Suitable Diets To Lose Weight For Teenagers

Before you change your diet to lose weight, ask your doctor to determine whether your weight is in a healthy range for a teenager of your age and sex. If she tells you that you would benefit from losing weight, ask her for some tips. Don't just pick up any diet you see. Since you're still growing, you will need to find a suitable diet that doesn't rob you of vital nutrients.

Warning

Diets that promise fast weight loss are usually dangerous because they force you to cut out important foods or food groups, according to KidsHealth, a part of the Nemours Foundation. Also harmful are diet supplements such as over-the-counter weight loss pills and milkshakes. They don't work in the long run and they can also make you ill.

Gradual Weight Loss

Suitable diets for weight loss in teenagers should involve gradual weight loss because they generally involve picking up habits that are easier to keep up for life. Your doctor will likely recommend a small weight loss goal such as 1 lb. per week until you reach a healthy weight, according to Parents' Action Committee's "Stir it Up" campaign. To lose 1 lb. each week, you will need to lose about 3,500 calories per week, or 500 calories each day.

The Basics

A suitable teenage weight-loss diet shouldn't prohibit you from eating your favorite foods or force you to eat tiny portions that don't fill you up. However, it should focus mostly on healthy, low-fat foods such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains and skim or low-fat milk products, according to the Weight-control Information Network. It should also include portions of poultry, fish, eggs, beans, nuts and lean meats but reduce your intake of added sugars, cholesterol, salts and heart-unhealthy saturated and trans fats. One easy way to ditch unnecessary calories is to cut down on your intake of sugary drinks such as soda pop. One can is equivalent to about 150 calories, according to KidsHealth.

Snacking

A healthy teen diet for weight loss should encourage you to frequently snack on nutritious foods such as fruit, low-fat string cheese, whole grain pretzels and celery sticks with peanut butter, according to KidsHealth. Toss some into your backpack for snacking between classes. You may initially think that snacking regularly would cause you to take in more calories than you need, but filling up on smaller portions of healthy foods may prevent you from becoming so hungry that you eat too many calories at meals, according to KidsHealth.

Considerations

Eating a healthy diet is an important factor in losing weight, but you may discover that you don't actually need to cut as many calories as you once thought if you just find ways to be more active, according to KidsHealth. Children and teens need about 60 minutes of physical activity every day to stay healthy, according to the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. However, exercise doesn't need to happen in one burst. You can burn off calories by biking to school, walking your dog, taking a dance class or just playing a movement-oriented video game.