Weight Loss for Teenagers

Weight gain among the teenage population is growing. In the United States, overweight adolescents constitute up to 17% of the population. Weight gain, outside of the presence of a genetic disorder, is caused by unhealthy eating habits and a sedentary, non-athletic lifestyle. The answer is not dieting!

Regardless of age, dieting is likely to make you lose more water, muscle and healthy calories than fat. However, when you're a teenager, dieting can be even more problematic, stunting your growth and diminishing bone mass. Dieting will also lessen your ability to achieve academically. The answer is to change your attitude, eat healthily and exercise regularly.

Changing your Attitude to your Body

Teenagers are bombarded by media images on a daily basis. These images erode fragile self perceptions with the message that to be loved, you have to be shaped according to certain, supposedly perfect, proportions. When teenagers absorb these images and messages, they may turn to self-destructive ways of losing weight, such as starving themselves (anorexia), self-purging (bulimia) or fad diets. None of these ways will help them lose weight over the long term. Nor will they improve their self esteem.

Losing weight and keeping it off happens slowly. It happens with a healthy diet and regular exercise. It cannot happen overnight. Teenagers should aim towards a realistic attitude in which being healthy is more important than being simply skinny. Teens who are unnaturally and unhealthily thin often do poorly in school, have emotional issues and set themselves up for a lifetime of yo-yo dieting and health problems. Learn to love yourself and you'll want to take care of who you are.

Eating Healthily

One reason why teens gain weight is eating calorie-empty junk food. It's readily available and there's often peer pressure behind their dietary selections. Instead of trying to cut out all junk food, replace most items with healthy choices but keep one or two as an occasional treat. Instead of pop, drink water. Rather than chips, crunch down on carrot or celery sticks, rice cakes or mixed nuts. Then keep the buttered popcorn for a twice a month extra at the movies.

Eat more vegetables, fruits and the proteins found in lean meats, fish, soy products, tofu and beans than anything else. Choose whole grains instead of white bread. Cutting out one serving of cheese, cream, chocolate, or any other fatty food a day trims off a substantial number of calories. This leads to eventual weight loss. One pound of body fat is equal to 3500 calories. These calories can be cut through healthy eating, patience, and a realistic, loving self perception. Most importantly, eat regular, if smaller, meals. Don't ever skip breakfast!

Regular Exercise

Another reason why teens gain weight is that their time spent sitting in front of screens has increased dramatically. Whether it's watching TV, chatting on Nexopia or playing Mortal Combat, teenagers do a lot of it. These sedentary activities, often combined with snacking on junk foods, lead to most cases of weight gain. Once you've cut unnecessary calories, exercise is required to maintain muscle, shape the physique and keep the heart and lungs functioning at full capacity.

While adults should exercise a minimum of thirty minutes a day, teens should attempt at least an hour. This hour can be broken up into ten or twenty minute intervals of running, skipping rope, swimming, playing ball, doing gymnastics or many other fun activities. Carrying your backpack, taking the stairs, walking to school and helping with household chores also burns calories. Lifting weights is very important too as the more muscle mass you have, the faster your metabolism is and the easier it is for you to lose weight and keep it off! If you enjoy what you eat and how you exercise, you'll find that losing weight will become easy.

Loving Yourself is at the Core of Losing Weight

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