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Health Advice Please

D

donaldkeir

Ok, so I'm very unhealthy. I'm almost 17, 5' 11'', almost 300 lbs, but am very strong. I know I can still make a change for the better and that's why I'm here. I need help making good diet restrictions, exercise recommendations, and vitamin/mineral suggestions. I am always tired, and my lower back hurts. I don't eat too much junk food, and just stopped drinking soda. I work next to a specialty pharmacy that just opened and a farmers market. Anything will be helpful. Thanks
 
Ok, so I'm very unhealthy. I'm almost 17, 5' 11'', almost 300 lbs, but am very strong. I know I can still make a change for the better and that's why I'm here. I need help making good diet restrictions, exercise recommendations, and vitamin/mineral suggestions. I am always tired, and my lower back hurts. I don't eat too much junk food, and just stopped drinking soda. I work next to a specialty pharmacy that just opened and a farmers market. Anything will be helpful. Thanks

There's no magic cure and people are going to give you all sorts of different advice. Everything piece of advice, good though they may be, does not work for every person. We all have different eating habits, styles, routines, health issues, etc.

My first suggestion would be to visit a doc and make sure that there's nothing medical attributing to the weight gain and holding. At your age, there's probably not but there's no harm in finding out. A simple blood test can tell you what your thyroid is doing, and your glucose levels after an 8hr fast.

After that, it's just better eating habits and exercise. There really is no magic pill, no magic cure. Eat better, and exercise is the most effective and simple advice there is.

Less simple advice.... moderation, moderation, moderation. You can eat a little of everything, it's the "whole lot" of something that's bad. Carbs are probably the biggest contributor to weight gain, though.

So, after the doc visit, I would go to a site like this: FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal Make an account and start putting in every damn thing you put in your mouth. If what you're eating isn't on their list of foods, make a customized food and add the nutritional value yourself. This may mean you actually have to look up the nutritional value of what you're eating. This is a good thing. This will make you more aware of what you're putting in your mouth.

Once you've done this for a few days, you can look at the charts and see what you're getting too much of and what you're not getting enough of. And then adjust your diet accordingly. Chances are you're going to want to increase your protein and decrease your carbs and 'bad' fats.

As for supplements, B12 is a good one for metabolism. Green tea helps with appetite.

And honestly, I would NOT go for the 'sugar free' 'diet' food crap. They are laden with artificial sweeteners which are not good for you at all and can actually make you want to eat more.


Some potentially relevant advice from a guy who lost 60 lbs in 5 months:

The Public Humiliation Diet: A How-To

Language might be a bit spicy for some, but it's a good read.
That guy is ****ing hilarious!
 
Ok, so I'm very unhealthy. I'm almost 17, 5' 11'', almost 300 lbs, but am very strong. I know I can still make a change for the better and that's why I'm here. I need help making good diet restrictions, exercise recommendations, and vitamin/mineral suggestions. I am always tired, and my lower back hurts. I don't eat too much junk food, and just stopped drinking soda. I work next to a specialty pharmacy that just opened and a farmers market. Anything will be helpful. Thanks

Hello!
I'll be happy to share my issues and give some advice.

New Years last year I realized I needed to lose weight. Due to other health problems that I've dealt with my whole life - and having kids - the idea of exercising seemed impossible. My lower back, left hip and left leg hurt a lot - when I way saying down, sitting up - it was worse when I walked and absolutely agonizing when I exercised.
I was exhausted - 0 energy. I was also depressed, which just made all those other things worse.
The more depressed I got, the more exhausted I was and the more exhausted I was the more my body hurt and the more that hurt the less sleep I got - it was a downward spiral.

So - the first thing I did was to decide "I'm going to start working out and losing weight" - I decided that and thought about it a lot before I started doing *anything* about it. Change takes time - mentally.

Then I decided that the first thing I needed to do was ween myself off of junk food, fast food, soda and my sin: homemade toffee.
Instead of stopping these things immediately (as they do on those big-looser type shows) I slowly cut back. (I've been on sudden-change diets before and they fail because your body doesn't adjust - if you go too fast you can just depress yourself when you feel deprived of joy and fun. . . and that's when food look the tastiest and your will is the weakest.)

So I got rid of fast food first - and made it rewarding. Every time I successfully fought the urge to go to McD's or BK - I put the money I would have spent in a jar. . . I hate to say ti added up incredibly FAST.
Seeing the money from my resistance add UP before my eyes was very encouraging - that money could be spent on other things! (NON food stuff) - or put towards more important things like the BILLS that are always late :)

Ok - but I was still eating unhealthy other foods. After a month of no fast-food I felt good about myself and confident enough to move onto the next weening: junk food.
This was harder - junk food is everywhere and easier to buy and eat than fast food. . . but I did the same thing - a $1.00 into the jar for every candy bar. $3.00 for every bag of chips or package of cookies not bought.

