When you're surrounded by images of super-skinny supermodels in magazines, on television and on billboards, you may have trouble assessing what a healthy body weight should look like. There is no single healthy body fat percentage that applies to all teens, but you can find a healthy weight range based on your height and gender if you take some measurements and discuss your results with your doctor.
Changes in Puberty
All teens go through a period of rapid growth known as puberty. Hormonal changes initiate physical changes, including altered proportions of fat, muscle and bone, according to the Nemours Foundation. As a result, it's normal for people to gain height and weight in their teen years. But since teens don't all start developing at the same time, two teens of the same height and age may have greatly different weights, says the Nemours Foundation.
Body Mass Index
Body mass index, or BMI, gauges a person's body fat, based on weight and height, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It isn't a direct measure of body fat but it can screen for potentially unhealthy weight categories in teens.
Assessing a Teen's BMI
To give a doctor a better sense of where a growing teen stands among her also-growing peers, a doctor will plot her BMI on a chart known as the BMI-for-age growth chart, which compares teens of the same age and sex. Where she stands on this growth chart will tell a doctor whether she is in a healthy category. A teen below the 5th percentile is considered underweight; a teen in the 50th percentile is considered average; a teen between the 85th and 95th percentile is considered overweight, and a teen above the 95th percentile is considered obese, according to the Nemours Foundation.
Diagnosing Weight Problems
Body mass index can only be used to screen for weight problems because it only considers numbers. Some teens may have a high BMI due to excess muscle; others may have a low BMI in spite of excess body fat. Therefore, a doctor must take extra steps such as measuring skinfold thickness and assessing a teen's family history, diet and physical activity level before she can adequately diagnose a teen with a weight problem, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Getting Help
Overweight teens are at risk of developing long-term health problems, including high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. In some cases, underweight teens are at risk because of malnutrition or another underlying health condition. If a doctor determines that a teen's weight is below or above the healthy range, he will likely recommend a diet and exercise plan and prescribe medical treatment if a health problem is responsible.
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