Achieving a healthy weight, even during the teen years, is important because unhealthy weight contributes to numerous health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart disease. A teen's weight loss should occur in a healthy manner that incorporates changes to her lifestyle, which will help her keep the weight off in the future.
Limit Television
To lose weight, teens need to keep their television or video game time to minimum. Teens should watch no more than two hours of television a day and less if there is nothing on that they really want to watch. The Harvard School of Public Health reports that people who lost weight and kept it off reported cutting down on the amount of television they watched.
Reducing a teen's screen time will make him more likely to engage in other activities that burn more calories and it will make him less likely to mindlessly snack while watching television.
Eight Hours of Sleep
Sleep is an important part of weight loss. Teens should get eight hours of quality sleep every night. The Real Simple website reports that lack of sleep causes the body to produce more of the hormone cortisol and increased levels of cortisol have been linked to increased hunger and binge eating.
Go to sleep at the same time every night and wake up around the same time every day. Prepare for sleep by getting ready for bed at least an hour prior to bedtime. Keep the bedroom quiet and dark and reserve the bed for sleeping.
Aerobics
Exercise is an important part of any healthy weight loss effort. Exercise causes the body to burn more calories, which results in weight loss. Get at least 60 minutes of exercise six days out of each week. The 60 minutes do not have to occur all at once and can happen in intervals throughout the day. Also, some of the 60 minutes of exercise should be spent engaged in strength training exercises. This can occur for about 20 minutes three times a week.
Avoid over-exercising. Exercise should not become a compulsive habit that causes a teen to lose more weight than is healthy. Also, teens should work up to more intense forms of exercise to avoid injury.
Fruits and Vegetables
Teens should make fruits and vegetables a significant part of their daily food intake. Use fruits and vegetables to replace unhealthy or high-calorie snacks. Filling up on fruits and vegetables will provide teens with nutritious and filling foods that are low in calories. Eating fruits and vegetables in abundance will cause teens to cut down on their overall calories, leading to healthy weight loss.
Make sure not to increase the calorie and fat content of fruits and vegetables by consuming them with high-calorie dips and spreads. Eat fruits and vegetables plain to maximize weight loss.
Protein Swap
Switch out some of the high-calorie meat-based proteins with plant-based proteins, such as beans, tofu and nuts. Proteins are important to a teen's overall growth and development, but supplementing plant-based proteins for some animal-based proteins will help reduce a teen's overall daily calorie intake.
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