Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

I gained like 20 pounds over the school year and it sucks. Today is the first day of my new weight loss program. I'm loosely following the Weight Watchers Points program, where foods have a certain point value and you have a certain number of points to eat in the day. It's based on the fat and calories, so junk foods have a lot of points, but you can still eat them. Anyone got tips for how to eat healthier? Share your weight loss experiences here.

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I lost 50 pounds on Atkins. If you don't mind cutting carbs it might be a solution.

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171st POST ANNIVERSARY!!!

Dur. I hate thems low-carb solutions. I believe the Sisterhood hates Atkins as well.

If you want to lose weight, let's try eating less, and exercise. Although most people wish to lose weight without doing this, it's one of the most effective solutions.

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My parents want me to do the opposite, gain weight. Because I'm like 75 pounds.

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Huh. You're like my friend. He's the same age as me, but barely weighs anything. How old are you?

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Two quick tips. First, if you hate exersizing, you have now lost your short term memory. Forget things a lot, and don't remember until you're almost out of the area. Not recommended on a restricted time budget. Experiment with 6 shorter meals as well.

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12

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I'm 13 and I weigh 6 or 7 pounds more than that.

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Whoa now. Eh...that's not so bad. You should probably hit 100 in the next two years. It all depends on how you're built. If you're skinny and lanky, then there's not much you can do.

EDIT:
Holy crap.

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...I'm 14 and weigh 194 pounds.

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Im 13 and weigh as much as you dude

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At age 18, 150 pounds. Being a relative shorty, 150 should be pretty fat, but because it's all muscle, I defy the BMI system! Can't run crap for a mile but can burn most people in a half mile, and my expertise is the shorter races. Honestly, I could probably lose or gain 10 pounds within 2 months at will, but you'd have to pay me some money to make me do it.
Now the funny thing is, 2 months ago I was still in what would be great shape for most people but somewhat out of shape for me. However, recently I didn't lose any weight, but my waistline dropped over an inch almost instantly. Very simple- a lower body fat percentage, not that it was bad to begin with. It really wasn't that hard. 50 seconds of workouts a day does wonders. Hoping to hit 155 by the end of the summer.
If you're wanting to gain [useful] weight, I got some exercises that build muscle at an astonishing speed. You'd have to weight train 2 hours a day every day to match that growth.
75 at 12 eh? At 12 I was 85, then at 13 weighed 115. Simple- early growth spurt. Still somehwat skinny at the time though.

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"No, no, no. You gotta get those rings... INSIDE the bottle!"
I'm just an old timer who lurks on occasion. Even in 2020, at least.

I'm really skinny, but I excercise anyway. Today, I decided to make myself to 5 pushups everytime I post something here. If you follow the food pyramid and excercise, then you should get results.

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I'm 13 and I weigh 101 pounds. not bad.

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About low-carb dieting:

It's actually excellent if you happen to be diabetic (type II) or hyperglycemic. It can help you get your diabetes under control, or so I've heard. Doesn't work with type I, though.

Your body actually needs some carbs on a daily basis to operate correctly. The trick is to use the right kinds of carbs. Cut out sweets entirely. No candy, soda, or anything like that, unless it's sugar-free. Sugar clogs up your system and keeps it from burning starches and fats, which are what you need to burn if you want to lose weight.

The best way to manage your carbs is to balance them with your fats and protiens. Someone once told me that a 30-40-30 plan is the way to go. About 30% of your calories from carbs, 40% from protiens, and 30% from fats.

Portion control. A lot of people go on low-carb diets because they want to be able to pig out on BBQ and lose weight at the same time. Not gonna happen. While a higher intake of protiens can certainly help weight loss, but won't guarantee it. A high protien diet only works if you keep your food intake at a reasonable level.

The only way to get rid of excess weight is to exercise. When you cut your caloric intake, your body will actually make adjustments to your metabolism so that you burn calories less efficiently. Not only that, but then if you quit dieting, your body will suddenly gain a bunch of weight. However, if you combine diet and exercise, your metabolism will increase and burn off those extra calories.

Get plenty of rest and avoid unnecessary stress. Stress causes the body to store extra fat. Things like sleep deprivation and drinking too much caffiene create stress. Getting more exercise can help relieve stress and increase energy, as well as make sleep more relaxing.

Reward yourself. When you meet a weight loss milestone (like say, when you lose 5 lbs or 10 lbs) treat yourself to a nice dinner. Of course you might gain a pound or two in the process, but then you go right back to your dieting. It gives you something to look forward to, as well as goals to strive for.

