19, Obese, in a bit of a troubling condition... Advice?

[FemmeFatale]

I posted this on another forum a few months ago and got let into a ketogenic diet that basically messed my metabolism up even more. Lost 12 pounds in a week, nothing the next 3 weeks, felt sick, and quit. Gained it all back x2.

Anyway, here is my problem:

I 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 253 lbs. I understand a few basic things about weight and body, such as "starvation mode" (The last 53 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.

[Uhtred]

playing the victim are we.











-uhtred

[judokamatt]

well femme about 2.5 years ago i was in your posistion at 315 lbs at 6'2". i will admit that i had to figure it out the hard way, and i struggled along the way to get to where i am at this point in time but overall i am pretty happy with what i have accomplished and i will give you a few things that are easy to do once you get started doing them.

the first thing that you need to work on is probably portion control to do this basically if you order at a resturant eat only half of it and eat the rest for another meal (around 4-5 meals per day), most resurants serve you double what you should eat, also stop drinking any carbonated beverage and heavily sweetened drinks coolaid and such (this is a big source of calories alot of people over look for your average glass of coke at a resurant its around 300 calories per glass) also if your cooking at home try to eat more greens then breads and pastas also fruits are your friend, they are not really calory dense and tide you over for a hour or so till your next meal and give you vitamins and uitrients that are very valuable. if your cooking in your house or alone or eating at home just look at your portion and if it is bigger then the palm of your hand its too big. but you can have a peice of steak the palm of your hand a salad and a mound of rice the palm of your hand and probably be tuffed or full and this is a very healthy meal what i ust had actually i do the rule of the palm for all my meals even at resturants now.

also im going to suggest you get a gym membership, i know this is going to be daunting since you are so out of shape, but look at it like you are going to the gym to work out not show off like some slut that wants all the guys drooling over her while she works the stair climber in not much more then she goes to sleep in, i would suggest walking for 30-45 minutes 5-6 days a week untill you feel that you can start to do some jogging and then jog for a few minutes and then walk for a few and jog for a few more for the 30-45 minutes. once you have accomplished this i would recommend that you start a begginers strength training program to help you build some muslce and the walking/jogging will be cardio that you will do after your lifting or in the morning before eating. side note dont take ANYTHING without food then go to the gym it will make you wanna HURL learned this the hard way as well . also back to the workout program there are several good programs to start out with but for you i would suggest just the basics to get a good base then move into a strength program the basics are going to be your staple body weight excersizes

Body weight excersizes
pushups - if you have to do them with your knees THATS FINE you wont do them that way forever
situps - these are just awesome core strengtheners
crunches- same as above
lunges- great lower body workout with these things as well as a stretch if you do it correctly
body weight squats- this is just what it sounds like squat down it will build your quadracpets and your gluts and hams a bit
deadlifts- ONE OF THE GREATEST overal body lifts EVER just use a a squat or bench press bar
back extensions- builds the core muscles of the back will help your posture as well
dips- untill you can do these unassisted do them on a squat bench with your feet on the ground

all of these should be done for about 3-4 sets hopefully to around 10 reps per set hopefully at least 5 reps each set.....dont worry your numbers will climb fast


and lastly

i also suggest that you start a journal in the womens Bodybuilding section to keep track of your work outs and your diet and get feed back and encouragement when you hit the hard times that i know are comming if you are serious about this. if you have any questions on any of the excersizes i talked about above just look on the super site portion of BB.com and you will see that it has a plethora of information on technique and types of lifts to be performed

i know my sentence structure is very sloppy (english is not my first language) but it is readable and full of useful information so dont let it get you down

hope you achieve your goals

[funkosaurus]

Welcome to the boards!

Things are going to be difficult, but if you really want to get in shape and are willing to work hard at it, I believe you can.

