My Story.

Good for you!! Work hard over the summer and I promise you will achieve your goals.

That's awesome Nick! You can definitely do it!!!!!!!!

Hi Nick! My name is Jacki. I have a son who is 15 years old. Last year he and I started MFP together. He weighed almost 280 pounds. My son has been very successful with his weight loss. He is now down to 230. He looks very slim now because he also went through a growth spurt at the same time he was losing. He's now 6'1". I'll bet you will hit a growth spurt over the summer too. I think the secret to my sons success was that he learned about portion size. We measure everything we eat. Well, I still measure. He can serve himself the right amount of food by eyeballing it now. He also cut way back on his snacking. At first his snacks were very scheduled. His favorite snack was a pure protein bar every afternoon. It was like a candy bar substitution. He also takes his lunch to school every day. That way he can control his portion sizes and eat healthy food. School lunch is not low calorie or very nutritious. Not here anyway. He has maintained his weight for months now without even really trying anymore. It's become natural to him. It will for you too. You're young enough that teaching yourself good eating habits now will last you a lifetime. All I know is this is something he wanted to do for himself and he stuck to it. I know you can too. I'm very proud of you for coming back and giving this another try. If you want to add me as a friend, please do. I would love to see your progress and success. I know you can do it. Good luck hon. Jacki

Hi Nick, you have just taken on of the greatest steps in your life, to lose the weight you need to lose. I commend you for wanting to do this and if you would like to add me I will support you all the way!!

Hi Nick! My name is Jacki. I have a son who is 15 years old. Last year he and I started MFP together. He weighed almost 280 pounds. My son has been very successful with his weight loss. He is now down to 230. He looks very slim now because he also went through a growth spurt at the same time he was losing. He's now 6'1". I'll bet you will hit a growth spurt over the summer too. I think the secret to my sons success was that he learned about portion size. We measure everything we eat. Well, I still measure. He can serve himself the right amount of food by eyeballing it now. He also cut way back on his snacking. At first his snacks were very scheduled. His favorite snack was a pure protein bar every afternoon. It was like a candy bar substitution. He also takes his lunch to school every day. That way he can control his portion sizes and eat healthy food. School lunch is not low calorie or very nutritious. Not here anyway. He has maintained his weight for months now without even really trying anymore. It's become natural to him. It will for you too. You're young enough that teaching yourself good eating habits now will last you a lifetime. All I know is this is something he wanted to do for himself and he stuck to it. I know you can too. I'm very proud of you for coming back and giving this another try. If you want to add me as a friend, please do. I would love to see your progress and success. I know you can do it. Good luck hon. Jacki

^^ This is all very good advice. The way to succeed is to look on this as a journey to becoming a 'healthy eater' and not a 'diet'. If you 'diet', then the diet usually ends when you reach your goal - and the more restrictive you have been on your diet, the more likely you are to regain the weight. I know you'll maybe feel like you want to be slim like by tomorrow - but I cannot stress strongly enough to do it SLOWLY and gradually, and use the time to retrain your eating habits like Jacki's son. I spent 14 years yoyo dieting and it wasn't until I stopped dieting and got off that treadmill that I actually stabilised. So try not to see this as a short-term loss over summer and after that you'll be slim and can eat what you like. This is the first step on a journey to the new healthier you - This is a time when you can re-educate yourself to have a healthy relationship with food, which will last the rest of your life. If you don't eat them already, learn to like fruit and vegetables! LOL!

Good luck on your journey!