13 Weight Loss Tips For Teens

Weight Loss Tips For Teens

1. Set A Realistic Goal

   For a teenager, getting fit and healthy is essential for better body growth. But, while thinking of losing weight, they should prefer preparing a healthy and achievable goal.

   Overweight teens looking to lose weight should focus on getting healthy instead of cutting their body fat.

   They may add a healthy diet plan and increase physical activity to achieve such goals.

   Besides the teen’s role, the family members should give optimum support to motivate the kid to weight loss.

   Moreover, they should try to put the teen on a positive lifestyle change that^[1] may impact overall health and weight.

2. Increase Your Protein And Fiber Intake

   Increasing protein and fiber-rich food items in the diet could^[2] help lose weight quickly. Teenagers looking to lose weight should focus on lowering their net calorie intake.

   Hence, consuming protein and fiber-rich food allows you to burn calories excessively.

   Generally, proteins are hard to break; hence, the digestive system requires additional calories to digest the protein completely.

   Similarly, dietary fibers aren’t broken down by the human body as they are absorbed; hence, they pass down the digestive tract slowly.

   Thus, eating these nutrients would keep your sugar level under control and full for longer.

3. Stay Away From Junk Foods

   As the name suggests, junk foods aren’t a healthy option for weight loss for teens.

   These junk foods contain higher calories, carbohydrates, and fats, which should be avoided for healthy body weight.

   Moreover, they may contain refined carbohydrates, sugar, and unhealthy fats that would cause severe fluctuations in blood sugar levels resulting in increased hunger.

   Teens may^[3] consider consuming carbohydrates and healthy fats in controlled amounts as they are in the growing stage.

   But, consuming high-sugar-containing or unhealthy-fat-rich food may cause weight gain and several other severe health conditions.

4. Avoid Sugary Products

   Sugary or sweetened products could harm an individual as they may invite severe health conditions like type-2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver, cavities, etc., in teens.

   Besides these diseases, consuming sugary drinks like soft drinks, energy drinks, sodas, etc., could^[4]increase sugar consumption.

   A single can or bottle of sweetened beverages may contain up to 10-15% sugar, which is high for a teen hoping to lose weight.

   Hence, higher sugar or carbohydrate consumption would result in increasing weight.

   Moreover, some teens are addicted to candies, cookies, pastries, etc., that contain higher carbohydrates and calories. Thus, it may impact weight, mood, sleep, and academic performance.

5. Stay Away From Fad Diets

   Teens are growing; hence, opting for fad diets could harm their overall growth.

   Several fad diets like keto or low-carb diets would^[5]restrict the consumption of essential nutrients required for growth.

   Moreover, such diets ask to fast or reduce food intake, which could be dangerous for the teen and cause weight gain.

   Hence, you should avoid investing money in fad diets and prepare a healthy diet for weight loss.

   Moreover, you may add some healthy fat like omega-3 fatty acids, essential for the healthy growth of the teen.

6. Never Skip Meals

   Usually, teenagers skip a few important meals of the day, especially breakfast. Skipping meals is an unhealthy habit a teen must avoid during weight loss.

   Generally, avoiding meals like breakfast may increase your hunger between meals. So, you opt for unhealthy snacks or junk food to curb your appetite.

   Hence, you unknowingly increase your calorie consumption for the day.

   Besides increasing calorie intake, skipping meals may^[6] make you nutrient-deficient and reduce energy levels resulting in several diseases.

   Moreover, the lack of food may slow down your metabolism, thus, affecting your calorie-burning goals.

   Hence, on dedicated time, you must consume three important meals of the day, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

7. Add Veggies In The Plate

   Vegetables are one of the richest sources of multiple essential nutrients like carbs, healthy fats, proteins, fibers, etc.

   Moreover, veggies contain different plant compounds called antioxidants that may^[7] help lose weight.

   Teens consuming sufficient vegetables may lose weight quickly and maintain a healthy weight. Vegetables contain a high amount of fiber that may keep you full for longer.

