I am so sick of counting calories - is there a diet for me?

Question
QUESTION: Hi i am a 14 year old male and started having issues with food about a year ago. I started overeating and gained a lot of weight. I have been 157 cm the last year and got to weigh 55 kilos and looked really chubby. Then I started exercising and eating healthy food and lost down to 47 and maintained there.  Then half a year ago i started obsessing about exercise and restricting even more and I started counting calories. I started cutting down to about 1000 calories a day. I went down in weight to 39 kg. I then realized I had to change myself for good, so I stopped the exercise (partly because it is now winter and I had too much pressure from my team) completely. This made me drop in weigh the first few days, so I started eating as my body wanted and gained to 42 in one week. Then the last week I have suddenly started eating sooo much because I feel so hungry all the time and ate about 3500 to 4000 per day. I have noticed my definition (I hardly had any) in my torso is all gone and covered with about an inch of fat and am now in 44 kilos. I am soo sick of counting calories and in fact last week i ate as my body wanted, and not to reach my ideal 2200 but gained 2 kilos.   Should I continue eating as I want, without counting calories (eating healthy and untill I really feel full instead) and not exercise?   Have my eating patterns affected my growth in the last year (not even 1 cm!!)?   About how much sould I weigh, cause i dont want to be chubby again?   Why am I gaining soo fast, and will it eventually stop? (I try to eat healthy, but dont avoid fast food anymore)   Is all my weigh gain just fat, or are my muscles and tissues also benefitting from the excess healthy food even though I dont exercise or workout?      Sorry for giving you so many questions but I am so anxious, I just want to be normal again and eat what I want and not count calories, but it looks like even though I eat healthy, all I gain is fat and feel like I am just going to end up huge. Please give me some advice if you can (am I in the right track?), I am soo sick of this, I want to be normal again!   Thanks, Fredrick

ANSWER: Dear Fredrick,

First of all, in your age, growth is very uneven, you can expect a sudden and fast growth rate and to be ready for it, you should think about what's to PUT on your plate, not what's to REMOVE from it!

The best you can do is to let your body regulate your appetite -- BUT! -- you should learn what's the best way of doing it.

I suggest that you start a day-by-day program that we're sending via email (it's free) to our members. The program includes aerobic, endurance, and strength exercises. This is important because without a proper exercise program you can hardly expect to improve your definition.

Also, you'll be on a portion-control plan for only one week, after that, you will not count neither calories, nor carbohydrates.

You'll be able to control you fitness improvement and your body composition instead of monitoring your body weight.

If this sounds good enough, go to http://dietandbody.com/plan and sign up.

I hope we can work it out for you!

Tanya Zilberter

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QUESTION: I thank you very much for your answer but I dont think I want to enter this day by day program about exercise, I much rather prefer have no specific program and just move around, go out with friends, etc.
I think I am going to portion control my meals but keep them nutritions in terms of protein carbs and good fats. I think this is healthy but I may be wrong. I just want to listen to my body but not overeat and exercise but not in routines (it gets me stressed).
Could this be a good aproach to my long term health? Because I am definetely happier like this

ANSWER: Good luck to you but keep in your mind that portion control requires a strong will power and just moving around is far from being enough for the optimal health, especially in your age and your desire to improve your physique.

Also, you'll have to learn all about carb to protein to fat balancing, in most cases it requires special software or a lot of calculation.
= TZ

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I dont want a spacial program, i just know that there should be a little bit of protein in everything you eat and that healthy fats are good for you but i dont want to obsess.
how much exercise is enough for optimal health at my age? could walking or handstanding help in any way?, because i dont like running or workouts.
plz help i am now more confused than ever!!!

Answer
Fredrick,

Here are your options.

1. Learn all about dieting and exercising and choose what you find best for you -- BUT just sticking with what you like and rejecting what you dislike will not do you any good. This way put you exactly where you are, don't it?

2. If you don't want to learn all this, recognize that you don't know (as you said) specifics of the way of eating that'd be optimal for you - otherwise, you would not have to ask these questions. In this case, just go DO something that helped many thousands of people, at least give it a try!

Keep it in your mind that what you finally choose, whatever it'll be,  will be a special program and there's no way around it. The choice is yours.

= TZ

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