 Why do I want to gain weight (gainer)? |
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=> i am really overweight i'm 91kg and 170cm i want to get bigger i don't know why??? i like to eat lots to to get bigger too can you help me
=> I need to know I want to be fat but I don't know why and I get cravings to overeat why is this
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 A “gainer” is someone who overeats with the intention of becoming overweight, or if already overweight, gaining even more weight.
The reasons why some kids (and adults) would WANT to become overweight or obese appear to be complex and this website is not an authority on this topic. However, there are several theories as to why gainers occur.
One theory is that some gainers are addicted to the flavor of certain foods or use food as a means to comfort themselves. But rather than come to terms with their addiction or emotional dependency on food, they may deny those feelings and instead try to justify to themselves reasons for overeating. To do this, gainers sometimes attempt to recruit others in gaining weight or seek compliments from others so that they feel better about their decision.
Another theory is that gainers like the appearance of overweight and obese body sizes. Some gainers even look for “feeders” whom they can depend upon. A feeder provides a gainer with an abundant supply of food and seems to take joy in their weight gain. These are often troubled relationships because the feeder is usually overly controlling and dehumanizes the gainer by just appreciating the fat as an object, but not the person themselves.
Since the goal of this site is to help kids lose weight, any posts from gainers who try to recruit others, glorify their actions, or seek support from others in continuing gaining weight, will be removed. However, some kids come to our site acknowledging that in their past they may have been a “gainer”, but eventually came to the conclusion that they would prefer to lose weight.
From Paul, Age 16 - 01/25/03
Hey this is kinda of a success story. I just got off of the bad habit of being an over-eater. I used be this thing called a gainer. It was kinda wierd, but I loved food sooo much, that I decided to gain wieght on purpose. I know it sounds wierd, but I was just really confused. I gained alot of weight. My pant buttons used to pop off all of the time, but I just kept on eating. I would drink soda by the Liters. I would drink 2 or 3 cans of soda in about a minute! I was unstoppable! I was about 180 pounds. I totally turned my life around about a week ago. I stopped drinking soda(if I go out to eat, I get a small or medium soda, but no refills), and I only eat when I am hungry(only about 2 times a day). When I was a gainer I was encouraged to eat, so that habit was kinda hard to brake. Like today I walked by a GIANT cake, and the "old" me would of cut a pice and grabbed it with my hands and shove it in my mouth. But I have lost about 10 pounds in a week, and I feel SOO much better!:) Sorry about this really long message, but I thought you guys should know about my success:)
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| Food Questions |
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=> Hi,I have a question about whole milk and skimmed milk.Which is better?Ive heard that whole milk is very fattening and that children above 2 years of age should only drink skimmed milk.All my life I drank whole milk,so does my family.I am slim and almost every day I eat muesli with whole milk for breakfast.But I read that whole milk makes you fat so Im kinda worried.My parents wont buy skimmed milk cause they complain its bland and tasteless.So,what should I choose?
=> im 13 im not much of a over weight .but i do want to lose some weight. im very active.i eat healthy most of the time. i just wanted to ask about how much am i suppose to eat cuz im just regaining what i lost! please help
=> hi im 13 and 193 pounds and im muscular but i feel like i need to lose weight. what should i do for a diet?
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Giving specific diet advice is difficult because there are so many different options for a healthy menu and people tend to have specific tastes. It is also dependent upon your current age, height, weight and projections for growing (or not) taller. For personal dietary recommendations, please consult with a registered dietician (RD) in your area. An RD who treats overeating disorders can be found in the phone book or through edreferral.com.
However, here are some guidelines that can help you choose better foods and portion sizes. For fluids, Lucy recommends drinking 1% or fat free milk at meals. Although whole milk is not necessarily “bad”, choosing milk lower in calories is a relatively easy way to reduce your caloric intake if you are trying to lose weight. If your parents are used to whole milk, they might be willing to meet you half way by purchasing 1% milk because it tastes creamier than fat free milk. Between meals, drink something with 10 calories or less per serving.
 If you are regaining some of the weight that you had lost, either reduce your caloric intake, increase your physical activity, or do both. Kids sometimes do calorie counting and if you are interested in monitoring your food intake this way, Lucy has a calorie guide based on your sex, age, and activity level here. Weight plateaus and relapses are relatively common for kids who lose weight initially, but you can get back on track. Some reasons why this happens is because when one is heavy, you burn up a lot of energy moving your weight around. But as you become lighter, the same amount of exercise doesn’t burn up as many calories because you are lighter! You also may have received many more compliments when you first started losing weight, but not so much now and you have resorted to more comfort eating to take the place of compliments again. If so, check out whether you have emotional triggers to eating.
