I've been having some diet difficulties and need serious help!!

Great. Now for monitoring the results. Every morning when you get up, stop in the bathroom then weigh yourself and graph the results. What you are going to find is that your weight will move up and down as much as two pounds a day. That's not fat. A reasonable person cannot really gain or lose a pound of fat a day. You can shift a lot of weight with water but that's not what we care about. Ignore that weight variation. The reason you graph the numbers is so you can see the weight drop with time. The day to day numbers vary alot but you are looking for the week to week numbers. You can also set some reasonable goals. If you can't really lose a pound of fat in a day, you certainly can't lose ten pounds in a week. One pound of fat a week is a good rate to lose weight. Remember this is a lifestyle change, not a short-term diet. You can do things in the short term that will cause you to shed water but that will come right back. Trimming back the fat is what you are after. One pound a week doesn't sound like much until you realize that that is fifty pounds a year. Finally realize that as you approach a more healthy weight, your rate of weight loss will slow down. After a few months it will be a half pound a week then a quarter pound. This is ok. Your body will be getting to the right weight and when you are at the right weight and the right diet you will maintain a good weight. Just stay away from that ice cream.

I don't give a hoot about other people's comment in some other forum. I gave my personal experience of how "strenuous" horse riding is to me. For my body it wasn't much of a work out at all.

Atom, please be a gentleman and go away. You are not helping here.

Did you make a day without dessert?

since EFL has referenced engineer's helpful posts, I thought I'd bring this one back to the top




I have one quibble in that controlling the o.p's weight is part two. She's got to reduce it first - and exercise will have to be a significant component of that.

Increasing her awareness of how much exercise is needed to counter some specific meals and snacks will hopefully help the o.p. understand what she is doing to herself.


How many sugar and fat was in that ice cream she had on Sunday? how many hours of exercise will it take to maintain her current weight after eating that ice cream?


One of the things that really struck me when Jes started posting her meal details during her initial weight loss was just how much good food she had to eat each day. A bag of salad was part of each day's meal plan.

It's not just about not eating bad things, it's also about making sure you get all of the good nutrients you need - particularly as EFL is still in her teens.

Um, sort of. I took one more break from exercising yesterday, so just focus on eating and see how well I did. I was doing wonderful until it hit me in the afternoon. I had a bowl of Strawberries, blueberries, and bananas, and when I finished coming downstairs from my room, I put it in the sink. My mom was outside and I saw these sliced marble pound cake on the counter, and sneaked two and ran upstairs. Bad mistake. But other thanthat I did great. Yeah, I made a mistake, but I'm not going to let that take me down. I followed whoevers instructions they gave me, and I weighed myself this morning. I weighed 173.2 ) It gave me a little more ambition, and more motivation to keep at it and not give it. So far, I've been doing great today. I woke up around 10... Oops. I had 3 aunt jemima buttermilk waffles with a tad margerine and LITE maple syrup. With 2 cups of Raisin Bran and 2% milk, I'd immediately go over my sugar intake/goal. But I didn't Then I went downstairs to do 20 mins of jump roping. It's humid and sweating is annoying, but it went fine. Then I had a dannon okios pineapple yogurt(only 120 calories compared to the other flavors which are higher) and I had a water bottle and now I'm on my second one. Having gotten any cravings or junk food cravings and there are plenty of sweets in there. I just finished my turkey sandwhich. Smart wonder bread(149 cals) 2 1/2 slices of the buffalo turkey breast, 1 tsp of mayyonaise, and some mustard(suprisingly the one I have, literally has nothing in it! I had 1/2 tsp and it was only like 22.something sodium!! Nothing else! So weird cause yet its such a good flavoring! But currently I have 1077 calories left to eat, but then my sugar has only 6 left... How am I going to eat more of those calories without going over those 6 sugars cause pretty much every food/meal has sugars in it!! Unless I eat another turkey sandwhich that I did for lunch, but still, I may go past my sugar intake goal and that's my main concern. :/ Ugh. I mean I haven't even eaten that much. That breakfast and lunch. Medium sized meals too I'd say. Also, I have my 40 mins of jump roping already added in, and 15 mins of cleaning of my house(just an estimate) for when I actually do/finish both, do the cleaning and finishing the other 20 mins. So that's why I have so many calories. My brothers ordered pizanoes pizza, and its sitting on the kitchen table and I shouldnt have it and its about to storm outside So i'd have to wait to do more exercise. No electrical things. :/

But with hypoclycima in contrast or tact(Idk what correct word it is?) I have to be a little bit more even cautious and careful. I'm just going with that and not eating any sweets. I can live. At least I HOPE. :p

I did all of that today. ) Read my post I replied to Ebeths thread.

You apparently did not read the list I posted from Micheal Pollan or you would know that anything with the word "lite" should be avoided. Lite is another way of saying: crap disguised as nutrition. I'm betting your weight is in your tummy area and not your hips or butt- is that correct? If so, this is the type of diet you should follow:
http://www.heartlandnaturopathic.com/irdiet.htm Insulin resistance is the next step after hypoglycemia and if you keep eating the pound cake, waffles, Wonderbread (smart or otherwise), or lite anything etc. this is the diet you will have to follow or end up as a diabetic.

