back into my diet, problems occurred. Whether it was coupled with a stomach illness or a lack of fiber intake, my stomach became upset and I was vomiting for about a week. So, I stopped the South Beach Diet and went back to my normal eating, and I've been fine ever since. I wish I would have kept going, but I'm too scared to go back to it. I don't know the cause of my stomach illness, whether it was from the lack of fiber or just some food poisoning, but I don't want to take any chances. However, this episode did end well: I still have lost 10 lbs. total in under a year, doing not a whole lot, and that's great. Also, due to my digestive difficulties, I incorporated whole grain, old-fashioned oatmeal into my diet.
Gradually my weight worked its way back up to 207 lbs. Up until about mid-January, I was still riding the exercise bike at least twice a week, but with no results. Then I came upon the next phase: the 12 Second Sequence by Jorge Cruise. I did this consistently for about four weeks. However, I lost no weight, although I do feel I've lost a bit of my stomach, and perhaps built some muscle. But still, the psychological factor of doing all that work and not losing any weight discouraged me, and I lost interest in the workout (especially as it basically required you, in the later stages, to go to a gym - just no!).
The Shortish-story
So, for the past two weeks or so, I've done no exercise at all, and I'm back up to 209 lbs. Now, the good news is - and this is something I'm still proud of - that I've lost about ten net lbs. since June of last year! However, the bad news is that I was down to having lost 20 pounds, but rebounded. I still have tons of hope, and I feel my body could quickly get into shape if only I found a way to stay on a consistent, and a beneficial, exercise regiment.
These are my goals:
These are my questions:
Whew. Thanks for reading all that. Hopefully I typed off a few calories, hm? If this is in the wrong place (maybe advanced weight loss?), I'm sorry! Thank you so much, and I hope that by this time next year I'll be in your position helping others with weight loss!
I stumbled onto this forum after resolving to finally take control of my weight this year. I'd really, really appreciate anyone who is similar to me (or just knows a lot about weight loss) to help me!
I'm a 17 year-old male and I weigh around 206-209 lbs. I eat what I consider (generally) to be a healthy diet; I've never been a huge junk food person, and in the past year I mostly cut out soda and other non-fruit beverages. There's a lot of unique things about me and my situation, so please read on, if you'd like.
I think it's a necessary background, but if you want to skip it, please do.The Long Story
I always remember myself a little pudgy, but I was never obese (or at least became extremely self-conscious about it) until I was around 13. I never had a flat stomach or anything like that, like most of the other kids did, but I was not heavy. In fact, I played tennis for 3 years, and I was an active participant in a summer playground program with tons of physical activity, and I was in pretty good shape then.
I don't really know *when* it happened, but I somehow got up to my present weight when I was around 14. I had stopped playing tennis by then (broken arm, but I won't get into that!) and my physical activity pretty much dropped to 0.
Then I weighed in at 218 lbs at the doctor's in June 2007 (16 years old). I'm a tad below-average height (~5' 8'') for my age and sex, though still growing, so my weight is not good. I resolved I would no longer keep living my life feeling so separated from the other kids. However, I've never really had a capacity to lose weight normally as other kids might.
Why? Well, the answer is I'm homeschooled. And I'm a intellectual, not a big sports man, from a rather big sports family, and we eat out a lot. So, aside from that tennis stint, I've never had the easy opportunity (or the desire, nor the time) to play consistently in sports teams. When I was entering in my teen years, I had no physical activity aside from the occasional basketball game or something like that.
This is not an excuse. However, there's no denying it's a big problem for keeping in shape. To be honest, I'd probably have the same problem if I were public schooled, because I see tons of homeschooled kids in shape and tons of public schooled kids out of shape. But, anyway, moving on!
Since that appointment I totally cut out soda except for eating out or special occasions. I replaced that, and gradually am replacing iced tea, with water. I often drink four or more 500 mL bottles a day.
I don't think I really let anyone know how much my weight affects me emotionally. I've never really been picked on, because my weight doesn't really show as a huge stomach, but I have been the butt of a few recently - which is fine. But I think the thing that bothers me the most is the little jokes that people don't mean anything by; ones that assume I'm a certain way because I'm overweight, for example "Wow, you're not on the computer?" or "We're talking about sports; but you wouldn't care about that.". What they don't know is that I'm not on the computer a whole lot, and that I habitually watch baseball. Anyone who's gone through this knows what I mean. Don't get me wrong, I don't go home and cry about it, but there have been times when I've felt so ostracized from the rest of my friends who have no (apparent) issues with their weight, and I so desperately do. What bothers me the most is that I finally realize people notice my weight. The friends that I have are true friends, but they're also skinny friends... and that just makes me feel abnormal.
After that phase I fell into a few fads (say that 10 times fast!). I first tried the juicing fad. While I did feel better, my parents quickly grew tired of spending so much money on fruit, particularly organic ones (although I did convince them to always buy organic milk, thank God!).
