Young Calorie Counters

To start out this post, I am 13 years old, but I'm turning 14 in two weeks. I am 5'5" and I weight 175. I know I'm overweight. Not only can I see it in the mirror, but my doctor has suggested losing a few pounds. I do have a larger frame, and therefore my goal is 145.

Anyways, I read once in a magazine that you should eat more filling foods, like fruits, then the not-so-filling foods. That made tons of sense to me, so I do eat more fruits and some of the other things in the magazine. I don't only eat those foods, but I eat more and take out some of the other foods. I don't get hungry a lot, I can usually go about 5 hours between eating without feeling the slightest bit hungry, but now I'm even less hungry, but I felt like I was eating balanced because  I though was getting a good amount of breads, fruits, veggies, protein and calcium a day. But, when I entered my stuff on CC, I had 1000 calories daily, which is almost 500 less then what I should be having. And, I've been really active this summer so I know I've been burning in the high 2000's. I know that that isn't good for me, but I'm scared if I let myself eat more I'll eat too much, and that won't be good. Does anyone have any suggestions to what I should be eating? I can't seem to ever get close to my calorie amount! I mean, I know it's not going to be exact, but 500 less or the occasional 500 more (unintentionally) seems too much to me.
I've only been doing this for a few days, so I haven't lost more then a few ounces, but I'm scared I'll lose too much. I have the time to lose weight, and I'm willing to put a year, or more if thats what I need, to get healthy and fit. I also want to do it healthy, because the entire reason I'm wanting to lose weight is to not have the complications with my health when I'm older, and I figure if I lose weight unhealthily that won't really help my goal anyways.

So basically after that longgg...longgg paragraph I want to know - any ideas of some foods and meals that would be good to eat? Something simple where I don't have to go out to a farm or health food store, since I am in fact only 14 and my parents both work full time, so I don't have much time to go to stores except for the weekly trip to the grocery store (I usually tag along to pick out some healthy foods, but I'm not sure exactly what).

Thanks for anyone who helps me!

I'm 5'5", started at 187 lbs and now weight 155 lbs.  I'm also 34 years old so you've got quite an advantage on me in terms of weight loss from being so young.  Get your minimum calorie level up to 1500 calories a day as soon as possible.  Your body needs enough calories before it starts dropping weight.  Because I'm so active (several hours of martial arts and dancing a week), my minimum calorie intake is around 1800 calories.  On days that I'm extremely active I'll eat up to 3000 calories.

Breakfast ideas: Oatmeal with berries and milk/eggs and toast/smoothie

Snack ideas: fruits and vegetables, hard boiled eggs

For lunches and dinner I tend to do the same types of things.  Whole grain pasta or rice (I make it up on the weekend and separate it into togo containers) 1 serving.  1-2 servings of protein.  3-5 servings of vegetables.  If you're family is willing to have you cook for everyone you can do a lot of quick and easy meals this way.

Eating fruit with other foods causes your stomach to create loads of gas, so I'd stick to using it as a snack or pudding (30mins+ after your main food).  Good plan with filling up on healthy stuff first.  Like if you have a salad before you go to a restaurant you won't splurge so much.  BUT if you are properly calorie counting, you should be eating all the food you've planned for that day, then leave the low calorie filling stuff for if you still feel hungry.  If you want this diet and the weight loss to last you have to give your body the nutrients it needs so make sure you never have a defecit of over a 1000, and eat at least 1500kcal a day.

hey reflectant,

what I would do is choose higher calories things and incorporate them into your diet. By higher calorie, I mean things like peanut butter, nuts, avocadoes, good foods that are naturally high in calories, and just eat a little bit of these things.

For example you could make yourself and PBandJ (or with honey), using 1-2 tbsp PB (2 tbsp - 200 calories) and some sugar-free jam, on whole wheat, low calorie bread (Pepperidge farm has some pretty good low-cal bread).

Also, 1% milk or yogurt should be good for someone your age. There are many delicious yogurt options out there (just make sure they aren't high in sugar - some of them really are!). Yoplait fat free vanilla is very good, and recently I discovered this Greek yogurt brand Chobani (absolutely delicious, and only 120 calories per 227g serving).

Also, sandwiches aren't always bad for you. You could make yourself a lean turkey sandwich (I used cracked pepper turkey) on low cal bread, tomato, lettuce (and occasionally a little bit of cheese). I used to love mayo, but now I avoid it and use mustard instead (I'm pretty sure it has close to 0 calories).  

Whatever you do, don't push your body around. If you're not hungry, don't eat...your body takes care of itself and it will tell you if you are hungry or not eating too much. If you are hungry, always make sure to eat a little something, even if you are over your cal. limit.

Keep up the good work! I feel like losing weight is even harder for younger kids since there's so much junk food EVERYWHERE in school and with your friends.

Well, you obviously must cut out all sweets from your diet. No more chips, cookies, candies, chocolates, ice cream (VERY OCCASIONALLY on a hot day), and all the foods that make you gain.

Start by replacing all the snacks you eat during the day with vegetables. They don't have much calories, and that's great. If you want to stray away from veggies, I reccomend Special K Crispy Bites (strawberry flavor), which are pretty filling, and only have 90 calories a bag.

Listen, it will help much more if you exercise. Dieting alone will take very long, and is not always the best choice when your a kid with a summer to do nothing. Go for a walk! Walk one hour a day (let's say 30 minutes in the morning, 30 in the afternoon), work out on a stationary bike (if you have one), do some exercises, dance! There's so many things that you could do to help you turn some flab into muscle. You have to devote yourself to exercise just as much as dieting.