[FemmeFatale]

Hi everyone. Nice to meet you all!

I was browsing around the interwebs (as I ofen do) and thought that I'd ask you guys if you can help me come up with a 'plan' that works for me. First thing's first: I know I'm overweight/obese. I'm nineteen years old, and I have quite a past that (through a combination of my own irresponsibility, and the irresponsibility of the people who "took care of" me) has ultimately made my body ... well, sooooo far from healthy that it's unreal.

I am 5'5" tall, "large"-framed (apparently, I have big wrists - 7" -and hands and feet - ladies size 11) and I currently weigh 245 lbs. I understand a few basic things about weight and body, such as "starvation mode" (The last 45 pounds on my body I have been yoyoing up and down for a few years from trying to "starve" it away... dumb, yes. Desperate? also yes.) I also know that muscle is more metabolically active than fat, that it's more dense etc. I realize it's not just a diet I'm looking for, but an overall lifestyle change. I also realize it's not about pounds on the scale so much as how I feel about myself and how "well" I feel. I get sick quite often and I always feel pretty tired and weak. I also have no health insurance, so, no doctor for me.

My three biggest hurdles with weight loss are:

1. I have really, really bad joints. I had lyme disease as a child and my knees and hips are in pretty awful condition. I'd estimate they are on about a 50/50 scale... 50% of the pain/problems from Lyme, and 50% from the stress of the weight on them.

2. I am an extremely picky eater. Recently I've been trying my best to eat "new" foods to me, but the taste of most things that are supposedly "good for you" make me very sick. Veggies, on the whole, are unbelievably bitter. I can eat fresh, steamed artichokes when I can afford them (read: hardly ever), at times I can eat mashed cauliflower (if I boil it to DEATH and add garlic and a bit of parmesan), and lately I have been making myself take daily shots of V8. V8 is actually really GROSS to me when it's cold, but if I add beef broth and some hot sauce, and warm it up like soup, I can stand it. Other than that, I really loathe veggies. I also can't stand fish or seafood of any kind. 80% taste, 20% that I'm just grossed out by the concept! (And please, PLEASE don't post telling me to "just get over it" or "just grow up" -- if it was that easy, I'd have done it already!) The only foods that seem to be edible for me are things that are bready, meaty, or cheesy. I think it's because I was raised on a steady diet of not eating for 4-5 days at a time, and then stuffing my face with hotpockets and bagel bites when the foodstamps came in.

3. I live with my boyfriend and his family and I currently do not have a job. I live in an area that seems to be a dead zone (the unemployment rate here is something like 30%) and because I can't drive (never learned), can't do physical work (out of shape + bad joints), and have no experience (I'm young!), no one seems to want to hire me. I still put applications in as often as possible, but as it stands I'm pretty broke. (I'm a college student, going to the local community college with a Pell Grant, though, so at least I'm on my way somewhere!) My boyfriend's family isn't very understanding of my weight-loss efforts, and I have to find a way to eat "healthy" on the things they bring in. I'm allowed to ask for one thing from the grocery store per week. I usually ask for skim milk or boneless/skinless chicken breast.

Anyway, I am trying to be as open and mature as possible, and I figured I'd ask the question HERE, where people seem to understand the way the body works...as opposed to, I don't know, somewhere like calorie-count.com...where everyone tells me to get over myself.

I look forward to hearing from you all, and I'll be watching this thread for a few days to answer any specific questions regarding myself/health/food in the house.

To sum it all up: How can someone in a situation such as mine ever hope to become healthy?


Thanks guys. Sorry for the long post.

[Thomas_Rivera]

Welcome to the dungeon! Well its never hopeless for anyone. What is your diet currently like on a daily basis? If you have an example of that then it will be much easier to assess what you need to do.


Even in the most bleak of situations, you can find the right combination of foods that will accomplish something. First thing to do is to have hope, thats the first step. What foods are constatntly available to you?

