Young adult girls trying to lose weight

iWaffle

I was saving up for the surgery where you get fat from one part of your body and put it into your butt -.

No, no, no. You don't want to add fat to your glutes, add muscle. You'd be saddened to know that your body could simply choose to absorb the extra fat you have injected in. It's a lot of pain and risk for little to no results.

Deadlifts, squats, lunges. These will improve the size and composition of your glutes more than surgery ever will. Your glutes are a major muscle, not fat.

feefie04

if you are 100lbs overweight then there's no doubt that you need to start losing, but in the smaller margin cases people may have just developed as the OP says.

Thing is, how would you know? unless you knew your waist/hip/bodyfat etc measurements before, how would you know what change has occurred?

Lots of points in this thread! Not enough time right now but easiest first-

If you gain hip size via fat distribution or weight gain, then your pants WILL fit different and you will notice hah.

rml_16

if you are 100lbs overweight then there's no doubt that you need to start losing, but in the smaller margin cases people may have just developed as the OP says.

Thing is, how would you know? unless you knew your waist/hip/bodyfat etc measurements before, how would you know what change has occurred?

Lots of points in this thread! Not enough time right now but easiest first-

If you gain hip size via fat distribution or weight gain, then your pants WILL fit different and you will notice hah.

You wouldn't. But you would notice a different shape and if it were bone (which is uinlikely to develop that late unless you started puberty at 16 or 17 -- some do), the scale wouldn't change.

feefie04

OP, you have a great point. However, I think what those girls SHOULD focus on is just maintaining a healthy life style. They may never fit into those size 00 jeans again because they have hips. Hips are good, they're a sign of being at a good age for child bearing and add beautiful natural curves. 10-20lbs because your body is changing isn't a problem. But it's nice to see that some girls take that as "hmm, I should worry about my health" instead of "I need my size 2!"

I agree! That's what I am trying to say.

I thought I tried to make it clear that the "weight" isn't ALWAYS bad, and the fact that it makes you take a second look at your lifestyle is GOOD. BUT the goal should NOT be to lose 40 pounds, or whatnot... it should be to BE HEALTHY... and often that means NOT being down to this 16 year old weight as a mid-20 year old. Get what I'm sayin? Many younger ladies on here freak out they gain hips or a butt in their 20's and try to race back to their high school weight (not saying SIZE, many people can get back down to that size and weigh more because of exercise!).

I'm just trying to let them know that you don't have to starve yourself/be unhappy if you are working to be healthy... the scale means very little, and that last 10-20 lb may never go away (everyone is different), especially if you work out properly. Many get obsessed with the scale, and should hear from somewhere that it's not all about that... many things are going on with your body, constantly.

A lot of "weight loss" sacrifices health for pounds... I'm just trying to point out to the ladies that their 16 year old weight may not be healthy for them now as a woman/older female what have you(lol)!

/dead horse

ShelleyGardner

Young girl, young adult- pointless distinction and totally irrelevant to the question!

Two experiences:

First, my neice, whom we had for a year living with us. She was like 9 when we had her. Getting visibly pudgy and overweight. Two problems: she ate too much, and didn't exercise. So when she lived with us, we would serve everyone a normal portion of food (probably too many calories by true portion sizes, but it definately wasn't starving her- it's what we were all eating!) and then we would put the food away. She was still hungry, but we made a deal- go out for a walk/play with the other kids, and then if she was still hungry, she was allowed to eat again. Her stomach just wasn't registering that she was full, and by the time she did something else, she completely forgot about wanting to eat again. So we sort of tricked her into eating less and getting more exercise, and it worked. She grew in height during that year but lost enough weight to get back into her jeans that she has just "grew out of" (waistline pudge). We also kept the cookies/snacks/sugary foods totally out of the cupboard to make the mix of food only normal, healthy foods.

Second, my daughter, whom we would have not considered to be fat by any means, but whom went on a diet with me. It wasn't a diet, per se, but a way of eating. The program I was on said to eat very slowly and to recognize when your stomach is getting full. It also said not to eat if you weren't hungry, and that some people only eat once or twice a day, and can be just fine. As I did this program, my dd took it upon herself to adopt these policies for herself. We didn't force her to eat if she wasn't hungry, and allowed her to choose her own portion sizes. She lost 5 pounds, grew in height and gained it back, lost another 5 pounds, and then did another growth spurt and gained it back, lost another 5 pounds and then grew again. The end result is that she is now 5-6 inches taller, but weighs no more than she did 2 or 3 years ago. Seeing the pictures of her back then, she had a much more rounded face. She was storing fat on her body, but now, my gosh, she is slim and sexy. She's happy with herself now (age 15), and she plans to keep her eating habits for life. As parents, we had to get over the fear that she would starve herself, but she's definately not doing that. She's just eating reasonable! I could learn a lot from her, and still do. She reminds me when I slip into old habits again. Thank goodness she learned to break them early- because as an adult, I struggle to break a lifetime of bad habits.