Maybe becausd I'm getting told so much information and all these different stories!!! I'm not God; I can't remember or store all of this into my brain! Gosh. Engineer told me not to worry. If you read what I said, then you'd know. Im sticking to his plan. No sweets just the three healthy meals that I want and I will lose weight. And I said, once again, I had those marble things LAST NIGHT and as I said it was a MISTAKE, of course I shouldn't be having that gross stuff. Fine, I won't have the Lite maple syrup nor margerine. And those waffles aren't low fat, lite, or anything. Its just plain aunt jemima waffles. 80 or 160 per waffle. Not much sugar either. And they're small.

And yes. I have some extra chub on my face i'd like to get rid of. My arms, and tummy mainly. I have skinny legs and so much muscle from riding and just natural muscle. My butt ain't big either lolol.

OK, but remember that the world will not help you lose weight. There will always be someone's marble cake on the counter. It might be donuts at work or homebaked cookies or something else but avoiding that tempation is key. Stay away for a couple of weeks and it will get easier. Also remember that it is great that the scale was your friend today but tomorrow it might not be and not because you were "bad" but because weight fluxuates from day to day. Keep up that graph to see real weight loss.

I heard my name called.

Or perhaps I'm just nosy.

One thing I'd like to add is to get a tape measure and use it once/week and record the #s. Neck, bicep, bust, band, waist, belly, butt, thigh. If you've got a spreadsheet program like Excel, use it (and this will help to teach you how to use it if you're unsure). I realize this sounds like a lot of measurements but it does not take that long.

Bottom line, this is a way of gauging success that isn't scale-dependent, because there are going to be times when you know you're doing what you are supposed to, but the scale is not moving (usually this is related to either salt intake or your period or both).

Just to give you some perspective - I started at 346 pounds, got down to 163.4 and am currently at 225.6. But here's the fun part. Neck has not changed too too much so I won't list it here.

Weight 346 lbs. 163.4 lbs. 225.6 lbs.
Bicep 19.00 13.25 13.00
Bust 54.75 39.00 41.25
Band 47.50 34.25 35.75
Waist 49.00 36.50 36.75
Belly 59.50 39.00 41.25
Butt 64.00 43.00 43.75
Thigh 32.25 21.00 20.50
Total 326.00 226.00 232.25

So here I am, 60 pounds over my absolute lowest weight, yet the biggest difference in measurements I have is belly, up 2.25". I even went down in two areas. My total is only up by 6.25".

Why am I heavier but not much bigger? I'm considerably more muscle-bound now. I lift 45 pounds every single day. I run up and down the stairs in my home. I walk 80 minutes every day unless the mercury hits 90 (and even then I walk for 30 minutes).

Thanks!!! I will keep you up-to-date!

Wait are you a boy or a girl?? Ebeth said "jes" so I assumed she was referring to a daughter of hers, but at the same time I was confused as to who she was referring to because she had just all of a suddenly broughten up someone "Jes", and it was vague. So are you ebeths kid?

You have the classic shape of someone prone to hypoglycemia and insulin resistance. It's called an "apple" and it is genetic. It's not all due to what you eat and how you exercise. Sadly, it also makes you crave the very foods that are bad for you and that make it harder to lose weight. Some people can actually eat junk and still stay slim, you did not get those lucky genes. I know you are only 15 and we are throwing a lot of information at you, but I hope you will learn about real nutrition on your own because you are not learning it from your parents, who are discouraging you from cooking and apparently have no trouble buying crappy food that pretends to be nutritious. I would give you a suggested reading list, but I don't think you would go to the trouble of getting the books. Please at least look at the link I last gave about a healthy diet and notice no form of waffle is included.

I wish I was. No, ehBeth and I are peers. I am turning 50 in less than 2 months. I am also female.

What do you mean "my apple shape is genes"????.. Cause no, it actually isn't. I gained the weight myself, I am responsible for it. I used to be as skinny as a stick basically. I get what you are saying, but you don't know how much I have eaten before. One time I ate so much one day that it was like beyond disgusting. I had a bowl of lays chips, ice cream, and a whole lot of junk food snacks. Next day, I gained no weight. I have a decent metabolism and I think with this diet and exercise regimen, it's increasing. Also, I appear not to get any weight in my legs nor butt. Actually, hardly any weight. But a waffle isn't that bad of a food. It's protein and wheat, I looked and there is not much sugar either. Compared to my 2 cups of Raisin Bran cereal. I went way over the sugar goal.

Don't let zero sugar become a goal. Some of the other carbs are worse, like white and "wheat" bread. Potatoes and rice are just as bad. I doubt it's possible to avoid everything bad, but with a general awareness of what's in the stuff you eat, you can at least moderate the bad stuff. I still eat cookies, for example. What I don't do is open a package and keep dunking them in milk till they're all gone.

I know how you put the pounds on, but where they stick is genetic. Our shape is very telling about our health and metabolism. You don't gain weight overnight unless it is water weight, but it does creep up on you quickly and once those pounds are on they are harder to get rid of. I know you don't want to believe me but carbs like waffles will keep you fat for life. I think you enjoy being your own worst enemy on this issue.