I think at this stage, just changing your diet alone will give you results. I think if you focus on eating healthy, you will lose enough weight to add more physical activity comfortably. It sucks that healthier food tends to be more expensive than junk food, and it seems that is why your boyfriend's family is limiting what they get? Is your boyfriend supportive of your efforts? Maybe you can get him interested in eating well and getting fit so that he could maybe convince his family to invest in healthier food. And having a teammate makes everything a lot more bearable.

As for taste, I'm not sure what to say. I used to never eat veggies, but my boyfriend got me into eating healthy by cooking them in different ways. Maybe you could convince your boyfriends family to eat healthy if you offer to cook for them occasionally? Since you already like meat and cheese (who doesn't? Haha, I love it!) maybe eat the veggies at the same time. This might be kind of weird, but if you get a forkful of food that has some of the veggies on it with meat, you will focus on the taste of what you like? If you are interested in some recipes that my boyfriend and I came up with, PM me.

Also, even though it may seem impossible, give up bread. And pasta. And white potatoes and anything that involves bad carbs. I LOVE bread, it was 80% of what I ate a year ago. But giving it up is totally worth it. I promise

Oh, and drink water. Lots of water. Just get a huge jug and carry it around with you all day. So that all you drink is water, no soda, no juice, no sugary beverages.

I hope that helps. I am no expert, but I have done a lot of reading on this site and others and I have completely changed my own diet in the past 6 months.

Good luck with your goals!

[Amanda76]

Man...you've had it rough! Have you visited the "Health and Human Services Commission" or whatever it's called in your state, to see if you can get some help?

While putting apps in all over, dont' forget to look into student jobs and ask the family you're living with if there's anything you can do around the house/yard they'd be willing to pay you for or at least give you the benefit of getting a few more food choices with. Ask neighbors as well (people always need babysitters).

It is NOT any more expensive to eat healthy foods than it unhealthy foods. I spend a lot less on groceries now that I quit buying crap we eat 5 servings of at a time without feeling full.

Protein: This will likely be the most expensive part of your diet. The more work you are willing to do, the cheaper you can purchase meat (be willing to separate chicken from the bone yourself, etc). Buy things in bulk (tilapia is very cheap this way) and when you come across a sale, buy a lot of meat to keep in the freezer. Tuna and eggs are cheap and handy to have around as well.

Carbs: A tub of old fashioned oats and a big bag of brown rice will last a lot longer than a loaf of bread, bag of chips, etc, etc...sweet potatos are also not expensive.

Fruits and veggies...get 'em frozen insted of fresh and you can buy in bulk and cheaper.

Fats: Walnuts are cheap per serving (make sure you stick to serving sizes), and so are things like olive, macadamia and walnut oil if you look at what you are paying per serving. Again, EGGS! Great source of fat...if you can convince them to get you some omega-3 eggs, that'd be even better.

So far as your hatred of veggies goes, the first thing you need to try to do is get a cheap multi-vitamin (store brand will do) to make up for nutritional deficiencies you likely have. Then, as you can, you need to try to find vegetables you can tolerate...doesn't even matter how you prepare them at first because you can ease up on the "bad stuff" as you learn to enjoy the veggie on it's own (starting off with broccoli and cheese and then gradually reducing the cheese until you're eating just steamed broccoli, for example). The flavor of stir fried vegetables is something a lot of non-veggie eaters like, btw. That may be something to experiment with. Fruits are also a good choice, so don't forget you have those as an option as well.

Do you have daily access to the internet so you can enter the foods you eat at a site like fitday? Do you have access to food scales or measuring cups at the house you live in?

I agree that while you're stuck eating what you're bf's family is eating, you are going to have to be especially careful about sticking to serving sizes. If you can weigh and measuret things, great. If not there are ways to guesstimate. Eat servings of lean meat the size of your flat hand. Eat servings of fatty meat that are the size of your palm. Servings of carbs should be the size of your fist. Servings of fat like butter or oil should be the size of your thumb (a serving of nuts is about a handful, though). It takes a bit of visualization but that might help you out a little.

