Good Ways To Lose Weight & Get Abs For Teen Girls

Many teenage girls are concerned with their body images, which can lead to crash dieting. If you are carrying excess weight, there are healthy ways to get it off and keep it off. By making a few lifestyle changes, such as eating a well-balanced diet, engaging in regular physical activity and exercises that target your abdominal regions, you can lose weight and get a defined midsection.

Healthy Diet

Depriving yourself of food to lose weight is a common misconception. Allow yourself to eat six small meals a day, such as a bowl of cereal and fruit for breakfast and grilled chicken and veggies for dinner. Eating smaller portions more frequently during the day boosts your metabolism. It keeps you feeling full as well, so you are less likely to binge on junk food. Instead of going to the vending machine for a snack or soda between classes, pack you bag with healthy snacks and water before you leave for school with foods like a banana, carrots and low-fat yogurt.

Physical Activity

Get off the couch, and adopt an active lifestyle. Teens should be getting 60 minutes of physical activity a day to stay healthy. Instead of riding the bus to school, walk or ride your bike. Join a sports team like basketball, volleyball or track. If sports do not interest you, get together with your friends to go for a run or a hike after school. Friends will hold each other accountable, helping to burn calories and lose weight. Activities that get your heart pumping, burn plenty of calories and help you shed excess fat.

Resistance Training

Build lean muscle by performing body weight exercises three days per week, allowing one day of rest between workouts to let your muscles recover. Pushups, situps, squats, lunges and triceps dips are effective exercises to help you build and tone your muscles. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn even while you are at rest, helping you lose weight. Do 2 to 3 sets of 12 to 15 repetitions of each exercise.

Abdominal Exercises

Abdominal exercises will not shed excess fat around your waistline; however, they will tone the underlying muscles, giving you a leaner look. To get a flat stomach, it is imperative that you couple ab exercises with regular physical activity such as biking or running. The traditional situp, bicycle crunch and the plank are all effective exercises to define your midsection. Do three sets of 20 to 25 repetitions of each exercise.