Teens like you are looking in the mirror and worrying that they're too fat. Instead of focusing on losing weight, set a goal to eat healthier and cut back on unhealthy foods. When you do this, you actually increase the foods you should be eating and you decrease the amount of fatty foods you eat. Soon, you'll be looking in the mirror and liking what you see--a healthy, energetic teen.
Healthy Choices
The only thing you need to remember about dieting is to eat healthy foods from a variety of choices. When your parents "push" milk, meat, bread, vegetables and fruits on you, they're doing so because they know these foods are healthy, especially if they don't have any added fat or sugar, according to MedlinePlus.
When you eat, you should be taking something from each food group. Include whole grains, like breads, cereals, pastas, waffles or bagels. You also need five to six servings every day of fruits and vegetables; if you can eat more, this is better. You also need dairy, which is low-fat yogurt, cheese and milk, because your bones are growing. Choose a healthy cut of lean meat. You can have skinless chicken, fish or lean red meat with the fat taken off, according to the KidsHealth website.
Include These Foods
Don't fear any foods, thinking that you'll get "fat." You can still snack, but instead of getting that sugary soda or those chips, aim for the cut, fresh vegetables. Ask your parents to stock up on small containers of low-fat yogurt, cheese, whole-wheat crackers and peanut butter. Cut a stalk of celery into pieces and put peanut butter in the center of the celery--you have a healthy snack with protein and fiber that fills you up until dinnertime, suggests the KidsHealth website.
If you've decided to cut something out of your diet because you've heard it's fattening, you're needlessly restricting your body's access to nutrients. If your best friend decided to go on a diet that has no breads or pastas, she's depriving her growing body of the nutrients, especially whole grains, in those foods, according to the TeensHealth website. You even need fat in your diet. Just limit yourself to no more than 30g per day.
What to Cut Back On
Limit your intake of fats, especially from deep-fried foods. Ask your parents to cook your meat by broiling, roasting or grilling it. Steam your vegetables--you'll still get the full benefit of the nutrients.
Rather than totally cutting fast food and less-nutritional snacks out, just cut back on them. Consider these to be foods you can have once in a while, suggests the KidsHealth website.
Opt for low-fat milk and water instead of drinking soda or fruit-flavored drinks. Although fruit
juices are healthy, some have added sugar, which means added calories that you may not want.
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