Question by Hailers: Do Diets Work (Teen)?
I want to lose weight. I’m 5’2, teen girl, and I used to be 120lbs. I think it went down to 115lbs (my scale could be off). Anyway, I work out about 5 times a week for about an hour. I also run 30 minutes every day. I have tried to diet by watching my calorie intake. My limit is 1,500 a day, and I still feel bad because I struggle to maintain it. The most I’ve been able to go was 3 days until I binge. Do diets work for any of you? I used to struggle with wanting to be stick thin, but now I just want to be fit and lean. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Best answer:
Answer by Zack
Okay.
Don’t starve yourself, for one. You want to ruin your metabolism, that’s the perfect way to do it. Your calorie intake is good, though eating more every once in a while will help. Your weight is perfect for your size, and you have a good work ethic. What more could you possibly want? Keep doing what your doing, and you’ll be a strong, healthy women.
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You can try the skinny girl diet!
The same is for me just try not to eat late at night and eat yogurt n substitute chips with a fruit n ul start losin weight cus I do the same thing but no results then I started eatin good n ta da
I dont really call it a diet. Its a life style change. Basically you gotta fill yourself up with good foods like veggies and whole grains, also allow yourself one cheat day so you wont go on a crazy binge.
Most fad diets do work for taking off weight. The problem is as soon as you eat anythign not on there plan you start to gain it back. The only one thats decent that i suggest is atkins. There system starts you on very low carbs and then slowly takes you back up so you don’t gain. I would give it a good read if you looking for “diets”
If you can’t keep you calories 1500 or less you might have a fast metabolism. Try aiming for 1800 and see what happens. If you dont lose then slowly bring it down.
Do not have a âdietâ diet, where youâre told what to eat, just eat healthy, have a simple healthy diet, so you can satisfy your cravings and answer your bodyâs need for some missing nutrients.
Eating healthy is about avoiding the unhealthy food as much as possible. Once you stay away from fast food (any restaurant food, really), packaged and boxed food (except for bread, pasta and rice, if you donât make your own bread/pasta), canned food, prepared and processed food, then youâre left with the fruits/veggies, whole wheat food (the brown kind of bread, pasta), brown rice, legumes (beans, peas, lentils…), lean meat, low fat dairies, eggs and the good kind of oil (olive, avocado, nuts, fish). You can have any of the bad stuff occasionally so they donât become forbidden obsessions. Have some French fries, or one slice of pizza (with your favorite veggies) or a cookie, once in a while. Just donât do it every day and watch out for portion sizes.
Also the cooking method can double the calorie content of a meal, so learn about healthy cooking without having to add extra fats, like using a steamer (using water), a rotisserie (using heat and herbs), a slow cooker (using homemade broth and herbs), a pressure cooker, a grillâŚ
Once you cook your own meals, you can control the calorie content because your control the cooking method and all the ingredients. A lot of people are overweight because they keep eating food that they did not cook.
I donât know your age but a 5â2, 115lbs, 13yo girl would have a 1,384 calories BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) and should eat as much as that + enough calories to allow for growth + enough calories for physical activities.
If you used to struggle with wanting to be stick thin, and ate less than your BMR, for more than 3 months, trying to lose weight (instead of using exercising to lose body fat), you might have a lower adjusted BMR.
You should eat enough calories to cover your BMR or your body will adapt to a low caloric intake and lower your metabolism, making it very hard for you to use your body fat. And then, as soon as you would eventually start eating normally again, you would make body fat very easily, because you would have a lower metabolism and therefore regain all the weight you lost and keep going up, unless you exercise A LOT. Also, as youâre younger than 21, you need to eat more when having a growth spurt so you donât stunt your growth (you get ravenous).
Womenâs BMR:
655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – minus (4.7 x age in years)
The bingeing could be caused if you deny yourself any food. You should be able to eat anything, learning to eat the ânot so healthyâ food in moderation.
It could also be caused by fake sugars…avoid anything that is âdietâ food, or âlow sugarâ or âsugar freeâ (they usually replace the real sugar by fake one).