After a few weeks of no candy bars and bags of chips and cookies I found it easier to say "no" to food I shouldn't eat. . . foods hung on my mind far less often than before. Sometimes I didn't even think about what I wasn't eating.

So 2.5 months after starting my feeble diet I decided to let go of soda.
Fastfood and junkfood out - soda going.

Well, needless to say I did indeed still want to snack during the day - so I chose healthy options: bananas, apples, oranges ($3.00 for a lb of apples or $3.00 for a bag of chips? - easy choice! - the apples!).

Once I started to eat more fruit I actually started to feel a little better every day - I was more positive because I was obviously accomplishing something. I slept a little better and I had actually lost a few lbs - no serious weight loss yet though. . . but I was on the right track.

Letting go of soda was MUCH harder than the other things. But because I had successfully let go of fast food and junk food I knew that I could get rid of soda, too. . . and I did - took 3 weeks for cravings to go away. Still $1.50 into the jar each time I had to fight the craving.

Now - my big thing, here, was having an alternative to soda - I'm not and never have been a fan of flavorless anything such as water - so a good alternative that was cheaper than soda was flavored water or those 0 calorie lightly carbonated sodas.

Then, after over 3 months of diet-alterations - I decided it was time to start working out. . . still, at this point, it seemed ridiculous - my pain was still quite there.

I bought an exercise bike and a kettle bell and one kettle bell workout video 'cause I had no idea what to do with the thing - but I did already own free-weights and obviously that didn't appeal to me because I still have them packed in a box in the attic.

So the exercise bike sat there in the box for a while.
Eventually I put it together.
5 months after I started changing my diet I finally got on the damn thing and managed to bike an amazing .5 mile before being too exhausted, out of breath and worn out to continue - and in a lot of pain.

:shrug: It was a start, anyway!

I read up, then, on exercise-approaches and decided that starting off on the bike wasn't going to work for me because of my back. . . and one big suggestion for back/leg pain was to *stretch* a lot and do light-exercises.

So for another month - 3x's a week - I had a stretch session - touch my toes (which I sure as hell couldn't do), stretch my legs - sit and reach . . . all that classic stuff.
That was very helpful, actually - my muscles and tendons became a bit more flexible - my back still hurt but not quite as much - my legs weren't as bad, either.

So then I decided that I could try the bike again. . .and I did .5 miles in 5 minutes.
And I did it again a few days later - eventually I was doing .5 miles in 10 minutes 3x's a week. This is slow biking but speed isn't' the issue at first - it's your lungs, your heart, your muscles - all these things need to come up to strength and endurance *with you*
Then I went a little faster - and for a little longer.

Not quite 2 months later I had increased my time and distance to 5 miles in 40 minutes - huge difference in a short amount of time! And during this time I started my kettle bell video - 10 minutes the first week - 15 minutes the next, etc etc etc. . . slowly gaining ability, endurance and strength.

Now, once I was really working out routinely and increasing my strength and time in each session I started to really lose the weight. . . I had been off of my routine junk and soda for 7 months or so and was feeling MUCH better - physically - my pain was almost gone. Mentally - I was confident. Emotionally - I was stable. I was sleeping better - I was much healthier and happier.

I've teetered around on my diet and exercise a bit - gained a few lbs back - but I'm back on it routinely and have already lost that gained-back weight and still going.

Now I can actually bike 10miles in 45 minutes on my stationary bike - and can do the entire kettle bell video . . . and now that's it's summer I'm adding push-mowing the lawn (1.25 acres) to the list.

So - If I can do it - anyone can do it! :)

Key point: you didn't gain it all at once, it won't go away all at once. . . and take it slow so you can succeed!!
 
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Well, and this is my opinion.
Rivrrat had the best take but, one thing is you cannot just crash diet but you don't have to go full denial of the things you enjoy either; Fast/processed food - eliminate it from your diet for a few months and then later on you can have a set amount per month as a treat, desserts - same, sodas - you don't have to stop consuming them, but set a limit and stick to it. (I find people who deny themselves in a diet always return to bad habits)

Exercise - like anything else your body needs time to adjust to a workout; start with a basic 30min. a day cardio routine and focus on all muscle groups, after you are used to the work, incorporate weight training along with it and very gradually increase the intensity of that workout(important do this slowly because you can do permanent joint, tissue, and muscle damage if you don't acclimate your body to it). I find swimming to be the best cardio as it's fun and low impact. As for your back.....consult a physician, it may be that you need to strengthen that area and it isn't used to strain, I had that problem myself in fact, a moderate back workout will work wonders, but you could also have nerve or tissue damage and a workout could hurt you worse, so a doc's opinion is crucial.

Good luck and I hope the opinion helped.
 
Ok, so I'm very unhealthy. I'm almost 17, 5' 11'', almost 300 lbs, but am very strong.