Currently, I am trying to lose weight as well. I was doing fine. I had lost about 5 pounds since I started. But then I slacked off for a few days, and now I've gained 2 back. But then again, I did reach a milestone (190 lbs), so I don't feel so bad. Now I'm striving for 180. For exercise, I swim and ride the bicycle, and I usually try to do one or the other every day.

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It's my policy not to weigh myself, ever, so I can't tell you how much weight I've lost. But it's plenty. I went from a size 42 waist three years ago to a 34 or 36 right now. I switched from XL t-shirts to L. For reference, I'm 6'1".

I didn't do it to look good. I don't take much stock in dieting or exercising in order to look better. I did it to feel better. I wanted to get healthier not because I could see my stomach whenever I looked down, but because I couldn't make it up the three flights of stairs to my dorm room without getting winded. If anybody tells me that they're on a diet for any reason other than personal health, I become immediately suspicious.

I like to say that I did it by accident, but that's kind of facetious. Basically one day I just decided to eat less.

That's it. I love food and I love eating, but I knew for a long time that I ate too much. So I just made up some very loose guidelines for myself: No snacks unless you're actually hungry (I used to snack to cure boredom). No second helpings unless you're actually still hungry. Stop eating as soon as you're full.

Just that did wonders. I lost maybe two or three inches over one summer. And it was really easy. I'm not the active type -- My old e-mail password was "sedentarylifestyle" -- and didn't start exercising or anything. But I definitely started feeling better. When I moved back into the dorms I could make it up all three flights of stairs with neither huffing nor puffing.

Since then I've just tried to keep it up, and slowly integrate other healthy behaviors into my lifestyle.

One thing that I think has helped a lot, but that I didn't actually do in order to lose weight, was stop drinking pop. I used to drink as many of four cans of Mt. Dew every day, but at one point I started to feel seriously ill, and I could tell that it was all of the sugar doing it. Glucose is killer stuff. So I seriously cut down on my pop consumption, and eventually on all of my sugar consumption. Now almost any pop has wayyyy too much sugar for me. Even a lot of juices do. If I eat or drink anything with a lot of sugar, I almost immediately start to feel eww. So now I have to do something that I never, ever did before: I read nutrition labels. If it has a lot of sugar (like reduced fat peanut butter -- sooo much sugar! What's the point??) I probably won't get it. And of course skipping sugary things comes with the bonus of cutting down on my calories a lot. Now I only have a couple cans of pop a week, at most, and usually that feels like too many. I don't miss it.

This year I started running. I try to run three times a week, for about 25 minutes. It's not a lot, and I'm sure I could use more, but much to my surprise, it makes me feel good. Endorphins are gooood. I think it's helped to lose an inch or so.

I'm definitely going to keep it up. I feel so much healthier, and though I never set out to look better, it's a great feeling when people I haven't seen in a few months or a year tell me that I look slimmer. Perhaps the only drawback I've found is that without as much cushioning on my posterior, sitting in hard chairs can be less comfortable. But that's just more inscentive to get up and move around.



Hah. That's really clever. If I did that I'd have arms o' steel.

But my cow-orkers would look at me funny.

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My mom went on the atkin's diet and she got really mean. Like, she-yelled-at-her-boss mean. For the love of those around you, don't go on any low carb diets. (plus you gain all the weight back after eating one slice of bread)

I'm fourteen in August (let's just put it that way) and I weigh 130 pounds. I know there's nothing wrong with that, but the thing is all the fat goes to my stomach and thighs. So I plan to start jogging soon-- just as soon as I finish my share of the parade candy. And I want to start track this school year, but I don't know if I'll be good enough. Maybe I should just give the candy to my brother...

The more I hear about people wanting to lose weight, the more I think us skinny people might be in some sort of minority. Either that or we're more content with how we are (not in my case, though). You never hear talk about how we have to gain weight in quite the same way! I'm about 5'6" and only around 120 pounds, if even that, and I don't think I'm going to get much bigger, seeing as a lot of it has to do with my physical makeup and the fact that I'm a severely, and I really mean severely, picky eater. I guess I can kind of sympathize with overweight people as having the reverse of my problem, though.

What's even more scary: I eat TONS of food.

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I am 19, 6'2" and 260lbs. (20lbs. in muscle)

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I'm 5 feet, 81 pounds.

Now you can see a visual picture of me, a short, under-weight kid.

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A'ight. I'm 5'4, and last I checked I was hovering around 120. But to be perfectly honest, a lot of that is muscle.

DG - DO NOT DO ATKINS. Even if you lose weight initially, you will gain it back if you start eating carbs again.

