Younger teen girls are seeing their bodies change from lean "little girl" proportions to more filled-out, womanly proportions with wider hips and breasts. The extra curves at your hips might worry you, making you think you're getting fat. Rather than looking for a diet that restricts the nutrients you need, eat sensible meals with selections from each food group so you can maintain your weight more easily.
Healthy Eating
Your body is growing at just about the same rate as it was when you were a baby. Because of this, you need all the healthy nutrients you can get. Your girlfriends may talk about some quick weight-loss methods, including avoiding food groups because they're "too fattening," eating very small amounts of food, fasting or skipping meals. None of these are healthy, because you miss out on the foods your body needs, not only to grow properly, but also to repair itself, writes the Weight-Control Information Network.
Severely restricting the amount of foods or calories you eat or drink in a day can eventually backfire, making you gain, rather than lose weight. This happens because your body senses you're eating less and goes into "starvation mode," holding on to the fat stores you already have. When you start eating normally again, you gain weight.
Get All Your Nutrients
Eat healthy amounts of food from each food group--whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean meats, fish, poultry, beans, nuts, eggs and low- or fat-free dairy products, such as milk, yogurt, cheese and ice cream, recommends the Weight-Control Information Network.
The only food groups from which you should limit your intake are the saturated fats and sweets. It's OK to enjoy a brownie, a slice of cake or a cheeseburger--on occasion.
Make a tasty meal out of a whole-grain roll, spinach salad with tomatoes, feta cheese, balsamic vinaigrette, a serving of grilled or baked chicken or fish and a glass of low-fat chocolate milk. Follow up with a fresh fruit salad.
Portion Control
Choose a regular burger with a salad or yogurt parfait instead of a double bacon-cheeseburger, fries and a large soda when you're out with your family or friends. Fast-food restaurants have the supersize option on their menu boards, but the portions are much too large for a grown adult, let alone a young teen girl.
At home, use a smaller plate when you serve yourself. Because you're using the smaller plate, it looks like you're eating more than you actually are--but the serving sizes are actually what you should be eating at one meal, says Kids Health.
Dietary Tips
At home, mentally divide your plate into quarters, then put two servings of vegetables, such as your salad, the green beans, one starch serving, such as the mashed potatoes and one meat serving, such as chicken.
Scoop two spoonfuls of ice cream into a small bowl and eat this instead of eating out of the carton. Pour a serving of chips onto a paper plate and avoid eating them out of the bag.
Serve yourself additional salads and vegetables. Drink more water. You control your hunger better this way and you also take in fewer calories, writes Kids Health.
Eat slowly during your family meal. If you're still hungry, get more salad or a vegetable rather than a higher-calorie food.
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