From there, try to eat 5-6 small meals a day that have protein, carbs and fat represented at first (do the best you can). See what happens and make adjustments from there. PAY ATTENTION TO LABELS. As an example, if you're stuck eating hot pockets because you have no choice, look at what a serving size is, and don't go back for seconds.

Hope that helps a bit...it'll be easier when you're on your own two feet.

[dungeonmistress]

it sounds to me like you don't want it bad enough. so you've tried a few veggies. try MORE. keep trying them til you find some you like. there are so many i cannot believe that they all taste gross to you. make veggie soup if you must. they are an important source of vitamins, minerals, fiber and they fill you up without filling you out. and what about fruit?

no one said you had to eat fish. personally i hate it also. i've just recently rediscovered water packed solid white albacore because it's low cal, high protein and tastes really good. stick with lean sources of protein like chicken and turkey breast, whole and ground. even certain lean cuts of pork are good, as is lean beef like tri-tip.

stay away from junk carbs. eat only whole, unprocessed grains such as oatmeal, whole wheat couscous, quinoa, whole wheat pastas etc. you DO need carbs in order to fuel your body and workouts. if you don't get enough your body will turn the protein you eat into a source of energy.

make sure you include some fat in your diet - healthy fats such as extra virgin olive oil, etc. don't need a huge amount, a couple of teaspoons a day will help your body break down fat soluble vitamins etc.

don't binge. that will just feed into your yoyo dieting mentality. journal what you eat. make sure you eat enough to maintain your health but also enough to lose no more than 2-3 lbs a week. that way you ensure you are losing fat and not muscle.

lastly, EXERCISE. make it a part of your daily routine. good luck!

[lulusmom]

it sounds to me like you don't want it bad enough. so you've tried a few veggies. try MORE. keep trying them til you find some you like. there are so many i cannot believe that they all taste gross to you. make veggie soup if you must. they are an important source of vitamins, minerals, fiber and they fill you up without filling you out. and what about fruit?

I agree. It takes a while to change your taste buds to like what you don't like now, so keep trying things you don't like and eventually you will come to prefer them. My husband was raised on cream sauces and lots of cheese and fatty meats, and it took a while to change his tastes to at least include things like quinoa and tofu, and plain grilled lean meats. A lot of us here don't think of protein shakes and egg whites as favorite foods, but we power them down because we are focused on results and the feeling of being healthy and strong. Eat to live, don't live to eat.

[Liyah]

I'd say, since it looks like you don't have that much money to spend on a gym membership and you have a condition, I would suggest for you to just start walking around the block. Forget running at that point. Even if you walk only 10 minutes the first time, it's a 10 minutes you wouldn't have done normally. Try to increase the time every week or whenever you feel you can add another 10-15 minutes. Then, you could add a little more speed to that, without running still. I have a knee problem, I can't run or jump, but I can walk up to 3.5 mph with high incline on a treadmill without having too much pain. You say you feel tired and weak pretty often; well just by getting a little more active, you will feel a change. Even when I feel tired, I sometimes force myself to the gym, I don't work as hard as I do when I'm feeling top shape, but when I get out of there, I have more energy then when I got in! Even if you don't believe it, it's true!

For the eating, some people gave good advices, but you cannot make a 180 degree turn that easily. (well, in my opinion...You have better chances to keep your new habit if you go gradually) I like veggies a lot more than I used to when I was young; the best way for me to cook them is in the pan with a little olive oil and pepper If you are like me and love desserts and need to have one at lunch and dinner, try to have only one per day. Some days, I can go without any. But I got to that point by trying to cut one at the time.

Good luck!

[FemmeFatale]

Thanks everyone for your speedy replies and piles of information.

And don't worry, I'm used to the "you don't want it bad enough" or "playing the victim" comment. I wonder if people realize that I've been pushing myself for nearly all my life with no results? And I wonder if people realize that I wouldn't be posting on a forum I've never been on imploring complete strangers for help if I wasnt at the end of my rope?

