Diet Plan To Lose Weight For Teenager: Teenagers are the most beautiful and adorable people in the world. They are going through a very crucial period of their life, that is why they need more care and supervision from your side as parents.
Food has become a necessity for everyone. We depend on food for our survival. But sometimes you feel like you have to give up your favorite foods and still be healthy. So here we bring to you a diet plan for teenager, who are not overweight but want to lose weight for the betterment of their physical health.
Teenage life is the time when their physical appearance matters the most. They want to look good and make other people feel that they are looking good as well. If you are a teenager and you want to lose weight then it is the perfect diet plan for you.
Diet Plan To Lose Weight For Teenager
Teenagers are smart enough to appreciate the benefits of a healthy diet, but they are also easily tempted by fast and tasty junk food. The trick to creating a weekly meal plan for teens is to include plenty of nutritious substitutes for sugary foods laden with empty calories. Pick a few basic menus for each meal and alternate days to take some of the fuss out of planning. Teens will not object to eating their favorite meals two or three times a week.
Strategy
It’s tough to monitor a teen’s diet, particularly when he eats away from home. Include your teen in the planning process, write down the plan and shop for all the ingredients for the week ahead of time. Focus your plan around the calorie needs of your teen. Caloric intake for teens varies, depending on age, gender and fitness level and whether weight loss is a goal. Keep in mind that teenagers need at least five servings of vegetables and fruit per day, and more is even better. Since snacking is an important element in a teen’s diet, offer fruits and vegetables as snack sources. Creamy dips go a long way to making raw vegetables into a welcome snack.
Breakfast
Teens who eat breakfast do well in school and tend to eat healthier for the rest of the day, according to the Nemours Foundation, a nonprofit organization that focuses on children’s health. Pick easy and fast items for breakfast so you don’t have to give a lot of thought to what to eat on busy mornings.
Teens need plenty of whole grains every day, so whole-grain toast with peanut butter is a good choice. Add a glass of skim milk and a piece of fruit for calcium and vitamins. Yogurt mixed with granola and berries is quick, as is cottage cheese with pineapple. On weekend mornings, try a scrambled-egg sandwich on a whole-wheat roll with ranch dressing and bacon for your active, growing teen with a hearty appetite, or mix seasoned dressing mix into scrambled eggs and serve with breakfast sausage.
Lunch
Sending a homemade lunch to school with your teen is the best strategy for good nutrition. Make sandwiches with lean, sliced turkey or tuna. Add loads of vegetables and use whole-grain bread. For teens who aren’t interested in sandwiches, make chicken salad with mandarin oranges and almonds and creamy dressing or send a piece of cold, baked chicken. Kale chips are a satisfying, vitamin-rich and low-starch alternative to potato chips. Stick to your meal plan and assemble lunches the night before.
Dinner
Load at least half of your teen’s dinner plate with vegetables and fruits. Consider mixing them with whole grains for visual and taste appeal. Fried rice with spinach and peas, and couscous with dried fruits are good choices. Keep portion sizes for protein under control. Teens need 5-1/2 oz. of protein per day, and a 3 oz. portion of meat is about the size of a bar of soap.
With over 12.5 million of our nation’s children overweight, we need to find creative ways to encourage young people to adopt healthy habits. But it’s hard enough to get adults to take responsibility for their weight and health. How do you inspire kids who are also dealing with the tumultuous nature of being a teen to succeed at weight loss?
Overweight teens bear a heavy burden. They must cope with the teasing, social isolation, verbal abuse, and emotional torture that often result from being overweight, as well as their own negative self-images.
Wes Gilbert, son of registered dietitian Anne Fletcher and one of the teens who is profiled in Fletcher’s book Weight Loss Confidential, describes his anxiety and guilt about being overweight.
“I worried about whether clothes made me look fat, what others thought of me, and especially when old friends gave me the look when they noticed how much weight I’d put on,” he says. When Wes finally lost weight, he says, “a huge metaphorical burden was lifted.”
“Kids who are overweight have a quality of life similar to kids with chronic diseases like cancer,” says Kerri Boutelle, PhD, LP, an adolescence and obesity expert at the University of Minnesota.