If you eat/drink something sweet, your taste buds will send the message to your brain. Then your brain will think that youâre getting more sugar so you will get an insulin response and the actual sugar that you have in your blood will be sent to your fat cells and muscles (thatâs one way to get fat), since youâre supposed to get more sugarâŚBUT THENâŚoops, you did not really get sugar!!! So now, your body is confusedâŚsweet taste = sugar but then (manmade fake sugar) sweet taste â sugar so the laws of the universe have to be rewritten (to include humans stupid ability to come up with something sweet that has no sugar) and in the meantime, your body goes wacko in a state of emergency with low blood sugar levels. Now, all your body wants is for you to replenish your sugar level in your blood which are very important and to make you do that, your body makes you very hungry because it wants you to eat to get more sugar (which is why people eating diet food are more likely to binge).
SoâŚsweet food with real sugar would just give you more energy, while sweet food with fake sugar will just make you weak (low blood sugar level) and hungrier (need to replenish the blood sugar), so youâll eat more and gain weight.
They are a lot of experiments with rats and the ones given fake sugar ate more and got fatter.
It is a proven fact, among humans, that fake sugar, like in diet sodas, leads to obesity.
Just change your eating habits and exercise.
Weight loss is a combination of good nutrition, calorie reduction, and exercising.
Reducing your caloric intake by 3500 calories = 1 pound weight loss
Energy Balance
Energy balance is important for maintaining a healthy weight. The amount of energy or calories you get from food and drinks (energy IN) is balanced with the energy your body uses for things like breathing, digesting, and being physically active (energy OUT):
â˘The same amount of energy IN and energy OUT over time = weight stays the same (energy balance)
â˘More energy IN than OUT over time = weight gain
â˘More energy OUT than IN over time = weight loss
To maintain a healthy weight, your energy IN and OUT donât have to balance exactly every day. Itâs the balance over time that helps you maintain a healthy weight.
You can reach and maintain a healthy weight if you:
â˘Follow a healthy diet, and if you are overweight or obese, reduce your daily intake by 500 calories for weight loss
â˘Are physically active
â˘Limit the time you spend being physically inactive
One pound equals 3,500 calories. Break that down by dividing it by 7 days (there are seven days in a week) and we get 500 calories which means that we must cut 500 calories per day from our diet in order to lose just ONE pound per week.
⢠A two-pound per week of fast weight loss means that we must cut 1,000 calories per day from our diet.
Formula for Success:
1. Small Frequent Meals
Don’t skip meals or go more than four hours without eating this set you up for later temptation. When meals are more than six hours apart, plan strategic snacks.
2. Eat Moderate Portions
Eat a little less of everything!
3. Beware of Concentrated Sugars
Excess sugar eaten alone causes more insulin secretion. Insulin promotes fat storage and can result in a rebound drop in blood sugar levels. Low blood sugar, in return, stimulates the appetite, especially cravings for more sugar.
4. Eat Foods High in Fiber
Fiber fills you up and helps stabilize blood sugar levels. There are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. We need both of them in our diet!
5. Lower Your Fat Intake
Limit foods that are high in fat.
6 . Consume Caffeine in Moderation, If at All
Caffeine, like alcohol, may be contained in beverages considered to be food but the effects of this chemical are definitely drug-like.
7. Exercise at least 3 times a week. Walk, walk, walk, swim, or Run!!! Drink Plenty of water.
Use the charts below to determine your appropriate weight and caloric intake.
In general, the latest suggestions I’ve seen suggests that if your BMI:
â˘is less than 15, than you are SEVERELY underweight
â˘is less than 18.5, than you’re underweight
â˘is greater than or equal to 18.5 but less than 25, than you are considered at an ideal weight for your height
â˘is greater than or equal to 25 but less than 30, than you’re overweight
â˘is greater than or equal to 30 but less than 40, than you’re Obese
â˘is greater than or equal to 40, than you’re morbidly obese
The U S Department of Health and Human Services has a great fitness article.
http://www.health.gov/paguidelines/adultguide/default.aspx
Also there is an online calorie count where you can join and key in your food & the calculator with determine how many calories you have consumed. CalorieCount.com is a free online resource for those who want to live a healthy lifestyle. At no cost whatsoever, you can use Calorie Count to look up Nutrition Facts food labels to find nutrition data for more than 220,000 foods. http://caloriecount.about.com/