Easy Way For Teens To Lose 10 Pounds

The Palo Alto Medical Foundation defines overweight as "any weight in excess of the ideal range." Food and Nutrition Specialist Julie Garden-Robinson states that losing a pound of fat a week requires reducing one's intake of calories by 500 each day. Teens focused on shedding an extra 10 pounds can easily achieve this weight loss over several months with a few minor changes in diet.

Reduce the Amount of Sugar Drinks

Garden-Robinson, a food and nutrition specialist at North Dakota State University Extension, states that, "A pound of body fat is equal to about 3,500 calories." A 21-ounce soda at a fast food restaurant is 310 calories. The same size glass of orange juice is 250 calories. If soft drinks are a regular part of the daily diet, reduce the size of the beverage or eliminate these calories by substituting juice or water, which has no calories. Eliminating two sodas each day (as the single diet modification) will drop 10 pounds in less than 10 months.

Cut Back on Fast Food

Fast food calories add up quickly. Eliminating or reducing these calories is an easy way to lose the pounds. According to research done by Lisa Tartamella, Elaine Herscher and Chris Woolston in the 2006 book "Generation Extra Large: Rescuing Our Children from the Epidemic of Obesity," fast food meals average an extra 187 calories over lunches eaten at school or home. An occasional fast-food meal does not significantly increase caloric intake, but the authors found that eating fast food 20 times (equivalent to a month of fast food lunches) equals one pound of body fat. Cutting fast food from the lunch menu will drop 10 pounds in a year.

Portions

Measure and weigh food portions before placing them on a plate. Finish all of the food before deciding if a second helping is needed to ease hunger. This habit will provide a balanced diet and reduce the amount of food eaten during one meal.

Calorie Notes

Divide the daily calories consumed among three meals and two smaller healthy snacks and try to select foods to meet this goal each meal. Do not binge eat, using the majority of calories for one meal. When eating out, determine the calories for the meal before ordering and select a reasonable calorie food choice from the menu. A regular hamburger from McDonald's has 260 calories, the Quarter Pounder (without cheese) totals 420 calories and a Big Mac has 560 calories. Selecting the regular hamburger allows flexibility for other meals during the day.

Prepackage Snacks

Limiting high-calorie snacks is one way to lose weight and improve eating habits. If snacking is an important part of the day, prepackage snacks in weight- and calorie-controlled amounts. Make a pledge to eat only one of the presealed containers each day. This will limit snacks to 100 calories or less per day. Substitute low-calorie snacks from the list, such as popcorn, to replace high sugar content snacks. Depending on the normal amount of daily snacking, limiting snacks to a single 100 calorie portion per day (for teens eating more than 500 calories in snacks each day) will drop 10 pounds in 10 months.