So between last summer and when I started taking my health more seriously (about 3 weeks ago), I've had a slew of things occur to take the initiative about my health. As a background, I'm 17 yr old female and a senior in high school, which probably influences a lot of my view. If this isnt the proper subreddit to post this in or you guys need more details, please lmk! This is my first post on Reddit and I'm not too sure what I'm doing. TLDR at the end.
The shift started when my 2 best friends started gymming together last July. I felt kinda left out knowing they shared something together, but we all participate in marching band which formed the basis of our friendship. Marching band, where I am, is competitive in nature, and in the summer requires pretty rigorous hours marching and playing music. I knew that I just wasn't as fit or athletic as them, which caused me to become more self conscious of my weight and lifestyle. I mean, I was always the chubby kid growing up and I was afraid of change. I didn't do much about my position other than trying to be better at marching and being discontent with where I was.
A couple weeks later, my dad started having severe back pain. He took vacation days to avoid work, so I didn't think much of it because I believed it was just some muscle strains as he was healthy and didn't have really any obvious problems. However, it quickly came apparent that his pain wasn't something to be overlooked. After a couple of x-rays and scans during the summer, we found out he had some bulging discs. Now, almost 7 months later, we now know he has a degenerative bone disease that may or may not stem from cancer. (He's reluctant on getting a diagnosis in fear of becoming depressed) Now this caused a lot of change in my life in and outside of health. He's retiring, meaning my family is losing health insurance and the major source of our income. I've also become aware that I needed to take of my body for the future because he always sacrificed his well-being to make sure that our family was comfortable.
Between that time, my mom also got diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and got put on insulin shots after 6 months of being told to watch her blood sugar. If you're not familiar with diabetes, most pre-diabetic people can manage to not resorting to insulin for years, but my mother's lifestyle habits are so bad that she went from pre-diabetic to severe diabetes in a dangerously short amount of time. This was the biggest eye-opener for me since I got most of my eating habits from her.
With marching band being my only real source of exercise, I trained even harder at our practices. During the season (July-November), I want to say a lost about 15 pounds from my highest weight. This wasn't anything astounding because a lot of people in my band lose about 10 pounds participating, but it was pretty amazing for me because I never really experienced it so dramatically. However, marching band season ended, and I didn't know any real way to stay in shape. I fell to intuitive eating and managed to maintain my weight. December came around and I became sorely aware I needed to exercise because I felt physically awful. So, I asked my mother to get a gym membership, which she surprisingly agreed to despite the cost. I was terrified by the gym but excited because I knew my friend could lead me through. However, her seasonal depression made it hard for her to get out to the gym, and I was left to tackle exercising alone, leading to another plateau in weight loss. I was going twice a week, but I wasn't pushing myself or eating right.
Only a month ago, I discovered Reddit and found this community of such highly motivated people. The energy here is so positive and moving, and I lurked and became reinspired on my road to fitness. I started calorie restricting, tracking my good, and pushing myself a little more at the gym. However I'm not sure if I'm going about it the right way. MFP is putting me on a 1200 calorie restriction diet while other tdee calculators are varying between 1500 to 2000, putting my deficit at possibly vastly different numbers. The thing is, I haven't been following the 1200 calorie restriction well, usually falling between 1200-1600 everyday. I also have been using the weight machines and elliptical at the gym, usually 30 minutes each, 2 times a week. I've also been taking a 1 hour barre class offered at the gym. It's been 17 days and I've lost 3 lbs, but I don't know whether how I'm going about it is the best way. Just need some advice on what I should be doing. My goal is to lose weight and become stronger so I can be more agile and help lift things around the house. I should mention that I have bad knees and ankles, so there are some restrictions to what I can do. Visiting a nutritionist or dietitian is also out of the question because of the financial situation. At my last gp appointment in late December, I had a blood test done and everything came back normal except my CO2 and albumen. My gp also said my health was okay besides my stress. Thanks in advance for any possible advice!
Stats: 17yr/F. Height: 5'3" Highest weight: 147, SW:132 CW:129 GW: 117 (hopefully before I graduate in June)
Tldr: I've become aware I need to learn how to take care of myself before it's too late while finally trying for some weight goals. What is your recommendation for a safe and sustainable routine for a teen like me?
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