I'm starting to gradually open up. I've started with the v8 as I stated earlier, I've noticed that I can tolerate tinned carrots if I boil them to -death- with some kind of meat and then smush them with a fork. Also, cauliflower is starting to become doable as well, but unfortunately it takes milk and butter and parmesan and garlic to make them tolerable! Lol!

I believe I'm what they call a "supertaster" but I'm not positive. Anywho, I'm going to try to assemble a simple "plan" I can revert to if things in the house aren't the way I want them to be, foodwise. It may take a few weeks to acquire all the ingredients but I'm going to try and load up on chicken breast and whole wheat pasta and v8... and fill in the gaps accordingly. What do you all think of me drinking hot tea with an artificial sweetener? I really love hot tea...

Also, I don't generally like things that are very sweet. Sweets don't really "get" me like ... "real food" does, I guess. I really am pushing to try and put veggies into my diet. I also hate most salad dressings (I can't stand vinegar) so it's been tough trying to make myself eat lettuce. I find romaine much more tolerable than iceberg - but iceberg's like $1 a head so that's what they bring in. On the same token, I can't stand sweet potatoes. Bleck. But I do like peanut butter, how much of that should one consume? I could live on the stuff, but I know it's dense with calories as much as nutrition.

[Komadori]

Thanks everyone for your speedy replies and piles of information.

And don't worry, I'm used to the "you don't want it bad enough" or "playing the victim" comment. I wonder if people realize that I've been pushing myself for nearly all my life with no results? And I wonder if people realize that I wouldn't be posting on a forum I've never been on imploring complete strangers for help if I wasnt at the end of my rope?

I'm starting to gradually open up. I've started with the v8 as I stated earlier, I've noticed that I can tolerate tinned carrots if I boil them to -death- with some kind of meat and then smush them with a fork. Also, cauliflower is starting to become doable as well, but unfortunately it takes milk and butter and parmesan and garlic to make them tolerable! Lol!

I believe I'm what they call a "supertaster" but I'm not positive. Anywho, I'm going to try to assemble a simple "plan" I can revert to if things in the house aren't the way I want them to be, foodwise. It may take a few weeks to acquire all the ingredients but I'm going to try and load up on chicken breast and whole wheat pasta and v8... and fill in the gaps accordingly. What do you all think of me drinking hot tea with an artificial sweetener? I really love hot tea...

Also, I don't generally like things that are very sweet. Sweets don't really "get" me like ... "real food" does, I guess. I really am pushing to try and put veggies into my diet. I also hate most salad dressings (I can't stand vinegar) so it's been tough trying to make myself eat lettuce. I find romaine much more tolerable than iceberg - but iceberg's like $1 a head so that's what they bring in. On the same token, I can't stand sweet potatoes. Bleck. But I do like peanut butter, how much of that should one consume? I could live on the stuff, but I know it's dense with calories as much as nutrition.

Sometimes, it comes down to how a food is prepared. Maybe peruse some recipe websites to get an idea of different ways to put food together. Myself, I'm a spicy kind of gal. Love curries, so when in doubt, I'll toss a curry together. *shrug*

And one of the best, and affordable salad dressings you can have consists of olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Very simple and very natural. (Very tasty too!) If you don't have olive oil, that might be something to save up for. I use it and Pam for my cooking (though I am learning to use other good fats, too, like flaxseed oil and avocado oil).

Iceberg lettuce has very little nutrition to it, but it works as a filler for all the other salad veggies like cucumber, celery, peppers, etc. I had to develop a taste for sweet potatoes (I knew I liked pumpkin pie, so it couldn't be too difficult...). Now I like them. I'll nuke them in the microwave, add just a little tad of butter with some cinnamon and splenda. Very tasty treat, which a year or two ago, I might have turned my nose at it.

I also like mashed cauliflower, but I just use s&p, a little butter, and 1% milk.