[FemmeFatale]

Foods that are constantly available:

Instant white rice, instant potatoes, sugared cereals, eggs, low-quality margarine, olive oil (because my boyfriends grandpa has high cholesterol, I use that to cook my food with), boneless/skinless chicken breast is almost always in the freezer, 73/27 ground beef (when I cook it I rinse it), white bread, bacon, 2% milk, canned soup (think campbells/progresso, off brands though), canned veggies that I cant stand, iceberg lettuce (If only! It tastes like grass to me though x_X), *goes to look around* ice cream, packaged cookies, ketchup, diet soda (boyfriends mom is diabetic), white pasta, occasionally I slip heartland pasta into the cart and get away with it (mixed half white/half other stuff, with flax and whatnot in it for omega-3 since I dont eat fish), I drink a lot of hot tea with splenda (and sometimes nothing at all), peanut butter, sweetened applesauce, canned kidney beans (which I do like), shredded cheddar cheese, chocolate syrup, breadcrumbs, hot sauce (I love it on turkey breast in a wheat pita, but of course, they always tell me that turkey breast and pita are too expensive.. :( ), I really love fruit but there is rarely any in the house. We usually get about one kind every other week in here - this week it was bananas so we have some floating around, I also think there's a can of mandarin oranges in the cabinet... in addition, there is also a large quantity of spices (which I make full use of. My favorite is lemon pepper and/or garlic), and a large quantity of really gross frozen and canned veggies (like creamed corn, turnip greens, bleh)... If I see/remember/think of anything else, I'll post :) I also drink a lot of water. I know its good for me, and plus I like it... also, I have about half a 64-oz bottle of v8 here. I eat it as soup, as mentioned above.

Sometimes we have canned carrots as well. I hate carrots, but I have made myself eat them by boiling them into a mush in chicken broth before. Not my favorite, but I can choke it down if need be. Most veggies I can't even do that much with. :(


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Edit: I also forgot to tell you what my diet is like on a daily basis.

I usually have a few cups of hot tea scattered throughout, some kind of breakfast cereal (Not usually for breakfast though. Dry in a bowl in the middle of the day is my favorite way to eat cereal =P ) uhhmm, every so often there is cottage cheese so sometimes I have that. Mostly my diet consists of ground beef, chicken breast, cheddar cheese, rice, and mashed potatoes, in some combination or the other daily. Man, it's so embarassing to say that lol. Sometimes I'll be adventurous and have a grilled cheese. Sometimes I'll have a ham sandwich... I dont use that much ham though, I dont really like it too much. But when they bring in good stuff (i.e. when the good tasting ham is on sale, ... i hate honey ham) I'll have a sandwich or two that week. Also, the cookies are placed open-package on the counter and the room I sleep in is just beside the kitchen. I admit to walking by and grabbing a cookie several times on most days. The thing is, I dont even really like sweets or cookies that much. I've asked for them to put them out of sight or at the very least in a jar or something... they like to have them available for walk-bys though. It's really trying for me..mindless grab-munching. Also a lot of water, diet soda, and crystal-light type beverages. I know artificial sweeteners aren't good for you, etc... but it's that or sugared beverages. I get so bored of water 24/7 even though I do drink 4-5 (16 oz) glasses of plain water a day. The other stuff is for when I'm sick to death of water.

[maverick_76]

Well it seems to me that problems with your diet stem from a lot of processed foods. The meat and potatoes and rice is good, but the cookies and things like that are a no-no. Plus, judging from what else I see it is not your calorie intake that has you overweight. What sort of exercise do you get? Cause from the looks of it you take in about 2000-2500 calories a day, which is actually about as much as a 175 pound active person should intake (man or woman). My guess is that you really need to just curb the sweets, make sure to eat more often, try eating six times a day by halving your meals and eating about every three to four hours, this will make you eat a little less; and making sure to get some exercise in every day. Even something as simple as a nightly walk will over time loosen your joints and turn your metabolism up. If you could stay on these guidelines for several months you could lose up to a pound a week. Remember it is not the drastic changes that do it, as you learned from starving yourself, it is small changes that cause you to lose the weight and keep it off permanently. The slower you lose weight the better, no more than 5 lbs a week or you will be that much more susceptible to gaining it right back.

