How do I start getting healthier food

I posted a few days ago for the first time but if you didn't see it, I am 15 y/o 5' 7" and 520 pounds trying to lose weight on my own. If you don't know my condition, I am pretty much stuck in my bed in my room all day. I got lots of advice talking about eating healthier and all but I didn't really know how to turn that to action. Since I can't make it upstairs I usually am brought food. And the only way my mom could ever really get me enough food was when it was fast food. Usually i get some kind of fast food brought to me on average around 4 times a day which is quite a lot considering I would be purchasing multiple meals and such, along with my snacking and then our actual meals that are cooked. So now my problem is, it's not like I can get up and make myself a salad I can't get to my kitchen. I also can't eat anything at school healthy because I am homeschooled.

Hi LucaB,

i am happy to see you posting again. 

I know you say you want to lose weight on your own, but it seems your situation is quite serious, and that you are going to need the help of family and medical professionals. This doesn't mean surgery.

It sounds like you are housebound, and very isolated. Does your family understand that is not right or healthy? This is a lot for someone so young to deal with. 

you deserve and are entitled to a better quality of life. I think the help you need is a beyond the experience of most of the people on this board. But we can definitely support you and offer advice where we can.

I have never been in your shoes, and I am definitely no expert in this type of situation. My advice, for what it's worth is, If you think you can, tell a family member you need help. If not, you will have to reach out to someone in your community. Do you have regular contact with anyone besides your family? 

keep posting and asking questions. Not everyone will be able to reply, but there are many who will listen.

take care

If you are eating fast food... Go online and look at the menus. They have to post the calories for everything. Make healthier choices. Get a wrap instead of a burger. Grilled chicken instead of fried. Unsweetened tea with sweetner rather than soda, maybe a bottle of water.

ask your mom to buy you Oscar Myers p3's for snacks they are meat cheese and nuts, packaged to go. Beef jerky, boiled eggs, lower fat cheese sticks.

you have the power to choose what goes in your body :) 

while online look up bed exercises. Yes it is a real thing. There are ways to start moving. Slowly. Do the minimum, the increase a little every week.

ask your mom for vitamin d, if you can not get out side you will be low. Us, overweight peeps tend to be low on vitamin d. 

If your family is on Medicaid/ Medicare you may be able to get home health to come help you do things. My dad has a physical therapist come once a week. Plus they help him take a bath. My mother in law had Medicare and it paid for her bypass. 

You need a lot of help.  Because your parents enable your lifestyle report them to child protective services.  Look up the number for your city.  

You are being neglected and should be removed from the basement and placed with a family that will provide proper food and exercise.

if you are truly serious then stop the fast food now! While I agree with the other posters don't wait until tomorrow start where you are today! Start snacking on veggie trays from the grocery store, eat apples, pears, ask for bags of salad mix get fat free dressings, doctor up the salads with tuna, hard boil eggs, baked chicken. Force yourself to get up out of bed and sit in a chair. You Tube has a great exercise video for obese people. Do chair exercises. The more fast food you eat the bigger your going to get. Drink water( I know it's bland) flavor it with lemon juice or crystal lite.  You can do this. Encourage yourself, don't be a victim. If mom brings you fast food you don't have to eat it. You have a CHOICE. No one can make that choice for you. Do what you can now. Open up a My Fitness Pal account and start logging ALL YOUR FOOD! Once you see what your calorie intake is then you can start cutting down on your calories. Look up low carb foods and eat them instead. Before you put anything in you mouth ask your self "Am I really hungry or am I just board"? I started logging in all my food and found out most of my calories came from FAT! I ate baked chicken but it was smothered in sauces loaded with fat. I used real butter, real mayo, sautéed food in vegetable oil, I ate bread, pasta, and SODA! I started my journey in September. I have stop drinking soda which was an every day thing and now I drink water, flavored with crystal lite or lemon juice, I drink decaf coffee sweetened with Equal and canned milk. I cut out most of all fried foods. This is my daily routine now.

Breakfast :  8 oz. protein drink ( Whey Isolate)

                  8 oz.  garden of life perfect food drink ( tastes like lawn clippings) but it's once a day and helps me get in all my veggies.

Snack: Two small apples

Lunch: 4 cups garden salad with 2/3 tbsps. of fat free dressing

Snack: veggie tray ( Usually eat this while watching TV.

Dinner: Tuna salad made with olive oil mayo, and lentil salad with mixed veggies.

(if I want a snack I have an apple or my veggie tray.)