Here's a question. Now, I didn't see where you're from, but do you think you might be able to start a small garden for your boyfriend's family? That way, you can do something worthwhile that adds to the family, gives you an outlet for working out at your own pace, and provides you some fresh vegetables that you can be proud of. Tomatoes are especially simple to grow, and are very useful in a lot of recipes. There's also some types of lettuce that you can trim and use in salads, which continue to grow. It wouldn't be a quick solution, but it'd be a good means to an end.

Good luck. I know how hard it is to work with excess fat, and how it can get away from you. There are various reasons that obesity happens, but the simple matter is that it does happen, and there are ways to reverse it. And if you fall off that wagon, you just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back on that wagon again, you know?

Good luck. xx

[MyosinNActin]

I thing you need to define your goals better. I think you need to set out a macronutrient ratio for yourself. Say 40 percent of your calories will come from carbs, 35 from protein and 25 from fat. Write out a list of goals: what you want to be eating, how much exercise a week you want to get, what kinds of exercise, what kind of weight loss goal you are headed for.

As far as the joints go, that's easy to take care of! SWIMMINGGGGGGGGGGG burns just as many calories as a hardcore run...I love telling people that. I find that people are shocked to hear it but if you're swimmin those laps and putting the effort in and not just playing around in the pool you can burn even more than a runner does.

Family wise. I honestly can't wait to see you get a job so you can buy your own food. That's what it comes down to. I lucked out and grew up in a healthy household so whatever I needed was basically readily available to me. We had loads of fresh veggies and protein. Ask for a section of the fridge to be yours so you can store YOUR stuff there. Veggies and fish....you will come to appreciate...maybe not now but keep forcing em down and you'll hopefully just come to at least be able to bear them.

Keep on eating your PB!!! BUT in moderation...excellent source of healthy fat and protein. Remember 1 serving = 1 tbsp of PB so watch it!

[mavrick77]

i really dont wanna be mean..but all I here in this psuedo question is "try" "try" "try"....stop trying, just do it.

your weight is hurting your joints hands down..i garuntee when its gone so will most of your pain, look we all deal with pain. i train with 2 ruptured disk in my back....so the question is what do you want more?

so healthy foods dont taste as good as a moon pie, or snickers bar? no crap....once again, how bad do you want it?

you cant drive, cant work, etc... stop saying cant, you can drive, if you get off your butt and go get your license. i used to be a hiring manager, i wouldnt want to hire a extremely obese person without a car either...why you ask? because I know if you cant find a ride, you sure as hell are not gonna walk.

Look i know this may sound mean, but its true..we all have our sob stories...i got laid off over a year ago, and I have 2 college degree's and still haven't not found another full time job...do you think I think its fair when I see less qualified people hired over me because of affirmative action, or that I hear I am "overqualified" more often then not, HOWEver.........I w2'd over 50k this year, without a job..... its not more then I used to make, but its still more then most.... so like nike says and its cliche' but true....JUST DO IT.

[missnexa]

I struggled with weight issues for the majority of my life (I'm 26 now) and it wasn't until 2006 that I started. I was a bit overwhelmed at where to even begin (I was close to 200 lbs. right out of undergrad and gained the majority of the weight in college), so I started with one thing at a time - exercise and water intake.

I did what I could at the university gym and outside, like Liyah suggested. I tolerated dark leafy veggies (spinach) by smushing them in between my veggie burgers / sandwiches. Eventually, my tastebuds changed after 1 semester of getting back into exercise. Started incorporating salads and seriously experimented with different veggies/fruits every time I went into the grocery store.

Keep in mind that this is a lifestyle change, so take your time and enjoy the process along the way.

I think the only thing I would've done differently back when I started was keep a food log in the beginning. I didn't write everything I ate/did down until ~8 months ago when I started to get a bit more serious with my exercise goals.

Best of luck to you.