Everyone has offered good advice (portion control, exercise, no pop - not even "diet"), and let me offer a bit more. Don't be afraid to occasionally reward yourself. You'll go crazy depriving yourself of stuff you really love. Also, try finding low-fat substitutes for stuff you really like - they're out there, just look for them. Don't go NO fat - you do need some. Eat more veggies. Fries don't count!!! More whole grains. Also, don't just "diet"; change your eating habits for LIFE - you'll be rewarded for it!

Eat out less, and at home more - working at a restaurant, I can definitely tell you that there are LOTS more calories in restaurant food than you think - even the ones they advertise as "health food".

As for working out, you don't have to hoof it out for 1/2 hour on the eliptical or lift weights (although, those are my preferred exercise methods). Just go for a walk, play sports, do ANYTHING but stay sedentary. When you go to the mall, park a little further away than you normally would. DO ANYTHING. Above all, if you "fall off the wagon", DON'T GIVE UP!!! Just use it as incentive to do better! You'll lose that weight in no time! Good luck, Sister!! Let us know how you do!!

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diets are horrible.
live fat who cares!
eat butter

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TIRES TIRES TIRES

Well, I'm a month from 14 and 5' 7 3/4", and I'm somewhere from 100 to 115 pounds. Even though I'm not sure where I am within that range, I know I'm not overweight, as I'd have to be 163 pounds for that, while I am slightly underweight, seeing as I'd have to be 120 pounds for normal weight. =/

I haven't had to diet yet, as a high metabolism has kept me in the underweight-but-not-rail-thin zone. I pack a lot away, and yet I can still somewhat see my ribs. It's an annoyance of sorts, although I should be glad I have youthful metabolism while I'm still, well, a youth.

If you want to actually keep off weight, you'll need to excercise. Just eating less will lose weight, but if you stop the diet you'll usually gain it all back. Some kind of combination of both works best.

I'm 5'8" and 125 pounds (I used to be a lot lighter but now I have more muscle). I think I'm getting close to 5'9"

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I KNEW it! I knew someone in the Sisterhood would speak out against Atkins.

I agree with a lot of people here. Eat right and excercise, but reward yourself sometimes too. If you keep too long without your junk food, you'll end up cracking and binge. Then you'll be right back where you started.

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This applies to all normal, non-diabetic types.

As everyone knows as far as foods go, eat healthier food, drink water and electrolye-replacing liquids (i.e. Gatorade), and in order to figure out how much you need to do to lose weight, the most important thing about weight loss (not carbs, fats, sugars,....)

Calories! Figure out your basal metabolic rate here
Subtract that from your daily intake amount of calories. The amount you will need to burn while exercising in addition to calories burnt through metabolism should be greater than the calories ingested.
So let's say you put in 2000 calories from ingesting food. You might burn 1750 from basal metabolism. So work out, say, 450 calories during exercise. There are tons of lists and data online regarding exercises and how much calories they burn. The best exercises to lose weight are long, fat-burning, which stimulate slow-twitch muscle growth (i.e. running, slow weight lifting). I was a sprinter, but never lost weight until I ran longer distances slower, by the way.

I also recommend eating Total. Nutritious, and tastes good too!

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Let me rephrase myself: I lost 50 pounds on Atkins 5 years ago. "Fad" diets do work for some people. I love it when people go on about how "fad dieting" is so terrible before I tell them my story.

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171st POST ANNIVERSARY!!!

That would be my motto...if I gained weight faster than about 1 pound every once in a while!!!

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Wow, great responses, all!

Didymus: Thanks for the info about carbs. I always wondered what was so bad about them. It doesn't seem right to cut out anything completely. Don't think I have to worry about sleep deprivation.

IJ: Yeah, it's for health reasons. I realized I'm like 50 pounds over the ideal weight for my age and height. I too guzzled the pop at school all year, and ate out of boredom. It's goingto be hard at first, but I have a lot of bad habits to break.

Clever Danielle: The mood swings aren't necessarily because of Atkins, but just because of a change in lifestyle. I usually get a little touchy if there's a big change in my daily routine.

StrongCanada: I wasn't considering Atkins. I probably will have to have some treats; I can't go "cold turkey". As for excercise, I'm gonna start by just walking for 1/2 hour every day, and see where we go from there. There's a gym near my house if I want to get really into it.

dag_yo: *I* care. I don't want to get winded just going up the stairs. I don't want to endanger my health.

Acekirby: The Sisterhood loves bagels, so of course we hate Atkins.

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