[FemmeFatale]

Originally Posted by maverick_76

Well it seems to me that problems with your diet stem from a lot of processed foods. The meat and potatoes and rice is good, but the cookies and things like that are a no-no. Plus, judging from what else I see it is not your calorie intake that has you overweight. What sort of exercise do you get? Cause from the looks of it you take in about 2000-2500 calories a day, which is actually about as much as a 175 pound active person should intake (man or woman). My guess is that you really need to just curb the sweets, make sure to eat more often, try eating six times a day by halving your meals and eating about every three to four hours, this will make you eat a little less; and making sure to get some exercise in every day. Even something as simple as a nightly walk will over time loosen your joints and turn your metabolism up. If you could stay on these guidelines for several months you could lose up to a pound a week. Remember it is not the drastic changes that do it, as you learned from starving yourself, it is small changes that cause you to lose the weight and keep it off permanently. The slower you lose weight the better, no more than 5 lbs a week or you will be that much more susceptible to gaining it right back.

I do actually go for walks, in addition to using this weird old exercise bike thingie that I have for as long as my knees can stand it (10-15 minutes at a time, depending). I don't really eat that much in the way of sweets, like I said, I don't really like them much. Those damn cookies are just hard to walk past lol! To be honest, I have been writing down everything I eat and I usually eat about 1700ish calories a day (and thats with me eating till I'm satisfied, not watching myself). I think I have something seriously wrong with my metabolism.

Thanks so much for your input. :) If you have any more advice for me, I'm all ears!

[maverick_76]

Make sure to eat more often, and if that is the case, actually I would recommend eating more. Up your calories to about 2000, add an extra helping of rice and meat in two meals and that will do it, you body actually has to burn calories to digest food so that is why it is so important that you eat enough. And also like I said, eat healthy food six times a day. How long are your walks? How often do you take them?

[ZackKnight]

without a doubt lose the sweets but for maybe 1 time a week. This will give you something to look forward to.

Those processed foods will end up hurting you in the long run, but the meat and rice and all of that is fine. you definitely want to get all ur macros in.

without a doubt u can make this happen. we're all here right behind you so u got nothing to worry about

[Thomas_Rivera]

With the food available to you, I would suggest a ketogenic diet for some time. Basically you would just be eating meat, drinking water maybe some no calorie drinks like crystal light, and after adjusting to it one of the immediate benefits is a decreased appetite.

[Sky]

I second Thomas' comment. Since walks seem to be rather inconvenient, I would suggest taking care of your diet first. You have to be disciplined if you want to get somewhere, and it will take a long time, but we're all here, so keep on rolling! Lessen your appetite, eat the right meals (Some have been mentioned above), stick zealously to your exercise plan and you will eventually find yourself in a better state, both physically and emotionally.

Control the cookies! Rawr.

[FemmeFatale]

Soup. I forgot to mention soup. I eat a lot of soup.

Thomas - Ketogenic? Does that mean low-carb? I dont know if I could live without pasta and/or rice. But at this point, I guess there's no harm in trying, right?

Maverick - I try to walk daily, but sometimes my knees are...well, not doing what I want them to do. Usually I walk for at least 20 minutes briskly, or I'll walk for over an hour very slowly (i.e. I'll walk from here to the Big Lots and kill time by walking up and down every aisle and staring at things, and then walk home).

Sky - thanks for your support. You know I have a brother named Sky =)

[ZackKnight]

I dunno what it is, but I like you. You're very motivated and have a good outlook on things and are willing to work to get what you want. I definitely respect that a lot