If you're very strong, make sure you get someone to test your body fat percentage-- either with calipers or electrical conductivity test. Base your "healthy weight" on your body fat percentage and not on height/weight charts, because having more lean muscle mass than a Parisian model will make BMI charts wildly inaccurate. Shoot for between five and ten percent body fat. Anything lower than that and you're going to cause joint problems, and your muscle mass can be just as troubling for your joints as fat mass. Any joints you're having specific problems with are joints you want to target for strengthening exercises-- you already mentioned your lower back, but I bet your knees are hurting, too.

I need help making good diet restrictions, exercise recommendations, and vitamin/mineral suggestions.

Eat twice as much green vegetables as you eat meat, and mix them up. Try to eat your meat either just before and just after your workouts. B Vitamins will give you more energy; if you don't want to take a bunch of pills, "five hour power" energy shots have 1200% of your Recommended Daily Allowance, and are safe to take in those dosages; unlike energy drinks, they're much lower in caffeine and other stimulants and thus less likely to do bad things to your heart. You want to take these after your workout so you don't strain your heart, and to assist you in processing the protein from your after-workout snack. Fish oil is good for your joints and your heart-- and your emotional stability, if you have any issues with that.

Stay hydrated. The more plain water you drink, the easier it will be to lose weight. Ice water is even better because your body has to burn calories to heat it up.
 
I would recommend an American Diabetic Association diet with an intake of about 2400 calories per day. Stay away from fried foods and refined sugar. Counting calories is a pita at first, but it's easy and becomes a routine relatively quickly. It works. Make sure to get enough protein, but not excessive, because it's hard on your kidneys.
 
Well, and this is my opinion.
Rivrrat had the best take but, one thing is you cannot just crash diet but you don't have to go full denial of the things you enjoy either; Fast/processed food - eliminate it from your diet for a few months and then later on you can have a set amount per month as a treat, desserts - same,

True. When I was young and weight-obsessed, I went on a diet one time which included strict calorie intake Mon-Fri, and on weekends, I had whatever I wanted. It worked great, and I didn't feel deprived. It does take a certain degree of self-control though.
 
Some potentially relevant advice from a guy who lost 60 lbs in 5 months:

The Public Humiliation Diet: A How-To

Language might be a bit spicy for some, but it's a good read.

I think Rule #5 is the one that probably really helped him:

"5. I didn't have seconds. I used to eat two plates at dinner, minimum. I'd spend my first helping thinking about my second, which is idiotic. It's the SAME ****ING FOOD. Then I'd finish my seconds and hover over my wife's plate like a goddamn buzzard. Hoping she wouldn't finish so I could eat her food. I even ate her food a few times before she was done. Wives get ****ing PISSED when you do that. I also had to get over my hatred of throwing away perfectly edible food that other people didn't eat. Nothing pisses me off more, but it's not like a Rwandan AIDS baby will get to eat it if I pass it up."

Just eat less food. The end.
Nothing else really works, as far as I know.
 
True. When I was young and weight-obsessed, I went on a diet one time which included strict calorie intake Mon-Fri, and on weekends, I had whatever I wanted. It worked great, and I didn't feel deprived. It does take a certain degree of self-control though.
Absolutely, self control I find though comes from just doing it. After a few months turning down treats becomes easy, and if you have a strenuous workout then you don't have to turn away that "once in a lifetime" red velvet cake or poison of your choosing, it's all about moderation.
 
The study, appear online in the American Heart Association account Hypertension, begin that claret burden was bargain aural 24 hours in humans who took nitrate tablets, and humans who drank beetroot juice. Mary's William Harvey Research Institute, said the analysis was able to authenticate that the nitrate begin in beetroot abstract was the could cause of its benign furnishings aloft cardiovascular bloom by accretion the levels of the gas nitric oxide in the circulation.
 
Yes - it boost your oxygen levels to lengthen endurance.
 
Ok, so I'm very unhealthy. I'm almost 17, 5' 11'', almost 300 lbs, but am very strong. I know I can still make a change for the better and that's why I'm here. I need help making good diet restrictions, exercise recommendations, and vitamin/mineral suggestions. I am always tired, and my lower back hurts. I don't eat too much junk food, and just stopped drinking soda. I work next to a specialty pharmacy that just opened and a farmers market. Anything will be helpful. Thanks

YOU HAVE TO WORKOUT, both cardio and weights. HARD and A LOT.
 
In the beginning that's just not possible for many people - you have to let your body adjust to any changes, no matter how small, so you don't suffer from other issues.
 
Ok, so I'm very unhealthy. I'm almost 17, 5' 11'', almost 300 lbs, but am very strong. I know I can still make a change for the better and that's why I'm here. I need help making good diet restrictions, exercise recommendations, and vitamin/mineral suggestions. I am always tired, and my lower back hurts. I don't eat too much junk food, and just stopped drinking soda. I work next to a specialty pharmacy that just opened and a farmers market. Anything will be helpful. Thanks

Anybody affiliated with healthcare would probably tell you to go get professional advice...
 
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