Ways For Teens To Lose Weight

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Best Ways For Teens To Lose Weight

This lens takes a look at the best ways for teens to lose weight. Anyone who is overweight should lose it in a sensible, sustainable way, but this is especially important for teenagers, who are still growing and developing, and who also face extreme pressures regarding body image. Eating disorders are on the rise among both teen girls and boys, and while these do have complex roots that go beyond simply wanting to be thin, it is important that any teenager wanting to lose weight does so in a healthy manner, and avoids extreme diets and unhealthy practices.

strip that fat

Is Weight Loss Really Necessary? 

First of all, be sure that your teen really needs to lose weight. In today's society, we're bombarded by media images of size zero skinny models, actors and other public figures, who are held up as the only valid standard of beauty (and many of whom literally starve themselves to look that way). If a teenager is a little larger than these people, they shouldn't assume that they must lose weight to conform. If your teen is already in a healthy weight range for her/his height and build, I suggest dumping the scales, and just focusing on encouraging them to eat healthily. If they're unhappy with their fitness levels and muscle tone, exercise will help, but again, it may not be necessary to lose weight in order to be fit and look in shape. No teen should feel that they need to starve themselves and put your health at risk just to conform to someone else's idea of what is attractive.

Your teen can check to see if they have a healthy weight and body mass index (a measure of your body fat relative to your height and weight) here.

Focus On Fat Loss & Building Healthy Long Term Habits 

If your teen is actually overweight, then losing the extra pounds is a good decision. Establishing good eating habits and getting to a healthy weight now will help to prevent problems later in life, as well as improving their immediate quality of life.

If a teenager is overweight, they are eating too much relative to what they burn off. Chances are, they're also eating unhealthy foods (teens are notorious for their junk food consumption, and manufacturers of these foods tend to target teens in their ads). So an effective weight loss plan will involve replacing the junk with healthier foods, in sensible portions - and will establish a way of eating that the teen can maintain for the rest of their life. Teenagers (girls especially) may feel tempted to experiment with faddy diets that involve extreme restrictions (in quantity and/or the amount eaten), but this is a terrible idea, as they rarely work long-term (leading to the well known yoyo cycle of weight loss and regain), can lead to health issues, and may tip the vulnerable over into a full-blown eating disorder. I experienced this myself as a teenager many years ago, and wish that I had had access to the knowledge I have now!

It is also a good idea to encourage your teen to be physically active (if they aren't already). Exercise plays a major role in helping to maintain a healthy weight and a good level of health and energy.

Bad Ways For Teens To Lose Weight 

  • Crash dieting - deprives the body of the vital nutrients that are needed for growth and development during these critical years.

  • Fad diets that involve cutting out any of the major food groups (ditto).

  • 'Competitive dieting' - this occurs amongst girls especially, and is bad for both health and friendships.

  • Dieting pills - with a healthy diet based on sensible portion sizes, and a lifestyle that includes a moderate amount of exercise, these simply aren't necessary or useful.

  • Starving, purging, laxatives - these eating-disordered behaviours are unfortunately quite common among teenagers, and may lead to weight loss. Please seek professional help if your teen has an eating disorder.

  • Excessive exercise - exercise in moderation is vital for health, and very useful when it comes to weight loss, but when taken to extremes, it can have negative physical effects.

  • Reliance on drugs of any kind - from coffee to cigarettes to cocaine and other hard drugs. Some drugs have appetite suppressing effects, and may be used as an aid to weight loss - obviously at the expense of health and well-being.

Encourage your teen to focus on steady, healthy, sustainable weight loss, and avoid faddy diets and 'quick fixes'.

Good Ways For Teens To Lose Weight 

Teens and adults alike can lose weight, keep it off, and stay healthy at the same time by using the following general methods:
  • Eating mostly natural, unprocessed foods and drinks. That means dumping the junk (except for an occasional 'treat' if desired), as well as refined flours, sugar, chemical additives, artificial sweeteners and the like. Focus instead on wholegrain versions of bread and other staples, eat plenty of fruit, veg, nuts, seeds, beans, rice and similar foods. Go for organic dairy (no hormones and the animals are well treated too) and meat if they eat that. Drink water or herb tea instead of concentrated juices and other sugar-packed drinks. These foods are easy to find, satisfying, and can be made into an infinite range of delicious meals. Your teen will feel satisfied with less (no more sugar rushes followed by a craving for more an hour later!), and will have more energy too.

  • Exercise - just 20 minutes of activity three or four times a week is a good start, and they can build up from there. Exercise doesn't need to be done for hours each day to be effective. Teens are often more active in sports than adults, so encourage this if they're interested already.

  • Living in a supportive environment. Teens are exposed to an array of negative influences that can affect their wellbeing, and overweight teens may have had their confidence sapped by name-calling from peers, so make sure that they find plenty of support and home. And it helps enormously if parents and/or others that they live with are also focused on eating and living in a healthy way. Don't make it hard for them by eating junk food when they are trying to change their diet for the better.


None of this is new information or anything earth-shattering - just common sense advice that works, if followed. Make sure your teen knows that they don't need the latest gimmicky diet, or diet pills or anything else like that. Just eating healthy foods in moderate amounts appropriate to their unique metabolism and activity level, and taking some regular exercise will work, given time.

The 'Non-Diet' Plan That Can Help Teens To Lose Weight Healthily - And Keep it Off 

strip that fat

Many people who want to lose weight find it helpful to have a concrete plan to follow, which lays out what will be eaten and when. If you're looking for such a plan for your teen (or yourself!), I recommend Strip That Fat. This is not 'a diet' in the usual sense of a short term restriction that is inevitably followed by gaining the weight back when you start eating 'normally' again. With Strip That Fat, the emphasis is on health, and building sensible eating habits that will help people to reach their ideal weight and then maintain it for life.

I've written a full Strip That Fat review here, but in brief, here's how it can help your teen to lose weight, keep it off, and stay healthy - while eating enough and having fun with their food too:
The foods it suggests are healthy and natural - no garbage meal replacements or diet pills here.

  • The suggested meals are delicious and satisfying. They are healthy, but by no means dull (no 'bowls of bran' or anything like that!). Your teen will also be eating often enough and in sufficient quantities to keep their energy up and won't feel deprived or go hungry.

  • It's not just about food - Strip That Fat also discusses the other factors that can make or break a person's weight loss efforts, such as exercise, motivation, and other people.

  • This is a very flexible program that includes a Diet Generator which offers thousands of possible meal combinations (including many vegetarian options) - so your teen is less likely to get bored than with a conventional diet plan.

  • A great recipe book is available as an optional extra, as are some other bonuses (full details at the Strip That Fat site). You and your teen also get free lifetime access to updates - there's no need to purchase any new editions.

  • Most importantly, Strip That Fat is not a 'diet' in the normal short-term sense. Instead the emphasis is on establishing new eating habits that will enable your teen to lose weight and keep him/her slim - and healthy - for life. Whether your teen just needs to drop a few pounds, or is in the obese range, Strip That Fat's balanced, healthy, sane approach will work for anyone who is willing to stick with it (and sticking with it is easy, especially compared to most 'diets'!). After a while your teen will just naturally want to eat what their body needs, in the right quantities, and won't even need to follow the plan anymore (though they might choose to anyway, since it makes meal planning so very simple).

    With Strip That Fat, your teens can lose weight - but just as importantly, they will be building new healthy habits that will keep them at their ideal weight for the rest of their lives, and that protect their health too. I love eating the Strip That Fat way, and only wish I'd been exposed to this way of eating when I was a teenager and experimenting with all kinds of crazy diets!

    Click for more information about Strip That Fat.

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