For a food plan to lose weight, you can simply keep eating the same foods and just cut back the portions by ¼ or ½ and save the remaining food for another meal time. If you want to make more significant changes because you feel that your current diet doesn’t include enough healthy foods, here is a sample menu for a 2000 calorie food pattern for seven days. Lucy also has a guide for choosing balanced breakfasts to keep you feeling full until lunch. Eating breakfast actually helps you lose weight because it reduces the tendencies to overeat or binge later in the day. Check out Lucy’s Healthy Eating area under tips and the healthy category in recipezaar.com for more great food ideas at meal and snack times. |
| Accountability |
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=> how can u guys help me lose weight?
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The goal of this site is to provide information and support so that kids and teens can help themselves! We can’t be in your home monitoring the food you eat or telling you how much to exercise. Besides, you probably wouldn’t like that because it would feel like we were patronizing (condescending) or didn’t trust you. You have to learn to be accountable for your own actions, including lifestyle choices that impact your health. Some kids have extra challenges due to significant food addictions, emotional eating, and/or a home setting that has obstacles to healthy eating and exercise (lack of nutritious food, no safe outdoor play areas nearby). But there can be ways to work around these barriers with enough motivation and creative thinking.
To get started on losing weight, visit our school section. There you will find many topics, including How Do I Lose Weight? and numerous Lucy Tips. If you would like to interact and find support from your peers who also want to lose weight, drop by the Pre-Teens Bulletin Board or Teens Bulletin Board and chat room. There are also chats with Lucy, a registered dietician, every Wednesday in the kids chat room. We hope to see you there soon! |
| Healthy foods missing from diet |
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=> Help! I am 12 years old 5'3 and 176 lbs. I'm obese! I can't eat heathy or exercise!! The food is way to tempting!!Help please!
=> ok so im 11 years old and a vegetarian tring to loose wieght I wiegh 160lbs. people say i am a junkatarian well b/c i eat all the time and not really heathy foods eaither! can you please Help me loose wieght i am emmbarised to wear a bakini in the summer!!!
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Both of you mention that you either can’t or don’t eat healthy foods. Instead, you are probably getting a majority of your calories from junk food, which can be easy to do since they are almost always high in calories for a relatively small amount of food. Giving up certain foods really can feel like giving up a drug. In other words, there seems to be a component of addiction for some people who overeat. Usually this only applies to fattening, sweet, or salty food items such as donuts, chips, pop, cookies, pizza, ice cream….you get the idea. Not many people overeat on apples and broccoli.
A related reason for overeating is often due to emotions (boredom, anxiety, stress, sadness, etc.). Used in this way, food is a temporary comforting tool.  The problem is that the pleasure received from food is temporary but the side effects (weight gain) are longer term unless the underlying problem is addressed by something other than eating.
Saying Goodbye to the Food Drug
Grieving Your Food Friend
Are You Compulsively Overeating?
Lucy has several tips posted specifically for food addictions and emotional eating. Visit the above pages to learn strategies for helping you to effectively deal with addictions and coping without food! |
| It’s Your Decision. |
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=> Im Grade 8 and im 160 pounds..i have no clue what to do...my mom allways buys junkfood and my dad is a health doctor... but i have no clue who to choose..i love juice but my father says no...its hard becuz i grew up woth that stuff..im really sick of being the only girl in the school my size! what should i do?
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 The decision to lose weight is up to you. Getting motivated to lose weight can be one of the biggest obstacles for most people. Try writing down the positive and negative parts of a healthy weight vs. remaining overweight or obese. Some positive reasons to lose weight might be “To not be teased,” “To attract the opposite sex,” and “To be better in sports.” While positive reasons to stay at the same weight for you might be “To keep eating the same tasty things in the same amounts” and “To not have to deal with going through any possible withdrawal feelings if I’m addicted to certain foods”. This can be a great motivational tool. For an example of such a chart, look here to see what Lucy wrote down in these four boxes.
Then print off your own motivational chart and fill in your own reasons for wanting and not wanting to lose weight. After completing this chart, you should be able to see which is more important to you: the reasons you list for losing weight ...or remaining overweight so that you can be entertained and comforted by food. If you decide you want take steps to lose weight, visit our How do I lose weight? page to get started.
P.S. Juice often has added sweeteners, which means high calories, thus easily contributing to weight gain. Hence, the reason your father prefers that you don’t drink it (or not too much of it.) Alternatives to pop and other sweetened drinks are suggested in this Lucy tip on Watch What You Drink. Other ideas are tea with a teaspoon of lemon juice and a pinch of sugar (or ice tea in the summer), ice water with a squeeze/slice of fresh lemon or mint leaf, and plain water! Plain ice water quenches thirst better than sweetened drinks and has zero calories. There's also flavored water, but be careful, as flavored water may have as much sugar in it as soda (click here for article). |
| I think my low metabolism is working against my attempts to lose weight! |
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=> I am really overweight. I am starting 7th grade in august and want to lose 10 lbs. I am in soccer and i walk A LOT! I have very low metabolism. Can you give me some tips?
