From Amanda, Age 14 - 05/11/10 - IP#: 74.55.55.xxx Click here to reply Ht. 5'1", Start: 260 lb, Today: 310 lb (BMI %tile: 98), Goal: 100 lb - My weight is making life IMpossible! Its 200 EXtra pounds and I'm not STRONG enough for THAT! But why doesn't that MAKE me want to EAT less instead of MORE??? I try to talk MYself OUT of CRAVEings but I have to EAT to stop going CRAZZZZZY! Its getting REALly HARD to walk between CLASSes at SCHOOL because of my WEIGHT. My LEGS get TIRED and sometimes I'm almost LATE because I walk so SLOW! How do I STOP CRAVEings but without willPOWER because I don't have THAT! PS Theres alWAYS JuNk FoOd in the house because we THREW it AWAY 2 times to help me LOSE weight but I got caught CHEATing both times because of CRAVEings and now my DAD says, NO more chances its unFAIR for the FaMiLy!
Reply from Ally13, Age 22 - 05/12/10 - IP#: 74.92.246.xxx Hi Amanda. It sounds like you're in a pretty tough situation and believe me, I feel for you. It's hard being overweight and you're right, carrying around an extra 200 pounds on your bodyframe isn't something your body was meant to do. Here's the thing though: whether you realize it or not, you DO have willpower. You think you don't, but honestly, that's just because you probably haven't been working on building it up. At this point, for your health and well-being, you NEED to lose weight. Forget the body image issues everyone has...that much extra weight has to be strenuous on your body and that in turn can potentially cause serious health issues for you. I'm sure you've seen enough articles/posts/whatever on foods you should eat and exercises you should perform to lose weight so I'm not even going to go into any of that. What I would like to say though, is that you really, really need to start building up your willpower muscle (yes, I'd view it as a muscle). In order to do that, you're going to need to take baby steps and work your way up slowly. For instance, say you like to drink sodas every day. Use your willpower to say to yourself 'for one week, I will replace the amount of soda I'd normally drink with water'. That way you 1. have an end in sight (ie: one week) and 2. you're starting to 'work out' that muscle. I'd say the problem most people have with willpower is that they tend to try and resist EVERYTHING all at once. You can't do that - that's like trying to run a marathon when you're just learning to walk - you're going to fall down, hard. Just focus on one thing at a time. Try something like what I put above and don't stress about the fact that you may be giving in to all of your other cravings during that time because eventually, as your willpower gets stronger with each new challenge you present it with, you'll be less likely to give into those cravings all of the time. Good luck honey. Don't give up!!!