So, to the young members reading this, I would definately say DO NOT DIET, but rather change your habits to be something that you can live with for a lifetime. It is never too early to recognize the difference between good habits and bad habits!!! Learn to distinguish bad habits, like eating 2nds at dinner, or constantly eating junk food, or not getting out of the house to play, that will pack on weight over time. Good things to learn: eating slowly to train your tummy to recognize when it's full, or only eating when you are truely hungry, or learning to move and exercise more, is something that will carry you for a lifetime. The benefit now is a sexier body, the benefit later is that you won't have to undo fat and bad habits later.

crimsoncat

The 20lbs I gained between ages 17 and 21 had nothing to do with me growing, they had a lot to do with me being in college, eating like crap, and drinking beer all the time.

I bet this is the case with most people who gain in their early 20s but they won't admit it.

To OP, there's no "second puberty" in the early 20s. People just don't learn or know how to cook properly and don't bother to exercise.

This was also the case for me. I was 155 lbs at the age of 16. I'm now 23, 123. I lost 25 lbs by cutting out soda, making my own lunches and exercising 4-5 days a week. While I understand the concern about younger girls not getting proper nutrition, but eating better food (more veggies less pizza and soda) is still a safe way that girls in this age could lose weight.

greyjoie

I think there's a difference between a small weight gain, and a weight gain where it is no longer healthy.
I am 19, and 5'3", and currently I weigh 228 pounds. It's not a question of fad diets for me, I need to actually lose weight because I can develop health problems.
I know and see what you mean, with girls that I'm friends with that are perfectly healthy weights and they are obsessed with losing weight, but there's a definite difference between pubescent changes and an unhealthy weight loss.

LivvyLinde

Thank you!

In my last year and a half of college, I gained about 20 pounds out of the blue, and nothing fit the same. My late blooming, I think, was partly caused by the severe eating disorder I had in high school. Once my body knew I was going to care for it, my hips and chest just expanded- like normal women's bodies do.

Sometimes I wanted to freak out about it, but knowing and realizing that our bodies were made to have this womanly shape is comforting and helpful. Society needs to regain it's love and admiration for healthy women's natural shape.

graceylou222

The 20lbs I gained between ages 17 and 21 had nothing to do with me growing, they had a lot to do with me being in college, eating like crap, and drinking beer all the time.

I bet this is the case with most people who gain in their early 20s but they won't admit it.

To OP, there's no "second puberty" in the early 20s. People just don't learn or know how to cook properly and don't bother to exercise.

yup. this was my problem for sure! just takes a lot for people to open their eyes and change their ways

bcattoes

"Young adult" generally refers to middle school, I believe. The term you're looking for is "young women". You're an adult, stop calling yourself a girl.

I suppose it may vary by region but in general there are not many adults in middle school. I think young adults more often refers to older teens and very early 20's (high school/college age)

I'm 51 yo and still sometimes refer to myself as a girl. You can't stop me.

peuglow

"Young adult" generally refers to middle school, I believe. The term you're looking for is "young women". You're an adult, stop calling yourself a girl.

OH you're a troll, good to know

I actually agree with this. I thought the title was misleading. "Young Adult Girls" sounds .... strange.

mscoco10

Well I think it depends on the person. I've seen way too many kids/ young adults that are obese. Then you have the normal kids who don't want to be fat to they'll do anything to be thin. Vanity has taken over. We should be teaching over health not just the numbers on the scale. I've even see some grown women say they want to get back to there high school or college weight. I'm like really. Seems like there's just no middle ground. It's extreme left or extreme right.

altacosturabeth

I was saving up for the surgery where you get fat from one part of your body and put it into your butt -.

No, no, no. You don't want to add fat to your glutes, add muscle. You'd be saddened to know that your body could simply choose to absorb the extra fat you have injected in. It's a lot of pain and risk for little to no results.

Deadlifts, squats, lunges. These will improve the size and composition of your glutes more than surgery ever will. Your glutes are a major muscle, not fat.