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There are three ways we burn energy:
1) Basic Needs (Basal metabolic rate or BMR): energy we use up while at rest (to keep the heart beating, brain functioning, blood circulating, etc.) This makes up 70% of the total energy use in a sedentary (low activity level) person.
Basal metabolism varies by about 25-30% within the general population. We do not have much control over BMR, but here are some factors that influence it:
• Body size and composition. People who are larger or have more muscle mass, will burn more calories, even at rest. (So overweight people are more likely to have a faster metabolic rate — not a slower one.)
• Sex. Boys typically have less body fat and more muscle mass than a girl of the same age, so they will burn more calories.
• Age. Muscle mass decreases as we get older, which slows down the rate at which calories are burned.
2) Food Processing: energy we spend on digesting and storing nutrients from food. Typically the body burns only 5-10% of the food calories consumed in this type of metabolism.
3) Physical Activity: energy spent in physical activity (walking, sports, cleaning the house, chasing the dog) accounts for about 20% of the energy used by sedentary people.
It may seem reasonable to think that low metabolism can cause significant weight gain or be related to overweight. But in reality, "low metabolism" is rarely the cause of overweight. Moreover, few people have had their metabolism measured due to the expense, which requires an air tight room to assess the rate of energy use under scientifically controlled conditions. If you still think your metabolism is too slow, your doctor may be able to check for uncommon conditions that interfere with metabolism, such as hypothyroidism and Cushing's syndrome.
Weight gain is more likely due to an energy imbalance — consuming more calories than your body burns. To lose weight, eat fewer calories, increase the number of calories you burn through physical activity, or preferably do both. |
| What can I do about stretch marks? |
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=> i have stretch marks on my thighs. it makes me really self-consious about weaing shorts in the summer i spoke to my mum about it and she said that if i tone my legs they with go but will they really?
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For those who may be wondering, stretch marks are skin scars, usually reddish, when weight gain is particularly rapid. The skin does not have time to stretch and thus ends up breaking apart on a microscopic scale (not visible to the naked eye). This often occurs for women during pregnancy. Overweight people may also experience stretch marks not only on their stomachs, but also legs, arms, breasts, thighs, and buttocks.
Stretch marks usually fade over time, but they may not go away completely. Cocoa butter, vitamin E oil, and other moisturizers are often suggested to treat stretch marks by kids on this website. Although these creams and lotions are probably safe to use (unless you are allergic), there are not any research studies that have shown they can reduce the appearance of these marks. There are some treatments offered by dermatologists (skin doctors) that include the use of lasers and other high-tech equipment. But beware; these treatments can also result in adverse side effects, injuries, and high costs. Besides, none of these high-tech treatments have been shown to make stretch marks go away completely.
Your best option is to reduce factors that are contributing to your rapid weight gain (if it’s still happening), be patient with allowing your skin to heal on its own, and wearing clothes that hide these marks if you are self-conscious about them. For example, instead of shorts, consider wearing Capri or light weight pants and summer skirts when days are hot. Some day, you may proudly refer to your faded stretch marks as “battle scars” from the days you lost weight. That is, if anyone even notices them. |
| Portion Control |
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=> did you do anything rather than cut everything in half?
=> ive been cutting down on the unhwalthy foods watching what i eat and how much i eat and i havent been drinking fatning things and drinkkng lots of water and excersizing alot more about the whole week for about 2 months and im still not losing weight what are som tips to losing some weight or what am i doing wrong im lost
=> I have a tip. Its not about what you it its how MUCH you eat. I eat in portions.
=> I way 131 and i am 12 and all of my other friends can like wear like bikinis that show off your belly and i want to wear that kind of stuff i can't even wear my omos clothes from when she was like a size 5 i am like a sixe 10 in womens what can i do to lose the weight so i can have a flat stomach but where my mom doesn't have to buy special things like special low fat stuff or any thing i want to eat like the food she eats but hjow can i do that with out putting on more weight?
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Cutting the amount of food you eat in half is a rough guide. The amount that is best to cut back on depends on how much you currently eat and your activity level. Americans (and many others in industrialized nations) eat significantly larger portions than just a few decades ago. What is considered a “normal” portion size by many people today may really be too much. It doesn’t help that we have tempting foods that are more readily available. Eating when we just feel physical hunger (like a growling stomach) can also be a good strategy.
There is an excellent guide at MyPyramid.gov that gives photo examples of how much one serving size equates to in different food groups. Go to their “How Much Should You Eat?” page to learn more about gauging portion sizes.
You can also get a customized food guide at MyPyramid Plan by entering in your age, sex, weight, height, and average daily physical activity level. It will then tell you the recommended daily calorie intake and how many servings to eat from each food group. Most kids need to eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. If you follow their guidelines and don’t see any weight loss after several weeks, you may need to cut back on your portions even a little more.