[bambifox]

I agree with "most" of what mavrick77 says. I think it's time to stop "trying" and "do". I struggle with my very own daughter on this same point about veggies. "I don't like this...or that will make me gag"...and honestly...I have to remind her constantly that she is not 3 yrs old and will not die if she eats them. Hell..I choke back alot of nasty tasting supps and powders...why? cuz there good for me and I care about my health.

You've been given some truly great advise on this thread about how to make a healthy lifestyle fit your budget. To recap:

Tuna - $3/large can
Lettuce - $1
Peanut Butter $1.50
Fish (tilapia) -$12/box @ walmart
eggs - $1
frozen spinach - $2.50
brocolli - $2
cauliflower - $2
brown rice - $2
yams - donno the price (ha ha...I'm doing keto)

These are just a few of the items mentioned that are low priced healthy foods.

Good luck and wishing you the best of success for your future goals. YES I CAN!!!

[NOVA888]

Hi FemmeFatale!

Have you ever had a fasting insulin resistance test?

[NotYetThere]

hey,
for joint health I suggest you go out and buy some omega 3 supplements. They wont cure the problem but they will help. Omega 3 also supports the cardovasular and digestive systems
2)I suggest getting a gym membership. Cardinal fitness is $20 a month if you have any around your area. I know you said you do not have a job so this is a reasonable price. Try to go 5 days a week and ride the bike or elliptical for about 30min and try to keep your heart rate around 130. If you feel pain or dizziness then ease up.
3)You should try to eat 6 meals a day at about 300 calories a meal. Try to focus more on protein but dont cut out the carbs and fat.

[CarmenS.]

Hey there...I just wanted to mention that if you are "boiling to death" your veggies..basically there's not much point in eating them, b/c all the vitamins have leached out into the water. Now if you boil the veggies in water and make a soup out of it (and take in all the liquid used for cooking)...then you will get those nutrients so it's better for you. But really..boiling cauliflower to death and adding cheese to it..it's not healthy anymore, not at all.

Will you eat beans? That along with rice is a good source of protein and carbs, as long as you don't pig out. And it's very cheap (buy the beans and rice separate..not in the Zataran's kind of mix..that's more expensive and has more sodium and calories).

As for exercise, I second the person who said walking. Walking for an hour at a decent pace is good exercise..sure you might have to work up to it, but anything is better than nothing. Another thing you could do is keep yours eyes open for a used stepper...it's nothing but a plastic box. But that is HARD exercise if you do it at a decent pace. Also look up bodyweight exercises on the internet..that's stuff like pushups and situps..exercises that take no equipment to do. That would help.

I think..if everything you say is really true (about EVERYTHING tasting bad or making sick)..there's not much point. B/c supposedly all you want to eat is meat/cheese/bread. Well you could leave out the bread and go low carb, but I'm betting you can't afford that. Of course tuna is an inexpensive low carb meat source, but you hate tuna.

If you cannot somehow make yourself eat this stuff that is supposedly horrid, I don't see how you'll successfully diet. In the long run, it doesn't really matter that you got heavy b/c whoever raised you did a crappy job. You're the only one who can do anything about it now.

My Rx is this..walk for as long as you can once or twice a day, whatever you can fit in. The more the better. If you're bf's parents won't buy good stuff for you..just eat small portions of whatever they serve. You can still keep it reasonably low calorie even if it is not that healthy. Just drink water/diet soda/crystal light...no soda or juice or milk or whatever. All that has calories. I wouldn't bother with the V8 honestly..that's full of sodium and has plenty of calories. If you're forcing yourself to choke that down..then force yourself to choke down something not so salty..like a raw carrot or something. Eventually if you do this long enough you'll lose weight to where you'll feel better and that hopefully will spur you on. Also if you can get your license definately do..that will help with the job search. And if you can get a job....you can buy food! Healthy food! And ti will be so much easier then.

[Tishalicious]

I'll add into the food thing too...