   Moreover, you may get satisfied with minimum food consumption resulting in low-calorie intake.
   Considering veggies gives you multiple options to have in your regular diet.

   Thus, you may not get bored with eating similar kinds of food.

8. Drink Sufficient Water

   A healthy teen must drink at least 6-8 glasses of water for a healthy and fit body. Water comes with numerous benefits while losing weight.

   Drinking water at regular intervals, especially between meals, may help suppress hunger.

   Teens drinking water between meals would feel full, resulting in low consumption of unhealthy food.

   Moreover, drinking water would^[8]help avoid sugary drinks like soft drinks, sodas, etc., that may interfere with your weight loss plan.

   Water is an essential beverage for metabolizing fat. Hence, drinking sufficient water would help burn excess fat in the body.

   Besides burning fat, it may help remove harmful toxins and wastes to keep the body healthy. Hence, a teen must consider drinking sufficient water to lose weight efficiently.

9. Follow Healthy Eating Habits

   Healthy eating habits allow teens to develop better relationships with eating, food regulation, and body awareness.

   Hence, you should create specific habits that may help you get a healthy body weight.

   Generally, teens develop habits like watching television or smartphone while eating that distract them from food.

   Thus, such a condition may cause overeating leading to weight gain. Developing eating habits like eating slowly and chewing food thoroughly would^[9]help manage weight.

   Moreover, such habits allow teens to make intelligent choices regarding food to lose weight.

10. Increase Physical Activity

    Teens aren’t required to take any gym membership or play an active sport to shed weight.

    Doing different physical activities like walking, running, cycling, etc., could help reduce weight.

    Moreover, they should^[10] avoid sitting idle in one place as it may induce fat deposition, especially belly fat.

    Teenagers increasing their physical activity would experience increased muscle growth and bone development.

    Thus, increasing muscle mass would help boost an individual’s metabolism to burn excess calories.

    Moreover, physical activities would promote their mental health and improve their concentration.

    Hence, a teen should do 30-60 minutes of moderate physical activities regularly may promote weight loss.

    You may consider opting for moderate workout routines, but avoid the gym as it may impact your growth.

11. Take Less Stress

    Stress could be a limiting factor for a teen while losing weight. Generally, teens get successive stress from exams, homework, issues with friends, etc.

    These stresses might sound light for an adult, but they could be high enough for a teen.

    Increasing stress may make you release a stress hormone called cortisol that may^[11] impact your weight loss plan.

    Moreover, teens under emotional stress may feel hungry, resulting in uncontrolled food intake.

    Thus, they should try stress-relieving methods or properly organize themselves to avoid academic stress.

    Some commonly recommended relaxation methods include performing yoga, playing board games, etc.

    You should start preparing early for exam stress to reduce pressure before exams.

12. Get Sufficient Sleep

    Sleep deprivation could^[12] be a potential cause of increasing body weight. Hence, a teen must sleep for at least 8-12 hours for a healthy weight.

    Teens getting sufficient sleep at night improve their resting metabolic rate, which is essential for increasing calorie burn.

    Moreover, it gives you enough energy to perform daily tasks and stay active throughout the day.
    Irregular sleep patterns of teens may increase their weight.

    Teens staying awake late at night may feel hungry and crave late-night snacks. Moreover, sleeping late may make them skip exercise routines.

    Thus, teens should follow a regular sleep-wake cycle to lose weight healthily.

13. Avoid Using Smartphones

    Smartphones or smart devices could interrupt a teen’s weight loss desire. Generally, teens prefer playing online games for hours instead of playing outdoor games or doing physical activities.

    Hence, they restrict themselves within the room with no physical activity resulting in slow metabolism.

    Moreover, sitting for hours without any physical activity may cause fat deposition.

    Additionally, you would prefer consuming snacks and processed food that^[13] may make you overweight.

    In such conditions, you should start dedicating fewer hours to smartphones and focus on physical activities like walking, running, playing outdoor games, etc.