Smart ways to lose weight

Too many times I've heard the phrase "I need to go on a diet," or "I think I'll loose 10 pounds this week." These ridiculous remarks wouldn't irritate me so badly if it weren't for the fact that the person making them wasn't pulling her hand out of a Cheetos bag and munching down.

I know girls who have this image that if they say they need to be thin and skip a day's worth of food, then it will just happen! I don't know whether to feel sorry for these girls or laugh at them. I feel sorry for them because at the end of the week when they weigh in and see that the numbers appearing on the scale have not changed, they will be filled with disappointment and even anger towards themselves. Why can't they realize that no one can loose 10 pounds in a week's time? Unless, of course, you try that Vegetable liquid diet advertised on TV, and even then the loss of weight only last until you put one morsel of food in your mouth. However, I sort of want to laugh because I know something they don't. I know that if they would only exercise, even half an hour a day, they could begin to slim down. But if you try telling teenage girls this, they will swear it doesn't help and they don't have the time anyway. All I can think is they must not want to lose weight too badly.

I used to think these were the most annoying girls, the ones who talked about losing weight and never did, due to their laziness. However, I have realized who's even more annoying than those girls: The girls who actually try not eating for days at a time! What they don't realize is eventually they will get hungry and go crazy eating anything and everything they can. You'd think teenage girls would praise the option of getting to eat AND still lose weight. And they can, if they would only exercise! Maybe some girls find something exciting in saying they lost weight with an unhealthy eating disorder. I, myself, however, enjoy food too much to ever take up such an absurd obsession.

Now for the few girls who are lucky enough to share the same secret I do, they are the ones I compliment. They look slim, healthy and toned. They will get to enjoy food and still have a healthy-looking body. So the next time you overhear your friends making ignorant comments about wanting to be slim, tell them you don't want to hear another word about it until they get their feet in some running shoes and go work out.

See you at the gym?

Leah Warren is a student at Jackson High School.