Reply from Annie, Age 11 - 1/13/01 - IP#: 62.64.186.6


I am about 20 pounds overweight. My mum has just put me on a diet because I have been very unhappy about my weight. It is a low fat diet. I don't want to be hungry so we have found low calorie foods that are nutritious and filling. The foods I am eating include low calorie soups, which are delicious and only 50 calories, low fat pizzas at only 220 calories, although they aren't that big but I eat broccoli with them. Also, we found low fat pasta. It was just a case of my mum going round the supermarket, reading all the labels, choosing the low fat/low calorie foods. I love pasta and pizza but now I can eat them, although in smaller quantities. I also eat about 3 pieces of fruit a day and if I get hungry I can eat fruit. I am drinking more water so I feel fuller. Guess what? I have lost five pounds in about 12 days and I haven't yet felt hungry. My mum writes all the calories down and in the first week it was about 750 a day but when I went back to school we made it higher and I am now eating about 950 a day. That probably isn't enough still for a growing girl but I feel full and when I get to my goal weight then we will make it slightly higher. So to summarise: get your mum to look around for low calorie/low fat foods of the things you like eating, eat more fruit, soups and water. It sounds obvious but cut out anything with a lot of calories. If necessary, get a book that tells you exactly what is high in fat and calories. No crisps and chocolate, although you can get lower fat chocolate. If you write everything down over, say, a week and calculate the calories then you would be surprised at how high some of the foods are in calories. It does take willpower but once the weight starts coming off then you will feel better about yourself. Also, at school I do PE or gym every day but I use our exercise bike more. My mum has said that if I stick to the diet then the weight will come off more slowly, say a pound a week, but that is fine. I couldn't do this diet without the support of my mum and it does take some effort at first. Some of the ready-made low calorie supermarket meals are more expensive but today I eat sweet & sour chicken with rice and it was only 220 calories. The low fat pasta isn't any more expensive than normal pasta and neither is the pizza.