Although you can try to lose weight by reducing your overall food intake of your current diet, we hope your food choices are already healthy and provide sufficient nutrients for kids and teens. Otherwise you are missing out on nutrients especially important for growing bodies such as calcium, protein, folic acid, potassium, fiber, beta-Carotene, and much more! We do know that highly processed junk food is missing most of these essential nutrients.
Remember to try to get your heart beating faster through activity 30 to 60 minutes most days of the week. Work up to this slowly and check with your doctor if you are not already at these levels. Portion control combined with Exercising Smart should help give positive results. |
| Binge Eating |
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=> im 11 and i weigh 9 stone. I go on diets like just eating breakfeast, lunch and dinner but i keep it up for 3 or 4 days then binge eating, whats a easy diet to have
=> Here is my info:
12 years old
4'8
134.3 lbs
Do I need to lose weight? I try so hard. I eat healthy, but then after a few days, I binge. HELP!!
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It may not make sense at first, but binge may start by not eating enough earlier in the day. Many kids and teens make the mistake when they first try to change their eating habits by eating too little (or starving) early in the day. But this usually adds to stress and frustration later leading them to eat a lot of food at one time, also called binge eating. This binge eating is often done in secret.
 Binge eating may also result from severe emotional stress and using food to cope. The food eaten may not be actually enjoyed but simply wolfed down in an attempt to relieve the stress.
You can stop binge eating. Many kids and teens may find it helpful to talk with a counselor about binge eating and about their stress. In addition, here are three strategies to help reduce and eliminate your binge eating episodes:
1. Don’t Skip Meals. That includes eating sufficient food at breakfast and lunch every day.
2. Eat Balanced Meals. This means diversifying your diet to include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein, and calcium.
3. Don’t go below 1200 calories per day if you are calorie counting. Here is a calorie guide for growing kids and teens based on their sex, age, and activity level.
4. Learn to cope with stress without using food. Squeezing your hands together tight, and slow deep, slow breathing and relaxing are ways to relieve stress. Writing your problems down with a plan for each problem also helps. See our tip on stress eating.
http://www.blubberbuster.com/tips/altactivities.html - Use this list to find things you like to do. These activities can be done whenever you feel the need to eat for reasons other than hunger. You can do these activities whenever you feel some uncomfortable feelings.
For more details, read Lucy’s tip on how to stop binge eating. |
| Am I overweight? How much should I weigh? |
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=> I am going on a vacation to California to see my grandparents.I haven't seen them in two years so I really want to impress them by how I look. I weigh 104lbs. and I am 4ft 6in. Any idea how much weight I should lose and how to lose it?
=> i am 13 years old(5 FOOT 10) and i weigh 163..am i overwieght.. and wat are some tips to lose weight
=> Lucy am i overweight i am 12 years and 10 months old i am 5'3" and my weight is inbetween 145 and 150
=> hey lucy i am 11 and wieght 135 pounds is that fat i think it is so those my dad mom brother my dad and brothet always insult me especially my bro how can i lose wieght i am starting middle school in september can i lose at least 30 to 20 pounds
=> What is the average weight for a 5'2.7 girl whos 12 and 11 months?
=> I don't exactly know if i'm over weight. I'm 15, about to be a sophmore. i'm 5'0 and weigh about 132-134. Buut i'm pretty active and don't eat that bad.
Can you help me?
=> im 14. how much am i suppose to weight being at the height of 4'10 or 4'11?
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Use our weight calculator to find your BMI (body mass index), which will help you to determine whether you are overweight or obese, and to see the recommended healthy weight range for you*. The BMI reflects how your weight compares to your height. For math minds, the exact equation is:
weight/(height)2 = BMI
Whether the BMI number means that you are overweight or not may depend on your gender (male or female) and age. For example, a BMI number of 22.3 is considered overweight for a 13 year 8 month old boy who is 5'4" and 130 pounds, but 22.3 is just within the healthy range for a girl of the same age, height, and weight. The BMI number is also interpreted differently for adults. So it is important to use a weight calculator that computes your percentile, such as the one on our website. Your percentile shows how you compare to everybody else. For example, if you are 80th percentile that means you are heavier than 80 out of 100 kids your age and sex. The age range for our calculator is 2 - 20 years, and for this age range, BMI percentiles can be interpreted as follows:
• BMI 1st to 4th percentile: Underweight*
• BMI 5th to 84th percentile: Healthy Weight*
• BMI 85th to 94th percentile: Overweight*
• BMI 94th to 100th percentile: Obese*
For tips on losing weight, visit our Healthy Weight School and numerous weight loss tips posted by Lucy.
*Weight recommendations by the CDC (Center for Disease Control) |
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