I was hoping to gain some perspective from my fellow Student/Teen LCers about the unique challenges facing us.

I know for myself that, as a 25 year old guy, the whole diet thing is looked on as being 'weird'. I keep hearing "You carry it really well" and "Dude, guys don't diet. What are you? Gay?" Even all of my past girlfriends seemed to really dig the big me. It made them fell safe, blah blah blah. So basically what I am saying is that, at least for me, I get very little positive outside support.

I want to hear your opinions. What problems do you guys have that you feel are unique to you as a Student/Teen on LC? I've come to realize that this battle isn't so much what I EAT as what I THINK. If I can understand you I can better understand myself.

biggest challenges, imho (girl's perspective):

1. setting unrealistic goal weight (desire to reach numbers that are technically, from a medical perspective, underweight)

2. taking "cheat" days at parties, etc...

3. feeling like a dork for worrying about food/body/weight issues like 60% of my day.

Not looking rude or stuck up when I pass over my friends homemade brownies...

The look I get when I order my 4th rum & diet coke at the bars...

The anxiety I have when invited out to a restaurant...

The cost of groceries...

BLAh blah blah

The feeling that I shouldn't be worrying about nutrition and what I eat in my early 20's

my biggest challenges low-carbing:
actually sticking to the program (sweets are my weakness!)
getting my mom to get off my back about the diet
variety in my eating

most of my friends are vegetarians (i live in nyc) and they get really mad and call me ignorant and unethical when i stick up for eating meat, so i havent told them that i am on atkins because i know they will not support me, even though they know i am still trying to lose the last few lbs. sometimes i cant eat at their functions and they get upset...once they tried to start an eating disorder rumor when i was around 130 pounds bc i had dropped a bunch of weight on induction...

it sucks..but being overweight sucked more.

Those are my exact challenges too! Living in Canada I don't have as many LC products or support that are available in the states.

my biggest challenges (teen guys perspective)...

1 - hating when people say 'oh you look thinner' and not really knowing what to say, even though you're so happy someone noticed.
2 - going to parties and not eating/eating suspiciously unlike everyone else there
3 - getting my family to support me

1. My friends are not all that supportive and think I have an eating disorder just because I am on a diet.
2. It's hard to go to parties and not drink the beer and flavored hard alcohol. The good news is that most regular hard alcohol is ok though.
3. My boyfriend didn't support my lifestyle and it ended up driving us apart after 2 years together.