please help me i am in embarressed about myself!

[ComputerGuy]

OK, I've seen the BMI used...dont use that as a guide, it is very generalised and doesnt take into account a lot of factors such as muscle mass, fitness, etc. Its purely weight over height. I can remember what its called but there is a lot better way to guage yourself then this.

[annie24]

Amanda - another suggestion I want to make is that since you are only 14, you're probably not the one buying the food in your house. Talk to your parents. Tell them that you are concerned about your weight and you want to start eating healthier. Get rid of the chips and cookies, ask if they can start buying more fruits and veggies. I don't know if they cook a lot of greasy foods, but maybe you can start finding lower-fat recipies and then suggesting you and your parents try cooking them together.

 

If you go out to McDonalds with your friends, then order a salad with low-fat dressing. (Because regular dressings can be just as bad as having hamburgers!) Or, order a small hamburger with small fries, and a diet soda or water. Serving sizes are important. Don't supersize your meals! If you go out for pizza with your friends, eat 1 slice of pizza, and order a side salad with your meal. Regular sodas are loaded with tons of calories and sugar, so switch to water, sparkling water, or diet soda. Juices also have tons of sugar, and they're not always very nutrious.

 

If you're hanging out with your friends, suggest playing frisbee or soccer instead of watching TV and eating. Unless it's fat-free microwave popcorn (no butter!) - then eat the whole bag!

 

Go to the doctor, and see if you can schedule an appointment with a dietician. If you have insurance, it is free and they can help you come up with an eating plan that will work for you.

[June4life]

Losing weight is probably the hardest task for American society today.

 

Try cutting back on carbs, and stay away from red meats.

 

Maybe get a dog that will force you to take it for a walk? lol!!

[DN]

Losing weight is probably the hardest task for American society today.

It really is. And part of the problem is that you still have to eat. When you give up smoking or drugs or alcohol you don't have to do that anymore once you are over the craving.

 

But you still have to eat (or die, which is not really an acceptable alternative) so you have to tease your tastebuds with less than what they want. That's why it is so much harder to diet.

 

There oughta be a law!!

[abcd1234]

Amanda,

 

My advice is to cut back on your caloric intake, do a search on google for nutritional meal plans and you shoudl come up with some information about what sort of foods you should be eating. Also, have a read of this:

link removed

 

Along with eating a balanced and nutritional diet i also reccommend something called HOC. This is the type of endurance training that i do myself, I also reccommended it to my friend about 2 months ago and already he is looking much slimmer!

 

HOC stands for High Octane Cardio. It is designed to increase endurance and burn fat and is used to amazing effect by Boxers (who commonly refer to it as "Roadwork"). Here is how it works: go out for a jog and every fifty yards or so, drop down and do some bodyweight exercises such as push-ups and sit-ups. Try to do 25 reps of an exercise before continuing your jog and do them in as quick a time as possible.

 

Obviously you are not going to be able to go out and do this right away so start off with just one set of bodyweight exercises during a jog, then next session move it up to two sets and then continually add more sets each time you go out.

 

You will be amazed how effective this is at burning fat and increasing cardio and muscular endurance; combined with the healthy eating you cant really go wrong! You should do HOC about 3 times a week and always have a bottle of water handy to keep your body hydrated.

 

Good luck!

[al7]

I guess when youy want to lose weight, you want to substitute some foods for some other foods: with less fat\calories. The major problem is

substitutes might not as tasty.

 

Here is what I am going to do (not as a part of lossing weight, but as a better health oriented diet.)

 

I am going to drink more of fresh carrot juice (not from concentrate).

I found a) it tastes much better then any juice from concentrate

b) it much more healthy than any juice from concentrate

c) it has very good nutrition feature: you can drink it and feel you like you are full, you dont need more food to eat.

 

This last feature might be really helpful if you are going to lose weight.