Health Motivation

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

<p>I really need your help. I know the issue of physical health can be a personal one, but I need people my age to talk to that have gotten over this. </p>

<p>I have an overweight BMI, and in the last year I have gained so much weight. (please understand that I am not a health freak that obsesses if he is a pound over the usual weight), this is serious. Its hard for me to do any cardio anymore, or even fit into my clothes. I have been to the gym to do cardio but I can never hold on for more than three or so days. I have been eating late, really late, at night, (I cannot get off the junk food), but I don’t eat fast food (rarely). </p>

<p>How can I get motivation?
Also, what do you suggest I do, what cardio …</p>

2

<p>Use looking good and feeling good as a motivation. Or think about someone of the opposite sex that you really want and how to get them you’ll need to look your best. Appearance is one of the few things in life that you are in control of, yet it seems to be the hardest thing to change for some people. You need to get serious or it’s not going to happen. You don’t have to be a health freak but need to make some simple changes in your lifestyle.</p>

<p>First thing, you need to <em>gradually</em> start to lay off the junk food, try to eat an apple or banana today, and some water. At first it won’t taste very good but eventually it will taste normal and habitual (I’m addicted to water…). Don’t eat any premade snacks or meals, try to cook chicken, eggs, beef, or fish yourself or have some yogurt, nuts, vegetables, fruits, occasionally peanut butter. Think natural foods. Do this slowly though because if you do it too fast you’ll get burnt out and go back to junk food. Think of the long term, one day of eating right won’t make that much of a difference but one year will make a HUGE difference.</p>

<p>Also, I recommend splitting meals (3-4 is OK, 6 is best) up into the day and having a plan, it’s easier to follow so that you get into a habit. Remember though, you either do one of two things- Gain fat and muscle, or lose fat and muscle, depending on your calorie intake, and how healthy your food is (you can gain a lot of muscle without gaining much fat…and lose a lot of fat and not lose much muscle). Eating below your caloric intake and you lose weight, above and you gain weight. With cardio, you can probably eat just as much as you did before and still lose weight. But don’t starve yourself, that would be the worst. I’d suggest lifting weights to try to keep your exisiting muscle, plus lifting helps increase metabolism, makes you feel better, and I think it makes your skin tighter.</p>

<p>As for cardio, don’t overdo yourself. If you haven’t been doing anything, just go for a mile walk or something every day. Make it relaxed and enjoyable but yet so your body can feel it too. Eventually you can push it up to 4 miles or until you feel comfortable to start jogging.</p>

<p>Good luck, ask if you have any questions.</p>

3

<p>Be careful when you’re dieting and don’t overdo it. I did and now I’m just as unhealthy (probably even worse off) than I was when I was overweight. If you ever need someone to talk to, PM me.</p>

4

<p>Visit a doctor and get a script for Phentermine (Adipex). It is a stimulant that speeds up metabolism. I have seen many patients lose a lot of weight while on the medication. Meridia is another alternative, but its patent is still active and is very expensive. I think #30 phentermine are around $25 without insurance.</p>

5

<p>Don’t take pills…waste of money plus you can sometimes get serious side effects. </p>

<p>They only help like 10% anyways, exercise and a healthy diet is the main cause of losing fat.</p>

6

<p>Try a program called HIIT. Just google it. People use this to burn calories and speed up metabolism. It actually works as i lost about 5 pounds (along with watching what I eat), but i haven’t been able to do it. it’s been too cold to do anything in NJ. so yea. When it gets nicer outside, im gonna go back to my routine and try to shed some pounds. haha AND DEF. watch what you eat.</p>

7

<p>instead of eating junk food for snack when you’re hungry have a luna bar or something
they’re really delicious and have about 200 healthy calories</p>

<p>don’t eat at night</p>

<p>bananas are actually eaten a lot to gain weight, so maybe not a fruit like that. asian pears are really good and surprisingly filling</p>

8

<p>It takes about 6 bananas to equal the amount of calories in a new york slice of pizza so don’t worry about gaining weight from one. Plus they contain a bunch of vitamins and minerals.</p>

9

<p>Why not try to exercise with friends? Back freshman year after I gained around 10 pounds from all the fattening school food and poor sleep schedule etc etc my friends and I started going to the gym together three days a week. A lot of days I wanted to blow it off for whatever reason, but since I was going there with friends it made it halfway fun, and if I didn’t go, I knew they’d hassle me the next two days until we went.</p>

<p>Also, try snacking on fruits. Whenever I have an urge for something sweet, I grab an orange. If I want something crunchy, I’ll have a carrot or two (not those baby ones, they never satisfy, get the full sized guys). If I want something salty I’ll usually just put a little salt on the carrot. When I want cake, well, I make banana bread. I figure it’s better than making a two-layer chocolate brownie cake with ganache icing. :p</p>

10

<p>I have a problem with food too, and in the past month, I’ve put on 10-15 lbs. I’m still average, it’s just that my eating habits just took a turn for the worse. We should keep each other motivated!</p>

<p>I started to run a couple of miles a day except I’ve been sick for the past few days.</p>