After that, I turned to the South Beach Diet. My mom, who was a member of Curves, and her sister had great effects through that diet with exercise, so I figured I'd give it a try. I also ran on our exercise bike for ~30 minutes about 3 times a week.
I fended off the cravings of carbs for almost all the two weeks of the first phase, and I got to my lowest weight to date: 199 lbs. I felt so proud of myself. However, when I phased some bread and other carbs back into my diet, problems occurred. Whether it was coupled with a stomach illness or a lack of fiber intake, my stomach became upset and I was vomiting for about a week. So, I stopped the South Beach Diet and went back to my normal eating, and I've been fine ever since. I wish I would have kept going, but I'm too scared to go back to it. I don't know the cause of my stomach illness, whether it was from the lack of fiber or just some food poisoning, but I don't want to take any chances. However, this episode did end well: I still have lost 10 lbs. total in under a year, doing not a whole lot, and that's great. Also, due to my digestive difficulties, I incorporated whole grain, old-fashioned oatmeal into my diet.
Gradually my weight worked its way back up to 207 lbs. Up until about mid-January, I was still riding the exercise bike at least twice a week, but with no results. Then I came upon the next phase: the 12 Second Sequence by Jorge Cruise. I did this consistently for about four weeks. However, I lost no weight, although I do feel I've lost a bit of my stomach, and perhaps built some muscle. But still, the psychological factor of doing all that work and not losing any weight discouraged me, and I lost interest in the workout (especially as it basically required you, in the later stages, to go to a gym - just no!).
The Shortish-story
So, for the past two weeks or so, I've done no exercise at all, and I'm back up to 209 lbs. Now, the good news is - and this is something I'm still proud of - that I've lost about ten net lbs. since June of last year! However, the bad news is that I was down to having lost 20 pounds, but rebounded. I still have tons of hope, and I feel my body could quickly get into shape if only I found a way to stay on a consistent, and a beneficial, exercise regiment.
These are my goals:
- I want to be able to take my shirt off in public. This is something I haven't done since I was eleven. I hate my stomach, and I always wear a shirt when I go into a pool or the ocean - which probably looks worse, I know, but at least then maybe people will think it's just the shirt looking ridiculous, not me...
- I don't want to build tons of muscle. I'd be entirely content with being thin with lean muscles like many of my friends are. I want to have a little muscle, but I don't want to look like a jock, and, once again, I want to be an average, lean, teenager. I think you know the type - guys who have been thin their entire lives but have built a bit of muscle. I'd provide pictures, but I don't exactly feel safe searching for "lean teenage male" on Google.
My body type is between light and medium, and I know it's not built to be heavy. My dad had a very thin build before he became overweight, and other genetic factors do not point towards large-bodied types. However, I accept that looking like someone who was never overweight is probably unrealistic. I just really, really don't want to look like a weight-builder. I know, this sounds like something a girl would say about building her muscle, and I can't explain why I don't want to have large muscles, but I guess it's just that I don't want to be large - whether it's with fat or muscles. So, is getting into shape without building huge, bulky muscles possible for guys? - I'd like to get down to about 170 lbs, in time for next June. I originally wanted to do it by this June, but that failed. I want to take my shirt off at the shore and not feel fat or ashamed, and especially I don't want to wear a shirt in the ocean.
- A more short-term goal is getting in shape for this summer. I hope to be playing baseball habitually with some friends on a team, and this is, obviously, a great opportunity to get some exercise! Though I'm fine with the physical side of doing this, I would like to lose some weight by then and get into a good program, so I can increase the weight loss while I'm playing the sport.
These are my questions:
- I can usually hide how overweight I am by sucking in my gut (it's not really that big, since a lot of the weight is spread around my body), but the one thing I can't hide is my face and neck. I hate my neck so much. Out of everything, I would change my neck. It has very little form, and makes me look like I have no chin. You can't see my Adam's apple unless I lean my head back at a tight angle. One again, I don't think this is genetic, as old pictures of my dad, mom, grandparents, etc. showed they always had normal well-defined necks (although they're rather different now). Is there any advice to get rid of such neck fat, or will that come from general weight loss? Is there any way to help target this area?
- What about all the diets and things I did before? If you didn't read "The Long Story", I've done varying levels of South Beach Diet, 12 Second Sequence, basic aerobic exercises on a bike, and juicing. None of these diets are particularly focused at teenagers, I know, but are they even safe for us? No one's really answered my question before, so I don't know.
- What should I do? Please, if there was anyone like me, or if there is anyone like me, please, please offer me some advice on what I should be doing.
Whew. Thanks for reading all that. Hopefully I typed off a few calories, hm?
If this is in the wrong place (maybe advanced weight loss?), I'm sorry! Thank you so much, and I hope that by this time next year I'll be in your position helping others with weight loss!
Last edited:
