Mental Health
Healthy Living
Teens: Overweight? You're in Charge
Teens: Overweight? You're in ChargeYou know that one kid who always gets picked last for teams? Well ... that's me. I've been heavy pretty muchas long as I can remember. My mom used to say I was "chubby." It doesn't sound so bad when you're a littlekid.By junior high, I was big. PE was torture. Some of the guys teased me about how my chest jiggles when I run.This one guy used to call me Porky. Sometimes he'd just snort when I went past, and the other kids, even oneswho weren't mean, would laugh.I wear hoodies and baggy sweatpants and try to be as invisible as I can. Then about a month ago, I was in myTeen Living class, and the teacher was talking about nutrition.I was drawing in my notebook, only half listening. But I heard her say, It's your body. You get to decide whatgoes in it. I don't know why, but that stuck in my head.For a long time I was unhappy, and I thought I wanted to be different ...but I kept doing the same things, eatingthe same junk day after day. Like I was this big, sad robot who had no control.But after that class, I started reading about calories and how if you take in more calories than you use, they getstored as fat. That made sense.I went online and found a site for teens who want to lose weight. It had good information about food, but thebest things were the trackers and the message boards. A lot of kids were posting stories about being callednames and feeling like losers.And they were asking stuff I wanted to know, like what to do when I want to eat a whole pizza ...or how to dealwith the guilt when I do that. I even started posting some stuff of my own.It feels really good when people who are going through the same things I am tell me to hang in there and keepgoing. I started tracking what I eat and drink too.That really showed me how much more I was eating than I need. I saw that a lot of times, I'm not eatingbecause I'm hungry. I'm eating because I'm bored or lonely ...or because it's just a habit to stuff my face when Iwatch TV.I've only been doing this for a few weeks, so I haven't lost a lot of weight yet ...but I'm on my way and I feelmore in control of my life.Some people who post on the site have mottos. I've thought about it a lot ... and I've decided mine will be "Fatis not my fate."This program is for informational purposes only. Publisher disclaims all guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness,or suitability of this video for medical decision making. For all health related issues please contact your healthcare provider.© The Wellness Network
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