At her STAR (Service for At-Risk Teens) Clinic, she finds that overweight kids tend to have, or are at risk for, depression, poor self-image, and social isolation. They are also perceived as lazy and less attractive than normal-weight teens.
Teen Weight Loss Woes
For Fletcher, her desire to help her overweight son became a passion for finding solutions to help overweight teens. She interviewed 104 kids to learn what life was like when they were overweight, and what helped them lose the weight and keep it off. The results were published in Weight Loss Confidential: How Teens Lose Weight and Keep it Off and What They Wish Parents Knew.
“Their stories broke my heart. Being overweight affected their popularity, self-esteem, ability to get dates — everything that is important to a teenager,” says Fletcher, who also wrote the Thin for Life series on weight control in adults.
One of the teenage girls in the book described boys groping them as if it were acceptable because they were overweight.
“The pain and suffering of being an overweight teen was what finally led most of these teens to embrace serious weight loss,” says Fletcher.
How Parents Can Help Teens With Weight Loss
“The hardest part about helping kids lose weight is resistant parents who don’t want to change their own behavior,” says Boutelle.
Experts agree that it’s a bad idea for parents to nag or say things like, ‘Haven’t you had enough?'” to their overweight teens. Instead, let your children know you are there for them and willing to help — then back off and let them decide when they’re ready.
“Parents need to give their kids some space without feeling like they are giving up on them,” says Gilbert. “When parents are overbearing, their suggestions backfire, and the teen misses out on the important motivation that comes from making decisions for yourself.”
Experts advise talking to them about the pros and cons of being overweight. But use examples they can relate to. For example, talk about the impact their excess weight will have in gym class, not on their health.
“They could care less about health or what is going to happen in 10 years,” says Boutelle. “They live in the present.”
Teens should also be involved in the process, Fletcher says.
“Ask them to help decide which snacks and foods should be on the grocery list and which ones should we eliminate for the entire family, not just the overweight teen,” says Fletcher.
One of the best things you can do for overweight teens is to help them feel good about themselves, experts say. And one way to do this is to help them cultivate their assets and strengths.
“If you can help your child feel good about herself, it will empower her and help her resist the torment,” says Fletcher.
And a teen who feels empowered is more likely to tackle a weight issue.
Exercise for Teen Weight Loss
Model behaviors are not limited to the kitchen.
She also suggests turning off the television and limiting computer time. Parents may want to reconsider allowing teens to have TVs in their bedrooms.
“Studies show that kids who spend hours in front of screens are more sedentary, and to make it worse, there is a strong tendency to be snacking mindlessly while sitting,” says Boutelle.
Keeping It Off
For virtually all the teens profiled in Weight Loss Confidential, regular exercise has become a way of life.
“Exercise, a healthy diet, and changing behaviors is what is going to make a difference and help kids lose weight and keep it off,” says Boutelle.
Fletcher asked teens what helped them resist falling back into bad habits.
“The overwhelming response: These kids did not want to return to the painful days when they were overweight.” She adds, “The kids are also happier, more self-confident, enjoying an improved quality of life, and feeling better in general.”
Fletcher’s son, Wes, agrees. “I’m simply happier in a lot of ways. I have less anxiety about my appearance, my weight is no longer ever-present in the back of my mind, I feel healthier, have more energy, and have learned to enjoy many new kinds of foods,” he says.
Teen Weight Loss Wisdom
Boutelle says that successful behaviors for teenage weight loss include:
- Eating more fruits and vegetables
- Eating more whole grains
- Eating more low-fat dairy and lean meats
- Eating less fat
- Drinking less soda
- Exercising regularly
- Getting on the scale weekly
For their part, parents can stock the house with healthy foods — including some treats. They can also enjoy nutritious foods and engage in regular physical activity together with their teens. But while serving as good role models, parents should still allow teens to make their own choices. To succeed, teens need to take responsibility for what they eat and how often they exercise.
Parents may need some additional guidance to help overweight teens get to the stage where they are ready to lose weight. Health care professionals can provide suggestions that teens will listen to, as well as support for both parents and teens.