I have lost 21 lbs. since September. I won't tell you its easy because it's not, It's an every day struggle. I just keep myself focused on one day at a time.  TODAY I focus on making good food choices. I will worry about tomorrow when tomorrow gets here. If I try to look at the big picture I would drown in self pity and discouragement. ONLY YOU can change you life, we on this forum can encourage you and support you BUT YOU have to be COMMITTED and do the hard work yourself.  I want to have surgery so I can start living again. I am tired of being stuck in my house.  Your still young you have a lot going for you don't waste your young years stuck behind walls and watching the world pass you by.  Get yourself excited about moving again. Start small( do what you can) but keep at it.  YOU CAN DO IT. All it takes is DISCIPLINE!

I hope this helps! And remember.  If you fall off your plan don't beat your self up just remember you can start again with your next meal.

Demand they bring you to the doctor.  If your parents refuse call CPS.  You need support and you need it immediately.  I can give you all the knowledge and advice of my clinical psychology degree and nutrition, of my experience treating obese adolescents, and none of it will do good - you are right.  You need face-to-face support and immediate intervention ASAP.

LucaB, my highest weight was almost 750 pounds.  I now weigh 299.  It is possible to lose weight.  I am proof of this.  I went from being 750 pounds and mostly bed bound to finishing graduate school.  I work with adolescents who are obese, too.  It is VERY possible to come back from this.

It is also not your fault.  You are 15 and bed bound.  The people bringing you food are not doing you any good.  As others mentioned, you need to ask for healthy choices and not eat the crappy ones.  Eat burgers without buns.  Eat grilled chicken without buns.  Don't eat potatoes.  Eat a salad and a double grilled burger, no bun.  I lost 200 pounds the first year I went low carb doing that. 

And yes, you will be hungry.  You will need things to do to distract you from hunger.  Yes, it's hard bedbound and isolated.  You must start cultivating other interests now to prepare for replacing your life focusing on food.

Register for myfitnesspal.com and start tracking everything, even if you don't change your eating habits right away.  It is free.  You need to start to understand what you are eating, and the meaning of calories.  Until we track it we cannot do this.

What WhiteDove said may be necessary.  You may need to report your parents to child protective services.  This is scary, I know.  However, I have seen 15 year olds with heart failure at 300-400 pounds.  It is a matter of life and death for you.  Being homeschooled is not normally an issue.  For your situation though it is very dangerous because no one is seeing what is going on.

The issue is exactly what you suggest - it is the environment.  We can lose weight if we eat a low carb diet.  When we are super obese it is all the more vital we eat low carb, otherwise we starve at 500+ pounds eating anything with carbohydrate.  Fast food is deadly for us because we can consume so much at 500+ pounds.  A low carb diet will make eating less bearable, because it is carbohydrate that stimulates appetite to a big degree!

You can still exercise in your bed, too.  It is hard, but you can do leg lifts.  Arm lifts.  You can sit up and lie down.  at 750 I had a reality check.  I got up and walked ten footsteps every hour.  It hurt.  It was agonizing.  I survived, though.  You may need a cane or assistance, but you can do it.  At 650 pounds I forced myself to slowly get to the kitchen.  I sat for ten minutes.  I stood for two and chopped veggies.  I then sat and chopped meat.  Yeah, it sucks, and I know because I did it.  I walked the 700+ pound walk.  However, you may be able to do it too.

If I can do it in my late 30's, you can absolutely do it at 15.  It sucks your parents basically aren't helping.  Medical staff can help and give you support you need to get through this.  

I was hoping you'd see this post and respond!

I actually have worked with some obese adolescents for WLS purposes.  Not many.  It is always a dangerous situation.  The urgency to get medical care cannot be understated.

Whether it is intended to be or not, enabling is a form of abuse.  Even if the intention is kind the damage is done.  I have suffered the consequences of that first hand, myself.

I thought a lot about Ur post Luca. I too was enabled by my family in my case the enabling took the form of neglect which meant that I could overeat buy whatever food I wanted ( I was the family cook) at will. I became bulimic because no one took me a doctor to check for ( what turned out to be ) a congenital hereditary birth defect that causes GERD a  huge hiatal hernia. Had that been repaired in my childhood my history would have been totally different. 

I Wish someone had called cps on my parents- I should have done it myself to tell the truth. 

No child should be living in a basement ( I suffered that too ) 

im sure you love your parents and that there is more to their story ( like a lost child) than you're telling us . But you're not the responsible adult - you're the suffering innocent child who's being victimized. 

The thing you have to remember is that you're the most important person in the room. You Deserve a far better life .. Maybe it'll take Bariatric surgery .. cps will help you get the medical attention and schooling that you need ((((()))) huge hugs