I've heard talk about people 'infantising' their tastebuds - if you continue with sweet and bland food, your tastebuds will not develop to a point where you'll like other things.

Maybe - to regain some element of control - you could suggest to the bf's rents that you take on responsibility for dinner once a week. You purchase the food and you prepare it. Find some nice and 'clean' reciepes and wow them.

You can do it! You CAN. Look for options and look for other solutions. There is more than one way to skin a kitty.

[turtle_soup]

Thanks everyone for your speedy replies and piles of information.

And don't worry, I'm used to the "you don't want it bad enough" or "playing the victim" comment. I wonder if people realize that I've been pushing myself for nearly all my life with no results? And I wonder if people realize that I wouldn't be posting on a forum I've never been on imploring complete strangers for help if I wasnt at the end of my rope?

I'm starting to gradually open up. I've started with the v8 as I stated earlier, I've noticed that I can tolerate tinned carrots if I boil them to -death- with some kind of meat and then smush them with a fork. Also, cauliflower is starting to become doable as well, but unfortunately it takes milk and butter and parmesan and garlic to make them tolerable! Lol!

I believe I'm what they call a "supertaster" but I'm not positive. Anywho, I'm going to try to assemble a simple "plan" I can revert to if things in the house aren't the way I want them to be, foodwise. It may take a few weeks to acquire all the ingredients but I'm going to try and load up on chicken breast and whole wheat pasta and v8... and fill in the gaps accordingly. What do you all think of me drinking hot tea with an artificial sweetener? I really love hot tea...

Also, I don't generally like things that are very sweet. Sweets don't really "get" me like ... "real food" does, I guess. I really am pushing to try and put veggies into my diet. I also hate most salad dressings (I can't stand vinegar) so it's been tough trying to make myself eat lettuce. I find romaine much more tolerable than iceberg - but iceberg's like $1 a head so that's what they bring in. On the same token, I can't stand sweet potatoes. Bleck. But I do like peanut butter, how much of that should one consume? I could live on the stuff, but I know it's dense with calories as much as nutrition.

After time - your tastebuds change - for the better.
The first time I ever had a protein muffin I was like - WTF is this!? Spongebob? Now I LOVE THEM!.. If I crave sweets - these are the bomb!

Switch out your foods with BETTER options!
I have to make my own salad dressing.. I can't stand store bought stuff.
Its a vinegrette... Get a recipe for one you like - and make it low cal..
Get fresh veggies instead of canned. Eat them raw or steam them..
Grind them up and put in a salad.

There are a ton of recipes on this forum - under the Nutrition.. (somewhere)..

My trainer is putting out a cookbook of recipes shes created and made healthier.. Lasagna, meatballs, pancakes, muffins, BROWNIES.

Lean meats and vegetables are your friends
Love them and they will love you back.

[FemmeFatale]

i really dont wanna be mean..but all I here in this psuedo question is "try" "try" "try"....stop trying, just do it.

your weight is hurting your joints hands down..i garuntee when its gone so will most of your pain, look we all deal with pain. i train with 2 ruptured disk in my back....so the question is what do you want more?

so healthy foods dont taste as good as a moon pie, or snickers bar? no crap....once again, how bad do you want it?

you cant drive, cant work, etc... stop saying cant, you can drive, if you get off your butt and go get your license. i used to be a hiring manager, i wouldnt want to hire a extremely obese person without a car either...why you ask? because I know if you cant find a ride, you sure as hell are not gonna walk.

Look i know this may sound mean, but its true..we all have our sob stories...i got laid off over a year ago, and I have 2 college degree's and still haven't not found another full time job...do you think I think its fair when I see less qualified people hired over me because of affirmative action, or that I hear I am "overqualified" more often then not, HOWEver.........I w2'd over 50k this year, without a job..... its not more then I used to make, but its still more then most.... so like nike says and its cliche' but true....JUST DO IT.

Pardon this, but....

