While peer pressure and media images sometimes place an unhealthy emphasis on weight for teenagers, it's important to remain aware of maintaining a healthy weight. Refrain from weighing yourself every day, but check in on the scale once a month or so. If you're actively trying to lose weight, weekly checks help you monitor your progress. Talk to your doctor about a personalized healthy weight recommendation, and how best to achieve and maintain it.
How to Weigh Yourself
Weigh yourself with the same scale at the same time of day every time you check your weight, preferably soon after waking up, before eating breakfast. Weigh yourself without clothes on. Place the scale on a hard, flat surface, and use it in the same spot each time. Keep the scale at least a few feet away from walls or heavy objects on the floor, including toilets, cabinets and bathtubs. The floor may not be level around such objects, distorting results. Some teenagers find it helpful to keep track of their weight in a journal, especially when trying to lose extra pounds.
Calculating BMI
Your body mass index, or BMI, is a more reliable indicator of your health as far as weight is concerned than your number of pounds. It reflects your percentage of body fat. BMI is not a diagnostic tool, but rather a screening method to determine whether you're underweight, a healthy weight, overweight or obese. Free BMI calculators are readily available online, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's tool also determines a percentile, ranking you among your peers of the same age and sex. Make sure to use a BMI calculator that specifies it's for teenagers, not one for adults.
Significance
Calculating your weight and BMI to help maintain a healthy weight during the teenage years is important to your health. If you're overweight in childhood and adolescence, you're far more likely to remain overweight throughout adulthood. Being overweight is associated with higher risks of heart disease and stroke, certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, metabolic syndrome, gallbladder and liver disease and other medical problems. In addition, struggling with weight problems during the teenage years can cause emotional problems and depression, affecting all aspects of your life.
Maintaining a Healthy Weight
A healthy diet and regular exercise are the keys to losing extra pounds and maintaining a healthy weight. The typical teenage diet consists of foods high in sugar, saturated and trans fats, sodium and calories. If you're serious about a healthy weight, you'll need to limit these foods and base your daily meals around whole grains, lean sources of protein such as poultry and seafood, fruit, vegetables and unsaturated fats. Cardiovascular exercise burns calories and strength training builds muscles that metabolize fat efficiently. Don't turn to fad or crash diets, diet pills, severe calorie restriction or other methods of weight loss that aren't focused on a nutritious, well-balanced diet and physical activity.
References
- Lisa Johnson Fitness; 5 Tips on How to Weigh Yourself; Lisa Johnson; June 2010
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: About BMI for Children and Teens
- Weight-Control Information Network: Do You Know the Health Risks of Being Overweight?
- Weight-Control Information Network: Weight Loss for Life
- Harvard School of Public Health: Building a Better Pyramid; 2011
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