I said 'I was', that was in my previous mindset now I'm not even bothered about adding anything to it. I'll keep it the way it is

misfitswayoflife

When I was in Grade 12 I was so upset to be 120 pounds... I wanted to be the 95 pounds I was when I was 15!! Stupid I know.. Now I'd love to be at 120 :P BUt it may not go that way...

areufnkiddingme

I'm 18 since March of this year. And I realize that I am still growing in some areas but when it comes to my body, I don't think that what I have is still considered "baby fat", it's just actual fat. I have excess weight for my height and body built. I'm here to finally control my eating habits and hopefully lose weight in a healthy way. I want to be able to maintain good eating habits throughout my life. And I doubt that my height and other body parts will grow more than what they already have.

And I don't think you should be judging young women, because you don't know them personally and what they might go through, health wise, because of their excess weight. If everyone thought like you then all the young kids (10 and up) wouldn't be put on programmes and summer camps to help them early on to lose the weight and improve their healths.

Honey, I didn't shed all my baby fat until I was 24. I gained weight and still had people telling me I looked thinner just because I was shaping out differently and losing that baby fat.

Secondly, I don't think the OP attacked all young girls the way you seem to be implying. She didn't say that if YOU ARE CLEARLY OBESE you should do nothing about it just because you are young. All she said was that during your younger years you should maybe be forgiving and realize that your body STILL changes. It's not true in all cases, but it never gets talked about, so why not put it out into the open so that someone who hasn't considered it and thinks that all hormonal changes come to a dead stop at 16 years old could re-evaluate and figure out if they are trying to lose weight or just go back to a shape that is no longer possible?

ctalimenti

I think I'm probably one of these girls.

I'm 17 and about 7 months ago I was 130lbs (at 5'3) so not massive but I could have lost a few pounds. Which I have and I'm now 112lbs. I was never over weight but I would always carry around an extra 10lbs or so that I could have lost if I'd have tried.

I know I've suffered from body image problems from around the age of 8 at the minimum. And they grew and grew and grew until I suffered really badly from mental health issues. I didn't even want to be around anymore because I just thought everything about me was so ugly that I had no reason to be here.

So anyway, those 7 months ago I decided that maybe I could lose some weight and all my problems would be solved and I'd be happy. But I was completely wrong. Now I still feel as bad about myself. I probably should have realised that my weight wasn't the biggest thing that needed to change, it was my brain. And I think that's probably the same issue that quite a few other girls around my age are dealing with.

That probably sounded like I was rambling on in a 'woe is me' manner but I just wanted to share my wee story!

This is so true! Thank you for being so honest!!

katamus

If "second phase" of puberty means "start eating like *kitten*" then yeah, I went through exactly that.

What I think is important is to not generalize ANYONE from any age group.. That's like me saying, "well you're getting old so it's normal to get fat."

I'm 22, I've lost just over 20 lbs that I gained from eating garbage and empty calories, and I've never been this physically fit in my life. In my opinion, I needed to start eating right and exercising NOW before it's too late.. My mother, my grandmother, and even my great grandmother are ALL overweight. By a lot. They have numerous health problems. I'll pass on that. So instead of waiting til I'm 30 and obese, I'm working on myself NOW.

My mother was SKINNY when she was my age. And she slowly let herself deteriorate. It's not even about an IMAGE thing, it's a health thing for me. She's only 45 and had cancer.. Not that I'm saying that by being fit and healthy I won't get it myself.. But I'd like to lower my chances.

Sabine_Stroehm

I'd imagine many if not most of the girls who list their age as 18 or 19 are really 15 or 16. Sadly.

victorious27

I completely agree. While I'm also in the 18-25 group (getting ready to turn 19 in December!), I do see a lot of that on here. Many girls are worried about "looking right" or something, but they fail to realize that their bodies are changing and growing in ways they aren't accustomed to.

Personally, my weight gain was caused by medication and I'm at least 35 lbs overweight and plan on figuring out where to go with my weight when I reach 150-ish, so I'm not on here unnecessarily...as far as I know.

victorious27

"Young adult" generally refers to middle school, I believe. The term you're looking for is "young women". You're an adult, stop calling yourself a girl.

I disagree. Middle school ages are basically children. Barely reaching their early teen years.
"Young adult" signifies that they are an adult, but barely making their way into adulthood...meaning a teenager, who is leaving their high school phase and learning to be an adult. At least, that's my opinion.