Can I ask how someone can just "Get up off their butt and get their license" when they DO NOT KNOW how to drive, DO NOT HAVE a car to learn in, and DO NOT HAVE THE CASH (costs $70 for the stupid 4 hour course) to even get my permit? It's not like "ohhh, I dont feel like it so I cant," I've exhausted all my options.

Okay, I wont even bother to address the rest of your response because I feel it is terribly insensitive.

[FemmeFatale]

Hi FemmeFatale!

Have you ever had a fasting insulin resistance test?

No, I have not. I have no health insurance. I'd love to take one. I also had a doctor hypothesize (but was unable to move forward due to me losing my free-for-minors insurance) that I have PCOS and am prediabetic... Don't wanna bet the farm on it, but I don't doubt it either.

[FemmeFatale]

Hey there...I just wanted to mention that if you are "boiling to death" your veggies..basically there's not much point in eating them, b/c all the vitamins have leached out into the water. Now if you boil the veggies in water and make a soup out of it (and take in all the liquid used for cooking)...then you will get those nutrients so it's better for you. But really..boiling cauliflower to death and adding cheese to it..it's not healthy anymore, not at all.

Will you eat beans? That along with rice is a good source of protein and carbs, as long as you don't pig out. And it's very cheap (buy the beans and rice separate..not in the Zataran's kind of mix..that's more expensive and has more sodium and calories).

As for exercise, I second the person who said walking. Walking for an hour at a decent pace is good exercise..sure you might have to work up to it, but anything is better than nothing. Another thing you could do is keep yours eyes open for a used stepper...it's nothing but a plastic box. But that is HARD exercise if you do it at a decent pace. Also look up bodyweight exercises on the internet..that's stuff like pushups and situps..exercises that take no equipment to do. That would help.

I think..if everything you say is really true (about EVERYTHING tasting bad or making sick)..there's not much point. B/c supposedly all you want to eat is meat/cheese/bread. Well you could leave out the bread and go low carb, but I'm betting you can't afford that. Of course tuna is an inexpensive low carb meat source, but you hate tuna.

If you cannot somehow make yourself eat this stuff that is supposedly horrid, I don't see how you'll successfully diet. In the long run, it doesn't really matter that you got heavy b/c whoever raised you did a crappy job. You're the only one who can do anything about it now.

My Rx is this..walk for as long as you can once or twice a day, whatever you can fit in. The more the better. If you're bf's parents won't buy good stuff for you..just eat small portions of whatever they serve. You can still keep it reasonably low calorie even if it is not that healthy. Just drink water/diet soda/crystal light...no soda or juice or milk or whatever. All that has calories. I wouldn't bother with the V8 honestly..that's full of sodium and has plenty of calories. If you're forcing yourself to choke that down..then force yourself to choke down something not so salty..like a raw carrot or something. Eventually if you do this long enough you'll lose weight to where you'll feel better and that hopefully will spur you on. Also if you can get your license definately do..that will help with the job search. And if you can get a job....you can buy food! Healthy food! And ti will be so much easier then.

Honestly? I think the reason I can choke down v8 is because of the salt, and because about 80% of what I taste kinda tastes like spaghetti sauce due to the tomato.

[FemmeFatale]

I'll add into the food thing too...

I've heard talk about people 'infantising' their tastebuds - if you continue with sweet and bland food, your tastebuds will not develop to a point where you'll like other things.

Maybe - to regain some element of control - you could suggest to the bf's rents that you take on responsibility for dinner once a week. You purchase the food and you prepare it. Find some nice and 'clean' reciepes and wow them.

You can do it! You CAN. Look for options and look for other solutions. There is more than one way to skin a kitty.

I do, in fact, cook once or twice a week and that's when I generally do my chicken breast and healthyish meals. I also try to have them "leave out" a serving of whatever protein they're cooking (because they marinate the chicken in a bowl of salad dressing, and flour and FRY EVERYTHING.)